Dice-K Fails...Once Again

Final Red Sox vs. Braves Score (6/19):

Red Sox - 2

Braves - 8

Daisuke Matsuzaka got the loss for the Sox in Fenway against the Braves on Friday night. He isnow 1-5 with an ERA of 8.23 on the season. The first pitch Dice-K threw was a jack out to right field to put the Braves quickly ahead. The next four batters would reach base against Matsuzaka - who was pulled from the game in the fifth inning after allowing six runs.

Afterwards he would say "If I keep going like this, I have no right to be a part of this rotation..." And, yes, many people would agree. Most prominently, the adamant fans of Red Sox Nation would agree. Especially since the Sox will be welcoming a sixth man to their starting rotation with the addition of John Smoltz making his much anticipated debut with Boston next tuesday vs. the Nationals.

Now, of course we aren't saying get Dice out of the rotation and hand his spot over to Smoltz immediately. Nope. Start out with this six man rotation when you first get Smoltz in there. But, something is gonna have to be done about Dice-K if he doesn't improve in the very near future. I mean, you can't keep him in the rotation when he is not producing and you have five other guys who (hopefully, at least) are. That would only mean less starts for your top of the rotation guys - Beckett, Lester, and Wakefield.

Now to come back to Fridays loss. The Sox offense was not in full swing (no pun intended) in the slightest. In fact, every Red Sox hitter was hitless - with the exception of Jason Bay - who had the only two Sox hits of the night with a double and a 2-run homer.

Basically, it was just not on tonight for the Red Sox...but a completely different story for the Braves. Their starting pitcher - Kenshin Kawakami - allowed two hits and two runs in six innings, making it the ninth straight start in which he gave up three (earned) runs or less.