A TEAM "FIT TO BE TIED"
John Olerud leads the Sox batters

September 1, 2005 ... The gentlemanly John Olerud stroked a pair of home runs and a ground-rule double good for six RBIs in leading the Red Sox to a 7-4 win and a four-game sweep of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays at Fenway Park. The Sox continued their familiar pattern of falling behind early as their starter, in this case Bronson Arroyo, hung on despite a shaky start before the offense took over.

Olerud, 36, has been hitting well since being activated off the 15-day disabled list Aug. 17 after suffering a hamstring strain. He is 14 for 30 (.467) with 11 RBIs in his last seven starts. He’s now hitting .333 with 5 homers and 29 RBIs, was batting seventh in a lineup devoid of Manny Ramirez, who received the night off to rest his tired legs. Kevin Millar played left field while Olerud, a three-time Gold Glove winner, played first base.

Olerud was signed by the Sox May 1 and joined the big club May 27 after recuperating fully from foot surgery.

Arroyo, who squandered a 6-0 lead in his last Fenway start, improved to 11-9 with seven solid innings. In the month of August he was 1-3 with a 5.40 ERA in six appearances, including one in relief. He allowed Jonny Gomes's two-run homer in the second. Aubrey Huff scored ahead of Gomes after leading off the inning with a double. Arroyo settled down and retired the next three Devil Rays. The Sox pulled even in the bottom of the inning when Olerud launched the first of two home runs, a two-run shot over the Boston bullpen.

But Arroyo failed to keep things status quo. Struggling with his breaking ball, Arroyo hit Huff on a 2-and-1 pitch to lead off the fourth. In the third, he had hit Julio Lugo with a pitch, but Tampa couldn't capitalize. This time they did. Travis Lee followed by launching a two-run homer to give the visitors a 4-2 lead.

The Sox trimmed it to 4-3 when Edgar Renteria touched Rays starter Doug Waechter for a sacrifice fly. Alex Cora, batting ninth and playing second base for the still-injured Tony Graffanino (sore right hamstring), reached on what was scored an error by third baseman Gomes. Johnny Damon singled to right, sending Cora to third base before he trotted home courtesy of Renteria.

But the real damage came in the sixth. Trot Nixon and Jason Varitek set the table with a walk and a single before Olerud delivered another sweet stroke, a three-run homer to the Tampa Bay bullpen to give the hosts a 6-4 lead.

Arroyo, meanwhile, had settled down, and kept Tampa off the board in the fifth, sixth, and seventh innings. He got out of a bases-loaded jam in the seventh when he struck out second baseman Nick Green with a fastball. He loaded the bases on an infield hit by Jorge Cantu, a single by Huff, and an intentional walk to Lee.

In the sixth, he benefited from a funky play. After striking out center fielder Joey Gathright on a ball that hit in front of the plate, the ball bounded away from Varitek. But Toby Hall, who was on first base after a single, tried to advance to second where he was erased on a strong throw from Varitek. In the seventh, Arroyo was aided by a nifty defensive play by Damon, who tracked down Carl Crawford's long fly ball that was ticketed for extra bases. That was Arroyo's final inning. Much like Tim Wakefield had done the previous night, Arroyo was able to keep the Sox in the game while the offense was able to erase an early deficit.

Terry Francona and Dave Wallace sprung somewhat of a surprise on the sporting public by using Jonathan Papelbon as a setup man for the eighth. The rookie didn't disappoint. He struck out Gomes with high heat (94 miles per hour) to start the inning and then punched out Lee looking. Papelbon then walked Green, went 3 and 0 to Hall before coming back to strike him out on a high fastball.

Olerud added an insurance run when he stroked an RBI double down the left-field line that kicked into the stands, scoring pinch runner Gabe Kapler who had run for Millar, who had another decent night, going 2 for 4 including a leadoff ground-rule double to right in the eighth.

Papelbon allowed back-to-back singles to Gathright and Lugo before Francona gave the youngster the hook for Mike Timlin, the team's closer. Timlin did the job. He struck out Crawford, and then got Cantu to fly out deep to center and Huff to ground out to shortstop to earn his fifth save.