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A SAD END TO A
RECORD SEASON
June 26, 2006 ... Mark Loretta arrived at first base in the bottom of the 12th inning, drawing a walk from Phillies right-hander Clay Condrey with Kevin Youkilis already on second and the score tied. Condrey now pitched to David Ortiz, and Ortiz (again) got the hit, a single that scored Youkilis to cap an epic 4-hour-59-minute matinee that ended 8-7, the Red Sox' ninth straight win and the first of Craig Hansen's major league career. A mob of teammates was ready to burst out of the dugout once Ortiz performed his expected heroics after the game already had seemed lost a half- inning before. On Saturday, in the 10th inning, Ortiz rocketed a walk-off two-run homer to center. This time it was a single, a breaking ball lofted onto the grass in front of the warning track in left-center and just out of Aaron Rowand's reach. Ortiz arrived at the plate to lead off the ninth and a groundout to second was the result. He arrived at the plate again with one out and Loretta on second in the 11th, though with the Phillies intentionally walking him, there was not much he could do. This was the end of a game that had teetered in the 12th. Shane Victorino led off the top of the inning with a single up the middle against Manny Delcarmen and, after he was bunted to second, Hansen was summoned from the bullpen. A groundout by Chris Coste moved Victorino to third, and a double to left-center by Jimmy Rollins gave the Phillies a 7-6 lead over a team that hadn't lost since June 15 at Minnesota. The home half of the 12th started with the struggling Crisp muscling an outside pitch down the left-field line for a ground-rule double. After outs from Jason Varitek and Alex Gonzalez, Youkilis singled over the outstretched glove of shortstop Rollins, taking second when Victorino bobbled the ball in left and threw home in a futile attempt to prevent Crisp from scoring the tying run. After the walk to Loretta, Ortiz plated Youklis with his second straight game-ending hit and third in his last eight home games. Jonathan Papelbon, who had gotten the last out of the eighth, opened the ninth against Chase Utley, the second baseman who had 13 home runs to start the afternoon. He soon had 14, sending a 96-mile-per-hour fastball off the Pesky Pole to tie the score at 6-6. Papelbon recovered, laboring through 33 pitches to finish the inning. But the save was blown. The score was tied. The crowd would have to wait. It seemed over before that, too, in the sixth. With starter Tim Wakefield in command, the Sox exploded for their second six-run inning behind him in less than a week. It had been scoreless at that point, a duel between Wakefield and Cory Lidle, both pushed back from their starts Sunday because of the rainout. And, after that sixth inning, in which six players each had a single RBI, it appeared the Sox were in control. Wakefield lost his feel for his knuckleball upon returning to the mound. Wakefield was replaced after a single, hit batter, and walk, at which point Rudy Seanez took over and allowed all three inherited runners to cross the plate, plus two of his own. But because if the Red Sox can just get back around to Ortiz, it seems they always have a chance. The Sox' nine-game winning streak is their longest since a 10-gamer from Aug. 24 to Sept. 3, 2004. The Sox are 40-0 when leading after eight innings. |
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