Well that sucked. What happened to the spectacular bullpen of last season?
For the most part Buchholz pitched well. He faced twenty-four batters and struck out seven of them. He allowed eight hits, only one of them for extra bases. He was mostly in control of his pitches, walking only two. His breaking stuff was a little high in the early going but he settled down as he got deeper into the game. He did allow four runs but they were greatly aided by less than stellar defense. What was good to see from Buchholz was that after a rough fourth inning he came back in the fifth with a one-two-three inning (two put outs at first and a strike out.)
Other good things to come out of this game: Drew and Manny are swinging the bat really well. Pedroia is starting to find his swing. He had a base hit in the third, did some nice defensive base running on his way to second, and hit a double in the seventh that was very close to being a home run.
And then there was the bullpen. Snyder (who according to Boston.com has been DFA'd) came in for the seventh inning and faced three batters. He walked two of them (one who advanced to second on a wild pitch) and got a put out at first. He was replaced by Bryan Corey who had a terrible third of an inning. He gave up four hits, including a two-run home run by Thomas, and allowed four runs of his own and two runs for Snyder. Corey was pulled after the home run and replaced by Tavarez who ended the Blue Jays efforts at scoring.
The bullpen wasn't totally to blame for the debacle, though. The defense that the Red Sox put up was spotty at times. They committed two errors (a throwing error by Lugo and a fielding error by Casey) and they failed to make a couple of routine plays. They just seem tired.
Hopefully, tomorrow's game will have a more positive result. Josh, having not left Florida until a few days ago, should be well rested. I, also, don't imagine that all of this losing is sitting well with him.
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