Boston's left fielder makes Chicago pay in the ninth after third baseman Joe Crede drops a foul popup.

01:00 AM EDT on Friday, July 22, 2005

BY STEVEN KRASNER
Journal Sports Writer

CHICAGO -- Manny Ramirez left Wednesday's game against Tampa Bay in the third inning, claiming his hamstrings were hurting.

There were doubters as to his physical distress. More than one person at Fenway Park thought Manny just wanted to get some time off with the Boston Red Sox blowing out Tampa Bay. And, lending credence to those thoughts, there have been examples of such behavior on his part in the past.

But make no mistake about one thing, namely, the reason the Red Sox' left fielder makes around $20 million a year.

The man is dangerous with a baseball bat when he steps in the batter's box. And you better not give him a second chance in a key spot if you want to live and tell about it, as embarrassed Chicago third baseman Joe Crede found out last night in Boston's 6-5 victory over the White Sox in a sloppy battle of divisional leaders at U.S. Cellular Field.

Crede tried to make a fancy Rickey-Henderson-like snatch catch of Ramirez's foul popup near the photographers' railing with one out and no one on base in the ninth inning of a 5-5 game. The error snapped Crede's errorless streak at 49 games.

Given the extra life, Ramirez took full advantage, crushing Luis Vizcaino's next pitch 415 feet into the bleachers in left-center for his 26th homer of the year, breaking the tie and taking new closer Curt Schilling off the hook.

Schilling, who blew his first save (and Matt Clement's 11th win) on doubles by Aaron Rowand and Crede in the bottom of the eighth, worked a strong ninth, fanning the final two batters he faced for his first victory since April 18.

The hero of the night, though, was Ramirez, polishing off a game in which Boston overcame 2-0 and 4-1 deficits to All-Star Game starter Mark Buehrle, thanks in part to a double error by second baseman Tadahito Iguchi in the seventh that helped hand the Red Sox two runs and a 5-4 advantage.

"We're always grateful when Manny gets another swing," said Boston manager Terry Francona. "He put a beautiful swing on that ball."

"That swing he put on the ball he hit foul, he just missed it," said Schilling. "Any time you give Manny another life, another pitch can be a game-breaker."

Schilling caught a break because of Ramirez's long ball. He's still adjusting to his new role out of the bullpen, but there's one test he passed last night. He showed he had a short memory, which is necessary for a closer.

"In the ninth inning, I just pitched," said Schilling. "In the eighth I was fighting my way through some pitches. I shook off Jason and got a pitch up (to Crede) and he hammered it.

"But once Manny hit the home run, it was another save situation. That's how I looked at it. What happened in the eighth was gone from my mind," said the right-hander, who has looked better and better with each of his five relief outings.

As the game lurched to the ninth, each team had had its share of ups and downs. Chicago had homers from Carl Everett (two-run in the first) and solo shots by Paul Konerko and Rowand in the fourth. But the White Sox also were guilty of two costly errors.

As for the Red Sox, Trot Nixon made a baserunning mistake, blunting a budding rally in the second when he tried to score from third on a ground ball. And shortstop Edgar Renteria (3 for 4) was unable to run down and tag out a Chicago baserunner in a sixth-inning rundown, forcing up Clement's pitch count and ultimately leading to Francona calling on Schilling to pitch two innings.

On the plus side, though, Johnny Damon made a heads-up play scoring from second on Iguchi's error, and his aggressive baserunning caused the overthrow that eventually led to the go-ahead run on Kevin Millar's sacrifice fly.

By then, Buehrle, third in the league in earned-run average and wins (at 11-3) was gone.

"We made him work," said Francona. "That's the last guy you want to give a lead to. It was not a perfect game for us, but from our side, there were a lot of good things.

"I'll bet this was a fun game for the fans," added Francona. "There was a lot of good baseball and a lot of interesting baseball. Fortunately we ended up with one more run than they did."