|
|
THE RAYS, and
A ONE WAY October 14, 2008 ... The Red Sox were annihilated again by the Tampa Bay Rays. Final score: 13-4. Fenway was so quiet you could hear a dynasty drop. And that was in the first inning. There was more noise at Widener Library. There were more laughs, backslaps, and good times at Bill Belichick's daily press briefing in Foxborough. Watching this game was like reading your 401(k) statement. The Sox aren't officially dead yet, but Fenway Park is already a morgue, having gone down, three games to one, to the Rays with a demoralizing loss. Not only are the Sox faced with a must-win game, as Daisuke Matsuzaka attempts to put the packed bags to good use with a trip to St. Petersburg, Fla., but this team has shown no signs of being able to come out of what is now a three-game slump. There is no pitching (starting or relieving), as the Sox demonstrated by allowing 13 runs to the Rays in front of 38,133 stunned fans in Fenway Park. There is little hitting, as they demonstrated in managing just six hits in 7 1/3 innings off Andy Sonnanstine with bats that seem to have been dipped in ice. The only major offensive contribution for the first six innings was a solo home run from a backup catcher who will not be in the lineup without Tim Wakefield on the mound, replaced instead with one who is hitless in the ALCS. Though David Ortiz put the brakes on his journey from playoff Adonis to mere mortal when he woke up the crowd with a triple in the seventh inning, breaking an 0-for-14 slump, it was just another futile moment in a futile series for the Sox. Since they sneaked by the Rays in Game 1 and lost in extras in Game 2, the past two games have been embarrassing for the Sox. The Rays have scored 22 runs in those two games, the Sox just five. Willy Aybar's homer in the third inning went over the Monster, over the AAA sign, possibly over Lansdowne Street. It was, suffice to say, over everything. It brought the score to 5-0, and it nearly brought Tim Wakefield's night to a close. Wakefield was given one more chance, a single, and that was it for him. Potentially for good. There are no guarantees that the 42-year-old knuckleballer will be back with the Sox next year, so as he walked off the field, he got an ovation from the fans. He did not look up, did not tip his cap, as he was swallowed by the dugout. In a flash, the Sox found themselves on the ropes. Not that it's a place they haven't been. Still, they were looking for more than those eight outs Wakefield recorded while giving up three more home runs to the suddenly blast-happy Rays. It started so innocently, with Akinori Iwamura striking out on a particularly ugly swing to begin the game. After that? It was just ugly.
B.J. Upton walked on four pitches, and Carlos Pena followed with a two-run shot. And that was followed by a solo homer by Evan Longoria, his fifth of the postseason, the most ever for a rookie. Carl Crawford's line double and stolen base didn't help the knuckleballer look any more in control, but the Rays settled for just three runs in the first inning. Aybar put the Sox in an ever-deepening hole in the third, and the scoring didn't stop with his two-run homer. The Rays took a break with Justin Masterson on the mound (one run), then made up for it against Manny Delcarmen and Javier Lopez in a crushing five-run sixth inning that featured four hits and three walks If the Sox can't get themselves together in a game that is a must-win, they will have a longer offseason than planned to think about their missteps and mistakes. To think about starting pitching that didn't start out well, and an offense that didn't hit. Try to remind yourself that it's not over yet. It just feels that way. |
.jpg)
 CLICK TO VIEW SCORECARD |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||