A TEAM "FIT TO BE TIED"
Matt Clement returns
to win, but not without
the help of Curt Schilling and Edgar Renteria
August 4, 2005
...
On a sunny, breezy afternoon at Fenway Park, where 35,060 fans
witnessed Jason Varitek's first career grand slam, a gutsy
performance by Edgar Renteria that included three hits and four RBIs
just hours after a painful outfield collision with Manny Ramirez, and
a Sox offense that rebounded from a 5-0 deficit to beat the Kansas
City Royals, 11-9, for their eighth straight win, the story yesterday
remained Matt Clement.
The focus
was on Clement, not only because he was making his first start since being hit
in the head with a Carl Crawford liner July 26 in Tampa, but because the
first-half ace of the Sox staff is now fighting to stay No. 1. While Clement's
first-half numbers were competitive with any of the top right-handers in
baseball, his performances after the All- Star break beg the question of whether
he'll continue to be that pitcher.
Clement got
the win yesterday, improving to 11-3, a record certainly indicative of an ace,
but his ERA climbed to 4.67, as he allowed six runs on five hits and four walks
in five innings, with five strikeouts. Clement's post-All-Star break ERA with
the Cubs last season was 5.09. His post-All-Star break ERA this season, in four
starts, is 10.69. Going back six starts, Clement is 2-2 with a 9.20 ERA.
With Curt
Schilling, who earned his eighth save yesterday, still pitching at the back of
the bullpen, the Sox, who won the World Series last year in large part because
they had two aces (Schilling and Pedro Martinez) and a dominating closer (Keith
Foulke), might still be void of an ace, unless Clement can rediscover his
first-half effectiveness.
Clement
walked the bases loaded in the third and then hit Emil Brown with a pitch to
force home a run. He then allowed a three-run double to Terrence Long. That was
after giving up a first-inning run when Ruben Gotay doubled and scored on Matt
Stairs' single.
Meanwhile,
Royals starter D.J. Carrasco produced an odd pitching line: 3 2/3 innings, five
runs, one earned, one hit, seven walks, and four strikeouts. He threw 79
pitches, 40 of which were balls.
Varitek's
first grand slam in his 120th career bases-loaded at- bat left only Royals
manager Buddy Bell's son, David, who plays for the Phillies, with a longer
drought (123 at-bats without a slam). The Sox scored eight runs in the fourth,
their largest single- inning output of the season, when the Royals walked five,
committed two errors, and allowed only two hits Renteria's double and Varitek's
slam on a 2-and-0 pitch from Leo Nunez, who had walked David Ortiz
(intentionally) and Roberto Petagine, who made his Sox debut. The Sox ended up
needing single runs in the fifth, to make it 10-6, and in the eighth, to make it
11-8, on RBI singles by Damon and Varitek, respectively.
Schilling
came on and surrendered a solo home run to Mike Sweeney in the ninth, after Chad
Bradford had pitched two scoreless innings. Schilling retired the next three
batters, two on strikeouts, and is now 2-1 with eight saves in his last 13
outings. He's recorded a save in six of Boston's last seven wins.
