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A.J. PIERZYNSKI |
A TEAM "FIT TO BE TIED"
2005
ALDS, GAME #1
Matt Clement and the Red Sox
get blasted by the White Sox
October 4, 2005
...
The defending world champions from Boston must have felt as if they
were at the Esplanade on the Fourth of July yesterday when the White
Sox crushed five homers in an embarrassingly easy 14-2 rout of the
Red Sox in the first game of their best-of-five Division Series.
October
baseball is back, and the Sox' title defense is off to a rocky start.
Sox pitcher,
Matt Clement is a talented righty who has yet to demonstrate that he can pitch
well when it matters most. Clement coughed up five runs in the first inning
yesterday and overall yielded eight runs in 3 1/3 innings before he was
mercifully sent to the showers after surrendering his third homer with one out
in the fourth
Meanwhile,
Chicago righty Jose Contreras held the Red Sox to two runs on eight hits over 7
2/3 innings. A couple of winters ago, Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein lost
Contreras in a bidding war with the Yankees, and yesterday Sox fans finally saw
what all the fuss was about.
It was a
catastrophe. Clement looked like he didn't want to throw a pitch. He constantly
shook off signs from catcher Jason Varitek and batters often stepped out during
the pauses. When Clement did throw, his location was off by considerable
margins. The results were disastrous. He hit two of the first three batters he
faced. After one of them scored on a fielder's choice, and another on a single
by Aaron Rowand, A.J. Pierzynski crushed a three-run homer to left-center to
make it 5-0. Paul Konerko hit a solo homer in the third, and No. 9 batter Juan
Uribe blasted a two-run shot into the bleachers in the fourth to knock Clement
out of the game.
The Red Sox
bled Contreras for a pair of runs in the fourth, but the game was already out of
hand, and Contreras was sharper than the Sox ever had seen him. Contreras's
victory was the first home postseason win by a White Sox pitcher since Early
Wynn beat the Dodgers in the first game of the 1959 World Series.
In an effort
to save top relievers Jonathan Papelbon and Mike Timlin, Francona sent Chad
Bradford, Jeremi Gonzalez, and Bronson Arroyo to the mound for mop-up duty.
Gonzalez gave up four runs, including a homer, and Arroyo gave up the final two
runs and the fifth homer.
There were
five homers, a dazzling performance by the starter, and 40,717 happy fans
singing as they filed out of the big yard. The White Sox were pumped and jacked,
and they have new confidence. |
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