My friends over at Fenway West have this as their quote of the day today:
"I'm letting the team down." --Jon Lester
No sh*t, Sherlock.
Another subpar performance by Lester last night. Again, he puts the Red Sox in a hole in the first inning (and the Sox were lucky to escape giving up just two runs). Lester has been a monumental disappointment in 2012, especially after he was one of the main culprits that the Sox' 2011 season went down the crapper last September.
He, Josh Beckett and Clay Buchholz have been nothing better than mediocre in 2012, and these are three guys the Red Sox need to count on if they have any chance this October.
With the score 3-2 Chicago in the 4th with two outs, Lester threw a 3 and 2 meatball down the middle of the plate to Kevin Youkilis, and Youk banged it into the Monster seats, and that was all for Lester. (At first, Lester fell behind Youk 3 and 0, and you might have thought he would put him on and take his chances with Adam Dunn on deck. Youk made him pay.)
Junichi Tazawa pitched 4 effective innings in relief, allowing just one run. Carl Crawford had a great night, getting three hits and stealing three bases.
The Red Sox tried to get back into it, down 7-2 in the 8th. Kelly Shoppach hit a two-run shot to make it 7-5, but that was as close as the Red Sox got.
