Struggles on the road... and in the pen.

Lost two of three in st louis, and got run by the cubs today by a 14-6 football score. Arroyo continues to struggle as of late, as he let up 7 earned and was completely outpitched by Maddux. Maddux is amazing to watch, he dominates games without throwing over 86 all game. You never see him throw right down the pipe, always nibbling at corners and changing speeds with incredible command. Then to top it off, Halama comes in for long relief and Maddux goes deep off him for his first HR in the last five years. Instead of stopping the bleeding, the pen ripped the wound wide open with Halama and Embree allowing another 7. No real bright spots today besides Tiz going deep twice. Miller vs Zambrano will be tough, very confident in Wade lately but Zambrano is having a monster year. Wake vs the Koronka is the wild card. Lets hurry up and finish up this national league ballpark BS up and get back to Fenway and beat up on the Reds and Pirates.

A lot of people are concerned about the right side of the infield offensively. Listen, The Red Sox are second in the league in runs scored despite powerless corner infielders, and a 22 million dollar slugger who's hitting .250 and has hit 4 home runs in the last month and a half. Our offense is not firing on all cylinders and you have the second most productive run total? That is not a problem. Pitching is though. Missing our ace coupled with the worst bullpen in the league is of serious concern. Besides Timlin, and Myers as of late, our pen is atrocious. Embree cant even get lefties out, Halama is trash, Mantei can be aiming down and in and let one rip over the backstop at any minute, And Foulke encounters an easy inning about as often as Millar hits to right field. Heres something from Buster Olneys blog on espn.com addressing this topic.

"The Boston bullpen has an ERA of 5.27. That's last in the AL, and well-earned – the Red Sox bullpen has allowed the highest slugging percentage by far, at .453 (K.C. is next to last, at .405), and it has the lowest ratio of strikeouts per nine innings (5.68) in the league and the second lowest ratio of strikeouts to walks (1.71).

The good thing is that general manager Theo Epstein has the time to address the problem with a trade or, perhaps, the likely shift of Bronson Arroyo or Tim Wakefield to the bullpen. But there is this quandary: how much should they trust closer Keith Foulke, who has held opponents scoreless in 16 of his 25 outings but has looked very shaky."

You get Schill back, and make some moves to improve the pen then you have another championship caliber team on your hands.

-I liked what Ross told me Gammons said concerning the yanks, on weei yesterday. Something to the extent of "its tough to win when you have 4 or 5 should be DH's on the field playing defense" Giambi, Tino, Bernie, Sierra, etc. Just saw sportscenter clips of Giambi making about 4 errors tonight.

-Vlad made his return tonight and got three hits.

-Pedro Martinez and Roger Clemens are still the two best pitchers in the league as of right now, what year is this? Pedro flirted with a no hitter tues night, and his .67 WHIP (walks and hits per inning) is off the charts.