The Red Sox are looking a little streaky this year.
That wouldn't be an issue, but it looks like the team determining those streaks isn't Boston.
Daniel Bard turned in another fine effort Wednesday night, going into the sixth inning and allowing four earned runs. But throughout his 101-pitch performance, Bard didn’t have the Oakland A's biting at his offerings the way other teams have. That was a key reason why Oakland pieced together eight hits, four runs and, ultimately, the victory.
"They weren’t really fishing," Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine said after the game of how the A's reacted to Bard's pitches.
No, they weren't. These A's were composed at the plate, taking their time and getting key hits to back up their pitching, much like they did the night before in their 5-3 win.
This Oakland team has been flat-out professional, and certainly not the pushovers some expected when the A's came into Fenway Park.
Now the Red Sox head into their off day with a 2-1 series loss their latest memory, just days after they zoomed into Boston on the high of a 6-1 road trip.
Major League Baseball has its ups and downs, and even the best teams will drop a few against the weaklings. But what is troubling about the Red Sox so far this season is not that they've lost games, but how they've lost them. They had the bone-crushing defeats early, but now they have a different kind — the kinds of losses that come when the other team dictates the outcome.
The A's weren't fishing Wednesday night, but the Red Sox should have the upper hand even in games when opponents aren't getting fooled by a superior performance. Boston failed to mount a decent offense once again on Wednesday, leaving the few men that reached on base.
The season is young, and the Red Sox have shown some ability in getting their act together, but sustained winning is going to take more than cyclical outbursts of offense or great pitching. Boston needs to find the consistency that will let the Red Sox be the ones to determine when they reel in the wins — even if the other team isn’t fishing.
