Ridiculous pitching

AP Photo by Charles Krupa

Ridiculous. That's how I describe the pitching we've been seeing this past week. The opposing pitchers have all pitched like aces - I keep thinking that, eventually, we have to go up against a number five starter. Instead, each pitcher has pitched a real gem.

Which isn't to say that our pitching hasn't been good, too. We've had a run of great performances that ended in either a loss or a no decision. Buchholz, Beckett, Lester, Matsuzaka - even, to some extent, Wakefield last night. The Globe: "Sox pitchers have made five straight starts of at least seven innings, allowing three or less runs each time." They've more than matched up to the opposition.

The fault, I'm afraid, lies with our offense. The Sox have a reputation for winning games based on the strength of our bats, not our pitching. And although the pitchers have done their part this week, the offense has not. It's actually kind of amazing that we have scored only 4 runs in the past five games. That's not going to keep you atop the AL East for very long.

The good news is that the (Devil) Rays arrive in town tonight for a three-game series. Hopefully, the RS have revenge in mind after the swept us last weekend. To do that, we need those bats to come to life!