The thrill of victory... the agony of defeat

Five days ago Josh Beckett and And Sonnastine squared off in a pitchers duel that eventually turned into a dramatic victory that kept the Rays atop the AL East, and frustrated Red Sox Nation.

Last night, Beckett was even more dominating, holding the Rays to 3 hits and 1 run while fanning 7, but the Red Sox offense was shut down again by "Andy bleeping Sonnastine" and the Rays walked off with another comeback win when Justin Masterson faltered in the 9th.

Masterson (only 23 mind you) may have been feeling the pressure, but it's not Justin's struggles that worry me... it's the lack of offense, particularly from the heart of the lineup that killed us again last night.

When Beckett and "Sonny" did this dance a week ago, Ortiz, Yuke, Bay and Lowell combined to go 0 for 17 while Beckett was mowing the Rays down... Last night, the Sox were without Bay (having a baby) and still without Drew ("tricky" back) and Ortiz, Youk and Lowell combined to go 1 for 10 - Yuke's sac fly being the only run we scored in the game.

Now I can't say that there's been a lack of offense, one day after the Sox cracked 6 homers and scored 13 runs, but it seems like the timely hitting we have become accustomed to seeing from Big Papi and Yuke has disappeared... Ortiz is hitting .218 this month, Yuke is batting .211, Bay is batting .265 amd Mike Lowell is playing with a torn labrum...

And I'll give credit to Sonnastine, despite being mediocre against everyone else, he's stepped up against the Sox, posting a 0.00 ERA and fanning 12 through 13 innings this year. But if the Sox want to repeat, they're going to need to get the big bats going, especially against pitching staffs like the Angels and Rays...

All that said, the guys at Surviving Grady remind us that there was something good to take away from last night's heartbreaking loss - Josh Beckett looked like Josh Beckett again. As we mentioned yesterday, he's been lights out since coming back from the elbow tingles, and has done it on limited pitches. He's got a ridiculous 0.95 ERA over his last 3 starts (19 IP) and has collected 7 strikeouts in each outing.

Bottom Line: I'm happy to see Beckett back to his 2007 form, but you can't win games without offense... maybe we should have saved one of those home runs from Monday for last night. Now, the pressure is back on us to win today and tie things up again before heading to Toronto...

This is what I get for making those ice cream jokes yesterday...