Rays 2, Red Sox 1

 

You don't win games by scoring only one run. 

Bottom of the ninth, two out, two on, score tied at one, the Red Sox learned that it's batting that wins games when the Rays won the the game with a walk-off, RBI single off reliever Whitlock. The Sox squander what was certainly Bello's finest pitching performance this season (eight innings, 11 K's, and one run).

The rubber match of this series is this afternoon (1:40). For the final game, the Red Sox will start lefty Patrick Sandoval (1-6, 4.99) . . . oh fuck, we're gonna lose again, aren't we? 

There's only seven games left to the regular season and Boston leads the White Sox by five games in the Wild Card standings. Apparently, Chad Tracy is resting his starters for the playoffs (Tolle was originally scheduled to start yesterday instead of Bello) and is conceding games to teams like Tampa Bay. He has apparently accepted what I'm having a hard time with, that the Red Sox will be the second Wild Card team and will play a three-game (probably only two) playoff series in New York and that will be the end of this improbable and strange season.