It had to happen eventually. Sure, he throws 100 MPH and compliments that with some nasty offspeed stuff, but every once in a while Daniel Bard can still display a hint of the wildness that dogged him during his first professional seasons in A-ball.  Add to the equation a bandbox stadium and a hot hitting team, and the end result is the first shitty appearance of Bard’s young MLB career.  After two doubles, three walks, and four earned runs allowed, Bard’s ERA jumped from 0.75 to 3.55 during yesterday’s game.

The bigger story from the game was probably the derailing of the Josh Beckett Express.  The guy had been on a Pedro-esque streak of dominance over his last few starts, but it all came to a crashing halt in The House That Bobby Abreu Built.  On a positive note, it seemed like an example of good hitting (as opposed to bad pitching).  Beckett’s stuff didn’t seem far off from his stuff over the course of the last few games.  He may have left a few pitches over the plate, and the Phillies took advantage of them.

In a vacuum, I would say that Beckett should have never come out to pitch the 7th inning.  But, in this case, the Red Sox bullpen had been put through hell over the last few games, so I don’t fault Terry Francona for trying to squeeze one more inning out of Beckett.

Two out of three from the Defending Champs in their house?  I’ll take it.

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