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MARK BELLHORN |
THE "IDIOTS" REVERSE THE CURSE
Mark Bellhorn's grand slam doesn't help
keep the streak alive
September 4, 2004 ... The Sox ended their best run
in a decade - a 10-game run that led them out of the wilderness to the threshold of the division lead - as their feverish comeback effort fizzled and they fell to the Rangers, 8-6, before 34,670 at Fenway Park.
The loss cost the Sox a chance to climb even closer to the East Division-leading Yankees, who were pancaked, 7-0, by the Orioles amid an escalating crisis in the Bronx. Despite the streak interruptus, the Sox remained 2 1/2 games behind the struggling pinstripers but at least 4 up on the
Angels in the wild-card scramble.
Not that it's gone. The Sox made sure of it by surging back despite the gaping deficit, with Mark Bellhorn slugging a grand slam and David Ortiz swatting a solo shot to enable them to bring the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the ninth.
In a last-gasp effort against All-Star closer Francisco Cordero, Roberts managed to single up the middle with one out in the ninth to bring Bellhorn to the plate. Bellhorn forced a 3-and-2 count as he fought off an array of nasty sliders and 98-mile-an-hour fastballs before Cordero jammed
him, causing him to bounce a grounder to second baseman Alfonso Soriano. Soriano scooped the ball and swiped his glove at the passing Roberts and fired to first in time to get Bellhorn. With Drake ruling that Soriano tagged Roberts, it turned into a game-ending double play. Sox manager Terry
Francona protested, to no avail. Ramirez is 2 for 8 with a homer in his career against Cordero.
Trouble was, the Rangers earlier wreaked irreparable damage against Wakefield, who matched his season high by allowing all eight runs. The big blows were a two-run shot over the Monster by Rod Barajas on an 0-and-2 pitch with two out in the fourth inning and a three-run shot nearly to the
same spot by Michael Young with none out in the seventh inning. Francona indicated he struggled over how long to stick with Wakefield, who trailed, 5-1, after four innings. Wakefield often regains command of his knuckler as fast as he loses it.
While Francona showed patience with Wakefield, Texas starter Chris Young showed no mercy to the Sox. A Princeton grad, the 6- foot-10-inch Young was more familiar with Sox CEO and president Larry Lucchino, a Princeton alum who addressed one of Young's classes in college, than the Sox were
with Young. The Sox never had faced the rookie righthander. All Young did was stifle them for 5 2/3 innings, surrendering only one run on two hits and a pair of walks. Relying on a fastball that reached 96 on the radar gun, he struck out five.
But they got to relievers Jeff Nelson and Ron Mahay just fine. After Nelson walked the bases loaded in the seventh inning, the Rangers summoned Mahay, a former Sox lefthander, whose 2-and-0 pitch Bellhorn lofted over the Monster for his second career grand slam. It seemed to
ignite Ortiz, who moments later took Mahay deep to right for his 34th homer of the season, making it 8-6. But the Sox could do little against the final two Texas relievers, Doug Brocail and Cordero. |
