Over The Monster: Lots Of Sox To Blame In 10-9 Loss To Rangers

The Red Sox went back-to-back-to-back. They scored seven runs in the third inning and nine overall. They spotted Josh Beckett a six run lead to work with. And still, the Red Sox lost Friday night, 10-9 to the Texas Rangers. Nelson Cruz’ homerun off of Tim Wakefield in the bottom of the 11th sealed the second-straight devastating loss for Boston and Over The Monster can find a lot of reasons why.

Beckett was awful, awful, awful, giving up six earned on ten hits and three homers in five innings.

Francona let him stay out there that long.

There’s J.D. Drew who hit two homers, but also blew a pair of plays in the outfield, letting runs score.

There’s Victor Martinez (or Ryan Kalish, depending on your view of the play), who let a ball get away at home and a run score.

There’s Felix Doubront, who allowed a pair of hits and runs without closing an inning (though both of those were arguably the result of Drew’s bad play).

There’s Daniel Bard who allowed the game-tying run in the eighth (though, again, the defense…)

In a season of dramatic disappointments, this is perhaps the worst. Leaving the bases loaded with zero outs against the Rays in extras is one thing. But with the playoff race staring the Red Sox in the face, with the Rays having already lost and the Yankees down in Kansas City, and asking the team to just grab ahold, they turned their backs. This is a collapse of monumental proportions and, depending on who comes away injured, importance.

This is the one you want to forget, but can’t.