Boston is developing a troublesome habit of coming away empty-handed when opportunity knocks.

01:00 AM EDT on Wednesday, May 18, 2005

BY SEAN McADAM
Journal Sports Writer

OAKLAND -- There wasn't much mystery to Monday night's 6-4 Red Sox loss to the Oakland A's at McAfee Coliseum. It was right there in black and white at the bottom of the box score.

LOB (left on base): 13.

The Sox seemed to squander scoring chances in virtually every inning, including a bases-loaded, no-out opportunity in the fourth and a second-and-third, no-out situation in the seventh.

It marked the third time this month and second time in the last four games that the Sox had stranded 13 baserunners. They also did so in the road trip opener against Seattle last Friday, and lost to the Mariners by a touchdown, 14-7.

Boston also left 13 on May 2 at Comerica Park against Detroit, resulting in their only defeat in the four-game series against Detroit.

But heading into last night's game, the Sox were, after all, tied for third in the American League in batting average, second in runs scored, first in on-base percentage, and third in slugging percentage.

But they were also second in the league in runners left on base. As manager Terry Francona correctly pointed out, that's partly because the Sox

have more baserunners than most every other team. Even efficient teams are going to strand runners.

Still, two of the last three losses -- both against teams on long losing streaks -- came as a direct result of the team's failure to hit in the clutch, a trend that was at least mildly troubling.

For center fielder Johnny Damon, who played a part in the team's struggles with men on base, that's unacceptable.

"Very definitely," said Damon. "We're a much better team than that."

Damon himself took personal responsibility for the team's struggles Monday. With runners on first and second and two out in the second, he struck out against Kirk Saarloos. Two innings later, Damon came to the plate with the bases full and one out. Once more, Saarloos struck him out, fooling him with a sinker that was nearly in the dirt.

"I know teams are gunning for us," Damon acknowledged, citing the team's World Series win last fall, "and they're making good pitches. But come on -- I was missing some of those pitches by a foot. A fly ball and we get a run. With some other guys, even a double play would have gotten us a run. At least put the ball in play."

Francona took a more optimistic view of the team's difficulties, and to support his viewpoint, noted, even after their problems Monday, that they were hitting .391 with the bases loaded, including five homers. He praised Mark Bellhorn -- whose two-run single in the second gave the Sox an early lead -- for his at-bat in the fourth, observing that while the second baseman eventually fanned, he battled back from an 0-and-2 count and fouled off five pitches before going down swinging.

"That was a good at-bat," Francona said. "He just didn't get it done that time."

He shrugged off the two games on this trip "as kind of an aberration, basically. We usually score a lot of runs."

Still, with runners in scoring position, the Sox were batting .278, or exactly one point below their overall batting average for the season.

"It's on our offense," said Damon of the recent losses. "I think we should have five or six more wins this year, which would be enough to have us ahead of Baltimore (in the A.L. East standings). I think there are lots of times where we're just trying too hard. We just need to relax a little more up there, and not be afraid to take a walk."

Damon stressed, however, that the hitters had been putting extra pressure on themselves with the injuries to starting pitchers Curt Schilling and David Wells.

"We know we're missing two important guys," he said. "But our pitchers have been doing a great job for us. We just need to hit better. We're better than this."