Orioles vs Red Sox (8/10-8/12)

Game 1: A good start by Daisuke Matsuzaka and an inspiring comeback were wasted on Friday night against the Baltimore Orioles. Erik Bedard and Matsuzaka engaged in a pitching duel for 7 innings with the Orioles leading 1-0. Finally, in the 7th the Red Sox tied it and then took the lead on bunt single by Julio Lugo that opened the flood gates. The Red Sox would score 3 more runs in the inning as the game appeared to be all but over.

But then Terry Francona revealed his ugly head and reminded me of how much I dislike his bullpen management skills (or lack thereof). Francona opted to go with Gagne to start the 8th inning despite the fact that the coming matchups favored Hideki Okajima. Not only that, but after the initial mistake he made the mistake of leaving Gagne in for too long when he was struggling. Okajima would finally come in, but it was too late as he allowed a weak basehit and the tying run scored.

Okajima would pitch the bottom of the 9th and give up a leadoff double to Brian Roberts who ended up scoring on a sacrifice fly by Nick Markakis. Francona also inexplicably left 1st and 2nd base open with 1 out in the bottom of the 9th inning with the inning run of 3rd base.

Boston lost by the score of 6-5 as Eric Gagne's struggles in a Red Sox uniform continued.

Game 2: Josh Beckett helped the Red Sox back into the win column on Saturday afternoon. Beckett had no-hit stuff in the early innings but struggled in the 9th inning. Beckett was 1 out away from his 1st shutout in a Red Sox uniform before allowing 2 runs and giving way to Jonathan Papelbon who closed it out.

Beckett pitched 8.2 innings, allowed 8 hits and 2 runs while striking out 8 and walking none. JD Drew had 3 hits and 2 RBIs while Julio Lugo contributed with 2 hits and 2 RBIs of his own as the Red Sox won by the score of 6-2.

Game 3: Terry Francona tried his best to blow the game against the Orioles on Sunday and succeeded. He wasted a good start by Curt Schilling at the same time. Schilling went 6 innings without allowing an earned run in his 2nd start back from the disabled list. He left the game with a 3-1 lead and was in line for the win until Terry Francona attempted to use his league-best bullpen.

Francona, instead of sticking with Hideki Okajima (who has been lights out this season), went with the struggling Eric Gagne once again. Gagne replaced Okajima after he recorded an out and allowed 1 baserunner and promptly allowed a game-tying 2-run homer to Miguel Tejada.

The game stayed tied until the 10th inning when Terry Francona removed Manny Delcarmen after 1 inning pitched. He replaced him with mop up man Kyle Snyder (instead of Papelbon). Snyder gave up 2 base hits to start the inning which brought up Kevin Millar. Instead of walking Millar to create a force play at home with no outs and the winning run on 3rd base, Francona opted to have Snyder pitch to Kevin Millar who cranked a 3-run walkoff homerun as the Orioles took the series from the Red Sox.

Much of the blame from the losses this series can be attributed to Terry Francona and Eric Gagne and I'm sure they both know it. I'm also confident that Eric Gagne will find himself at some point before the end of the season and be a worthwhile acquisition for the Red Sox.

The frustration was compounded with a Yankees victory over Cleveland which brought them to within 4 games of 1st place in the American League East.