Boston Red Sox
Wretched performance makes O's big winners
08:32 AM EDT on Thursday, July 22, 2004
BOSTON -- Ugly. Uglier. Ugliest.
That pretty much summed up the Boston Red Sox' wretched performance in a
10-5 loss to the Baltimore Orioles last night at Fenway Park.
Pedro Martinez finished the night with an ugly pitching line, charged
with eight earned runs in 6 2/3 innings in suffering his first loss
overall since May 16 and his first setback of the year at home.
Johnny Damon's play in center field was uglier, including a botched line
drive and typically weak-armed throws that contributed to Martinez' ugly
line.
And the ugliest play of all was a Keystone-Kops-like unplanned
triple-cutoff play that turned a triple into an inside-the-park home run
for David Newhan (4-for-5, 4 runs), enabling the Orioles to stretch
their lead from 6-4 to 8-4.
The standings aren't looking any prettier this morning, either. The
setback dropped the Sox eight games behind the first-place New York
Yankees in the American League East, and they didn't do themselves any
favors in the wild-card chase, either.
The only items of beauty last night for Boston were home runs by Gabe
Kapler (game-tying three-run drive in the fourth) and Kevin Millar (solo
shot in the sixth).
But the importance of defense in winning baseball was on display early,
and it wasn't the Red Sox throwing the leather.
A dazzling, back-to-the-infield diving catch in center field by
Baltimore shortstop Miguel Tejada (3-for-5, 5 RBI) robbed Jason Varitek
of a two-out, two-run hit in the first inning. Instead of a 2-0 lead,
the inning was over. And the Sox never led.
"They caught the breaks," sighed Damon, whose nightmarish night was
capped fittingly when he rapped into a game-ending double play, blunting
a possible comeback bid that already had produced one run.
"This was one of those nights where anything that could go wrong did go
wrong," said Damon.
No one play typified the Sox' ineptitude last night better than a clout
they managed to turn into a two-run inside-the-park homer by Newhan in
the seventh as the Orioles stretched their lead to 8-4.
Newhan clubbed a drive to straightaway center that Damon tried to chase
down. He couldn't catch up to the ball, which hit high off the wall.
Damon tried a Spiderman-like leap, though, with his glove facing the
wall, apparently hoping for a miracle carom into his leather.
That didn't happen, though. He chased down the ball after it hit the
wall as Newhan raced to third, seeking a triple. Damon threw the ball
toward third. Second baseman Bill Mueller was in the cutoff position,
backed up by shortstop Mark Bellhorn.
But left fielder Manny Ramirez, who had come over to back up Damon on
the carom, got in the way. He caught the ball in self-defense, falling
as he did so. From his knees, he threw the ball to Bellhorn, who quickly
threw to the plate, but far too late to nail the speedy Newhan.
"Manny made a highlight catch," said Damon. "Unfortunately, it was an
embarrassing one for us. It happens."
What happened in the fourth was equally unfortunate and ugly. With
runners at second and third and one out, Tejada scorched a liner to
center. Damon thought he had it. But at the last second the ball veered
away from him and rolled to the wall for a two-run triple. Tejada scored
on a sacrifice fly, giving Baltimore a 3-0 lead.
"I was getting ready to catch it chest-high because the runner was going
to tag and I was going to throw home," said Damon. "All of a sudden, the
ball shot to my right about 10 feet."
Damon's disaster also included a wide throw home from extremely shallow
center field, as Melvin Mora tagged and scored from third on Javy Lopez'
fly ball, putting Baltimore on top, 6-3, in the sixth.
None of which helped Martinez, who fanned six of the first 10 batters he
faced before allowing a hit. Martinez, who was trying to go deep into
the game to help out a fried bullpen, gave up some soft hits, was beaten
with hits on good pitches and made a few mistakes, too.
"He definitely didn't deserve to give up that many runs," said Damon.
Maybe that wasn't surprising, though, since the Orioles were the
opposition. Baltmore has battered him for 15 earned runs in 11 2/3
Fenway innings this season, an 11.57 earned-run average, compared to
2.06 against everyone else at home this year. And that doesn't factor in
the 10-run disaster in 4 1/3 innings on April 15 last year.
"Nothing to say, I just gave it up," said Martinez, whose record dropped
to 10-4 (6-1 at home) and his E.R.A. jumped to 4.01.
"I guess you have to give them credit. There's no other way to explain
it," said Martinez. "Let it go and say Pedro gave it up. That's pretty
much it. Say Pedro got shelled."
|
More top stories
Most Viewed Yesterday
Patriots journal: Porter says refs have different rules for Brady
Governor vetoes R.I. saltwater fishing license
Narragansett sachem: ‘Outsiders’ no more after Obama meeting
Most active surveys
React to Carcieri's veto of R.I.'s first saltwater fishing license
What's your favorite breakfast/lunch place?
Are the Yankees on the brink of another dynasty?
Will you get vaccinated against swine flu this year?
Will you allow your children to be vaccinated against swine flu? Why or why not?
Most e-mailed in the last 24 hours
Reader Reaction










You must be logged in to contribute. Log in | Register Now!
You are logged in as screenname | Log Out
You are logged in, but do not have a "screen" name. Create a Screen Name