Sports Redux: Midwest Misery

The Red Sox are competitive with the Yankees head-to-head. They don't have a lot of trouble with the Angels. And both of those teams are headed for October. So why can't the Sox do anything against the going-nowhere KC Royals?

We're still trying to figure out how the Monday fiasco happened, but explaining the loss last night was as easy as it gets. The Sox ran into a great pitcher pitching a great game. If you haven't been paying attention to the Royals (and we're pretty sure you haven't), you might not know that Zack Greinke is 15-8 (almost 25% of the team's wins), with a 2.08 ERA and a 1.06 WHIP, and will be the Cy Young winner unless there's a grave injustice. And last night, he did things to the Red Sox that would be illegal in some states.

Terry Francona was reduced to ellipses by Greinke's performance (6 IP, 2 H, 3 BB, 5 K). "Man, that’s . . . he had everything," he said, adding, "that’s, that’s, that’s . . . that’s impressive." Slightly more expansive was Jason Bay: "He was getting ahead of guys, whether you swung early or not. He was attacking the zone. He’s one of the best pitchers in the league."

And the Royals did something they don't often do, which is score a bunch of runs and give Greinke a cushion. They tagged Paul Byrd for five in the first; Byrd settled down and had a decent rest of the game (and kept the parade of relievers off the field), but that didn't make him any happier: "Against Greinke, you don’t want to be down, 5-0. It just deflates the team. Real frustrated with myself. I’m glad I came back and threw some innings and helped the bullpen out, but I’m not really here to eat innings. That’s not my job."

Josh Beckett, who once was a 2009 Cy Young candidate himself, will try to right the ship today. The Rangers lost, so the Sox saw their magic number drop to six. The Yankees won, so they clinched at least the wild card and will be returning to the postseason after a long absence.

The Patriots grabbed linebacker Prescott Burgess from the Ravens for a conditional draft pick, to provide some help while Jerod Mayo recovers. Burgess was a sixth-round pick for the Ravens in 2007, and hasn't played much, but if he's learned anything from Baltimore's defense, he could be a big help. The rest of the team is concentrating on learning about the Falcons, and one particular area they're focusing on is containing tight end Tony Gonzalez.

The Bruins traded goals with Columbus in a preseason game last night; the Blue Jackets scored and then the B's tied it. But eventually they lost 6-5 in a shootout, dropping them to 3-2 in exhibition play. Andrew Ference scored a goal in his first ice time since having his groin surgically repaired. That's probably a good line to end on.