Sports Redux: Don't Let Bad Teams Hang Around

After three innings last night, the mood at Fenway was as good as it gets. Josh Beckett was on the mound, and the Sox had staked him to a 4-0 lead. The team was hitting well, including superprospect Jacoby Ellsbury, who got his first major-league hit by zipping down the first-base line to beat the throw on a routine ground ball. The Sox even had a helper monkey named Ayla throw out the first pitch. Even if Ranger starter Robinson Tejeda had weaseled out of a bases-loaded jam that could have blown the game wide open, everything was coming up roses.

Could Ayla have helped prevent the ensuing meltdown? Beckett got rocked in the fourth inning; Texas batted around, with an RBI single from Marlon Byrd, a 2-run double from Brad Wilkerson (which bounced right over Ellsbury's head), and another RBI from the 134-year-old Kenny Lofton. Sammy Sosa's 602th career home run in the fifth gave the Rangers the 5-4 lead.

Could Ayla have batted? It couldn't have gone worse for the Sox offense after that, as they were ground to a halt by the Ranger bullpen (!), with the exclamation point of woe being Julio Lugo pinch-running for Dustin Pedroia and getting caught stealing at third to end a potential rally in the eighth. Maybe Ayla could have pinch-ran.

So, once again, Julian Tavarez has to go out and try to stop a skid, this afternoon against Kameron Loe.

As bad as the Red Sox' day went yesterday, at least no one was inspired to build a bonfire with their equipment. Not so in the Bronx. Beleaguered relief pitcher Scott Proctor torched a bunch of his stuff next to the Yankees' dugout, underlining the fact that he's been a failure as a fireman this season. If we were inclined to be charitable to the Yankees (yeah, right), we'd hope for their sake that he burned the team's bats that only collected one hit yesterday.

The Bruins reportedly are getting a new goaltender. The news last night said that they're trading prospect Petr Kalus to Minnesota for Manny Fernandez, who had a .911 save percentage and helped the Wild be one of the NHL's stingiest defenses last year. How good he is at being Manny remains to be seen.