Half hearted, Sox screw themselves

It's hard to describe the 8-7 Red Sox loss to Tampa Bay without throwing up in your mouth. After Matt Clement got shelled on Sunday, hopes were high that David Wells could right the ship against the pathetic D-Rays. Instead he was ineffective and pulled after 3 innings, after allowing 4 runs. The Sox tied it up but let up another run in the bottom of the 4th. Red Sox pitching gave up a whopping 18 hits including a 6th inning 2-run home run off Jon Papelbon.

The Sox did have one bright spot as rookie call up Craig Hanson (below) had a 1-2-3 5th inning, where he threw between 95-97 MPH and had 2 Ks...The effort just wasn't enough, however, as Theo's Rent-a-wreck had another error, and Manny Ramirez went 0 for 5 with 2 strikeouts including the last out of the game after David Ortiz hit a solo homer to make it a one run game.

The loss, and a Yankoff 3-2 win over Baltimore, drops the Red Sox to only a half a game ahead in the standings and a tie in the loss column.