Red Sox (63-75) Vs Blue Jays (61-75) series preview 9/8-9/10

It gives me no pleasure to be covering the Red Sox right now. I contemplated just ignoring them the rest of the season and putting the focus on the good teams I cover for the rest of the month. But since the Red Sox final twenty four games are all against divisonal opponents, I decided to cover these final eight series because  winning season series against division opponents means a lot to me, and the Red Sox still have a chance to do that against all four of their division opponents. The Red Sox season has been nothing short of a soap opera this season. Just to recap:

Clay Buccholz was the worst starter in all of baseball through the first month and a half of the season. He became the first player in MLB history to give up at least five runs in eight straight starts to begin the season.

The Red Sox blew a 9-0 lead on April 15th against the Yankees.

Josh Becket skipped a start in May due to a "sore shoulder" and was seen golfing the next day. When confronted as to why he was golfing when he was supposedly injured he said, "I spend my off days the way I f*ing want to."

Kelly Shoppach used someone elses cellphone to anonymously send a hate text to manager Bobby Valentine. He admitted to it after he was traded to the Mets.

One of the greatest icons in Red Sox history passed away, and only four players elected to attended his funeral. Four, out of twenty five. This, in my opinion, was the most embarrassing story of the year so far.

And the most recent incident, yesterday, Bobby Valentine, in a radio interview, became so enraged with a question, told the host "if I was there right now Id punch you right in the mouth."

On July 19th, Cody Ross hit a walk off hone run to give the Red Sox their fifth win in seven games. They had a ton of monentum and at the time were just one game out of the playoffs. There was excitement in the air. Since that game the Red Sox are 15-30 and now have an overall record of 63-75. They have all but guaranteed themselves their worst record since 1996, and its very possible they end up with their worst record since 1966. Now that the season has been recapped, a preview of the upcoming Blue Jays series.

Game one:  Henderson Alvarez (7-12, 5.04 ERA) Vs Felix Doubront (10-7, 5.03 ERA)  Friday 7:10 PM
Felix Doubront was probably the feel good story of the first half of the season for the Sox. He came out of nowhere to win a spot in the rotation, and pitched very strongly for the first half of season. He seems to have hit a wall lately though, as his ERA since the all star break is 6.75. He hasnt pitched more than five innings in a start since July 29th. Henderson Alvarez also has an ERA over six since the all star break. This may be a high scoring game.

Game two: Ricky Romero (8-13, 5.85 ERA) Vs Daisuke Matsuzaka (1-4, 6.15 ERA) Saturday 7:10 PM
After a strong start against the Royals, Daisuke went back to his usual sucky self against Oakland, not getting out of the fourth inning, and giving up 6 Earned runs, and four walks. Ricky Romero has struggled mightily since June, with an ERA over eight in the past three months. The theme of this series so far is struggling pitchers.

Game three: Carlos Villanueva (7-5, 3.42 ERA) Vs Clay Buchholz (11-5, 4.47 ERA) Sunday 1:35 PM
Buchholz struggled to start the year, then returned to shutdown form in June and July, and has gone back to struggling over the last month. Former Brewer Carlos Villanueva may be the most consistent pitcher for the Jays right now.

The Sox currently have a one game lead over the Jays for last place in the division. The Blue Jays lead the season series 7-5 with six games to go. If theres one team thats struggled more than the Red Sox over the past month, its Toronto. Ill take the Sox to take two out of three.