The Hits Just Keep Coming by Jared Carrabis
Lowrie to the DL, Beckett fined and suspended, Sox lose again


The hits just keep on coming. Unfortunately for Boston, they aren't exactly the hits that we have been looking for.

Last night, the Red Sox entered their game against the Oakland A's with a 2-4 record to place them in dead last in the American League East. Before the game, the Red Sox announced that shortstop, Jed Lowrie, had been placed on the 15-day disabled list with an injury to his left wrist. Lowrie initially suffered a non-displaced fracture in his wrist during the 2008 season, but opted not to have surgery. As a result, his injured wrist has come back to haunt him.

The injury to Lowrie, who was hitting at an ice cold .156 (1-for-18), now puts two Boston shortstops on the DL. Lowrie will be joining Julio Lugo, who hopes to rejoin the team by the end of the month, while Nick Green will get the nod as the team's starting shortstop. The Red Sox purchased the contract of Gil Velzaquez from Pawtucket to back up Green at short prior to Monday night's game.

Speaking of Monday night's game, it was ugly. The Red Sox offense seemingly cannot get the job done. As far as starting pitching is concerned, they almost have to be perfect every night in order to earn a victory. Jon Lester has been far from perfect in each of his two starts this season, as his second start of the season was hard to watch. The left-hander was tagged for six earned runs on ten hits, including two home runs; one off the bat off Jack Cust and a solo home run courtesy of the former face of the Boston Red Sox, Nomar Garciaparra.

Lester threw 106 pitches through six innings, but picked up his second loss in as many starts after the Red Sox offense failed to eclipse the six earned runs that he allowed. Javier Lopez and Takashi Saito each allowed an earned run out of the bullpen, as the A's defeated Boston in the series opener. The Sox two lone runs were scored on a solo home run by Kevin Youkilis, who seems to be the only player on the entire roster who remembers how to play baseball, and an RBI single by David Ortiz in the sixth. The team left ten men on base and had only one hit with runners in scoring position.

Final Score: Red Sox 2, Athletics 8

I know you don't want to hear more bad news, but I'm sure you'd rather be informed and pissed off rather than uninformed and oblivious. So, it was today that Major League Baseball slapped a 6-game suspension on Josh Beckett for throwing at the head of Bobby Abreu during the Sox' final game against the Angels on Sunday. Beckett will also be fined for his actions and was "shocked" upon finding out that he was penalized for an act he deemed unintentional.

In my opinion, if the umpires that had the call for Sunday's game all agreed that Beckett's actions did not merit an ejection from the game, then why does Major League Baseball feel that they have to go against the opinion of four professional umpires who were on hand when the event took place.

"I don’t really feel like I did anything. It’s unfortunate," Beckett said. "I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do. Am I supposed to go give him a hug? I wasn’t really in a hugging mood right then. I don’t really know what they wanted me to do.

"They made their own judgement on it. I had two umpires tell me that I handled it great. One of them publicly said that. The other one told me twice, once when I was coming off the mound and once right afterwards."

Beckett will appeal his suspension, but if his suspension is not reduced, he will be forced to miss a start at the hands of Bud Selig.

-Jared Carrabis

Published on April 14, 2009

---