A TEAM "FIT TO BE TIED"
The Sox thrash the Reds at Fenway Park

June 13, 2005 ... Tonight the Cincinnati Reds received a 10-3 shellacking at Fenway that improved the Sox' interleague record to 5-5. The Sox, who are tied with Toronto for the fewest home games played (27), improved to 18-9 at home on a steamy night that seemed to suit Boston hitters (16 hits, after 17 vs. Chicago Sunday night) in a ballpark that seemed to intimidate the Reds on defense.

Matt Clement, who improved to 7-1, had one blip when he allowed two runs in the fifth, but he pitched a solid game to give the Sox back-to-back wins by starters (Tim Wakefield beat the Cubs, 8-1, Sunday) for the first time since May 28-29 when Clement and David Wells beat the Yankees.

The Sox had multiple-hit nights from Johnny Damon (second straight three-hit night), Edgar Renteria (double, single, walk), Manny Ramirez (double, home run), Millar (double, single), Jason Varitek (single, double), and Jay Payton (double, infield hit).

David Ortiz's two-out, bases-loaded single in the sixth seemed to put away the Reds. For sure it was the end for Cincinnati starter Eric Milton (0-5 with an 11.53 ERA in six road starts), who departed after the hit, trailing, 7-2. He was relieved by Matt Belisle, who was immediately touched for a three-run homer that Ramirez poked into the right-field corner.

But the visitors' intimidation was apparent long before that. It was clear why the Reds have one of the worst records in the National League, even though they have been playing much better recently. Terrible fielding plays helped the Sox score five runs in the first four innings. In a three-run fourth, Ramirez's blooper to short right fell for a ground-rule double, and with Millar up, catcher Javier Valentin overthrew Milton on the throwback to the mound, allowing Ramirez to advance to third. Ramirez scored on Varitek's single to center, and Bill Mueller knocked a double against the left-center-field wall, scoring Varitek with the fourth run. The inning continued with Damon's RBI single to right. After a wild pitch by Milton, Renteria grounded to third to end the inning.

The Sox scored two two-out runs in the third on Renteria's double over center fielder Ryan Freel's head, another poor play on which Freel didn't react well on the ball. That came after Payton's double to left-center and Damon's infield single down the third base line.

The Reds did get two back in the fifth. Felipe Lopez tripled on a ball that got by Damon in center, scoring Adam Dunn with the first run. Rich Aurilia knocked Lopez in with a lined sacrifice fly to left field.

Clement rebounded nicely from his poorest outing of the season last Tuesday in St. Louis (4 innings, 7 runs, 7 hits). Clement was pretty hard on himself after the loss but vowed to regroup. He did just that with a solid eight-inning outing in his team-high 14th start (the Sox are 10-4 in those starts).

Clement pitched to the minimum nine batters over the first three innings, getting a double play ball after allowing a Joe Randa single in the first inning, and having Varitek throw out Valentin at third after the catcher doubled. Valentin actually stole third but was tagged out by Mueller after oversliding the bag. Clement, who struck out nine and walked one while throwing 108 pitches, allowed a solo homer to Valentin out of Trot Nixon's reach in the eighth, then gave way to Matt Mantei.

Mantei protected the seven-run lead in the ninth. A walk and a hit batsman didn't make Matt Mantei very happy in his ninth-inning stint. He did strike out two batters and strand both runners. Today he'll try to figure out what to do about his control issues.

The Red Sox didn't return from Chicago until 2:45 a.m., and Jason Varitek went straight from the airport to the hospital, where his wife Karen gave birth to a daughter, Caroline Morgan Varitek , at 4:04 a.m.

Kevin Youkilis is a native Cincinnatian, so playing the Reds is a thrill. Youkilis went 3 for 5 with a double and homer in Chicago Sunday night but was back on the bench last night in favor of Bill Mueller.