I really hate it when we out hit the other team and still lose, it just makes me feel like we missed out on some good opportunities.

Tim Wakefield: Continued his brilliance on the mound this year for the six innings he was out there. His only trouble was cheap more than it was earned. After breezing thru the first two batters of the 5th he did himself in with a walk. The next two batters got a couple of well placed hits because the ball was not hit hard at all. One run had scored at that point and then the only legit hit of the inning came off the bat of Christian Guzman who tripled the other two runner's home to tie it at 3. Wakes was really good yesterday but sometimes this crazy game bits you where it hurts no matter how good your going.

Manny Ramirez: Just keeps on rolling.

Pete Schourek: He shouldn't really be blamed for the loss but I can't help for being ticked at him. He was brought in, in the 8th to face the catcher Todd Prince, who was promptly pinch-hit for by Brian Buchanan. Schourek should have known from the start that Buchanan was up there to do one thing, put the ball into the crowd. Knowing that and also knowing that he is a low-ball hitter, where would you throw him? Well I don't what he and Tek were thinking, but they put a nice low ball in Buchanan's wheelhouse and the first pitch sailed into the left field seats. Bad baseball.

Pinch hitters: From the stat above you know how bad they've been so far. Though Scott Hatteberg missed a homer in his pinch-hit at bat by about 5-6 feet, so he did hit the ball well. Troy O'Leary was the other PH on the night and when he first came up I was thinking, ok, Troy looks imposing he could jack one out of here. That was until I saw his first swing, you know that flailing/dancing around move that he does? After that first pitch I knew he'd either pop-up or whiff. He did the latter.

This was a game that should have been a W, a game that needed to be won on this road trip and especially since both NY and Toronto lost again. I remember having this problem last year, we hung on to first but couldn't make any space.

Today David Cone makes his return to the mound which I think makes yesterday's loss look even bigger. I don't expect him to last very long and it's not because I know he will be on a strict pitch count.

Also with this being the third game in a row on that hard turf and it being a 1:00 afternoon game I'm willing to bet Jimy gives a bunch of regulars the day off, which in turn will take the offense down a notch for the day. A day when I think allot of O is going to be needed.

It wouldn't shock me to see this line-up today:

1. Nixon RF   2. Merloni SS   3. Daubach 1B   4. Manny DH   5. O'Leary LF   6. Hillenbrand 3B   7. Hatteberg C   8. Lansing 2B   9. Lewis CF

I don't like it either, but you know Jimy...

paul@redsox2000.com