Boston 4
Seattle 9

All I can really do is shrug my shoulders here, and concede that Julian Tavarez will lay an egg or two over the course of the year if he starts 25-30 games.  At this point, it’s not really worrisome, but what if Curt Schilling can’t return to his usual effectiveness?  What if Wakefield’s coin flips start coming up “tails” much more often, as they did in his last start? 

Beckett and Matsuzaka both appear to be healthy and reliable right now, but after those two, the question marks are really presenting themselves (as we thought they would before the season began).  Aside from the injured Schilling, the group of Tavarez, Wakefield, Gabbard, Lester, and whomever else toes the rubber after the 1 and 2 (Matt Clement?) will pitch some decent games, but they will also have their lunches handed to them every once in a while.  In those cases, we can only hope that the offense breaks out. 

Unfortunately, it didn’t happen last night, as the team was beaten by Jeff Weaver.  (Not a typo.  Jeff Weaver won a Major League Baseball game last night.  He defeated the best team in the league.)

The situation makes the Mark Buehrle trade talks all the more interesting. 

Along with the stinging defeat in the nation’s Suicide Capital came the continuance of several trends. Coco Crisp and J.D. Drew both continue to surge, and Julio Lugo and Mike Timlin both continue to beg for less playing time.

Crisp: .321/.353/.444 in June
Drew: .308/.370/.554 in June

Lugo: .091/.143/.165 in June
Timlin: turning opposing hitters into Stan Musial (.338/.384/.618)

Tonight, Kason Gabbard comes back after an excellent start against the Braves back in May.  David Murphy is sent back down to Pawtucket with a .500 batting average on the year, and Gabbard (1-0, 3.60) will have his work cut out for him, as he battles “King” Felix Hernandez (4-4, 4.00), the guy who came withing 2 outs of no-hitting the Red Sox early in the season.