ICHIRO SUZUKI

A POWERFUL CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM
The Sox are swept away
in the 11th inning

June 27, 2007 ... On a day when the Sox definitely saw too much of Ichiro Suzuki, who knocked in the Mariners' first run with a bloop single off Daisuke Matsuzaka, scored the winner on Jose Lopez's double in the 11th off Joel Pineiro to give the Mariners a 2-1 victory, and came within one fly ball of tying the major league record for put outs by an outfielder (12), they may also have gone too far with Julio Lugo, the slumping shortstop who whiffed with two on and two out in the eighth inning of a tie game.

Why did the Red Sox manager elect to let Lugo, despite his crippling hitless streak, bat for himself against Mariners rookie Brandon Morrow? It was either that, he said, or send up a left-handed pinch hitter, Alex Cora or Eric Hinske, to face a left-handed reliever. Seattle's best lefty, George Sherrill, already had been used to get David Ortiz, and for the second straight game, Sherrill was up to the task, retiring Ortiz on a fly ball with two on and one out in the seventh.

Warming up in the Mariners' bullpen was one Ryan Rowland-Smith, a rookie lefthander from Australia who has the distinction of being the first. Rowland-Smith, who pitched in the 2004 Olympics for Sox scout Jon Deeble, the man who is partly responsible for Matsuzaka being in a Red Sox uniform and throwing a three-hitter through eight innings yesterday, has 2 1/3 innings of big league experience. And they weren't especially pretty. He'd given up three hits and two runs.

Nonetheless, Francona didn't want to see Rowland-Smith in the game. He sent Lugo to the plate. His decision looked savvy when the first three pitches to Lugo were balls. It looked less so when Lugo went down swinging to extend his hitless streak to 0 for 31, dropping his batting average to a major-league-low .190.

It probably was harder to see Lugo go down on strikes, in a game in which the Sox had spent much of the afternoon teeing off on Mariners starter Ryan Feierabend and coming up empty. When Lugo's turn came around in the 11th, with Jason Varitek aboard on a single, Francona sent Cora to the plate. Cora hit into an inning-ending double play against Jason Davis, the sixth Seattle pitcher.

Then everyone went home when Pineiro, pitching in Seattle for the first time since he'd left the Mariners as a free agent, walked Ichiro on a full count and watched Lopez's double clear the glove of a leaping Manny Ramirez, who was higher than the ball was when it struck the wall.

By sweeping the Sox three games the Mariners sent the Sox flying back to Boston with a losing record (4-5) on their three-city, 10-day, nine-game trip that took them to the Deep South (Atlanta), the Left Coast (San Diego), and the Pacific Northwest.

Matsuzaka set down the first eight Mariners in a row before Jamie Burke, the backup catcher, hit a liner that Coco Crisp attempted to collar with a shoestring catch, but for one of the few times this season didn't come up with the ball. All he got for his trouble was an apparently jammed left thumb, one on which he had wrapped in a big icepack after the game.

Terry Francona made official yesterday what had become increasingly apparent: Curt Schilling will not return to the Red Sox' rotation until after the All-Star break. Schilling, who went on the disabled list June 22 (retroactive to June 19) with what has been called right shoulder tendonitis, will not resume throwing until next week at the earliest. Schilling, who is 6-4 with a 4.20 ERA, had made his first 15 starts and was closing in on 100 innings (94 1/3) until he missed his first start Tuesday night, when Kason Gabbard subbed for him and lasted just 3 1/3 innings, the shortest stint by a Sox starter this season.

Brendan Donnelly, who also is on the DL (strained right forearm), clearly will not be returning when he is eligible Monday. Donnelly played long toss yesterday morning, but cut his mound session in half.

The Pawtucket Red Sox placed three players on the International League All-Star team: outfielder Brandon Moss, closer Travis Hughes, and left-handed reliever Craig Breslow

Kevin Youkilis, who went 0 for 4 yesterday to end an eight-game hitting streak, has now gone 86 at-bats since his last home run, May 29 at home against Cleveland. That's the longest drought on the team, six more at-bats than Alex Cora. Youkilis had eight home runs and 30 RBIs while batting .358 in his first 47 games (193 at-bats). In 25 games since, he is batting .264 (23 for 87) with four doubles and a triple, no home runs, and 11 RBIs

Julio Lugo's horrendous start is not unprecedented, but he doesn't have much company. Since 1996, only one player with as many as 250 at-bats at this stage of the season has had a lower average than Lugo's .189: Greg Vaughn, who was batting .163 through June 27, 2002, for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.