The Red Sox had a helluva time getting to Doug Waechter and the guy that has pulled more wool over New Englanders’ eyes cost the Sox in a big way once again as the Sox dropped their first extra-inning affair, 4-3 to the Devil Dogs of Tampa-St. Pete.

David Wells pitched pretty well, though was lifted in the 7th after tossing just 88 pitches, a move that struck me as curious given the effectiveness of Boston’s bullpen in 2005. Wells left with a lead but handed the ball to Mike Timlin with men on base, a kiss of death if ever there were one. Timlin held the line in the eighth and turned things over to Curt Schilling for the ninth and tenth.

Offensively, the Sox sucked wind again, as they have all of July. Doug Waechter was the mediocrity-made-Maddux du jour. The Sox are hitting just .260/.348/.413 in July, a total that slots in comfortably behind offenses like Oakland’s and Toronto’s for the month. Imagine if they didn’t have that 17-run outburst against Tim Redding and the Yankee Fantasy Camp All-Stars?

There were three critical mental errors in this game, two that cost the Sox dearly. The first was a baserunning gaffe committed in the 9th inning by Adam Stern, someone who plays for the Boston Red Sox chiefly because of his running ability (so I am told). With men on 1st and 3rd and one out, Edgar Renteria tried to do his GIDP thing, grounding right back to the pitcher. Alertly, Stern took off for home, so as to give the Sox a crack at staying alive in the inning. Not alertly, he did not realize that this was an unnecessary move, as Johnny Damon, the runner on first, had taken off with the pitch. Tampa had no shot at a double play. So Stern was tagged out. The mistake turned out not to hurt, however, as Manny Ramirez flew out with the bases loaded. The second mental error was committed by Trot Nixon, something that is becoming all too commonplace (the mental errors from Nixon) in my opinion. How this guy gets the “scrappy, heads-up, smart” tag is so far beyond me…well actually it’s not but I won’t address why I think that is in this space. Anyway, representing the tying run on 2nd base in the 8th, HE WAS HIT BY A BATTED BALL IN THE FOOT!!!!! I don’t care how hard the ball was hit, Nixon was situated 130 feet from home plate - he just has to be able to get out of the way of that ball. So Nixon was called out and the Sox had John Olerud on at 1st with 2 outs. The second gaffe came in the 10th and ended the game for the Sox. Nixon was playing essentially with his heels on the warning track so as to prevent the D-Rays from being able to double and plate Jorge Cantu from 1st and end the game. Accordingly, when Aubrey Huff roped a ball to right field that he was clearly not going to be able to get to, all he had to do was position himself to be able to play the ricochet off the wall so he could toss the ball back into the infield before Cantu would be able to even think of scoring. The ball was hit hard enough that playing it off the wall was the clear and safe play. But scrapping, hustler that he is, Nixon made a ridiculous attempt at catching the ball in the air. The ball bounced off the wall right by him and Cantu easily scored from 1st to end the game. I love Trot and particularly, his approach at the plate. I don’t mind the occasional boneheaded play if it comes as part of the whole package. It just ought to be noted, as it is so often for Boston’s left fielder, that Trot is not the most heads-up player in the game.

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Kevin Youkilis and Roberto Petagine each homered for Pawtucket yesterday. Petagine’s OPS now stands at 1.102. On the bright side, Manny Delcarmen was promoted yesterday. It is unknown as of now whom he will replace.