Hurricane Earl Ends Up Being Least of Red Sox’ Worries in Rough Weekend Series

We knew Hurricane Earl would have an impact on the Red Sox-White Sox series. We didn't know it would just about wash away Boston's playoff hopes.

Needing a series win, if not a sweep, the Red Sox dropped three straight to Chicago, blowing a two-run lead in the finale. In addition to pain and misery, here are a few items we took from a lost weekend at Fenway Park.

Bats Going Extinct
The Sox were hoping to be able to weather the losses of Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis, but it's clear that no matter who Terry Francona writes into the lineup card it's just not the same.

Boston scored seven runs in the three games and has been held to five or less in 13 of 16 games since Pedroia left the lineup. The club is 7-9 in that stretch.

Someone better get white hot in a hurry.

Home Not So Sweet Home
Chicago's sweep gave Boston four straight losses at Fenway Park and kept the club from establishing the home dominance that had been a trademark of prior Boston teams.

The Red Sox are now 14-15 at home against American League opponents since early June. Many teams would kill for their 40-29 home record but for Boston it puts them on pace to have their worst home mark since 2002.

Boston has just 12 home games left. Even winning them all will leave them shy of the 53.3 home wins the club has averaged over the last seven years.

Beckett's Bounceback
It may have come too late but it appears as if Josh Beckett is finally settling in. Consider his earned runs over the past six starts: 7, 6, 6, 3, 2, 1.

Beckett struck out a season-high nine and walked just two in Sunday's loss. He has a very impressive strikeout-to-walk ratio of 55-to-13 since coming off the disabled list in July.

The year has been a bit of a lost one for Beckett but he may at least carry some momentum into the offseason.