Tony Graffanino's error and David Wells' hanging breaking ball lead to the three-run homer in the fifth inning that puts Boston in a 2-0 hole.

09:36 AM EDT on Thursday, October 6, 2005

BY STEVEN KRASNER
Journal Sports Writer

CHICAGO -- Tony Graffanino, say hello to Bill Buckner. David Wells, shake hands with Mike Torrez.

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OK, so maybe the present-day Red Sox, Graffanino and Wells, won't enter Boston's postseason lore of disappointment in the same reviled manner as Buckner and Torrez.

But their mistakes in the team's 5-4 loss to the Chicago White Sox last night in Game Two of the American League Division Series at U.S. Cellular Field were eerily reminiscent of their predecessor's miscues.

Graffanino botched a slow-bouncing potential inning-ending double-play ball in the fifth, the ball rolling between his legs, a la Buckner in the 1986 World Series.

And two batters later, Wells hung a breaking ball that White Sox second baseman Tadahito Iguchi laced into the bleachers in left, a three-run shot that erased a 4-2 deficit and catapulted Chicago into a 5-4 lead and ultimately into a commanding 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series.

It wasn't quite the same in trajectory as Bucky Dent's playoff homer for the Yanks that helped beat Torrez and the Red Sox in 1978. But it was similarly dagger-like.

"Everyone who has played this game has been in a position where he messed up a game. It happened to me tonight. This (loss) was my fault," sighed Graffanino, calmly talking about only his fourth error in 52 games for Boston as wave after wave of media asked him for his thoughts on the misplay.

"I blame myself moreso because I hung the curveball," said Wells. "I'm sure he feels bad. I feel bad. We don't point fingers at anybody. If you do, point them at me. I threw the pitch."

There were some brave words spoken by the Red Sox after the disheartening setback, the theme of which was that Boston has faced similar one-loss-and-out, backs-to-the-wall postseason situations and overcome them against Oakland (2003 ALDS) and New York (2004 A.L. Championship Series).

Still, last night's defeat stung mightily. Boston erupted for two quick runs against All-Star starter Mark Buehrle in the first and struck for two more in the third, opening up a 4-0 advantage.

Wells, meanwhile, was mowing down the White Sox, who had crushed the Red Sox, 14-2, in the series opener on Tuesday.

Everything unraveled, though, in the fifth, and even though Boston had a runner on in the eighth and Graffanino doubled with one out in the ninth against fireballing closer Bobby Jenks, they couldn't pull even in the game or the series.

Today is an off-day for both teams, but it won't ease the sting of last night's loss or mute the personal nightmares being endured by the likeable and generally sure-handed Graffanino or big-game pitcher Wells, whose postseason record fell to 10-4.

The turnaround came out of nowhere.

Chicago had finally broken through against Wells for two runs in the fifth on a single by Carl Everett (2 for 4) and run-scoring hits by Aaron Rowand (double) and Joe Crede (single).

With Crede at first, Jose Uribe hit a grounder off the end of his bat toward the middle. That's when disaster struck. The ball squirted through Graffanino's legs as he attempted to scoop the ball and shovel it to shortstop Edgar Renteria in hopes of starting an inning-ending double play and keeping Boston on top, 4-2.

Instead, the ball rolled into right-center and the White Sox had runners at first and third with one out.

"It wasn't hit hard, so I put a hard charge on it," said Graffanino. "I didn't get a good read on the ball. I saw Crede running and thought I could get two. I took my eyes off it, just flat-out missed it, that's all I can say."

"I thought it was two off the bat," said Wells. "It was just a squibbler."

Graffanino went to the mound to say a few words to Wells.

"I told him, 'Pick me up, please,' " said Graffanino.

"I said, 'OK, no problem,' " said Wells.

Wells seemed poised to squirm out of trouble. He retired Scott Podsednik on a foul popup to third base for the second out of the inning. All he had to do was get Iguchi, the No. 2 hitter in the lineup.

But his 1-and-1 pitch was a hanger, and Iguchi hammered it. Suddenly, the Red Sox were down and the sellout crowd of 40,799 was jumping.

As the ball left the bat and then cleared the fence, Graffanino turned away in obvious mental anguish.

"It crushed me," he said. "I knew it made it 5-4, and it was my fault."

"I didn't pick him up," lamented Wells. "You do that to your teammates. He's made a lot of great plays for us. I didn't do it. He made an error trying to shuffle the ball. I gave up a home run. End of story."

And the end of the season got one game closer for the Boston Red Sox.