Beckett pounded as the Sox
lose
September 27, 2007
...
20-game winner Josh Beckett threw 99 pitches for the Red Sox, David
Ortiz reached base five times (nine straight times over two nights)
and hit his 34th home run, Hideki Okajima resurfaced, and Manny
Ramirez extended himself to seven innings before calling it a day.
But the only
occasion anyone celebrated last night at Fenway Park was Johnny Pesky's 88th
birthday. Plans for a bigger affair first went Boof, then Poof, as the Minnesota
Twins enacted their own version of the Volstead Act, keeping the corks in the
bubbly and prohibiting the Sox from clinching their first division title in a
dozen years with a 5-4 win over the Olde Towne Team.
That was
just half the story. The Yankees did their part to keep Boston a dry town, too,
as they beat the Devil Rays, 3-1, even without their two biggest stars. The Sox'
lead in the AL East shrank to two games with three to play. Any combination of
Sox wins and Yankee losses totaling two, and owner John W. Henry, who watched
from his field box, will have a new tapestry, one undoubtedly better suited to
hang on the Monster rather than at his new $16 million estate.
The Sox were
more than happy to hang their hat on Beckett, the 20-game winner unbeaten in
four previous September starts (2.25 ERA, 30 strikeouts in 28 innings) and
looking to put the finishing touches on a Cy-caliber season. But Beckett, who
had given up three runs or fewer in eight of his previous nine starts, was hit
hard early and often by the Twins, giving up five runs on 10 hits in six
innings.
The Twins
came into the game with a major league-low 415 extra-base hits, including a
total of two in their last three games. They matched that number five batters
into the game against Beckett. Jason Bartlett lined a single to open the game
and scored when Jason Kubel launched a drive that struck the garage door in
center above outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury's head, scoring Bartlett. Michael
Cuddyer opened the second by hitting a Beckett pitch over everything in left,
and in the third, Bartlett doubled off the wall in center, took third on an
infield out, and scored on Torii Hunter's sacrifice fly.
The Sox,
meanwhile, answered with a couple of runs off Twins starter Boof Bonser. Ortiz
doubled home a run and scored on J.D. Drew's single in the first, which ended
with Eric Hinske rolling out with the bases loaded. But Bonser settled in,
holding the Sox scoreless until the fifth, by which time the Twins had made it
4-2, a double by Nick Punto and a single by Hunter, most likely making his last
appearance in a Twins uniform here this weekend, accounting for the run. Ortiz
cut it to 4-3 with his 34th home run of the season, a powerful drive over the
visitors' bullpen. But the Twins extended their lead again in the sixth, rookie
Garrett Jones hitting a 96-mile-per-hour fastball into the center-field
bleachers to make it 5-3. Boof was no longer afoot in the sixth, having yielded
to the bullpen. The Sox put on two in the seventh, but Matt Guerrier, the third
pitcher of the inning, induced Mike Lowell to hit into an inning-ending double
play.
Okajima
pitched the eighth, gave up a single, then struck out two in his first
appearance since Sept. 14th. In the eighth, Varitek homered into the
left-field seats off Guerrier to make it 5-4. With two outs, Hinske grounded a
single through the right side and Julio Lugo hit a flare just over the infield,
sending Hinske to third with the potential tying run. Gardenhire summoned
Nathan. With a sudden violent shower falling, Nathan went to 3 and 1 on Dustin
Pedroia while Lugo stole second. But Pedroia popped to first baseman Justin
Morneau in front of the mound. Rookie Brandon Moss, who has been Ramirez's
personal valet, running for Manny when he is lifted from the game, doubled off
the top of the scoreboard to lead off the ninth.
By that
time, the Yankees' win already had been posted on the wall. Nathan, wanting no
part of Ortiz, walked him on four pitches, then retired Lowell (0 for 5, two
GIDPs) on a half-swing roller to first, the runners moving up. Drew was
intentionally passed to load the bases, and there was magic in the air. Nathan,
the best closer never to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated, kept Sox
closer Jonathan Papelbon in the bullpen by inducing Dustin Pedroia to pop out,
then whiffed Jason Varitek, who had homered in the eighth, and pinch hitter
Kevin Youkilis with the bases loaded to end the game.
Coco Crisp
missed a third straight game with what Francona said doctors believe is a viral
infection. Francona said he couldn't project when Crisp will return.
First
baseman Kevin Youkilis, who started Wednesday night for the first time in 11
days after being hit in the right wrist by a pitch from Chien-Ming Wang, did not
start yesterday with what Francona described as fatigue in the wrist.
David
Ortiz's second-half numbers compare favorably to those of his previous four
seasons with the Sox. He is batting .348 (87 for 250) with 20 home runs and 64
RBIs. He has never hit over .300 in the second half with the Sox, though his
on-base percentage at the start of the night (.446) matched his OBP in the
second half last season. His slugging percentage of .663 trailed only the .675
he slugged last season, and his OPS (slugging and on-base percentage) was 1.109,
second only to the 1.121 he had last season.
