Fans alleviated his pain

08:59 AM EST on Thursday, March 25, 2004

BY SEAN McADAM
Journal Sports Writer

AP photo Red Sox manager Terry Francona chats with pitcher Tim Wakefield before taking him out of last night's game.

TAMPA -- Last night could have been Tim Wakefield's opportunity to turn the corner, to put the events of last Oct. 16-17 far behind him for good.

Except that Wakefield had already done that. He didn't need to be on the mound against the New York Yankees to exorcise those personal demons. Over the winter, Wakefield had already made his peace with that crushing postseason loss.

Within days of serving up Aaron Boone's 11th-inning, pennant-winning homer in Game 7 of the ALCS loss, Wakefield successfully put his failure in perspective.

"Sure, it (was awful) getting on that bus, knowing we were through," Wakefield said last night. "But we were part of one of the greatest series ever. That series alone touched on how baseball should be played."

Still, Wakefield wondered what his legacy would be in New England. Would he be villified, the way Bill Buckner was after his 1986 World Series gaffe? Would he become a punching bag for fans' frustration, the way Mike Torrez was after 1978?

Wakefield's answer came in mid-January, when he attended the annual Boston Baseball Writers dinner. Introduced to the crowd, Wakefield, rather than being a target, was given a warm and lengthy ovation from Sox loyalists. It was their way of saying that all was forgiven.

"Huge . . . huge," said Wakefield when asked how important that was to the healing process. "That shows the character of the fans. It gave me chills."

So it was that Wakefield was able to shed his disappointment, once and for all.

Last night was not his sharpest effort of the spring. He allowed five earned runs on seven hits over 4 1/3 innings in an 8-6 loss to the Yanks. But Wakefield attributed the choppy outing to a stiff breeze blowing in from the outfield, lessening the resistance to his knuckler.

"The bottom wasn't falling out when it got to the plate," he said, "but there was good movement."

It wasn't as though Wakefield had much to prove last night. New manager Terry Francona has praised Wakefield at every turn, careful to elevate him to an equal status with fellow starters Pedro Martinez, Derek Lowe and Curt Schilling.

"He's pitched a lot of innings," Francona said before last night's game, "and he's probably going to pitch a lot more. Guys like him make my job so easy."

Wakefield is grateful for the accolades, but he isn't interested in getting the acclaim given to his more illustrious teammates.

"I like staying under the radar," he said. "I'm the blue-collar guy on the staff. I'm not a big strikeout guy. The big goal for me every year is to give the staff 200 innings pitched."

In seasons in which he's been used exlusively as a starter, Wakefield has almost always accomplished that feat. In between, he's shuttled between the rotation and the bullpen, doing everything from long relief to closing.

When Grady Little took over in 2002 -- and, correspondingly, Joe Kerrigan left the organization -- Wakefield sensed a turnaround. Suddenly, he was appreciated again, a feeling that has only grown with the arrival of the new ownership group.

Wakefield credited John Henry, Larry Lucchino and Tom Werner with turning around the organization "180 degrees. It makes it a pleasure to come in and put the uniform on every day."

He intends to keep doing that for a while. Already the active player with the longest continuous service to the Sox, Wakefield, 37, is signed through 2005. He'd like to keep pitching past 40.

"My first goal was to get 10 years in," he said, "and I accomplished that last year. My second is to pitch past 40."

Along the way, Wakefield figures to reach more Red Sox milestones. Currently, he's fourth in Sox history in appearances and fourth in strikeouts, sixth in innings pitched, ninth in wins and sixth in games started.

"To have your name up there with guys like Luis Tiant and Cy Young -- that's pretty exciting," Wakefield said.

He might have added -- but didn't -- that it's nice not to have your name up there with Mike Torrez and Bill Buckner. That's history. So is Wakefield's disappointment over Game 7 last October.