Since we fancy ourselves purveyors of the longview and take a certain amount of pride in our ability to hold off of the panic button after tough losses, it would be more than a little hypocritical of me to come on here this morning and express any real excitiement over last night’s win.

David Wells and C.C. Sabathia squared off last night and neither threw particularly well. Sabathia cruised through the first three innings before yielding three consecutive hits to Edgar Renteria, David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez in the fourth, the final hit a home run on a pitch just above Ramirez’s shoetops. Things really came apart in the fifth for Sabathia, as bad luck and bad pitching combined to do him in. Bad luck in the sense that Manny Ramirez’s ground-rule double was of the broken-bat variety. Bad luck in the sense that Aaron Boone misplayed a double-play ball off the bat of David Ortiz, choosing to throw home to unsuccessfully cut down Mark Bellhorn instead of spinning a 5-4-3 double play. Bad luck in the sense that Eric Wedge, his manager, hung with him for too long. Everything else that inning for Sabathia? Bad pitching. After the fifth inning, the Red Sox had a 9-4 lead and their starter David Wells was finished, having labored through five innings (he gave up 12 baserunners) in 110 pitches.

The bullpen was terrible but really no different than it has been all year. Mike Myers was shaky for 2/3rds of an inning, Mike Timlin lights out for an inning and a third, Alan Embree brutal for 2/3rds of an inning and Keith Foulke even worse for an inning and a third himself. If there was any doubt before, there can be no more. This bullpen needs help. Cla Meredith, Abe Alvarez and Jeremi Gonzalez continue to impress in Pawtucket. With the trade deadline just over a month away, the Red Sox need to explore in-house options before conceding real prospects for an extra bullpen arm or two. As we all found out with Scott Sauerbeck in 2003, relievers are an unpredictable lot, and therefore, are rarely worth parting with valuable assets.

The good news from last night was that Manny Ramirez and Mark Bellhorn showed signs of life. Manny, though still not the most alert player, appears to be on the verge of breaking out. Bellhorn displayed a couple of great at-bats last night.

Bronson Arroyo and Kevin Millwood tonight.

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