|
“DIARY OF A WINNER”
|
THE "IDIOTS" REVERSE THE CURSE September 28, 2004 ... The Sox struggled mightily to overcome Derek Lowe's latest misadventure, a disastrous outing in which the sinkerballer coughed up five runs while recording only seven outs against the Devil Rays. As it turned out, the ending was nice for the Sox, but it sure wasn't easy. After scrambling back from a 5-1 deficit to force an 8- 8 deadlock in the sixth inning, the Sox persevered until the 11th, when Kevin Millar swatted a two-out, two-run homer off Tampa Bay closer Danys Baez for a 10-8 victory before 20,116 at Tropicana Field. With their fourth straight victory and 45th come-from-behind triumph, the Sox gained a half-game in their last-gasp effort to catch the division-leading Yankees, whose game against the Twins in the Bronx was washed out by remnants of Hurricane Jeanne. The Sox trail the Yankees by 2 1/2 games with five to play (the Yankees have six to go). With Lowe gone, the Sox dug themselves out of the 5-1 hole thanks largely to Damon's triple, a pair of two-run doubles in the fifth inning by the Dougs (Mirabelli and Mientkiewicz), and an RBI single by Manny Ramirez in the sixth inning to force the 8-8 deadlock. They got a major assist from the bullpen. After Terry Adams, who relieved Lowe, departed after the fifth inning with the Sox trailing, 8-7, five relievers teamed to no-hit the Rays for the final six innings: Alan Embree, Scott Williamson, Pedro Astacio, Ramiro Mendoza, and Keith Foulke. The only Tampa Bay batter who reached base over that time was Tino Martinez, who drew a walk off Williamson in the seventh. Mendoza, who pitched the ninth and 10th, picked up the win to improve to 2-1 before Foulke finished in the 11th for his 31st save. The drama unfolded after Lowe's third straight subpar start, a disturbing September trend that could threaten his chances of edging out Bronson Arroyo and Tim Wakefield for a spot in the postseason rotation. Lowe, who has only one more start scheduled in the regular season (Sunday in Baltimore), backed himself into a corner by surviving only 2 1/3 innings against the Rays. Lowe surrendered five runs on eight hits and a pair of walks. The thrashing raised his ERA over his last three starts to 16.20, hardly the stuff of October glory. Terry Francona huddled before the game with Pedro Astacio, who was suspended three games and fined $1,000 by Major League Baseball for throwing behind Kenny Lofton in Sunday's 11-4 victory over the Yankees at Fenway Park. Astacio appealed the disciplinary action, which will allow him to pitch this weekend. Astacio was not surprised by the suspension. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
