A Costly Loss For The Red Sox

Jon Lester returned to his normal self Wednesday night at Fenway Park. What do I mean by that? I'll tell you. He threw 97 pitches in only 5 1/3 innings, he gave up four earned runs and most importantly, he threw first pitch strikes to only thirteen of twenty five batters. Naturally, he walked four of them. With those kind of game stats, you have to expect that many free passes, and Detroit used them well. Jon looked like the Lester of last season, having trouble finding the strike zone and wasting far too many pitches. Boston, who was ahead 2-0 after two innings, fell to Detroit 7-2. It was truly a forgettable outing for Mr. Lester, and I know HE knows that he cannot continue to pitch this way. Was it because of Oakland's anemic offense that he looked so good in his previous start? The only way to tell will be to monitor his future starts. I hope he can attack the strike zone much more consistantly in the coming months. After all, he's our number three guy in the rotation. Bryan Corey also disappointed in the 8th inning, and his big league chances are dwindling just like sand in an hour glass, one grain at a time.

Big Papi David Ortiz continues to struggle at the plate, going 0-4 and lowering his batting average to .091. Get hot, Big Papi. Please! And to make matters worse, REALLY worse, Mike Lowell "strained" his left thumb on a first inning grounder by Pudge Rodriguez. Today, he's in a splint. He said this after the injury occurred...

"This feels like it got swollen immediately," said Lowell, who lasted one more inning before giving way to pinch hitter Sean Casey in the second. I don't know if that's good or bad," Lowell added. "I definitely would not like to go on the disabled list. Tomorrow is a day that's going to let me know a lot more. I'm hoping for the best."

Peter here, and that tomorrow is NOW today, so as soon as I hear anything, I'll let you know. In other injury news, Bartolo Colon, who slightly (if there IS such a thing) pulled an oblique muscle, felt much better yesterday and may be given clearance to restart a throwing program. Oblique muscle injuries sometimes just DO NOT go away quickly, so again, we have to wish for the best. I hope this injury bug is over, AND SOON!

For a full wrap-up of yesterday's disheartening loss to the Tiggies, just click on the title of this post. I thank you, my Constant Readers, for once again stopping by. I hope you make it a habit. And as always, BE WELL. Your comments are always welcomed and always answered. That's a promise, as the Beatles wrote and played in '63, "From Me To You."