Cards 3, Sox 2

Shane Victorino had season-ending surgery & Allen Craig was placed on the DL before Tuesday's game in St. Louis. Yoenis Cespedes collected his 1st 3-hit game as a Red Sox. Rubby De La Rosa pitched 6 innings of 1-run ball & left the game with a 2-1 lead. But the bullpen gave it up again & the Sox lose 3-2. Tommy Layne gave up a big walk to a guy hitting around .200 which came back to bite him in the 7th. And Junichi Tazawa continued his downward trend in the 8th by giving up the game-winning run. Where is that shutdown bullpen late in games? Ortiz doesn't seem to hit well when he plays 1B. Brock Holt is cooling off at the leadoff spot. Xander Bogaerts appears to have a mental issue when batting with RISP. And Will Middlebrooks looks like a guy that is pressing. Taking Mike Napoli out of the order in an NL park with no DH doesn't help your offense either. And speaking of Napoli, he got screwed on a 3-2 call which would have loaded the bases in the 7th. But that's what happens when a team is going bad & loses 10 out of 12. I am, however, looking forward to seeing Joe Kelly pitch tonight against his former teammates. Awkward don't you think? NESN said that the Cards pitcher tonight, Shelby Miller, was Kelly's best man at his wedding. Two good friends pitching against each other. Makes for an interesting by-line. August & September is all about evaluating talent for the 2015 Boston Red Sox.