Well, what can you say? The opportunities presented themselves but we did not capitalize. I mean with the tying run 90 ft away, 0 out and Carlos Pena, BJ Upton and Carl Crawford batting you have to like your chances to tie the game. I mean that could not have been setup more perfect. But, in the end, the Ray bats were held silent as all 3 of them struck out.
Make no bones this was a pitching duel between Beckett and Matt Garza. They matched each other number for number – each giving up 3 ER. Their lines are actually amazingly similar: Garza went 7 innings, 116 pitches (72 for strikes), 3 ER, 7 hits, 3 BB and 6 K’s; Beckett went 6 innings, 118 pitches (68 for strikes), 3 ER, 6 hits, 3 BB and 5 K’s. So you can see this was an awesome game to watch!
The problem for the Rays came once again in the bull pen. Brian Shouse gave up a leadoff double to Ortiz and Dan Wheeler followed by giving up a double to Bay to put the Red Sox up for good.
The Ray offense obviously struggled against awesome pitching from Beckett. But come on guys, tying run on 3rd with 0 outs and we cannot make contact? I know it was Papelbon, but…… really? Remember he’s the one that put the runner on 3rd and 1st to begin with!
Well all in all this road trip has proven to be very successful and not just in the sense of the record but more for what guys have been doing. Upton has shown signs of life, Burrell is starting to look a bit more comfortable, Longoria and Crawford continue their hot hitting. The question is that bullpen. The RFO really need to address it as it is not very good.
I really think the next 20 games are going to show a lot about this team. We are transitioning from a very difficult schedule to a very light schedule. The next 20 games are with teams that are struggling. We MUST beat them to have a shot at October I believe. Good teams beat teams they should beat so we’ll see if we are a good team or not.
Enjoy your day off Ray fans! See you at Camden yards!
