Tell me if this story sounds familiar. Masterson starts a game and looks great. The offense gets him a little run support. Nothing extraordinary, but enough that when the 5th inning rolls around, you’re thinking “yeah, we got this one.” You’re even pretty confident two outs into the 5th when the Sox still have the lead. And then the wheels fall off. Maybe it’s a grand-slam to Evan Longoria followed by a solo shot to Carlos Pena, or in last night’s case a 2-run double followed by an RBI single. Either way the Sox have suddenly gone from ahead to losing without stopping at tied. Is five some kind of unlucky Jamaican number?

Clearly when a starter has the lead and is in the 5th, you want to give him every opportunity to qualify for the win. But it’s almost like Masty has Derek Lowe disease, over-thinking the last out he needs for the win before he gets it. It would be nice to see Jon Farrell do his job and calm down Masty whenever he’s in trouble in the 5th inning when he can still qualify for the win, instead of waiting for him to be in line for the loss.