``Today's already over," Coco Crisp said, after Barry Zito controlled the Red Sox' bats enough to get the win, pushing Boston's record against lefthanded starters to 13-15. ``We've got good ballplayers -- some of them are great. That alone allows us to have that confidence to come out here the next day and the next day and the next day after that and always know we have a chance to win a ballgame.
``You never want to lose. We put together a nice run of wins, and it can do the exact opposite [with losses]. Hopefully we can cut it shorter than our longest winning streak. Come out [today] and just play hard and hopefully the balls go in the glove like they have been and the balls drop in when we're at the plate."
The Red Sox have a good matchup tonight in Curt Schilling against Dan Haren , but there are two other areas of concern. One, Josh Beckett, who had his second straight subpar start. Two, a bullpen with two pitchers -- Rudy Seanez and Julian Tavarez -- who seem to have trouble getting anyone out.
Beckett first.
It wasn't the home runs this time -- though he did allow a two-run shot to Mark Ellis in the fourth inning that hit off the back of the second row of Monster Seats -- it was the singles and doubles and, perhaps more importantly, the walks. Beckett (11-5) had his ERA upped to 5.12 after 4 1/3 innings of seven-run, eight-hit, four-walk pitching, throwing 94 pitches in the process.
``When you feel that good physically . . . that's what really gets under your skin," Beckett said. ``When you feel good, it is supposed to be an easy day.
``Today it was just one of those most confusing days because I did feel good right out of the shoot. That Jason Kendall at-bat [strikeout swinging on a 97-mile-per-hour fastball] was really how I felt all day. After that it was a struggle for me to slow the game down. Sometimes when you feel that good . . . no excuses. It was brutal."
