Pitching, defense take a beating from Yankees

08:03 AM EDT on Wednesday, June 30, 2004

BY STEVEN KRASNER
Journal Sports Writer

AP photo / Kathy Willens After taking six out of seven from New York in April, Boston last night succumbs to, from left, Miguel Cairo, Derek Jeter, Gary Sheffield, who hit a three-run homer in the fourth, and the rest of the Yankees as they rout starter Derek Lowe and the Red Sox.

NEW YORK -- The proud New York Yankees were decidedly embarrassed in late April when the Boston Red Sox stormed through Yankee Stadium, sweeping a three-game series.

They got a chance for a little payback last night, and the Yankees didn't waste it, routing the inconsistent, bumbling and lifeless-looking Red Sox, 11-3, before a raucous crowd of 55,231.

New York's emphatic victory tumbled Boston to a season-high 6 1/2 games out of first place in the American League East, including seven games in arrears of the Yanks in the loss column.

Since the sweep in New York in late April, the Yankees have gone a sizzling 40-15, an astounding .727 winning percentage for what basically amounts to one-third of the season.

The Red Sox, meanwhile, have limped along at a mediocre 30-27 since that giddy April 25 afternoon in the Bronx when Pedro Martinez bested Javier Vazquez, 2-0, dropping the Yanks' record to 8-11.

Sure, it was only one game, and only the 75th of the season.

But similar recently disturbing Red Sox trends were on display.

For instance, the Red Sox were their own worst enemies, as they have been all too often lately.

And their one-dimensional offense was limited to three solo homers. Leadoff man Johnny Damon went deep twice, giving Boston short-lived 1-0 and 2-1 leads in the first and third innings, while David Ortiz' 20th made it a 9-3 game against Vazquez in the seventh.

AP photo Red Sox pitching coach Dave Wallace talks with catcher Jason Varitek and starter Derek Lowe after an error by shortstop Nomar Garciaparra on a ball off the bat of Yankees' Derek Jeter during the fourth inning of last night's game.

The Red Sox were guilty of three errors -- two by shortstop Nomar Garciaparra -- leading to four unearned runs. That boosted Boston's major league-leading total of unearned runs to 58. In the last 29 games, the Sox have gift-wrapped 33 unearned runs for the opposition.

An unturned double play also wound up hurting them.

While those extra runs last night didn't cost Derek Lowe in his earned-run average, the bottom line was that twice the Boston right-hander had chances to pick up his defensively challenged teammates, and each time he failed to do so in a big way.

Each time, Lowe, whose trademark is a hard sinker, gave up a homer -- a three-run shot to Gary Sheffield in the fourth and a monstrous two-run rocket to deep center by former Red Sox first baseman Tony Clark in the fifth.

Lowe's log now shows a team-high 15 unearned runs, partially a measure of his teammates' deficiencies and partially a measure of the pitcher's inability to "bow his neck," as former manager Butch Hobson might have put it.

Sheffield's homer, two pitches after Garciaparra took his eye off Derek Jeter's grounder and bobbled it with baserunner Kenny Lofton screening his view, stretched New York's advantage from 4-2 to 7-2.

Clark's clout, which made it a 9-2 game, came two pitches after second baseman Pokey Reese couldn't cleanly handle Jorge Posada's hard-hit tailor-made inning-ending double-play ball. The Sox had to settle for only the second out of the inning.

Earlier, first baseman Kevin Millar muffed an easy leadoff bouncer by Lofton. The Yanks scored three runs in the inning, overcoming a 2-1 deficit in assuming a 4-3 lead in the third. One of the runs was unearned.

A first-inning error by Garciaparra -- a one-hop throw Millar wasn't able to scoop -- didn't hurt the Sox.

And by the time third baseman Mark Bellhorn gave the matador wave to a bouncer toward the hole by Jeter that could have been a double-play ball in the sixth, the Sox' fate was sealed. Jeter got credit for a single on his ball, which rolled into left field. New York eventually wound up with another run.

"We can't give that team extra outs," said Damon. "They're the best team at making you pay. That lineup is stacked from top to bottom."

"Against the Yankees, you have to play clean baseball to beat them," said manager Terry Francona. "We didn't do that and they took advantage of every one of (the mistakes)."

Lowe was downcast, bothered mostly by his inability to stop the bleeding. He was able to withstand Garciaparra's first error, but cracked when later plays were not made.

"Hits, errors, it doesn't matter," said Lowe. "The starting pitcher's job is to minimize the big innings. I wasn't able to do that."

Not that the Red Sox were pinning all of their troubles last night on Lowe.

"It would be nice if we could get picked up, but there were too many mistakes," said Damon. "There was only so much (Lowe) could do. You couldn't ask D-Lowe to pick us up every time. He actually pitched okay."

"Derek pitched out of the first inning and kept us ahead, 1-0," added catcher Jason Varitek. "But it all has to work together, in my eyes. You can't do it just with pitching. You have to play defense and swing the bats. We haven't been able to put it all together for a long period of time."

But don't think the Red Sox are going to pack it in just yet.

"I believe in the guys in this clubhouse," said Varitek. "This hasn't been because of a lack of effort. Maybe you can try too hard. You have to play aggressive and be aggressive and just make things happen."