SEATTLE -- Mike Cubbage
found himself squarely in the spotlight Saturday night. For a third-base coach, that's seldom a good thing.
Cubbage's decision to send Manny Ramirez
from first base on Shea Hillenbrand's
double in the second inning backfired in two ways. First, Ramirez was thrown out at the plate. Secondly, though it wasn't Cubbage's fault, the Red Sox slugger suffered a broken left index finger and will be lost to the team for four to six weeks.
There was no one out in the Boston second when Hillenbrand doubled into the left-field corner.
"When the ball was hit," Cubbage said, "I thought Manny probably wouldn't be able to score. But then the ball got by (Seattle left fielder Desi Relaford
) and he misplayed it. He was still chasing the ball as Manny was coming to third.
"Relaford's got a decent arm, but he hasn't played a lot of outfield. I'm hard on myself. I like to be right and don't like to be wrong. But sending him ended up being wrong, and it was compounded by what happened (to Ramirez's finger)."
Cubbage said he had been cognizant of Ramirez's history of hamstring problems in spring training and earlier in the season, but added, "Manny's been running real good lately. He beat out two infield hits in Oakland. When he hit third (Saturday night), he looked like he had pretty good steam."
But as Cubbage himself admitted, getting a baserunner thrown out at home for the first out of the inning "is a cardinal sin. You don't make the third out at third or the first out at the plate. I can't recall (sending a runner home who made the first out of an inning)."
Bad habit was costly
Another element to the injury was Ramirez's habit of sliding head-first. He jammed his finger against catcher Dan Wilson
's shin guard.
"It seems like guys do it all the time," said Cubbage. "You watch it and cringe because it's my experience that guys get hurt that way. I've seen a lot of fingers and hands get hurt. I try to teach guys (to slide) feet first, especially going into the catcher."
"All we can do is stress the way we want it done," added manager Grady Little.
"We're going to start putting some emphasis on it in the minor leagues so no one forms any bad habits. It's a dangerous play. I'm not sure if there's enough to be gained by it. There's not a whole lot to gain and there's a whole lot to lose."
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The Sox had a brief scare in the fourth when Pedro Martinez
tried to go to his right to field a chopper hit by Ichiro Suzuki.
"When I pushed out to get the ground ball," said Martinez, "I kind of got a little cramp in my leg. It just got tight."
Martinez shook his right leg a bit and tested it before resuming without a problem.
"My heart was in my throat for a while there," admitted Little.
Around the bases
A double by Nomar Garciaparra
in the fifth scored two runs and extended the Sox' streak to 28 straight games with at least one extra-base hit. The Sox had seven doubles in all, the most by any club against the Mariners in a game this season. . . . Dustin Hermanson
(groin) is scheduled to be examined by team physician Bill Morgan today or tomorrow in the hopes of being cleared for a mound session tomorrow. . . . Second baseman Rey Sanchez,
who extended his hitting streak to 14 games with a third-inning infield single, was hitting an incredible .778 (7-for-9) with runners in scoring position and less than two outs.
