Sports Redux: West Coast Blues

For most people, road trips are fun. Greasy burgers, fighting over whose iPod will play, diversions to see the largest rubber-band ball in South Carolina - it's a momentous event in anyone's life. Only the Griswolds and the Red Sox would disagree.

The Sox are now 0-2 on their latest trip, and once again a pitching breakdown and a lack of timely hitting killed them. Josh Beckett cruised through six innings, but gave up a Vlad Guerrero home run and a bases-loaded triple to pinch-hitter Erick Aybar, everything AnaheimOrWhatever needed to win 4-2. Kevin Youkilis homered for the Sox' two runs, but for the rest of the game, the Sox left an army of baserunners stranded, to the point where you hope and pray that the team bus didn't forget anybody when they left the park.

The damage in Beckett's Seventh Inning From Hell would have been worse if Coco Crisp hadn't sacrificed his body, slamming into the wall to rob the Angels' Casey Kotchmann of an RBI and extra bases. Beckett, who seemed calm after the loss (he got the complete game, and didn't launch into an expletive-filled tirade) praised Crisp, saying, "He's done it so many times, there's a highlight reel of me throwing my arms up in the air." Maybe he just truly didn't care.

On the other coast, David Ortiz homered again, and you've got to wonder if an emergency cross-country flight is in his near future. For their part, the Sox say they're sticking to the plan, and Papi will rejoin the team when they hit Fenway again. Since the Rays won again, and the Yankees won again, you've really got to wonder how set in stone that plan really is.

The good news is, Dan Shaughnessy doesn't think the Angels can beat the Sox in the playoffs. Except for the fact that we have to get to the playoffs, that's comforting, because Dan has a history of analyzing trends and being right when it comes to postseason prognostication.

If the Sox want to learn to fight better on the road, they should call the Revolution up. On a flight from Boston to LA, the team subdued a crazy nude man who freaked out and scared everyone on the plane. A lesser website would make a joke about a losing streak here.