JOHNNY DAMON

THE "IDIOTS" REVERSE THE CURSE
Tim Wakefield can't stop the Angels

July 17, 2004 ...  Tim Wakefield was tormented by Anaheim. Initially by a first inning of bloops and bleeders, then by a fourth-inning liner by Jose Molina that struck him in the back of the right shoulder with such force it caromed and was caught by shortstop Nomar Garciaparra.

Wakefield went to his knees after absorbing the blow, then responded with his usual stoic grit, waving off manager Terry Francona and trainer Jim Rowe to remain in the game. An admirable gesture, but ultimately an empty one, as Adam Kennedy hit Wakefield's next pitch into the right-field seats, the last indignity Wakefield endured in an 8-3 loss to the Angels before a sellout crowd of 43,746 in Angel Stadium.

Three solo home runs, two by Johnny Damon, the other by Ortiz, accounted for the Sox scoring last night as they lost for the ninth time in their last 11 road games. Only Curt Schilling stands in the path of the Angels moving past the Sox in the wild-card race.

Bartolo Colon, who had been a (blimp-sized) shadow of himself for the first three months of the season, his ERA as expanded (6.38) as his belt size coming into the game, won his second straight decision last night, an encouraging development for a team that had counted on him to be its ace. The Sox allowed him to escape early wildness, failing to score even as Colon walked four men in the first two innings. Garciaparra's one-hop bullet to second was converted into an inning-ending double play in the first, and Damon popped to shallow center with the bases loaded in the second.

That was just the start of a frustrating evening for Garciaparra, whose leap was not enough to corral Darin Erstad's two-run, bases- loaded floater in the bottom of the first, and who couldn't close his glove on Tim Salmon's soft liner that knocked in a third Angels run in the inning. Salmon was credited with a hit, but it could just as easily have been scored an error.  Garciaparra, who had ended the first half batting .487 in July (19 for 39), is 1 for 12 playing in his old neighborhood. He was 0 for 3 yesterday despite hitting the ball hard.

For the fourth game in a row, Manny Ramirez got the message to Red Sox manager Terry Francona that he was unable to play the field because of tightness in his hamstrings, which makes it curiouser and curiouser, to borrow a phrase, why he didn't pull himself out of the starting lineup for last Tuesday's All-Star Game.

A highlight of the three days of festivities leading up to the Triple A All-Star Game in Pawtucket, R.I., was an event at the Rhode Island Convention Center in Providence featuring Johnny Pesky, Dom DiMaggio, and Bobby Doerr. The trio, dubbed "The Teammates" in a book of that name by David Halberstam that detailed their devotion to Ted Williams right up to the end of his life, spun timeless baseball tales that entertained 1,200 fans - including members of the International League and Pacific Coast League all- star squads, who surrounded "The Teammates"' afterward, awaiting autographs.

The hottest player in the Sox system remains lefthanded outfielder Brandon Moss at Augusta. Through Thursday, the 20-year- old was hitting .414 with 3 homers and 16 RBIs in July, and .364 with 10 homers and 83 RBIs overall. He was leading the system with 17 steals.