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JASON GIAMBI |
THE "IDIOTS" REVERSE THE CURSE
The Red Sox lose a snoozer to New York
April 18, 2004 ... Few baseball games in April can possibly live up to the buildup these have gotten, of
course. So maybe it was only fitting that the last pitcher of the day for the Red Sox in yesterday's 7-3 loss to the Yankees was Frank Castillo, whose reward for extending Alex Rodriguez's 0-fer weekend was to be outrighted to Triple A Pawtucket after the game.
That's about as soul-stirring as the day would get, on an afternoon Red Sox starter Derek Lowe, working on 10 days' rest, reacted as if he'd never seen a mound before, failing to get out of a third inning in which the Yankees scored six times on six hits and a walk.
That's of little comfort to the 35,011 at Yawkey Way yesterday who watched Lowe walk two batters in the first, another in the second, and allow five straight Yankees to reach base in the third, the first when Rodriguez, after falling behind 0-and-2, drew a base on
balls. Jason Giambi lined a single off the Wall, Gary Sheffield shot a ground-ball double into the left-field corner, Hideki Matsui lined a 2-0 pitch to left for another hit, and Jorge Posada grounded another double into the corner.
The Sox pen did superb work as well, lefties Mark Malaska and Phil Seibel combining for six scoreless innings and Castillo recording the last out on Rodriguez's fly to center, ending A-Rod's third straight 0-for-4 performance. Rodriguez is now 3 for his last 33 at
Fenway Park, dating back to August of 2002.
Last season, when the Sox and Yankees met a record 26 times, including seven in the ALCS, 11 of the games were decided by two runs or fewer, including four of the last five meetings. So far this weekend, all three games have been decided by three runs or more, and there
has only been one lead change, when the Sox took a 1-0 lead in the first yesterday on singles by Bill Mueller and Ramirez and a double by Millar. The Yankees tied it in the second on Posada's walk, Lee's single, and Derek Jeter's RBI single, then broke it open the next inning.
Johnny Damon on the fans chanting "BALCO" and "You use steroids" to Jason Giambi: "There's nothing that says he definitely did it, but because of reports, that's how our society works. It's disheartening because Jason is definitely one of the best teammates I ever had."
Mark Bellhorn improved his on-base percentage to .500 by drawing his 15th walk, tops in the majors.
On the 40th anniversary of Tony Conigliaro homering in his first at-bat at Fenway, his 3-year-old nephew and namesake, Anthony Richard Conigliaro II, tossed a ceremonial first pitch. The boy's father, Richie Conigliaro, and uncle, Billy, attended the game, as did the
baseball team from St. Mary's High School in Lynn. The team collected 6,500-8,000 signatures to petition the Sox to retire Conigliaro's number 25, according to coach Bill Norcross. A St. Mary's graduate, Conigliaro was 19 when he first homered at Fenway. |
