MIKE LOWELL

A POWERFUL CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM
The Red Sox roughen up the Yankees

June 2, 2007 ... Punishment was meted out by the Sox in a satisfying fashion during an 11-6 win over the Bombers at Fenway Park. Scott Proctor was on the mound when the Sox overtook the Yankees with a bizarre five-run, seventh-inning rally fueled by intentional walks, two errors by Yankees captain Derek Jeter, and a frightening collision involving Mike Lowell that dazed Doug Mientkiewicz, the Yankees' first baseman and an old pal from Miami, and sent him to the hospital. Tests at Massachusetts General Hospital determined Mientkiewicz had a mild concussion, a cervical sprain, and a fractured bone in his right wrist. He will be placed on the disabled list today.

And when it was over a crowd of 36,294 saluted Kevin Youkilis for unselfishly taking three walks at the expense of his 23-game hitting streak.

Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano complained instead about a play in the second inning, in which Lowell lowered his shoulder into Cano midway between first and second in an unsuccessful attempt to break up a double play.  Lowell, who came up in the Yankees' system, denied he employed an elbow and said he was doing only what he'd been taught in the minors.

The strain of another long game (3 hours 39 minutes) plus a second rain delay in two days, a 30-minute interruption that came in the fourth inning and had an adverse effect on both starting pitchers, Curt Schilling and Mike Mussina, was apparent on both sides. Lowell was still smarting from being hit in the left hand the night before by a fastball from Yankees starter Chien-Ming Wang, though after trainers improvised a wrist wrap using a toe guard, Lowell swung the bat with authority, hitting his 11th home run, a double, and a single, and driving in four runs.

Curt Schilling had been enough to prevent a Red Sox losing streak from growing on the two previous occasions the Sox had lost two in a row. That would not be the case as Schilling was knocked out by Jorge Posada's three-run home run in the sixth inning, when the Yankees added another run off Javier Lopez to take a 5-3 lead.

But Mike Mussina was no better after the delay, giving up back-to-back home runs in the bottom of the inning to Lowell and Jason Varitek, a batter he'd always handled with ease. Varitek was 7 for 59 against Mussina, including double-play ground balls in his first two at-bats yesterday, before driving a Mussina pitch onto the black in center field.

The Sox' discomfort grew when Jeter homered off Joel Pineiro to give the Yankees a 6-5 lead in the seventh, but David Ortiz opened the home seventh with a fly ball that appeared catchable but was played into a double by right fielder Bobby Abreu. Proctor issued an intentional walk to Manny Ramirez, then passed Youkilis on four pitches, which wasn't the plan. Lowell then grounded a ball to Cano, whose off-target throw to second sent Jeter into a 360-degree spin on his throw to first. The throw was to the right-field side of the bag and placed Mientkiewicz in Lowell's path. The players collided, the throw sailed past, and Ortiz and Ramirez scored.

With first base open, Proctor issued another intentional pass, this one to Varitek, but that also blew up on the Bombers, as Wily Mo Pena smoked a ball that Jeter couldn't handle to load the bases. Coco Crisp blooped an RBI single to center, Julio Lugo hit a sacrifice fly, and Pedroia, who had three hits, singled home a 10th run. Hideki Okajima, who got four outs, was credited with his first big league win, and Jonathan Papelbon closed it out.

Terry Francona moved Pedroia into the No. 2 slot in the order for the first time yesterday, and with Julio Lugo failing to get on base with regularity, it's not inconceivable that more tinkering at the top of the order is in the offing. Lugo has done some things well this season. His 31 RBIs, going into yesterday, lead all major league leadoff men, and he has 16 stolen bases, third in the American League. He has stolen more bases without being caught than anyone else in the big leagues. But in his last 30 games, including Friday night, Lugo has gone 0 for 5 seven times, three times in the last seven games. His on-base average in that span is a ghastly .245; he has a .204 batting average in that time, and has drawn just eight walks in 148 plate appearances.

He began play yesterday with 18 walks in 228 plate appearances, an average of one per 12.7, and his on-base average of .284 was by far the worst in the AL among leadoff men with at least 125 plate appearances (Darin Erstad of the White Sox was next at .338).

Coco Crisp, meanwhile, switched positions with Pedroia, dropping to the No. 9 hole. Crisp had just one hit in his last 16 at-bats, all on the homestand, and his overall on-base percentage was .291. Crisp's OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage) was .609, which ranked 30th among 31 center fielders who have at least 167 plate appearances this season. That OPS is lower than any posted by light-hitting center fielder Darren Lewis when he was with the Sox (his OPS was .714 and .620 in the two seasons he played regularly).  Crisp's 11 stolen bases and a series of outstanding catches have helped deflect criticism of his production, but with Drew also struggling in right, if the Sox' offense stagnates, general manager Theo Epstein may have to contemplate other options.

Down on the farm, David Murphy is batting .301 in Pawtucket, while top prospect Jacoby Ellsbury batted .287 with 11 stolen bases in his first 23 games in Triple A. Friday night, Ellsbury singled and scored on Murphy's triple for the only run in a 1-0, 12-inning PawSox win in Norfolk.