Wasted Day in LA

What a frustrating loss. The Red Sox wasted chance after chance and finally lost to the Angels 5-4 in 12 innings as they dropped two of three in L.A.

I am now convinced that David Ortiz is never going to hit another home run in the Majors. It's one thing to get off to a slow start, but this is ridiculous.

Big Papi was 0-for-7 to drop his average to .208 and he left 12 men on base. He is lost at the plate and he shouldn't even be in the lineup right now -- forget about batting third.

The Sox were 3-for-23 with runners in scoring position and stranded 17 overall despite getting 15 hits.

BOX SCORE: Angels 5, Red Sox 4, 12 innings

It's amazing that the Sox are actually 21-14 and just one game out of first place considering they have the worst starting pitching in the league, their No. 3 hitter and DH has no home runs, and they've battled a variety of injuries to key players.

Brad Penny actually pitched pretty well after giving up three runs in the first three innings, but his days in the rotation might be numbered with Dice-K getting close to a return, Smoltz getting close to making his Red Sox debut and Buchholz tearing it up in the minors.

We can look at this two ways -- either it has to get better or it's a sign of things to come. Hopefully the pitching will come around, the guys will get healthy and if Ortiz doesn't start hitting by the end of June, Theo will go out and find a replacement.

Maybe the most amazing thing from Thursday's game was Julio Lugo getting five hits. "The Pig" still has a ways to go to shed his pig label, but if he continues to hit .350 that is a good start -- although I still worry any time a ball is hit his way.

Dustin also had a 4-hit game in his first game back from injury which was nice to see.

Hideki Okajima and Ramon Ramirez were outstanding in relief again as the bullpen continues to be the strength of the team.