Diamondbacks 5, Red Sox 1

 

Okay, for some reason, it seems the message isn't getting through, so I'll make it simple, as Al Davis simple as I can: Just win, baby! We need wins, not losses. Your mission, Boston, should you choose to accept it or not, is to W-I-N these road games while the Yankees and Blue Jays are duking it out up in Toronto.

But for some reason, the Red Sox went off mission last night and lost their game in Arizona to the Diamondbacks, 5-1. All the offense could do all game was a Yoshida one-run RBI single in the third, and Giolito gave up four runs in five innings for the loss. 

The Yankees beat Toronto, 3-1, last night, so the Sox didn't lose any ground to the Blue Jays, but winning the division isn't a realistic goal for this team. With their loss and New York's win, Boston fell a game and a half behind the Yankees in the Wild Card standings. We'd still make the playoffs if the season ended with the standings as they are right now, but we're only 3½ ahead of Seattle with 18 games left to the season, and half of those games are against Toronto (82-60), Detroit (82-61), and New York (79-63). It's not the time to be losing to .500-level teams.

C'mon, Boston! Toughen up and avoid the indignity of getting swept by Arizona at a time when we most need to be doing the sweeping!  Bello (11-6, 3.07) goes against the D-back's Ryne Nelson (7-3, 3.57) this afternoon. Hit some homers! Throw strikeouts! Win the motherfucking game, and then we move on to Oakland to sweep the A's (66-77), the weakest team we'll see for the rest of this season.