Boston continues to have difficulty establishing consistency and falls to the Phillies.

01:00 AM EDT on Sunday, June 27, 2004

BY STEVEN KRASNER
Journal Sports Writer

BOSTON -- The struggling Red Sox paid dearly for the error of their ways at Fenway Park yesterday.

The bumbling Sox were charged with four errors and were guilty of a mental one in a 9-2 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies that was about as ugly as it gets in the big leagues.

Center fielder Johnny Damon made a pair of throwing errors, and starter Bronson Arroyo and first baseman Kevin Millar each contributed costly miscues in the Phillies' five-run fourth that gave Philadelphia a 7-1 lead.

Arroyo also backed up the wrong base, costing Boston an early run.

So any momentum the Red Sox thought they had after crushing the Phillies, 12-1, the previous night, evaporated just as quickly as it had appeared.

Boston has now lost five of its last seven, and since May 1, the team's record is a mediocre 26-26.

Defense, or its lack, has been a major factor in the most recent slide. The Red Sox allowed five more unearned runs yesterday, boosting their season total to 54, tops in the majors, including 29 in the last 27 games.

Not that the Sox have been misfiring only on defense. Offensively, clutch hits have been tough to come by. Yesterday, despite racking up 14 hits, Boston managed only 2 runs because the Sox were 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position.

At the end of the game, the embarrassment was magnified when a sizable contingent of Phillies fans unleashed a loud ovation for their team with two outs in the ninth, an outpouring of affection that went unchallenged because Red Sox fans had long since sprinted to the exits.

The loss was the sixth by six runs or more at home since May 13.

The only good news yesterday was the New York Yankees also lost. But at this stage of the season the Red Sox and their more than $125-million payroll are closer in the loss column to the third-place Tampa Bay Devil Rays than to the first-place Yanks.

"We played such a nice game (Friday) night and showed up today and expected to do the same thing, but until we do we are going to have games like this, and it's frustrating," said manager Terry Francona.

Said catcher Jason Varitek: "We definitely can play better. This team will get on a roll and win a lot of games."

The Red Sox couldn't have beaten a quality Little League team the way they played yesterday. The follies began in the second inning. With runners at first and second and two outs in a scorless game, Todd Pratt lined a single to center.

Damon charged the ball and Arroyo elected to back up the plate. But Damon, who has a weak arm, conceded the run and tried to nail Jason Michaels running from first to third. His throw hit Michaels' foot as he slid into third, and the ball bounced past Kevin Youkilis. With Arroyo behind the plate Youkilis had to track the ball down, and his off-balance throw was far too late to get Michaels, whose run put the Phillies up, 2-0.

Damon was charged with an error. Arroyo made a mental one.

"He made a fundamental mistake," said pitching coach Dave Wallace. "He should have been between third and home to [see] where the throw was going [before deciding which base to back up]. It cost him a run."

Said Arroyo: "I know Johnny doesn't have the strongest arm, but the ball was hit pretty hard and he was coming hard to get it, so I thought he'd take a shot at the plate. When I turned around, I saw he was throwing to third."

Youkilis said, "It was just one of those freak plays."

Things got much worse for Arroyo in the fourth.

With runners at first and third and none out, and Boston trailing, 2-1, Jimmy Rollins hit a bouncer back to the mound. Michaels broke for the plate. If Arroyo had fielded the ball cleanly, Michaels would have been a dead duck, and it would still have been a 2-1 game with one out and runners at first and second.

But Arroyo couldn't make the play. The ball hit off his legs and rolled into foul territory along the first-base line. Michaels scored, making it 3-1.

"He hit it off the end of the bat and it had funny spin," said Arroyo. "It hit my right knee and ricocheted off the left knee and took off. It was a bad bounce."

That wasn't the end of the ugliness. After a sacrifice bunt, Millar, the Sox' first baseman, took his eye off a bouncer hit by Bobby Abreu. The ball hit off the heel of Millar's glove and rolled into center field, gift-wrapping two more runs.

"I wanted to make the play at home," said Millar. "I didn't play good defense today. My play was big. I take full blame for this loss."

Jim Thome's major-league-leading 26th homer, a two-run shot, punctuated the inning and put the Phils on cruise control with a 7-1 advantage.

Damon's second error, on a throw to the plate, gave a circus-like quality to the game. Damon overthrew the cutoff man, and the ball skipped past Varitek, as David Bell scored the Phillies' ninth run.

Michaels also tried to score on the play, but pitcher Lenny DiNardo made a diving tag of Michaels.

It wasn't pretty, but it was effective, unlike the rest of the day for the sagging Sox.