I didn't see any of this one, it was Strato night, but we did have it on the radio. Though my full attention wasn't totally directed at the radio, when I did stop to listen closely it seemed like we were always making the last out of the inning with runners in scoring position. So it wasn't much of a surprise when I looked at the boxscore this morning to see, not only had the team left eight runners on base (15 if you add up all the base runners for each batter), five of them were in scoring position with two outs.

Probably the reason this is so completely frustration, is that I really feel that nothing has changed since last year. I know we have injuries, I know it's very early in the season, but it doesn't make things any less frustrating.

With the exception of Lowe's struggles (3 walks last night, including the game loser) the pitching has been phenomenal. Our starters have given up a combined two runs in a little over twenty-one innings the last three games, and we have two losses to show for it.

This first part of the schedule, save New York, is relatively easy for the Sox, and that's exactly what we want while waiting for Nomar to get back. April is a crucial month, probably more crucial than any April in recent memory, we need to get on track, and fast.

Maybe this was simply a case of playing down to the level of your competition, because the Os are horrible. They may very well lose 100+ games this year, and losing two to them is simply unacceptable, early in the season or not. And I don't want to hear how well their pitchers did, because our did just as well, if not better, and their also a much lighter hitting team than us, yet they found a way.

Home opener today, lets hope a little home cooking is what the Hit Doctor ordered.

Game time: 1:05pm (if it doesn't rain).

paul@redsox2000.com