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THE "IDIOTS" REVERSE THE CURSE
The Sox get frustrated at Fenway
September 20, 2004 ... All the Red Sox got tonight was torment and frustration. They lost for the
third straight time, falling, 9-6, to the Orioles, a team that beats them a lot more regularly than anyone else, including the Yankees. Boston remained 4 1/2 games astern of the Yankees, who lost at home to Toronto, but New York's magic number dropped to nine. Baltimore, meanwhile, improved to 8-4 against the Red Sox this
season, including a head-scratching 5-1 at Fenway Park.
The Sox fell behind, 5-0 and 8-2, and never quite could get over the hump. Tim Wakefield was brutal, again. Wakefield hasn't won since Aug. 29 and his ERA is now 4.96, including 9.45 over his last four games. He has allowed 21 earned runs in his last 20 innings. Last night, he looked like Cy
Young in the first three innings and then morphed into Steve Blass before Terry Francona mercifully yanked him in the fifth.
The Sox made it 5-2 in the bottom of the fourth on a two-run blast by David Ortiz off Orioles starter Matt Riley. It was the 39th of the season for Ortiz. But Baltimore came back with three in the fifth, including one run that will make the All-Bizarre list of 2004.
The bullpen then allowed only one hit until Mora went Lansdowne Street on Keith Foulke with two outs in the ninth, a huge homer in that it gave Baltimore a three-run cushion. Closer Jorge Julio
recorded a 1-2-3 ninth for his 22d save.
Unlike the two losses in the Bronx, the Sox did manage to at least make this one interesting. They cut the deficit to 8-4 in the fifth on a bases-loaded ground-rule double by Manny Ramirez. That hit snapped an 0-for-14 skid for Ramirez. But Ortiz (pop to third) and Millar (grounder to third)
were retired without further damage. Boston's last two runs came in the sixth when, with the bases loaded and one out, Damon (two hits) ripped a single to right, driving in one run. The other run scored on a Mark Bellhorn fielder's choice. Boston had the tying run come to the plate in the
seventh and eighth innings, but the Orioles bullpen wiggled out of trouble each time. Mora's homer in the ninth, his 26th of the season, seemed to sap whatever energy remained, and the heart of the Sox order went quietly in the ninth.
The Red Sox' No. 1 draft pick from this past June, Arizona State shortstop Dustin Pedroia, was in town for a visit. Pedroia took batting practice and generally was in awe of Fenway Park in his first visit not only to the stadium, but to Boston. Pedroia played for Red Sox
affiliates in the South Atlantic and Florida State leagues in August. He hit .400 for Augusta in 12 games and then was moved to Sarasota, where he hit .336 in 30 games. |
