Hardball Heaven

The Red Sox visited their own personal House of Horrors for three games this weekend, and ended up losing 2 of 3 to the no-name Tampa Bay Devil Rays. They even caught a break this time and didn't have to face Scott Kazmir, the Sox killer who's currently on the DL. Mood-wise, this is the lowest Red Sox Nation has been all year long. The Yanks fortified themselves with the Abreu/Lidle trade, and have played well since the All-Star break. The Sox, by contrast, have floundered over the past few weeks, and now find themselves down 2 games in the AL East and out of the wild card picture if the playoffs started today. This is what happens when you give up home runs to guys named Greg Norton, Ben Zobrist, Travis Lee, and Dioner Navarro, and you lose a 6-2 lead. Just plain ugly. This one was the proverbial kick in the gut.

On the bright side, what's the very best thing that could happen to a struggling Red Sox team? How about a three-game set against the Kansas City Royals? That was the prescription the last time we were depressed (after getting pummeled by the A's at Fenway) and hopefully it does the trick this time too. Sox are off today (what's an offday in Kansas City like?) and then face the Royals starting tomorrow night. A sweep is a must, especially with Lester, Beckett, and Schilling going. Yanks are off as well and start a series in Chicago tomorrow night against the White Sox. 'Bout time for Ozzie Guillen's team to start playing some $#%@! baseball. 'Bout time the other Sox did too, or we could be on the outside looking in come October.

One note on the weekend series against Tampa - Big Papi became the first Red Sox hitter to ever hit 40 HRs in three straight seasons. Manny should join him at some point this season.