Boston Sleepwalks Through Minnesota
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by user The shark
Ouch!
Losing three straight to a team with a losing record is generally considered a bad idea when you are fighting for a division title. Granted, the Twins have one of the best home records in MLB at 21-10. And granted, they have two of the better starting pitchers in MLB in Cy Young Award Winner Johan Santana and whipper-snapper Francisco Liriano. I'll even give you that they have arguably the hottest hitter in the game (and the best sideburns) in Joe Mauer.
But they only faced Santana, not Liriano, and were tied with the Twins when Johan left the game. Julian Tavarez looked like a chump (again) in game 1, surrendering a walk-off grand salami to Jason Kubel (who?!). Curt Schilling definitely did his part but there is only so much one man can do - especially if he's 39 years old.
Game 2 was worse. The Sox managed just 5 hits and 1 run off of Brad Radke (5-7, 5.83).
And game 3? Hoo boy! They worked Carlos Silva (3-8, 7.07) over for 7 hits and nary a measley run in 6 innings, before finally scoring a few worthless runs off the bullpen in the 8th and 9th innings.
This series might be looked at more closely down the road if the Sox go on to slip into an extended slump. These kind of lackluster performances often cause 1 of 2 things to happen - either this team will treat this as a wake-up call and regain its focus, or the All-Star break can't come fast enough.
I'll keep my fingers crossed.
Date
Thu 06/15/06, 7:30 pm EST
