Less than you’re average 7-10 split

Anyone else know what to make of yesterday’s split doubleheader?

How often is it that you have two 15-game winners pitching on the same day, in the same ballpark, and neither one gets a win? I mean really, can somebody get Elias on that one? And how often is it that you have one catcher go 17 of 18 innings in a double-dip? It’d be one thing to go two innings in the first and then catch the second. But having Jason Varitek catch 17 of 18 frames? Not exactly the workload that the Sox wanted to see coming down the stretch for an aging catcher, to be sure.

Somehow the goatee and crapped out hat were more intimidating, and effective, on the West Coast.

Still, as reassuring as Clay Buchholz’s outing in the opener was, and as nice as it was to see Jacoby Ellsbury back patrolling the outfield, the biggest concern - and yes, it’s now a very legitimate concern - was the performance of Eric Gagne in the nightcap. So far he’s, how do we put this lightly, well, he’s sucked.

It’s almost as if moving into the Eastern Time Zone has ruined Gagne’s stuff, isn’t it? Suddenly fastballs that were zipping by batters in Texas and Los Angeles are suddenly slower in thicker humidity. Or like his sinker won’t sink near the water. Or, hell who cares. It’s just not working.

Let’s be clear: Last night was precisely the type of situation that made the Sox go out and get Gagne. Jonathan Papelbon and Hideki Okajima were both unavailable after extended work in the opener. Manny Delcarmen had already had a bad inning, a troubling familiar sight after the Gagne acquisition, perhaps pushed along in part by his lack of use. That made Gagne the logical, and practically the only, option out of the pen to close things out.

Three runs later he’d blown another game. That’s three games he’s responsible for in the loss column. Three games that have all been directly opposed by Yankee wins. Three games in the pennant chase.

Okie got the job done in the opener. In the nightcap? Well, let’s not talk any more about that.

Let’s just say that Gagne is running out of chances to redeem himself. The hockey fan is starting to look more like a 19 year-old rookie finesse-scoring forward than a bruising, enforcing veteran on the backline. After all, that’s what he was supposed to be for this Red Sox team when he came aboard.

It’s just not happening. And that, in itself, is a becoming a bigger and bigger problem as the team down in the Bronx gets closer and closer in the rear-view mirror.

– Cameron Smith