Frustrating night in Boston sees Chamberlain gem, lack of clutch hitting, woeful calls by home plate umpire

Simply put, I am aggravated.

This should be no surprise to those who know me because I feel this way any game that the Red Sox lose to the Yankees. Tonight, my agitation is elevated - because of Manny Ramirez, a lack of clutch hitting and a home plate umpire that called one of the worst games I have seen. Unfortunately for Boston, most of the bad calls went in New York's favor.

Joba Chamberlain pitched a dandy at Fenway Park, fooling Red Sox hitters with nasty fast balls and sliders and allowing just three hits and one walk over seven innings. Only two Red Sox runners reached second base, and Chamberlain struck out nine.

Josh Beckett was effective as well. He did surrender nine hits, but managed to escape trouble in every inning but the third. With two outs, Beckett served up back-to-back singles and then Jason Giambi hit a weak grounder to where Jed Lowrie would have been playing, if not for the shift. Instead of an out, Giambi and an RBI infield single that plated Bobby Abreu. Beckett was tagged with the loss, though he allowed just the one run along with nine hits in seven innings.

Though David Ortiz returned from the disabled list tonight, Boston's lineup was at a disadvantage when Manny Ramirez was a late scratch from the lineup with an alleged sore knee. This is the same "sore knee" that mysteriously surfaced the same day Boston was slated to face hard-throwing Felix Hernandez. Ramirez was originally scheduled to start this evening, but he was a late scratch as the Red Sox prepared to face the hard-throwing Chamberlain. Will Ramirez's knee be strong enough for him to take the field tomorrow against the less formidable Andy Pettitte? I believe so.

With or without Ramirez in the lineup, the Red Sox have lacked clutch hitting for most of the season. Tonight was no different. Boston had runners on first and second with two outs in the fourth, but J.D. Drew struck out swinging. The Sox had runners on first and second in the eighth with one out against Kyle Farnsworth, but Mariano Rivera was summoned and struck out Jed Lowrie and then retired Dustin Pedroia on a tapper back to the mound.

Throughout the game, home plate umpire Marty Foster's strike zone was proven excessively wrong by the pitch tracker on NESN. Foster's poor calls continued into the ninth, after Kevin Youkilis lined a one out single. Two of the called strikes in Mike Lowell's eight pitch at-bat were way off the strike zone, including called strike three, which was so inside that Lowell had to back out of the way. Understandably, Lowell was irate at Foster's call and was ejected from the game. Moments later, Drew took a called third strike that was actually a strike to end the game.

This was a tough loss for Boston, which now leads the Yankees by just two games. Chamberlain pitched a strong game, and so did Beckett. Chamberlain did throw a high and tight heater to Youkilis that glanced off his bat. Understandably, Youkilis was irate, especially after Chamberlain threw back-to-back pitches over his head in a game last year.

The Red Sox will try to even the series tomorrow afternoon at 4:55 p.m. on the Fox Game of the Week when Tim Wakefield faces Andy Pettitte. Jon Lester and Sidney Ponson are the scheduled starters for Sunday's game, which is set for 8 p.m. on ESPN.