Four Tired Horseman of an Apocalyptic Fail: Delcarmen, Hansen, Aardsma, Lopez

General George Armstrong Custer had his last stand.  The Titanic had the iceberg.  The Hindenberg had New Jersey.  And last night, the Red Sox bullpen had Tropicana Field (oh the humanity!)

In a disastrous seventh inning last night, four Red Sox relievers gave up six runs, and looked awful in doing so.   After Okajima overcame some of his demons to pitch a scoreless sixth inning, Manny Delcarmen and Craig Hansen combined to give up six runs while not recording an out.   Aardsma and Lopez could not put out the flames, let inherited runners score, and the four together posted what amounted to, in the words of a common internet meme, an EPIC FAIL.

To date, the bullpen has been a puzzle.  Okajima has been horrible compared to last season, primarily because he's having control problems on his fastball and leaving his splitter up.   Delcarmen had posted 13+ scoreless innings until his last couple of outings, which have been abysmal.  Hansen has been feeling his way along, and pitched worse than some Little Leaguers last night.  

Hopefully, they are just tired.  Dice-K Matsuzaka only lasted five innings last night, after throwing 49 pitches over the first two innings.  The bullpen has been coming in earlier this year than last, or at least that's my impression.   This surely will take a toll.

And so the Sox limp into Yankee Stadium for a four game set with the Evil Empire.  Hopefully they will win a couple and get back on track headed into the All-Star break.   Hopefully, the break will allow the bullpen to get back on track too.

The season is a marathon, not a sprint, and every team has their down points during that long haul.  This seems to be one for the Sox.  With the All-Star break coming, the downtime might provide them a chance to recharge and get ready for a short six-game home stand.

And there is one comforting fact this morning as I write this:  the bullpen can't be as bad again as they were last night.   Right?