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DAVE McCARTY |
THE "IDIOTS" REVERSE THE CURSE
With the game gone,
the Sox call on Dave McCarty
June 12, 2004 ... The
Dodgers circled the bases almost at will for a while against Tim Wakefield and two young relievers in a 14-5 rout before 34,671 in the Fens. The loss dropped the Sox 3 1/ 2 games behind the Yankees in the American League East as Pedro Martinez prepared to pitch the series finale tonight against Hideo Nomo.
No one was more disappointed than Wakefield, who is mired in one of the lonely slumps knuckleballers occasionally encounter. He put the Sox on the path to the ugly defeat by surrendering 8 runs on 10 hits and 3 walks in 4 1/3 innings, though he got little help from
reliever Anastacio Martinez.
Manager Terry Francona tried to let Wakefield work it out, but the situation became untenable when the Dodgers loaded the bases with one out in the fifth inning. Nothing worked for Anastacio Martinez, who allowed the three runners he inherited from Wakefield to
score as he walked two, hit a batter, and allowed a single to Cesar Izturis before he handed off to Mark Malaska with two outs in the fifth and the bases loaded yet again. And Malaska fared no better, allowing Shawn Green to single home two runs and Paul Lo Duca to single home another.
The net result was a seven-run inning for the Dodgers, their largest of the season, as they sent 12 batters to the plate in the fifth and seized a 12-2 lead.
Francona was so intent on saving Keith Foulke, Alan Embree, and Mike Timlin that he called on first baseman/outfielder David McCarty to make his second relief appearance of the year. The funny thing was, McCarty was more effective than the first three pitchers, retiring
the Dodgers in order in the ninth. McCarty followed Scott Williamson, who looked sharp in holding LA scoreless in the eighth as he recorded three straight strikeouts after Adrian Beltre blooped a single to shallow center.
Other than the performances by Williamson and McCarty, the Sox also could take heart in Manny Ramirez's league-leading 17th homer, a two-run shot off Dodger starter Jeff Weaver. David Ortiz also knocked in two runs, giving him a league-leading 54. Mark Bellhorn forced
home the only other Sox run by drawing a bases-loaded walk off Weaver in the third inning. Otherwise, it was a rough afternoon. Nomar Garciaparra, playing for the third time since his return, dodged trouble when he nearly collided with Weaver running out a grounder in the second inning
and was grazed on the left elbow with a pitch from Weaver in the third. The Sox ran out so many players that they lost the DH in the ninth, with Kevin Millar entering as a left fielder in Jason Varitek's DH slot. Wakefield was left to wonder where things went wrong.
Over his last three starts, Wakefield's ERA has mushroomed to 4.46 from 3.21. The start was his shortest of the season and he allowed two home runs in a game for the first time since Aug. 20 against the A's, 18 starts ago.
Curt Schilling has received injections of Marcaine, an anesthetic stronger than Novocain, to pitch through the discomfort of a mild bruise of his ankle joint (or talus) in at least four starts since May 25. The Sox have won all four games, but the medical staff is wary
of continuing to administer the medication beyond Schilling's next appearance because it could mask a deteriorating condition. |
