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THE "IDIOTS" REVERSE THE CURSE
The Red Sox get thrown for another loss
August 15, 2004 ... A
5-4 loss to the White Sox, which dropped Boston into a tie in the wild-card race with Texas and Anaheim, was a snapshot of the club's most recent problems - another runner thrown out at the plate (a double-whammy considering Kevin Youkilis was injured on the third-inning play), and a bullpen that imploded after another quality
start from Bronson Arroyo.
Add to that the deception and tremendous velocity swings of White Sox closer Shingo Takatsu, whose pitches ranged from 53 to 88 miles per hour and who induced Orlando Cabrera into a half-swing game-ending tapper back to the mound with runners at the corners in the ninth, and it added up to a
gloomy loss on a gloomy day for 34,405 at Fenway. Sox center fielder Johnny Damon said Boston's lack of speed is the main reason the club's had seven men cut down at home over the last 13 games. Damon said third base coach Dale Sveum has been receiving far too much criticism for his
decisions.
Today was difficult because the bases were a little wet because of the rain. It's tough to be losing so many one-run games, especially those where you're getting a runner thrown out at the plate. With two outs, we're off at the crack of the bat. We should be scoring. I understand we're
getting thrown out on good throws, but we've got to get faster as a team." Damon's assertion is backed up by a telling statistic: Of Boston's 312 hits with runners in scoring position, 52 have not produced an RBI.
Arroyo, who has worked into the seventh in his last four outings, retired the first 10 batters, but the White Sox scored a pair in the fourth. The key play of that rally, according to Arroyo, was allowing Carlos Lee (who had doubled to score Timo Perez) to steal third. Lee scored on a
Paul Konerko ground out for the 2-0 lead.
The Sox pulled even on Doug Mientkiewicz's two-run single in the sixth, but Arroyo coughed up a run in the seventh. Yet, the Red Sox made this one interesting. They left the bases loaded in the eighth. |
