A win is a win

The Red Sox looked  bad this weekend and the showed their deficiency for a solid 8th inning guy. What do the Red Sox need? 3 games against the worst team in baseball. Lester was solid, but you have to question Francona trotting Lester out in 8th with a 4 run lead and only took him out when he took a line drive off the ankle. Then Francona brings in Papelbon  for a 5 out save against the Mariners. Come on! They may need to call NESN to see if they can purchase Dennis Eckersley's contract so he can pitch the 8th inning. 

I am only 25, but as long as I can remember the Red Sox have always had a weak bullpen. Some hope arrives this week with when converted reliever Justin Masterson returns from Pawtucket. Masterson is a good young pitcher with promise, but I don't think his inconsistency will provide any permanent relief in the bullpen. I think a trade is the real solution, but the Sox and Epstein are cautious because of the mess of the Gagne trade last year. I am not a GM and I don't know which relievers are on the market and what their price would be, so I cannot begin to offer a suggestion for a solution. But I will be disappointed if the Sox of July 22nd are the same team on August 1st.

On a sad note, a good friend of the members of this blog, Pete Rival, passed away today. Pete was a great guy and I don't think I have come across many people in my life who knew or loved the game of baseball like Pete. In my life there have been 3 people who taught me how to play the game of baseball and Pete was one of them. Pete was a diehard Yankee fan, so even I will be pulling for the Yanks to make the playoffs this year.