July 13, 2007
...
Most of the excitement had been whittled away at Fenway Park last
night as the center-field clock neared four hours of baseball. But
all it took was a single to center off the bat of Julio Lugo to get
36,908 to their feet in anticipation of a comeback.
When Dustin Pedroia walked, the roar was palpable. "Papi! Papi! Papi!" But that
was as far as it went, the tantalizing duo of Ortiz and Ramirez flying out as
the Blue Jays defeated the Sox, 6-5.
And it wasn't just bad news for the Sox on the field. Ortiz's torn meniscus,
J.D. Drew's tightness in his right hamstring, and Brendan Donnelly's recurrence
of right forearm tightness in a rehab outing are enough to leave manager Terry
Francona begging for mercy. On a night in which Julian Tavarez threw 101 pitches
in just four innings plus, the bullpen didn't come through as it has throughout
the season, Kyle Snyder giving up two runs in the sixth to let the game slip
away.
Tavarez, who had lost his last three starts, needed 36 pitches to get through a
third inning that spiraled downward after Reed Johnson was hit by a pitch on an
0-and-2 count. Five of the next six batters reached safely, starting with a
double to left by Alex Rios (3 for 4 with two doubles and an RBI). After Johnson
scored on a wild pitch, Frank Thomas walked and Troy Glaus singled to right,
scoring Rios. Lyle Overbay's single and Aaron Hill's fielder's choice each
scored another run and the Blue Jays had a 4-2 lead. Gregg Zaun's double ended
the inning, although it took Tavarez 36 pitches and a Ramirez-to-Lugo-to-Jason
Varitek relay to erase Hill at the plate.
But the Red Sox - staked to a 2-0 lead on Ramirez's homer in the first, his 12th
of the season and fourth in games pitched by Tavarez - regained the lead with
three runs in their half of the inning, capped by a two-run triple by Mike
Lowell. Snyder put the Red Sox in a hole in the sixth, allowing a walk and
back-to-back doubles. The second double, by Rios, bounced on the warning track
behind a shallow-playing Ramirez and gave the Blue Jays a 6-5 lead.
Yet even with four pitchers needed to get through the last five innings, the Sox
had a chance in the ninth on a big assist from Mike Timlin, who was perfect in 2
1/3 innings. And the Sox had the two batters they would have hand-picked to win
it in the ninth.
