Brad Penny Listens; Red Sox Lose

It appears that Brad Penny read my blog from last week and took it to heart.  He went 6 innings today striking out eight and allowing only three runs.  That's the kind of production one would hope for from him.  He doesn't have to be great, just decent.  And if not for two fluke hits in the fifth and a botched double play by Julio Lugo (God, I despise that wife beating, butterfingers, no offense bastard), the game would have been tied 1-1 going into the later innings.  So all things considered it wasn't a bad day for Penny.

The main reason for the Red Sox loss was that Carl Crawford stole six bases, six bases!  I've never seen anything like it.  The Rays had a total of eight steals.  One of those steals, by Jason Bartlett in the eighth, lead to Tampa Bay's insurance run after the Red Sox had closed within a run.

Just as I was about to start singing his praises, Manny Delcarmen pitches an awful seventh plunking two batters in the process.  I've never seen a pitcher hit a batter to load the bases, then hit the next batter to force home a run on consecutive pitches.  I think he is finally coming around to be the set up guy I thought he could be, today was not his day.  Without that gaffe, Youkilis' home run the following inning would've tied the game. That would've changed the complexion of things.

In other disturbing and depressing news, David Ortiz continues to swing like a rusty gate.  He's never had the prettiest swing, but now that he's whiffing on a constant basis, it's pretty painful to watch.  He's just a big dead spot in the line up right now, and I wish Francona would move him around or something, just for the sake of a change.