The nice and mostly crazy people that live on Cape Cod year round were treated to quite a dog's breakfast of a game at Fenway Park yesterday afternoon.
You see it was Cape Cod Day at Fenway and the Boston Red Sox (44-30) celebrated by showing no signs of life in a 5-1 loss to the San Diego Padres (32-44). Did I mention there was four rain delays and John Lackey lasted 3.1 innings? All wonderful memories that I'm sure those in attendance will treasure forever.
Lackey (5-6) had somehow won his last three starts but he returned to his pathetic form yesterday by allowing five earned runs on four hits with four walks and four strikeouts. He also hit two batters and had a wild pitch.
Listen, I'm extremely sorry that Lackey is going through so much while his wife battles cancer but if he's showing up to work, he has to perform better. At the moment, he's one of the biggest busts in Theo Epstein's reign as Red Sox GM and I don't have much faith that anything will really change in the next few years for Lackey.
The Padres took advantage of Boston's misfortune as Clayton Richard (3-9) went five innings for the cakewalk win. He allowed one earned run on eight hits with two walks and two strikeouts. Ernesto Frieri threw a scoreless sixth and seventh and that's all San Diego needed as the game was mercifully called before the bottom of the eighth.
Lackey made sure to get off to one of his trademark fast starts by allowing a leadoff homer to Will Venable. They added four runs in the fourth on a bases loaded walk, a bases loaded hit by pitch, a wild pitch and an RBI single by Chase Headley. Excuse me while I go vomit after just reliving that miserable half inning.
Adrian Gonzalez (4 hits) provided the only highlight for Boston with an RBI single in the fifth which scored Jacoby Ellsbury. Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis each had two hits in the loss, further indications that they're both heating up.
Interleague play is over at Fenway for this season and now the Red Sox wrap up facing the National League by visiting Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Houston for three games apiece. Boston won't return to Fenway until July 4.
Jon Lester takes on Paul Maholm and the surprising Pirates (37-37) tomorrow night at PNC Park. It sounds like Gonzalez will play some left field on the road trip since Terry Francona has to find a way to keep both him and David Ortiz in the lineup. No easy solutions for that one with no DH.
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