Sometimes you get home on time from work and do a good job taking notes on the Red Sox game, and sometimes you go see The Avengers: Age of Ultron and get home at 10:45 and decide to watch it on DVR while writing about it in real-time. REAL-TIME! Prepare to be immersed in my watching experience.

10:54 – Just spent the last 10 minutes watching the top of the 1st while talking about shoes with our roommate Big Bear (he asked to be called that). He has boat shoes and fancy shoes, but he’s looking for a solid, fancyish shoe that’s also comfortable enough for everyday use. Any suggestions? Anyway, Masterson walked the first batter of the game, Kiermaier, who then slid too far on an attempted steal of second. He’d beaten the throw by a mile, too, tough break. Masterson hit the next guy, Forsythe, then got Loney to ground into a double play to end the inning.

Okay, you know what? It’s 11:02. That last paragraph took me eight minutes to write. Not great. The Sox also got the Rays to ground into a double play to end the 2nd inning, this one following a David DeJesus single.

11:04 – Okay, what’s happening…Forsythe threw it away on an Ortiz grounder into the shift in the bottom of the 1st, but that came with two outs, and Napoli (batting cleanup, yiiiikes) grounded out to end the inning.

11:06 – Bottom of the 2nd, Sox go down in order. Fast-forwarrrrrrrrd…

11:07 – Asdrubal Cabrera’s up. I dropped him from my fantasy team earlier this year. This obviously means he’s about to do something great.

11:08 – Ha, joke’s on you Asdrubal. Lines out to center. What an idiot.

11:09 – Masterson may have just given up a double to Guyer, but you have to respect the way the man wears his socks. Socks are important. I suppose he just really wants everyone to know that he plays for the Red Sox.

11:12 – It is as hot as sin in our apartment. I feel like I’m swimming through the air.

11:15 – Masterson gave up a single to left, the run scores. Craig’s throw is too late.

11:15 – Wow. Pedroia is really unbelievable. I hope there’s video of that. Inning over. [Edit: There is.]

11:17 – Bogaerts takes off his batting gloves and spits at second base. He just hit a double too. I’m just describing what I’m looking at. HARD-HITTING ANALYSIS AS ALWAYS.

11:19 – Swihart! With the first real solid hit of his career! He hit it to pretty much the same exact spot that Bogaerts did in left field, and the score is tied.

11:22 – A ground out by Betts moves Swihart over to third, and he scores on a deep sacrifice fly to center by Pedroia. 2-1, Sox.

11:26 – I went and got a glass of water. I should mop the kitchen floor this weekend.

11:27 – Well, that was nice while it lasted. 2-2. Solo shot by Longoria into the first row of the Monster seats.

11:28 – And now a double by DeJesus. ZOMG HE JUST NEEDS A TRIPLE AND A HOME RUN FOR THE CYCLE. That spot in left-center is real popular for doubles tonight.

11:29 – DeJesus runs over to third on a ground out to Bogaerts. I won’t lie to you. I’m getting a little tired. It’s all for our loyal fans. All twelve of you. Woooooo.

11:32 – Pop up! Crucial. If I fall asleep, I dedicate the ensuing nap to the fans. And to the respect…to people respecting women.

11:35 – Walk. Pitching coach visit. A firm hand in the small of Masterson’s back. John Farrell chews gum. The infielders leave one by one. Bases chucked.

11:36 – Eck (?) just said that that was Masterson’s 10th consecutive ball. Woof.

11:37 – Gets out of it. Fly to center. If you’re still reading this, you must really think I’m the bees’ knees.

11:39 – I’m gonna be honest with you, I already know the final score of this game but I don’t know how it happens. What an emotional rollercoaster. Could’ve probably seen that Napoli strikeout coming though.

11:43 – Sandoval might’ve just bumped himself back up above .300 with that single into left. Might have to start fast-forwarding between pitches soon, I’m yawning. And I have work in the morning, ughhhh.

11:53 – Masterson wild pitch, walk, pitching coach visit. Five walks already? Jesucristo.

11:56 – Make that six. Uh oh. Dude is wild right now.

11:57 – Bloop single to right. Here comes Farrell. And Mujica.

12:00 – Strikeout, ground out, out of inning.

12:05 – NESN is doing some sort of weird multi-view thing, with a camera on the pitcher, on the batter, and on the normal pre-pitch view. It’s pretty cool, especially the pitcher angle. Not one we usually get.

12:09 – Hey look, I’m sorry, this is probably dreadfully boring to read right now. I’m very tired. WHOA! Cool play by Mujica to get the runner coming home! Behind the legs! Wow, WEB GEM CITY. Farrell is merciless, yanks Mujica immediately anyway to get a lefty-lefty matchup with Tommy Layne on James Loney.

12:11 – I also had Alex Colome on my fantasy team in the DL spot until he came off. He’s looked pretty good, if not totally polished. I’m too tired for expert analysis, ask me about this tomorrow afternoon.

12:14 – Colome: [immediately gets pulled after giving up a hit to Pedroia]

12:18 – Aaaaaaaaaaaaand the power just went out. I’m not kidding. I guess I’ll take that as a sign that I should watch the condensed game in the morning. GOOD NIGHT EVERYONE.

7:35 – Good morning, ugh. Overslept.

7:38 – Lessee here, Sox strand a runner at third, Layne walks the first batter he sees in the 7th, and Tazawa comes in. He walks the first batter he sees in the 7th too! And then a diving catch by Craig in left! I think it’s safe to say that if Hanley were out there, that would’ve been a single. Good on you, Allen.

7:40 – GREAT stop by Swihart on a pitch in the dirt, followed by a popup for the second out.

7:43 – Fielder’s choice, moving to the bottom half of the 7th.

7:44 – Nothing too crazy in the 7th for the Sox: Craig walk, Holt fielder’s choice (beating the throw on an attempted double play), Holt advances to second on bad pickoff throw. But he wouldn’t get any farther.

7:46 – Robbie Ross with a 1-2-3 inning! How about that.

7:47 – MOOKIE BETTS WITH ANOTHER HOME RUN! Kid is on fire right now. 4-3, Rays. Right between two girls sitting in the back row of the Monster who both duck away from the ball. Honestly, come on ladies. Make an effort.

7:52 – Ortiz walks with one out and Napoli nearly lines out to left, but Joey Butler traps it on a diving attempt and it goes down as a single instead. Oof, nailed him right in the stomach.

7:54 – Sandoval walks, bases loaded, Nava’s up (pinch hitting for Craig). Force out at home, dammit Daniel.

7:55 – Brock Holt also grounds to first to end the inning. Not great.

7:56 – Ogando in now…decent ranging play by Bogaerts to get the first out – not a great throw but Napoli helps him out.

7:58 – Aaaand Longoria homers again. Ogando in with a one run lead and gives up a solo home run to double that lead…I feel like I’ve seen this movie before. Way out too, over the Monster.

8:01 – Bogaerts and Betts both got on base to be the potential tying runs, but Pedroia struck out and Luis Jimenez, who’d pinch run for Big Papi in the previous inning, nubbed out to the catcher to end the game (though he did do a good job of trying to get hit in the back by the throw). That’s all she wrote, it’s all over but the crying…I can’t think of any more clichés.

The series sweep to the Yankees has now bled into a 4th game. The Sox have officially hit the skids, folks. I really thought they had a chance to get over the hump tonight, I won’t lie. The Rays are a light-hitting bunch, and I’ll admit that I still get a flutter of hope whenever I see that Clay Buchholz is pitching, because I know how good his stuff can be. And who knows how things would have gone for him if James Loney’s first at-bat of the night had gone differently? But on a fly ball down the left field line, Hanley Ramirez collided with the wall and pulled a Patrick Pass, dropping the ball upon injuring his shoulder.

Longoria knocked him in, and was himself knocked in by the following batter, David DeJesus. By the time Buchholz got Logan Forsythe to fly out to Ramirez’s replacement, Allen Craig, what might’ve been a 1-2-3 first inning had become yet another early deficit for Boston. In the bottom half of the inning, Craig, in Ramirez’s scheduled cleanup spot, grounded to short with Pedroia on 2nd to end the inning.

In the 2nd, Clay got a little too cocky dealing with Joey Butler, a 29-year-old career .294 hitter in the minors, trying to sneak an 0-1 changeup over the inside half of the plate and getting taken deep to left field.

Asdrubal Cabrera had singled to lead off, so the home run made it 4-0, Rays.

In the bottom of the 2nd, Brock Holt and Xander Bogaerts gave the Red Sox a spark with a pair of back-to-back two-out triples to right field, where Steven Souza, Jr. had an adventure of a night (yeah, I know Lyons said it during the broadcast, but I thought it first – how does the intellectual property work for that?). He’d already dropped a “double” by Pedroia in the 1st, and both triples could have been handled better, especially Bogaerts’, which almost turned into an inside-the-park job. Souza completely whiffed on it as it bounced by him and towards the wall. Fortunately for Souza, Bogaerts was stranded at third.

The remainder of Buchholz’s night was made up of innings both long (escaping a bases-loaded jam in the 3rd) and short (striking out the side in the 6th), but all of them scoreless until the 7th inning, when an uncharacteristically wild outing from Junichi Tazawa included Souza, Jr. scoring on another DeJesus RBI single to pin another earned run to Buchholz’s box score.

On the offensive side, the Red Sox had 7 runners reach scoring position. But only one, Brock Holt after his 2nd inning triple, managed to actually score. Going into the game, Boston was 23rd in MLB in batting average with runners in scoring position (.228), and that number has certainly sunk even lower after tonight’s performance. Worse, two of these runners were on second base with no outs. The bats, when they’re bad, are anemic. It’s getting hard to watch Mike Napoli, last night’s home run notwithstanding. Sandoval gets himself into so many 0-2 counts. Allen Craig is an absolute disaster at the plate, and I was plain shocked when he managed a single in the 6th. His at-bats in the 3rd and 8th, both swinging strikeouts, are much more emblematic of his season so far.

So Boston’s in last place, and New York’s in first. What a fun great time this is. And now it’s Tuesday.

Notes:

• Following on from Don’s bragging during a recent game about the NESN window being closed for cold weather so far this spring, the window was open for, apparently, “the first time since Opening Day.”
• Don’s favorite food to cook is lobster. You’re welcome.