Boston rallies late against Braves relievers, but it isn't enough to dig its way out of a 7-0 hole.

01:00 AM EDT on Sunday, May 22, 2005

BY STEVEN KRASNER
Journal Sports Writer

BOSTON -- The weather conditions were ugly. And the Boston Red Sox' play last night in a 7-5 loss to the Atlanta Braves at raw, rainy Fenway Park was even uglier, including a season-high four errors.

The Sox fell into a 7-0 hole by the sixth inning before mounting a dribs-and-drabs comeback that grounded to a halt on Jason Varitek's harmless fly ball off ex-Boston farm hand Chris Reitsma through the raindrops that was hauled in by Atlanta left fielder Brian Jordan.

By the time Jordan made the putout, preserving a win for rookie right-hander Kyle Davies in his first big-league start, the Sox' frustration had boiled over.

Edgar Renteria, who went 1 for 5 (a bases-empty double in the seventh), stranded five more baserunners, making it 13 over the last two games. He was incensed when plate umpire Andy Fletcher called him out on strikes with Johnny Damon (3 for 4) on first and none out in the ninth and the Sox trailing, 7-3.

The Sox' shortstop was so enraged, he quickly barked at Fletcher, whose quick thumb, which had ejected the Braves' Marcus Giles the previous night, heaved Renteria.

David Ortiz, who had taken issue with Fletcher on a called third strike in the first inning, rushed up from the on-deck circle to pull Renteria away from the umpire as they went nose-to-nose, with manager Terry Francona scurrying to home plate to intervene, too.

It was not a good night for Renteria, who signed a four-year, $40-million free-agent contract with the Sox over the winter. He also made two errors, pushing his season total to a troublesome eight as his batting average dipped to .245.

Certainly, the awful playing conditions contributed to his shoddy defensive performance, as well as the Sox' errors committed by Bill Mueller and Mark Bellhorn. But Renteria has been hearing boos at Fenway, and that can be unsettling.

"When you're a big free-agent signing and come over here and you're not producing like you want to, you're definitely going to be frustrated," said Damon, referring to Renteria.

Francona said he could understand Renteria's reaction to what he thought should have been called a ball instead of strike three.

"We take so much pride in making the pitcher come over the plate (with his pitches). David had one earlier in the game. Both felt the balls were a little off the plate. When they get pitches they feel are a little off, especially with runners on base, it's frustrating for them. It's frustrating for all of us."

Manny Ramirez, meanwhile, also seems to be feeling a bit of pressure at the plate. The Sox' slugging left fielder, a career .316 hitter, was batting only .230 entering the game. He was in an 8-for-52 skid.

Twice he whiffed, taking defensive cuts each time. The second whiff came with runners at first and third and two outs in the fifth and the Sox down, 6-0. He chased a high-outside pitch for a rally-killing strikeout on Davies' 95th and final pitch.

Ramirez did manage a pair of RBI as the Sox pecked away at the Braves' relief corps. He delivered a run with a fielder's choice grounder in the seventh, and then finally crushed an RBI hit, a double off the wall in left-center in the ninth.

He has 36 RBI, to go along with 10 homers, keeping him up around the leaders, but he has by no means gotten into a Ramirez-like zone yet.

"You hope good hitters not only get hot, but red-hot," said Francona, crossing his fingers that Ramirez's double may have signaled he is about to drive the ball on a more consistent basis.

And then there was the frustration felt by starting pitcher Tim Wakefield. He gave up six runs on eight hits in five innings. There were some soft hits. There were four walks. And there were a couple of well struck balls, notably Julio Franco's RBI double during the Braves' four-run fifth that established their 6-0 bulge.

"I didn't see a lot of balls that were scalded, but they count," said Francona.

"Franco's at-bat was the whole game for me," sighed Wakefield, whose record dropped to 4-3 as his earned-run average jumped to 4.24.

The Sox also may have suffered injury to add to their misery. Kevin Millar fouled a ball off the instep of his left foot for the second time in a week. He stayed in the game, completing the eighth-inning at-bat with a groundout to shortstop. Millar hobbled to first, and then was taken out of the game.

"He's sore," said Francona.

Whether he'll play today remains to be seen, but today's game can't get any worse than last night's for the Sox.