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“DIARY OF A WINNER”
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THE "IDIOTS" REVERSE THE CURSE July 7, 2004 ... Two games may not a trend make, but after applying another big-time whipping on the Oakland A's - an 11-3 decision the night after smoking the A's, 11-0 one can't help but feel hopeful. Mark Bellhorn's first-inning home run off lefthander Mark Redman and a five-run second inning, triggered by Nomar Garciaparra's home run to dead center field, gave Pedro Martinez sufficient cushion to cruise to his ninth win against three losses. The Sox have won four of five games this season from the A's, one of the teams ahead of them in the wild-card race, and in all five of those games the Sox have dismissed the A's starting pitcher before he completed six innings. Redman lasted just 2 2/3 innings as the Sox banged out 15 hits. Bill Mueller, whose three-run home run jump-started this homestand Tuesday night, had three more hits last night, while five Sox - Johnny Damon, Bellhorn, Garciaparra, Jason Varitek, and Gabe Kapler - had two apiece. The Sox, who were 7 for 17 with runners in scoring position, have 32 hits and 22 runs the last two nights. Martinez encountered one significant bump all evening - a 32- pitch third inning in which the A's scored all of their runs - but then allowed just two more hits before turning the game over to the bullpen after seven innings and 102 pitches. Martinez walked one and struck out seven and basked in the warmth of a standing ovation from a crowd of 35,012. Manny Ramirez, who merely needs to maintain his first-half pace to put up monster numbers, homered over the Coke bottles on the first pitch thrown by reliever Chad Bradford in the seventh. Thirty- four times this season, Ramirez has been the first batter faced by a new pitcher. On those occasions, he is 13 for 29 (.448) with four home runs, four walks, and a hit by pitch. It was another night when the Sox' lineup, which had failed to produce while being swept by the Yankees and dropping two of three to the Braves, appeared devoid of soft touches. Indeed, every starter had at least one hit with the surprising exception of David Ortiz, who for much of this season has carried the club. Ortiz was hitless in five at-bats and is now 0 for his last 18. Garciaparra, on the receiving end of some of the harshest criticism of his career after missing the last game of the Yankee series, continued his torrid hitting. He added a double to the third home run of his abbreviated season and is now batting .500 (11 for 22) in his last five games. The Sox, now a game behind the A's in the wild-card race and six behind the Yankees in the AL East, broke it open after Garciaparra's home run in the second. Mueller's two-out single scored Garciaparra in the third, and his double started a two-run sixth. Mueller, who was bothered by a sore right knee for several weeks before undergoing arthroscopic surgery May 28. Mueller missed 37 games, then suited up last Friday in Atlanta, going 2 for 3. The third baseman is 8 for 18 the past five games, improving his average to .282, and his three-run homer got the Sox' offense going in the series-opening win last night. |
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