To Nobody's Surprise, Daniel Bard Sure Is A Mediocre Starting Pitcher

When will the Red Sox give up on the Daniel Bard as a starter experiment? It has been clear since day one that he's nothing more than average in this new role and he's maddeningly inconsistent to top it all off.



Boston (18-21, 9-10 away) spotted Philadelphia (21-19, 10-9 home) a 4-0 lead in the first inning and with Cole Hamels (6-1) on the mound, it's no wonder that the Phillies held on for a 6-4 win in the series and interleague opener tonight at Citizens Bank Park.



It was the sixth straight win for the Phillies and Hamels as well who improved to 4-0 against the Red Sox in five career starts.



Hamels went seven innings, allowing three earned runs on six hits with nine strikeouts and a walk. Bard (3-5) lasted five innings, allowing five earned runs on three hits with three strikeouts and five walks.



The Red Sox hit three home runs but unfortunately they were all of the solo variety. The Phillies hit two homers but they also did a better job of hitting with guys on base.



Of course Jonathan Papelbon had to get the easiest save opportunity possible in his first game back against his former club. In pinning down his MLB-leading 12th save of the season, Papelbon faced the murderer's row of Kelly Shoppach, Daniel Nava, Marlon Byrd and Nick Punto. Shoppach singled but Papelbon retired Nava and Byrd before striking out the overmatched Punto (why is he here?) to end it.



There was some controversy in the ninth on Byrd's ground out which seemed to be a bang bang play at first base. He was called out and this caused Bobby Valentine to run out of the dugout and freak out (complete with hopping and the umpire accidentally spitting his gum at him). Bobby received the first ejection of his Red Sox career (that looks destined to be one year or less).



Bard's nightmare first inning included a two-run single by Carlos Ruiz (2 hits, run, stolen base), a sacrifice fly from Ty Wigginton and John Mayberry Jr's RBI double.



Boston chipped away at the 4-0 hole with a solo homer by Mike Aviles (6th of the season) in the third and Nava's sacrifice fly in the fourth.



Hunter Pence (10th of the season) hit a solo home run in the fifth for the Phillies but Cody Ross (2 hits, 2 runs) responded with his own solo blast in the sixth and Adrian Gonzalez broke his month-long homerless drought with a solo home run of his own in the eighth.



Citizens Bank Park is still a Little League Park, aka Wiliamsport, as evidenced by light-hitting Freddy Galvis's (2nd of the season) solo shot in the eighth against Franklin Morales that gave Philly an insurance run.



In addition to the loss, Boston suffered two freak injuries as Jarrod Saltalamacchia was cut on his ear by the baseball when it deflected off Ty Wiggington. Salty had to leave the game in the fifth inning and go to the hospital to check for a concussion. Ross fouled the ball off his foot in the eighth and he had to be replaced. Their status is up in the air for Saturday's game.



Speaking of that contest (7:15 p.m., FOX) Jon Lester (2-3) takes on Joe Blanton (4-3). This is the one pitching matchup in the three-game series that at least on paper favors the Red Sox so they need to find a way to beat Blanton and the Phils.



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Red Sox Salvage A Split In Tampa Bay

A win in mid-May might not mean much in the grand scheme of things but it had to help the Red Sox' shaky confidence that they were able to beat the Rays tonight, 5-3 in the series finale at Tropicana Field.



Boston (18-20, 9-9 away) snapped Tampa Bay's (24-15, 14-4 home) four-game win streak by combining adequate pitching with some timely hitting. What a concept! They also won a close game after losing 2-1 on Wednesday night. It was the Red Sox' sixth win in their last seven contests.



Cody Ross drove in four RBIs in the victory, all with two outs. He was 2 for 4 with a solo homer and also walked. Marlon Byrd hit his first home run as a member of the Red Sox.



Felix Doubront (4-1) had his typical performance: he was good while he was out there but he didn't last particularly long. In 5.2 innings, he allowed two runs (one earned) on six hits with seven strikeouts and four walks. As he gets more experience, he'll hopefully realize that strikeouts aren't as important as getting deep into games and saving your bullpen.



Bobby Valentine did his best Tony La Russa impression as he used three relievers in a row to face one specific Rays batter. Ugh, there should be a limit on stuff like that in a baseball game. It doesn't help the fact that all five of Boston's starting pitchers are in the Top 7 in MLB for longest times between pitches. It must have effectively lulled the Rays to sleep though since Rich Hill, Scott Atchison and Andrew Miller all did their jobs-retiring one batter.



Vicente Padilla pitched an inning and Alfredo Aceves entered with two outs in the eighth and allowed an inherited runner to score but he managed to close the door with a 1-2-3 ninth for his eighth save of the season.



Tampa Bay rookie Matt Moore (1-4) is going to be a star, despite the fact that he's struggling a bit now while he adjusts to MLB competition. He went six innings, allowing three earned runs on five hits with eight strikeouts and a walk.



The Red Sox scored a run in the first, second and third innings to open with a 3-0 lead. Ross walked with the bases loaded in the first, Byrd homered to left in the second and Ross (7th of the season) hit his homer to center in the third.



Jeff Keppinger (2 hits) brought the Rays back with an RBI single in the third and Rich Thompson cut it to 3-2 with an RBI single in the fourth. Tampa Bay's shift on Ross completely backfired in the eighth since what would have been an easy ground out to the shortstop turned into a two-run single that scored Dustin Pedroia (2 hits) and David Ortiz.



B.J. Upton greeted Aceves with an RBI single but Boston's closer recovered to get Luke Scott to ground out with runners on second and third to end the eighth.



It's crazy that it's already here but interleague play starts tomorrow across MLB and the Red Sox get a juicy matchup with the Phillies (20-19, 5th in NL East) at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. Daniel Bard (3-4) faces Cole Hamels (5-1) tomorrow night (7:05 p.m., NESN), Jon Lester (2-3) gets Joe Blanton (4-3) on Saturday night (7:15 p.m., NESN) and Josh Beckett (3-4) opposes Cliff Lee (0-1) on Sunday afternoon (1:35 p.m., NESN). As always, like a true drug dealer, MLB gives us a taste of the good stuff (interleague play) and then takes three weeks off before firing it up again in a big way with five series in a row during June.



On paper, two of the three games are not good matchups for the Red Sox (Friday and Sunday). Add in the fact that Citizens Bank is a launching pad and Boston really struggled last season in NL parks (no DH) so this will be a tough weekend even though the Phillies' offense has been really poor. Who would have guessed when this series rolled around that both these teams with high expectations would be in fifth-place in their respective loaded divisions?



I was lamenting the other day about how the Red Sox have played so many dogs lately but you won't be hearing me say that for the next month. Check out this insanely difficult stretch for Boston: two in Tampa Bay, three in Philly, three in Baltimore, three vs. Tampa Bay, four vs. Detroit, three at Toronto, three vs. Baltimore, three vs. Washington and three at Miami. The Cubs series which is four weeks away is the next time that the Red Sox play a truly bad team and yes, I know the Tigers (18-20) haven't been so hot lately but they'll almost certainly improve.



Here is the Red Sox 2012 interleague schedule: three at Philly, three vs. Washington, three at Miami, three at Cubs, three vs. Miami, three vs. Atlanta



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