Where's Bob Lobel When You Need Him?

Former Boston sportscaster Bob Lobel used to talk about the Red Sox and the panic button whenever the home team lost like two games in a row in September. God only knows where he is right now, probably at the bottom of a bottle and/or in the gutter, but no doubt Lobel is pushing his panic button non-stop.

The Red Sox (85-61) completed a nightmare of a road trip 1-6 with a 9-1 loss this afternoon at Tropicana Field to the Tampa Bay Rays (81-64). By sweeping the three-game set, the Rays climbed to within 3.5 games of the AL wild card behind the Red Sox. Oh and did I mention that they come to Fenway Park next week for four games? Yep.

Jon Lester (15-7) took the hill today and as Boston's ace you would have to think he'd give them a good chance to win. Thanks to their inept offense, he basically had to throw either a no-hitter or shutout to do it and thankfully that was out the window in the first inning.

Tampa Bay scored three runs in their first time up and later added a grand slam by B.J. Upton (4 hits, 3 runs) in the fifth to take it.

Rays starter James Shields (15-10) came up two outs short of his 12th complete game of the season (absurd) but that's about the only way he failed. He went 8.1 innings, allowing one earned run on seven hits with three walks and five strikeouts.

I'm not enough of a contrarian to say he deserves the AL Cy Young (he doesn't) but he should get a decent amount of votes since he's been awesome (2.70 ERA) all season-long.

Marco Scutaro (2 hits) provided the only Red Sox run with a solo homer (his 6th of hte season) in the third. Mike Aviles (2 hits) was his only teammate with multiple hits since Boston managed seven in the latest depressing loss.

The Red Sox seemed poised to break out of their recent slump as they loaded the bases with one out in the third but Shields buckled down to get David Ortiz to fly out to left and Josh Reddick fouled out to end their last real threat.

Unlike Boston who has now lost five in a row, the Yankees snapped their four-game losing streak today in Anaheim. They're up 3.5 games in the AL East and for all intents and purposes, Boston can kiss the division goodbye. Now it's all about survival mode.

After a much-needed off-day tomorrow, Toronto comes to Boston for two games, Tampa Bay is here for four games and then Baltimore shows up for three games. It's one of the longest homestands of the season and it couldn't come at a more opportune time.

Tim Wakefield pitches on Tuesday night (only the eighth time he's gone for win No. 200) as the Red Sox try to get this whole mess turned around.

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Rays Hold Red Sox To Three Hits For Third Straight Game At Fenway Park

Well it's a good thing that the Tampa Bay Rays will likely miss the playoffs this season. I can say with a straight face that they pose a much bigger threat to the Boston Red Sox than the New York Yankees because of their stellar top of the rotation.



Buoyed by the third consecutive outstanding start by their pitchers, the Rays (66-56) blanked the Red Sox (74-48) 4-0 this afternoon at Fenway Park. It helped them take the series 2-1 and move to 6-5 against Boston so far this season (seven more meetings remain).



Boston was held to three hits in each of the three games against Tampa Bay yesterday (doubleheader) and today. That's the first time since 1974 that the Red Sox have been held to three hits three games in a row.



Following James Shields and Jeff Niemann's lead, David Price (11-10) completely shutdown Boston's lineup that is without David Ortiz (heel) for the next 10 days. Price went eight innings with three walks and six strikeouts.



It was a perfect day weather wise and a rare afternoon start but the fans that were lucky enough to get a ticket had to pay their debt by sitting through the usual torture of a John Lackey (11-9) start. By his terrible standards, he wasn't bad at all but Price vs. Lackey is a matchup Boston will never win.



In 6.2 innings, Lackey allowed four runs (three earned) on six hits with three walks and seven strikeouts.



Ben Zobrist's (2 hits, 2 RBIs) ground out in the first scored Johnny Damon (2 hits) with Tampa Bay's first run. B.J. Upton hit a solo homer in the fourth, Evan Longoria followed suit with a solo bomb in the fifth and Zobrist rounded it out with an RBI double in the seventh.



The Royals did the Red Sox a favor by somehow beating the Yankees tonight in a game which Bruce Chen started. New York still leads Boston for first-place in the AL East by half a game.



After three days at home (three games in two days) including the off-day, the Red Sox go back on the road for one of their most difficult trips of the season: four in Kansas City followed by four in Texas.



Josh Beckett faces Luke Hochevar tomorrow night in a rematch of a game the Royals won 4-3 back on July 28 at Fenway, the finale of a four-game series split. After losing five of its last seven games and dropping out of first-place in the AL East while its offense has went missing, the Red Sox need to wake up. They want no part of the AL Wild Card and a trip to Texas in the ALDS.



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Red Sox Split Day-Night Doubleheader With Rays, Record First Triple Play In 17 Years

They might not have the same talent level with Carlos Pena, Carl Crawford, Rafael Soriano, Grant Balfour, Joaquin Benoit, etc. all gone but the Tampa Bay Rays are still a tough matchup for the Boston Red Sox.



There are few if any teams in MLB that draft and develop players as well as the Rays so Crawford has already been replaced by Desmond Jennings. Most importantly, they have a deep and young pitching staff: James Shields, David Price, Jeff Niemann, Jeremy Hellickson and Wade Davis.



The Red Sox (74-46) were able to beat the Rays (64-56) 3-1 this afternoon in the first tidy game of a day-night doubleheader but Tampa Bay bounced back to take the nightcap 6-2 at Fenway Park. The Yankees beat the Royals tonight as well meaning New York takes a half game lead for first-place in the AL East.



Boston's win was the direct result of the brilliance of five players: Jacoby Ellsbury, Jon Lester, Daniel Bard, Jonathan Papelbon and Dustin Pedroia. It's rare that a baseball game can be boiled down to that few elements but keep in mind, there were only six hits combined in that one and it only took two hours and 24 minutes.



Shields (11-10) went the distance in the loss, his MLB-best ninth complete game of the season. He allowed three earned runs on three hits with one walk and six strikeouts.



Lester (12-6) went one less inning but he was just a smidge more effective. The lefty went seven innings, allowing one earned run on three hits with a walk and eight strikeouts.



Tampa Bay took a 1-0 lead on the first as Jennings led off the game with a double, stole third and scored on Evan Longoria's ground out.



Boston got all of its runs in the third as Ellsbury drilled a three-run bomb over the Rays bullpen, scoring Josh Reddick and Mike Aviles.



Daniel Bard got a 1-2-3 with two strikeouts for his 28th hold of the season while Jonathan Papelbon continued his incredible stretch of work with a clean ninth for his 28th save of the season.



Pedroia ended the game with authority by snagging a B.J. Upton liner up the middle that seemed destined to be a base hit.



Game two was not so kind to the home team as Niemann (8-4) had one of the most impressive starts by an opposing pitcher that Boston will see all season.



Like Shields, he also threw a complete game (nine innings), allowing two earned runs on three hits with a walk and 10 strikeouts. I don't usually give out Fantasy Baseball tips but pick this guy up, I'm pretty sure he'll be available on most waiver wires.



Erik Bedard (4-8) is still looking for his first win in a Red Sox uniform after three starts. He went six innings, allowing three runs (one earned) on seven hits with no walks and six strikeouts. Tampa Bay got to his pitch count early-in the second-by fouling off the most amount of pitches I can ever remember (29 in his outing) by one pitcher.



Luck was not on his side even though Boston turned its first triple play since 1994 (John Valentin!). The Rays scored twice in the second on a throwing error by Jed Lowrie and a ground out by Matt Joyce.



Jason Varitek's (his eighth of the season) in the third cut it to 2-1 and Sean Rodriguez was the poor sap who grounded into the triple play in the fourth (Lowrie to Pedroia to Gonzalez: 5-4-3). That was only the 30th triple play in franchise history.



You figure that momentum could carry over but Jennings (2 hits) hit a solo homer over the Monster in the fifth and Boston had to play catch up once again. Ellsbury hit another homer (his 22nd) in the sixth but the Rays pushed across three in the eighth against Matt Albers featuring some more sloppy defense by the Red Sox (even if they weren't called errors).



B.J. Upton (3 hits, 2 runs, stolen base) had an RBI single-his first clutch hit in years-while Ben Zobrist (3 hits, 2 runs, 2 stolen bases) "stole home" on another bad throw by Lowrie. Casey Kotchman (2 hits) added an RBI single for even more of a cushion.



David Ortiz missed both games and will reportedly be in a boot for the next few days, but not go on the disabled list with a bruised heel.



The rubber match is tomorrow afternoon, yes another day game (today was a rain makeup date). John Lackey goes against David Price. The Red Sox could benefit from the win since they would take the series from the Rays and more importantly, head out on the long road trip (eight games) with renewed confidence.



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