Day 85: Dismal Days in Detroit for Red Sox

Look what happens when the Red Sox stink up the joint... I'm reduced to alliteration in my titles. I blame them. I'm not even sure where to start with this weekend series in Detroit. The Sox came into the four-game stint with the best record in baseball, but coughed up three of the four games and now... well, they've got company.

Thursday night was by far the most frustrating of the series. John Lackey pitched another outstanding game, allowing just two earned runs and striking out five in seven innings. Boston rallied for the go ahead run in the top of the eighth and looked pretty confident going into the bottom of the ninth with a slim one run lead. And then Andrew Bailey entered the game. And blew the save. Jerk.

The Red Sox bounced back on Friday night for an 17-hit, 10-run attack where Shane Victorino exploded with four hits and five RBI, including his third home run of the year. It was just what the doctor ordered for the struggling Jon Lester who hadn't won a game since May 15th. Both Stephen Drew and Jose Iglesias had three hits in the offensive attack. Iglesias, by the way, is batting .426 this season. Guess he was tired of people crapping on his offensive skills.

Just when you thought the Sox had the Tigers figured out, they go and give up 10 runs and 15 hits. What the...? Detroit took full advantage of rookie Allen Webster's inexperience at the major league level, tagging him for four runs in the first. He lasted just 4.1 innings and the Red Sox offense never could climb out of that early hole. How could they when facing Max Scherzer? The 11-0 Max Scherzer...

But wait! There's still another game—they still have time to come away from the weekend with a split. And after Felix Doubront's shutout performance against the Rays in his last start, how could they lose? Well, I'll tell you... Andrew Miller gave up three runs in the eighth sparked by a controversial double that Daniel Nava caught but then dropped on the transfer. The umpires huddled up and called it a two base error which was just stupid. That was the end. Blerg.

So all in all it was a pretty sucky weekend. While the Red Sox still sit atop the AL East, it's a rather slim lead—just two games over the Orioles. But honestly... did you even think they would be in this position on June 24th? I certainly didn't.