ANAHEIM, Calif. — Until Tuesday, John Danks had been a tough-luck loser. That was tough enough to take.
And then, against the Los Angeles Angels he just lost without the bad luck. Danks couldn’t get his cutter working and watched his record sink to 0-6. He was beat emotionally as well.
“I don’t know. I’m at that place,” Danks said after allowing 10 hits and six runs in five innings in the Sox’ 6-2 loss at Angel Stadium.
“I felt pretty good today. I had good command. Maybe too good command. I felt like I was getting ahead of guys but letting them off the hook, like I didn’t have a really sharp put away pitch. I’ll be back at it tomorrow and come back and get ready for my next start, and go from there. I said it a couple times – this is getting old. It really is. I don’t know. It’s tough.”
The six earned runs are the most Danks has allowed this season. He became the first Sox since Neil Allen in 1987 to start a season 0-6.
“I have a strong backbone,” Danks said. “I’ve been in a lot of contact with family. … I don’t feel alone at all. At the same time, I’m more frustrated than I’ve ever been in my career. I don’t know. I feel like I’ve thrown the ball decently. Today I didn’t have it, and I gave it up. On the whole, I feel I’ve thrown the ball better than what my record shows. But I’m still 0-6 and need to pull my weight and need to do better. Obviously, I don’t want to be the weak link on the team. Deep down, you almost feel like that.”
“There’s a good foundation here, a lot of good guys here by me and they’re not talking me off the ledge, but they’re keeping me within arm’s reach so I don’t jump off the ledge yet. I’ll be OK. I’ll be ready for my next start and we’ll go from there.”
