No Ceremony, Usual Uniforms, Worse Result As Red Sox Blow 9-0 Lead

The Red Sox wasted a fine performance by starting pitcher Felix Doubront as the bullpen allowed 7 runs in the top of the 7th inning and 7 more in the 8th which turned a 9-0 laugher into a 15-9 loss to the Yankees at Fenway Park. Doubront pitched 6 innings, giving up a run on 4 hits and 3 walks while striking out 7.

The Red Sox chased Yankee starter Freddy Garcia in the 2nd inning after he allowed 5 runs in 1.2 innings on 7 hits. Boston scored 2 in the first, 3 in the second and another pair in the 3rd and 5th innings. Every Red Sox starter with the exception of Kevin Youkilis had at least one hit. Ryan Sweeney, Adrian Gonzales and David Ortiz put the Sox up early with 3 doubles in the bottom of the 1st inning. Darnell McDonald and Jarrod Saltalamacchia had doubles as well; Cody Ross hit his 3rd home runs of the season in the 5th inning.

NOTES -The start of the 2012 season looks and feels an awful lot like the ugly end to the 2011 season...only worse. Two-thirds of the Boston starting outfield (Carl Crawford and Jacoby Ellsbury) and the closer (Andrew Bailey) are on the disabled list, the starting catcher (Saltalamachia) is off to a horrific start both offensively and defensively, the bullpen is an ineffective mess, the third baseman (Youkilis) looks old, and the starters are giving up home runs at an exhorbitant rate. It's obviously still way too early to panic, but sooner or later, someone has to take a hit. The question is who will it be? Theo Epstein traded Nomar Garciaparra, shaking up the 2004 team. Rookie general manager Ben Cherington has his work cut out for him trying to find the right move to make.

David Ortiz went 4-4; he's hitting .471 against lefties this year.

STOP THE PRESSES!!! - Saltalamacchia had 3 hits including 2 doubles.

Kevin Youkilis left the game in the bottom of the 4th inning with what was called a quad contusion after being hit by a pitch earlier in the game.

One day after hitting 5 home runs off Clay Buchholz, the Yankees banged a trio of round-trippers (Swisher and Teixeira (2)). They've now hit 27 home runs in their first 15 games.

The Red Sox announced during the game they acquired outfield Marlon Byrd from the Chicago Cubs for righthanded pitcher Michael Bowden who had been designated for assignment by the Red Sox earlier in the week.