When B.J. Ryan entered last night’s game with the score tied 6-6 and two outs in the top of the eighth inning, it was a de facto acknowledgement by John Gibbons that he had goofed. With those same two outs already recorded and the score 6-3 just two batters earlier, Jason Varitek had clubbed a three-run home run to tie the game and Mike Lowell followed with a sharply driven double into the left field corner. Both were off Justin Speier. Across the diamond, in Boston’s dugout, here is what Terry Francona had to know he was up against in B.J. Ryan. He was up against a relief pitcher with a 0.73 WHIP, yielding a .391 OPS againt and striking out more than 10 batters every nine innings. The very moment Gibbons handed Ryan the ball in last night’s contest, Francona has to get Jonathan Papelbon loose. Tito needed to be operating under the assumption that he would get nothing off of Ryan and try and extend the game for as long as he could by turning to the reliever that had the best chance of holding the Blue Jays scoreless for as long as Ryan would keep the Sox off the board. Instead, Francona went to David Riske, who quickly yielded a run and couldn’t even complete the eighth inning. The result wasn’t in question once Toronto plated the go-ahead run in the bottom of the eighth. As he will do, Ryan made quick work of the Sox in the ninth.

This managerial gaffe was unfortunate, because the Sox managed to overcome a six-run deficit and looked like they might be able to steal one on a night where a clearly injured Matt Clement was awful and Roy Halladay was pretty good. In defeat, good signs abounded for Boston. For starters, there was the previously mentioned home run by Varitek, a guy that has struggled all season long and needs to get it going if the Sox are going to go from a very good, “in the mix” team to true, championship caliber. Coco Crisp also homered, a sign that he appears ready to pick up right where he left off in early April. Two hits including a round-tripper off of Roy Halladay in one’s second game after a forty-game absence or so is no small feat. Finally, Boston’s two young relievers, Jermaine Van Buren and Manny Delcarmen were excellent. They combined for four innings, and yielded just two hits and two walks in the process.

When David Riske was struggling in the eighth and Don Orsillo was lamenting the loss of Mike Timlin while Jonathan Papelbon looked on, rested, from his outfield bullpen perch, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. The Red Sox had received four innings of shutout relief and the loss of Mike Timlin was felt last night?!?! If Francona had deployed his resources properly, the Red Sox might not have won, as the likely ensuing string of events would have been similar to April 21st’s contest. Ryan and Papelbon probably would have dazzled, and it would have been Keith Foulke and David Riske against Pete Walker, Scott Downs and Francisco Rosario. In other words, a total crapshoot. But at least they would have had a chance.

The Sox try and get back on track with their best on the hill tonight. Josh Beckett opposes Gustavo Chacin.