August 3, 2007
...
The Sox have only themselves to hold accountable for losing a ninth
straight time here tonight, 7-4. Manny Ramirez ran the Sox out of a
potential big inning in the first, hit into a double play to squelch
another potential uprising in the fifth, and struck out with the
tying run on base in the seventh. Hometown boy Jon Lester threw a
couple of indifferent cutters, one that Yuniesky Betancourt flattened
into a three-run home run, to give back a 3-0 lead.
And the Sox
defense self-destructed in the sixth, errors by shortstop Julio Lugo and Mike
Timlin allowing the Mariners to seize a 5-4 lead, creating the one situation
manager Terry Francona was hoping to avoid: allowing Seattle's airtight bullpen
to come into play. Thus, they trailed, 5-4, after six innings in the first game
of a three-city, nine-game trip. A two-run home run by Kenji Johjima off Timlin
in the seventh made it 7-4 as the Sox' American League East lead was shaved to
seven games over the Yankees.
Four singles
in the first inning netted just a run, as Ramirez failed to stop at second on
Mike Lowell's bases-loaded bloop single that scored Dustin Pedroia. Kevin
Youkilis, who also had singled, had stopped at third, a sensible course of
action given that the Seattle right fielder was Jose Guillen, who only has the
best arm in the league and was roughly 200 feet from home plate when he fielded
Lowell's blooper. Ramirez, who had singled to load the bases, didn't bother to
take stock of the situation as he came around second and the Sox ultimately
wound up with two men on third. Jason Varitek bounced to third to end the
inning, and Mariners starter Horacio Ramirez was one lucky guy.
His good
fortune held through at least the second, when the Sox loaded the bases with no
outs and scored just once. Wily Mo Pena was hit by a pitch, Coco Crisp singled,
and Julio Lugo beat out a bunt to load 'em up. But Pedroia hit into a double
play, Pena scoring, and Youkilis rolled to short. Horacio Ramirez is the same
guy who had a 5-0 lead after one inning in Fenway and couldn't hold it, giving
up 11 hits and seven runs in four innings.
Lester, the
pride of Puyallup, has tons of folks here, including his mother and father, but
the night took a bad turn for him when Betancourt took him deep after a single
and walk in the fourth, giving the Mariners a 4-3 lead. They scored their first
run on three singles in the third, the last by Adrian Beltre.
The Sox tied
it in the fifth on singles by Pedroia, Youkilis, and David Ortiz, who had given
the Sox a 3-0 lead with a leadoff homer in the third, but Ramirez grounded into
a double play against reliever Sean Green and Lowell rolled out.
Timlin
replaced Lester to start the sixth and was in immediate jeopardy when Lugo threw
away Adam Jones's routine grounder. Timlin compounded that error when he made a
wild pickoff throw, allowing Jones to go to second, then made an off-target
throw to third on Jose Lopez's sacrifice attempt, putting Mariners on the
corners with no out. Betancourt's infield roller produced the go-ahead run.
Dustin
Pedroia had a brutal first month of the season, batting .182 in April, then a
spectacular one, batting .415 in May. Since then, the Red Sox second baseman has
been the model of consistency, an impressive achievement for a rookie. On June
3, after hitting two doubles in Fenway Park against the Yankees, Pedroia was
hitting a season-high .336. Since then, Pedroia's average hasn't been higher
than .331 or lower than .309. Over the last 46 games, entering tonight's series
opener against the Mariners, Pedroia was batting .311 (57 for 183) and had gone
hitless in back-to-back games just twice. He led off tonight with a single to
center, his sixth hit in eight at-bats. Overall, he entered last night's game
batting .322, the highest average among American League rookies and eighth
overall.
J.D. Drew
was not in the starting lineup again last night against lefthander Horacio
Ramirez. The deciding factor probably was Wily Mo Pena's success against Ramirez
(4 for 9, 1 home run), but manager Terry Francona also was sensitive to Drew's
personal situation. Drew's 17-month-old son, Jack David, is in a body cast from
his chest to his ankles after undergoing lengthy surgery to correct development
dysphasia of the hips (a dislocation), which doctors discovered after he fell
and fractured his collarbone the week before. Drew and his wife, Sheigh, had
noticed their son was having some difficulty walking.
