Tim Wakefield loses on in
Tampa
September 23, 2007
...
With a week left in the regular season, there remains only one race
in the American League, after the Indians and the Angels won division
titles yesterday, the Indians wasting no time in hoisting the
division flag to the top of the center-field scoreboard in Jacobs
Field after beating Oakland, the Angels taking their dismissal of the
Seattle Mariners a tad more in stride.
The only
settling left to be done is in the East, where the Red Sox, who have clinched a
postseason berth, and Yankees go down to the wire with the division title yet
unclaimed. All that is left to decide is where the place cards go at the
postseason dinner table. The Sox, losing, 5-4, to the Devil Rays, had their
division lead sliced to 1 1/2 games by the Yankees, 7-5 winners over the Blue
Jays. The Sox also were leapfrogged by the Indians in the competition for best
overall record in the league, which will determine home-field advantage and
first-round matchups.
The Sox
returned home tonight to finish the season at Fenway Park with two games against
Oakland beginning tomorrow night, then four against the Twins. The Yankees,
meanwhile, have a makeup game today in the Bronx against the Blue Jays, then
finish on the road with three games against the Devil Rays and three against the
Orioles.
You take
your drama where you can get it, and the Sox could have put a serious squeeze on
the Yankees by completing a sweep of the Devil Rays. Instead, Tampa Bay
accomplished something it never had done in its brief history in its
roof-covered playground, pinning a defeat on knuckleballer Tim Wakefield. He
left trailing, 4-0, after five innings, having given up a two-run home run to
Rookie of the Year candidate Delmon Young in the second inning, a solo run in
the fourth, when Young doubled and scored on a single by Jonny Gomes, and
another run in the fifth, when Akinori Iwamura walked, stole second, and scored
on Jorge Velandia's base hit.
Wakefield
whiffed Young with the bases loaded to end the fifth, but the Sox could not
overcome the head start. They scored three times in the sixth off Rays starter
Edwin Jackson, but reliever Jon Switzer shattered Eric Hinske's bat on a
comebacker that resulted in an inning-ending double play with the bases loaded.
Two singles and a safety squeeze bunt by Josh Wilson produced another run in the
home sixth against the nigh-forgotten Julian Tavarez, so the Sox still trailed
by a run when Cora homered to lead off the eighth, his first in 174 at-bats.
The game
ended with a reprise of the Jason Varitek-Al Reyes matchup from the night
before, in which Varitek hit a tying home run in the ninth. Julio Lugo, who had
followed with a winning two-run home run off Reyes, was left on deck as Varitek
popped to third to end the game. The Devil Rays, for a change, were the ones
feeling better when it was over.
Second
baseman Dustin Pedroia, who was hit in the right foot by a pitch Friday night,
then went 0 for 5 Saturday, was given the day off by Francona. It was only the
third time this season Pedroia has taken an 0 for 5; in the last week, he has 3
hits in 23 at-bats, dropping his average from .324 to .315. That matches the
lowest his average has been since July 31, when he was hitting .313.
Jacoby
Ellsbury, who already has stamped himself as a leading candidate for next year's
award, stole his ninth base without being caught this season. What made it more
impressive is that he succeeded even though the Devil Rays called a pitchout.
Ellsbury has stolen against six catchers: Toronto's Gregg Zaun (3 times),
Texas's Gerald Laird (on his first callup), Baltimore's Ramon Hernandez (twice),
Yankees Jorge Posada and Jose Molina, and Tampa Bay's Raul Casanova. He also has
stolen successfully against two left-handed pitchers: Andy Pettitte, who is
regarded as having one of the best moves in baseball, and Brian Burres of the
Orioles.
