The Rays (Minus Luke Scott & B.J. Upton) Are Way Too Easy To Root For

Yes friends, Memorial Day weekend (the unofficial start of summer) is here but the Boston Red Sox still haven't gotten over the .500 mark in the 2012 season.



They've had three chances (four if you count Opening Day) to get over that but they haven't done such a simple task that most mediocre baseball teams can do in their sleep. It's very possible that it might be June before it happens (if ever). Let that fully sink in and wash over you.



Tonight at Fenway Park, Tampa Bay (28-18, 11-11 away) opened up a 7-1 lead in the fourth inning before settling for a 7-4 victory in the series opener against Boston (22-23, 9-12 home).



Jon Lester's (3-4) outing was bad enough but this couldn't mercifully end without that wonderfully pointless exercise that's unique to baseball: intentionally hitting a guy with a pitch than both dugouts and bullpens emptying but absolutely nothing of consequence happening. The particulars of this event were Red Sox reliever Franklin Morales drilling Rays redneck racist Luke Scott on the hip in the ninth. It was all payback for drama earlier in the game (Burke Badenhop hitting Dustin Pedroia in the 6th). Things like that give me an ice cream headache. Nobody can be as sensitive as baseball players and the mock outrage when utterly predictable stuff like that occurs is equally pathetic. Who cares, as long as it's not hitting guys in the head.



Moving on, Lester was rocked. He lasted but four innings, allowing seven earned runs on six hits with four strikeouts and three walks. He served up three homers in less than two innings, always a winning formula.



Rays rookie Alex Cobb (2-0) got the win and it's good to see Tampa Bay finally developing some young pitchers. They haven't had enough of those in recent years that have found any success. Cobb went five innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on three hits with two strikeouts and four walks.



This shouldn't even have been competitive but as they've done all season, the Red Sox bullpen stubbornly kept them in it. Scott Atchison threw three scoreless innings while Matt Albers and Morales followed him with scoreless frames of their own. Combined they allowed only two hits with four strikeouts and two walks in five innings of work. Maybe Bobby V should think about reversing roles and having them start the game since Boston's starters clearly couldn't be less consistent.



Kevin Youkilis gave the Red Sox a 1-0 lead in the first with an RBI single. Matt Joyce (9th of the season) put the Rays in front for good with a grand slam in the third inning. Elliott Johnson (3rd of the season) and new Tampa Bay leadoff hitter Carlos Pena (7th of the season) hit back-to-back homers in the fourth with Johnson's coming with Chris Gimenez on base too.



Boston mounted its ill-fated rally in the fifth as Adrian Gonzalez hit an RBI double off the Monster to cut it to 7-2. Marlon Byrd had an RBI single in the sixth and Mike Aviles hit a sacrifice fly but Jake McGee was able to get David Ortiz to fly out to right (with two runners on) to end the frame.



Tampa Bay's bullpen was even more impressive (considering they had a lead) as McGee got four outs, Joel Peralta earned the hold with two strikeouts in a 1-2-3 eighth and Fernando Rodney had a 1-2-3 ninth with a strikeout for his 15th save of the season. I bet you didn't know that Rodney's ERA is 0.38. Really.



I don't know what kind of deal with the devil Joe Maddon made but it's insane when you sit back and realize what he's getting out of things like Pena leading off, Red Sox castoff Drew Sutton (2 for 3 with a walk) and Rodney as a lights out closer. If everything seemingly works for the Rays (in the regular season at least before their lack of offense kills them in the postseason), nothing is ever right for the Red Sox, who take one step forward and two steps back every week.



With Celtics-Sixers Game 7 on tap tomorrow night (8 p.m., ABC) and a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals against the Heat on the line, I'm pretty sure about five people will watch all of the Red Sox-Rays game tomorrow (7:15 p.m., Fox). Four of them will be old folks that fall asleep in the third inning with the TV on. That's probably best since Josh Beckett (4-4) faces David Price (6-3).



I can already smell a Rays sweep this weekend while everyone is more tuned into parties, barbecues and the beach.



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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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