Sox need to Wake up

A disturbing trend continued for the Boston Red Sox Wednesday night as they lost 7-1 to the Cleveland Indians at the Jake. It was the Sox 4th of nuckleballer Tim Wakefield's 5 starts this season, and 3rd in a row, they lost. In fact the Sox have only scored 2 runs in the last 3 games for Wake, who has given up 7 runs of his own in the 3 games. Cleveland's Jhonny Peralta (above right) hit a three-run home run off Wakefield in the first inning.

While Wake has always had periods where he has been hot or cold on the mound, he has not been as bad this season as his 1-4 record would indicate. The most glaring problem, besides the lack of run support, appears to be new catcher Josh Bard. Bard, who was signed after the Sox traded Doug Mirabelli to the Padres for second baseman Mark Loretta, had trouble catching pitches again last night. In just six games, Wake already has more passed balls than he had in his previous 156 games over four major league seasons.

From the Associated Press:

"I told Josh to keep his head up," said Wakefield, who gave up three runs and five hits in 5 2-3 innings. "I know those balls he missed came back to haunt us. I'm not disappointed in him at all."

The only highlight from the Sox was Wily Mo Pena's solo home run (2nd of the year) off Cleveland Indians pitcher Cliff Lee in the fourth inning, that cut the lead to 4-1.

Your Uncle Buck did crack a smile after seeing the Tampa Bay Devil Rays walk 14 batters and still beat the New York Yankoffs 4-2 in 10 innings. The Yankoffs and their 185 million dollar salary stranded 16 men on base in the loss. Carl Crawford delivered a tie breaking double off Mariano Rivera in the 10th inning. 'Roidhead Gary Sheffield hit a two-run homer earlier in the game but failed to get a hit with the bases-loaded and 2 out in the ninth. Actually he kinda jogged to 1st after grounding to 3rd. A little hustle and he might have beat out the grounder that was bobbled by the Rays 3rd baseman. Too bad...