I like Tim Wakefield, I really do. The only full time knuckle ball pitcher left in the major leagues, he was one of the reasons the Red Sox beat my Yankees in the 2004 ALCS. He's had success as both a starter and a reliever, and I've never heard anything bad about him as a baseball player or as a person.
Having said that he had a brutal start last night against the Texas Rangers. 6 innings pitched, 7 hits, 6 runs, all of them earned. 5 bases on balls, 3 strikeouts.
Here's where it gets ugly.
Texas stole 9 (!) bases off him. He hit two batters and had two wild pitches. Oh, yeah, and there was a balk in there.
Victor Martinez was the catcher and it was just an ugly, ugly, combination. They need a much better defensive catcher when Wakefield pitches but the Sox don't have anyone at the moment. I really felt bad after a while...the Rangers almost seemed to be rubbing it in. A walk was as good as a triple. Vladimir Guerrero, the guy the Angels ditched because he was slower than Hideki Matsui, stole two bases.
The punch line is the Red Sox won anyway. But they have to do something about the defense at catcher.