July 20, 2007
...
Amid booing by the locals, David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez, and Mike
Lowell stood near the Red Sox on-deck circle. Ramirez, just thrown
out at the plate after Ortiz crossed it, started to walk toward the
infield, his finger pointed in the air, the umpires' signal for a
home run. It was all the pleading he would do. And all in vain. So he
continued to left field, leaving manager Terry Francona to do the
arguing for him, J.D. Drew, and the team. Though Drew's shot, a
three-run first-inning home run, replays showed, was only an RBI
double in the box score, and Francona's tirade resulted only in
ejection, the two triggered an explosive night for the Red Sox.
As the Devil
Rays blew out the Yankees in New York, the Red Sox did the same to the White
Sox, finishing them off with Julio Lugo's grand slam in a 10-3 victory in front
of 36,737 at Fenway Park. Not only did it boost Boston's American League East
lead to eight games, it pushed Josh Beckett into a tie for the major league lead
in wins with 13.
Ortiz walked
with two outs to start the fireworks, and Ramirez was hit by a pitch. Then came
Drew's hit. Although Ortiz scored, Ramirez slowed rounding the bases as Drew
pulled into second, thinking the ball had rocketed into the front shelf of the
Monster Seats. Which it had. But the umpires convened and ruled the shot hit off
the wall. Ramirez was out at home and the inning was over. That was when
Francona got animated. And that was when bench coach Brad Mills ran to the
outfield to retrieve the manager.
So instead
of walking to the mound with a 3-0 lead, Beckett had a one-run lead to work
with. And though he struck out the side in the second inning, including Josh
Fields on a 97-mile-per-hour fastball, he allowed a three-run home run to Jim
Thome in the third. It was 3-1, White Sox, but it should have been 3-3.
It all soon
became moot. Without Drew's long ball, the Red Sox turned to small ball in the
fifth. After a walk to Jason Varitek, Eric Hinske bunted against a shift, with
third baseman Fields well off the bag. Then Lugo beat out a bunt and Crisp (four
triples in seven games) delivered the big blow, a bases-clearing triple down the
first base line to turn a 3-1 deficit into a 4-3 lead. Crisp scored on Ortiz's
single, but the designated hitter was thrown out trying to stretch it into a
double, straining his left shoulder on the play.."
After six
innings and 114 pitches from Beckett (10 strikeouts, four hits), Mike Timlin,
Hideki Okajima, and Joel Pineiro clamped down on the White Sox. After Thome's
homer in the third, Red Sox pitchers allowed just one base runner and faced the
minimum over the final six inning. A.J. Pierzynski, who singled with two outs in
the sixth off Beckett, was gunned down by Crisp trying to go for second.
The Red Sox'
bats reawakened the eighth. After a bases-loaded sacrifice fly by Varitek scored
Ramirez, Kevin Youkilis, in defensively for Hinske, was hit by a pitch. Then
Lugo connected for his third hit and the third grand slam of his career on the
last pitch by White Sox starter Jose Contreras. The shortstop, who has emerged
from a hideous slump with a flourish, raising his average from .189 to .225
since the last series before the All-Star break, earned a standing ovation and a
curtain call, and pushed the lead to 10-3.
Kevin
Youkilis wasn't in the starting lineup, replaced at first base by Eric Hinske.
Youkilis had played the last eight games after missing five straight and six of
eight with tightness in his right quadriceps. He has just three hits in his last
27 at-bats.
