Scout.com > Boston Bottoming Out Story URL: http://redsox.scout.com/2/559224.html Jerry Beach DiehardMagazine.com Aug 21, 2006 BOSTON—David Ortiz did his best to lighten the mood at the end of the latest longest night of the season for the Red Sox. Sitting at his locker just before 2 a.m. this morning, Ortiz massaged his feet—which he said were tired from legging out a ninth-inning double—and wondered why the Yankees just won’t allow the Sox to win one game this weekend. But no amount of gallows humor by Ortiz could soften the sting of reality for the Sox. If the doubleheader defeat they absorbed Friday was demoralizing—and the eight-run pounding they took Saturday discouraging—then the loss to the Yankees Sunday was the type that could destroy a season and haunt those involved deep into the winter. Jonathan Papelbon suffered his sixth blown save of the season, the Sox failed to score when they loaded the bases against Mariano Rivera in the bottom of the ninth and Craig Hansen gave up three runs in the 10th as the Yankees dealt another blow to the free-falling Sox with an 8-5 win in front of a rain-soaked sellout crowd of 36,155. “It’s not fair,” Ortiz said. “Those guys are not playing around. They should have let us win that game to make the series interesting.” Instead, the Yankees are threatening to render the rest of the Sox’ season inconsequential. The Sox have dropped four straight games—each loss more damaging than its predecessor—to the Yankees in a span of 60 hours to fall 5 ½ games behind in the AL East. The Red Sox (69-54) are now closer to the third-place Blue Jays (66-58) than the Yankees, who go for the rare five-game sweep this afternoon. One shred of good news: The White Sox lost Sunday, so the Red Sox remain four games behind in the wild card race. “Rough night,” Curt Schilling said. “We’ve been out-pitched, out-hit and out-played for four games in a row.” Schilling survived a 57-minute rain delay following the second inning and Jason Giambi’s three-run homer in the fourth inning to toss seven innings in the first strong performance of the weekend by a Sox starter. But Schilling’s performance was an afterthought thanks to Papelbon’s struggles—and Terry Francona’s questionable utilization of the bullpen before he turned to Papelbon with the bases loaded and none out in the eighth. Papelbon had not thrown since Wednesday, when he earned his 32nd save with a scoreless inning against the Tigers, and Francona said before the game he was ready to use him for multiple innings if necessary. But he opened the eighth with Mike Timlin, who entered Sunday with a 9.72 ERA in nine games this month, and left-hander Javier Lopez, whom the Sox recalled from Triple-A Pawtucket before the game. Francona said he wanted Timlin and Lopez to face the first three batters of the eighth—Johnny Damon, Derek Jeter and Bobby Abreu—because their numbers against the trio were favorable. But Timlin lasted just three pitches, during which he allowed a single to Damon and plunked Jeter, and Lopez got ahead of Abreu 1-2 before he walked him. Papelbon gave up a deep sacrifice fly to Giambi, who missed a grand slam by five feet, and walked Alex Rodriguez to re-load the bases before he struck out Robinson Cano and Melky Cabrera. Papelbon nearly got out of an even messier jam in the ninth, when he allowed a leadoff double to Melky Cabrera and uncorked a wild pitch that allowed Cabrera to move to third. But he struck out Bernie Williams and Damon and got ahead of Jeter 0-1 before Jeter hit a flare to short right field for the game-tying single. “It was in our favor just to try to not [have] ‘Pap’ throw 40 pitches in two [innings] because he had to go through the middle of the order,” Francona said. “And it ended up exactly like we didn’t want it to happen.” The Sox nearly won it in the bottom of the inning. Ortiz legged out a leadoff double when his high chopper bounced off Giambi’s glove. Manny Ramirez was intentionally walked for the second time, but Kevin Youkilis’ bunt bounced right to Rivera, who threw out Ortiz at third. A wild pitch advanced Ramirez and Youkilis one base and an intentional walk to Mike Lowell followed. But Rivera needed just five pitches—all cutters clocked at 94 mph or faster—to strike out pinch-hitter Eric Hinske and retire Doug Mirabelli on a comebacker to the mound. Hansen, who has now been scored upon in seven of his last 10 outings, gave up Giambi’s second homer leading off the 10th and a two-run homer to Posada three batters later. “You’ve got to tip your cap off to those guys,” Ortiz said. “We’ve got our best pitchers out there and they still produce. They’re on top of their game right now.” And the Sox seem to find a new way to bottom out every day. Diehard managing editor Jerry Beach can be reached at diehardmag@yahoo.com. To receive a free issue of Diehard, call 888-979-0979. Copyright © Scout.com and DiehardMagazine.com