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“DIARY OF A WINNER”
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A
POWERFUL CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM
May 19, 2007
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But that was before the Sox were forced to keep a Saturday night date with John Smoltz, a future Hall of Famer who wasn't going to let something as trifling as a dislocated pinkie keep him from starting last night for Atlanta. The rain returned with a vengeance, Smoltz was aces, the Braves' bats boomed. The Sox, 13-3 winners in the first game, fell by an even more lopsided 14-0 score in the second game. But despite their worst shutout loss in 17 years (16-0, May 25, 1990 at Minnesota), the Sox still gained on the Yankees, who dropped to fourth place, 10 1/2 games behind the Sox. They've never been this far behind since 1995, a year before the Joe Torre era began. The Orioles, who beat the Nationals in extra innings, are 9 1/2 back, and the Blue Jays, 13-2 winners over the Phillies, are 10 games behind. The Sox started the day with a 10-game lead over the Orioles and Yankees, only the second time in history that a team has led by as many as 10 games as early as 40 games into a season. The Seattle Mariners, who won an American League-record 116 games in 2001, had a 10-game lead after 35 games. But after burying the Braves this afternoon before a crowd of 36,358 that watched the Sox hit four home runs, Boston ended the night with Alex Cora making his big league debut at first base, Dustin Pedroia batting in the cleanup spot, and Smoltz, the Eck of his era (199 wins, 154 saves), winning for the first time since turning 40 Tuesday. Rookie Devern Hansack, meanwhile, was a one-game pitcher. Called up when Josh Beckett was placed on the disabled list, Hansack was optioned back to Pawtucket after the game, clearing space for this afternoon's starter, rookie Kason Gabbard. The Braves piled on against relievers Joel Piniero and Javier Lopez. Atlanta had a club-record 12 extra-base hits, including home runs by Chipper Jones (Hansack), Matt Diaz (Hansack), and Kelly Johnson (Pineiro). Smoltz, meanwhile, was imperiled only in the first inning, when he had runners on first and third but whiffed Manny Ramirez and Eric Hinske. Tonight's crowd of 36,792, washed out of a game the night before, sat through a steady drizzle and a brief drenching in the seventh, about the time a fire alarm went off in the old yard. One of the night's few cheers went up when the scoreboard announced it was a false alarm. The Sox' first-game barrage began with Boston's first hitter, Julio Lugo, who led off the first inning with a home run off rookie Anthony Lerew. It continued an inning later when Kevin Youkilis hit a two-run home run, crested with a grand slam by Mike Lowell in the fifth, and ended with a showpiece home run by Wily Mo Pena over everything in the seventh. Matsuzaka, meanwhile, was barely taxed by the Braves, allowing just five singles through the first six innings before some adventures in left field by Pena, who grabbed a glove with the Sox ahead by a dozen and replaced Ramirez, led to a three-run Braves seventh. Two runs scored on a home run by Jeff Francoeur, who had half of Springfield at the game, including his father, David, who grew up there, and his grandmother, Rita. This afternoon, anyway, the hits came in waves. Only Jason Varitek came up empty, and he crushed two balls, one that drove Andruw Jones to the track in center, and another that knocked Renteria to his knees as he made the catch at shortstop. Mike Lowell had four hits, the fifth Sox player in just 16 days to have a four-hit game, and drove in five runs, leaping ahead of David Ortiz for the team lead in RBIs with 35 to Ortiz's 33. Lowell extended his hitting streak to 11 games with an infield hit off Smoltz in the second game. Wily Mo Pena had four hits May 3 here against Seattle, Jason Varitek had four against the Blue Jays in Toronto May 8, David Ortiz had four against the Blue Jays the next night, and Julio Lugo had four against the Orioles here last Saturday. Matsuzaka is always of the mind that he should finish what he began, but Francona thought otherwise, lifting the Japanese right-hander after the eighth, when he was at 104 pitches. Matsuzaka (6-2), who won his third straight start and fifth in his last six starts, was deprived of the chance to become the first Sox pitcher since Tim Wakefield in 2005 to throw back-to-back complete games. He would have been the first since Roger Clemens in 1996 to win consecutive complete games. Jon Lester retired the last 10 batters he faced in his rehab start last night for Pawtucket in Ottawa. Lester, who was on a pitch count, threw 48 pitches. He went 3 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing one hit and a walk with two strikeouts. Lester has not been optioned to Pawtucket; he's on another 30-day rehab assignment. Former Sox shortstop Edgar Renteria had three hits in the first game. When he was with the Sox in 2005, it took him until Aug. 4 before he had a three-hit game in Fenway. He had 13 three-hit games in all that season, all but three on the road. Renteria went hitless in the nightcap. Julio Lugo's first-inning home run in the opener was the eighth time in his career he has led off with a homer, his first for the Sox. Kevin Youkilis's hitting streak reached a career-best 12 games when he hit his fifth home run, in the second inning of the first game. Youkilis and J.D. Drew did not play last night as Francona tried to find a way to rest some players in this stretch of three games in a little more than 24 hours, and back-to-back day-night doubleheaders (with a rain day in between). |
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