 |
|
CURT SCHILLING |
A
POWERFUL CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM
The Red Sox get ejected and
lose to the Angels
August 6, 2007
...
Making his first start for the Sox in seven weeks, Curt Schilling
departed trailing, 3-2, after bantamweight Maicer Izturis hit his
third home run of the season to open the Angels seventh and slumping
catcher Jeff Mathis (0 for 18) doubled. A fourth run was charged to
Schilling when Reggie Willits, facing reliever Julian Tavarez, bunted
Mathis to third and Chone Figgins lined a ball to Moss, who juggled
the ball a couple of times before securing it in leather.
That ignited a mini-controversy, as Mathis had left well before Moss had full
control of the ball, but the argument mounted by manager Terry Francona didn't
last much longer than the one Francona initiated after Manny Ramirez was ejected
in the aftermath of a third-strike call by Hoye when Ramirez did not hold up his
swing. Unofficially, the applicable section of the rulebook was Section 2.00
(Definition of Terms) in which this stipulation is added under the definition of
a catch: "Runners may leave their bases the instant the first fielder touches
the ball." That would guard against outfielders deliberately breaking into a
circus act, rather than the inadvertent performance by Moss.
There was more controversy in the eighth, when Mike Lowell argued that his
foul-tipped third strike against Scott Shields hit the dirt before catcher
Mathis smothered it in his glove. The Sox lost that argument, too, which came
after Moss had walked and J.D. Drew hit his third single of the night, putting
the tying runs on base with no out. After Lowell whiffed, Jason Varitek lined
out, leaving it to Moose survivor Coco Crisp to deliver a big hit. Shields had
other ideas. Crisp, who was hitless in four at-bats, looked at a third strike.
The Sox gave Schilling a 2-0 lead in the third when Dustin Pedroia drew a
two-out walk off Angels starter Jered Weaver, stole second, and scored ahead of
a full-count home run by Kevin Youkilis, his 12th of the season. But the Angels
countered with two in the fourth, their rally facilitated by Schilling's
tardiness in covering first base on a potential double play ball by Garret
Anderson that would have left the Angels with two outs and nobody on. Instead,
Anderson reached and Gary Matthews Jr. wound up with a double when Moss made a
weak throw to third rather than hitting the cutoff man, allowing Matthews to
advance unchallenged. Casey Kotchman followed with a ground-ball single up the
middle, both runners scoring.
Schilling, who had stranded Figgins at third after a two-out triple in the
third, avoided further trouble until Izturis led off the seventh by lining
either a splitter or changeup into the right-field seats. The Sox, who had eight
extra-base hits in Seattle Sunday, had seven singles and Youkilis's home run
through eight innings. Angels manager Mike Scioscia sent out closer Francisco
Rodriguez for the save in the ninth.
The Sox had beaten the Angels five straight times, including three straight in
Fenway Park in April. The loss cut the Sox lead over the Yankees to six games,
the closest the Bombers have been since May 11. They'd drawn within 6 1/2 of the
Sox on July 25. |
