EXCRUCIATING WEEK

Everything seemed lined up perfectly for the Red Sox entering this past week for the Red Sox. The team entered the last week of August against the Yankees and Orioles riding high after a 6-1 week. The club took 2 of 3 from TB then swept 4 from the ChiSox. Meanwhile, the Yanks lost 3 of 4 to Detroit to put the lead at 8 games for the Sox as the series began on Tuesday.
The Sox had arguably their best 3 pitchers going and the punchless pinstripes were coming off a 16-0 drubbing on Monday.
The Yankees swept all 3 games, knocking the lead down to 5 games. All the Sox had to win was a game, not to much to ask that would've left the lead at 7. But the combination of inconsistent pitching and hitting and some bad calls plagued the Sox. All three games were close but the Yanks prevailed. The Sox had some trouble with Wang during the final matchup before the umpires reversed a call on a Youkilis/A-Rod (imaginary tag/out of baseline) that basically assisted the 3 game sweep. Losing Manny Ramirez for the series didn't help the inconsistent bats. Rookie Chamberlain tried to win over the home fans by throwing at Youk in the 9th inning Thursday, but all it really did was "wake a sleeping giant" as Papelbon said. Basically the team went into NY overconfident and slipped up.
The Sox lost to Baltimore on Friday that put the losing streak at 4. But the combination of a Buchholz no-hitter and a rubber game 3-2 win put the Sox back on the winning track for next week. The Yanks surprisingly lost 2 of 3 to the hapless Devil Rays so the Sox gained 1 game back and the lead is 6 games as of now. Not sure what's more surprising: the Sox getting swept in NY or TB winning the series from NY the following series.
A 2-4 week was a downer, but Buchholz's no-no in his 2nd career start helped out big time. The Sox welcome in Toronto while NY deals with the up and down Mariners.
In other news, the Patriots also had a bad week. Safety Harrison was suspended 4 games for HGH and DT Richard Seymour will miss the first 6 games. Huge blows but the team is stacked enough to overcome the 2 catastrophic losses. What a difference one Sunday makes.