Sox 99 – Before and After the Break

The Red Sox continued to play erratically around all-star time. A trip to Atlanta yielded one win against the Braves, whose 56-34 record was second best in the majors. The series began with a 5-4 Sox victory, despite getting only 5 hits off four Brave hurlers, Boston rallied from a 3-0 deficit with a solo homer by Wilton Veras in the third and 2 more in the fourth on blasts by Damon Buford and Mike Stanley. They took the lead for good in the fifth on a run-scoring triple from Darren Lewis and a Buford sacrifice fly. Bret Saberhagen pitched 6 1/3 for the victory, allowing 3 earned runs, walking 1 and fanning 6. Tim Wakefield, emerging as a closer, notched his tenth save.

The next two contests were not as easy, as future Hall of Famers Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux shut down Sox bats. The first was a 2-1 defeat in 11 innings. It was 1-1 after 9, with Stanley and Adam Jones trading round-trippers. But a couple of misplays hurt the Townies in the eleventh. First, Buford missed a sacrifice bunt sign, resulting in a double play. In the bottom half, the contest ended embarrassingly for the Sox. After a pass to Brian Hunter, reliever John Wasdin hit Jones’ helmet on an attempted sacrifice. The ball bounded away as Hunter came around for the walkoff win.  Glavine hurled 9 frames, allowing 6 hits and fanning 6, though failing to get the victory. Mark Portugal gave a good effort with 6 strong innings.

Fading starter Jin Ho-Cho was victimized in game 3, tattooed for 5 hits and 4 runs in an 8-1 defeat. The Sox scored first, but Atlanta got the next 8, capped by Ryan Klesko’s solo homer in the fourth and three-run blast off Wakefield in the eighth to clinch it. Maddux, a four-time Cy Younger, went 8 innings to run his mark to 10-5. The defeat was the Sox’ fifth in 7 games.

Following the break, the Bosox returned to Fenway but were only able to capture one of three from Terry Francona’s Phillies (third in the NL East), who entered with a 4.59 staff ERA. The Sox took the opener 6-4, paced by 3 hits each from Brian Daubach and Trot Nixon. Boston went ahead 2-1 in the first, aided by a Jose Offerman homer off future Soxer Paul Byrd, and increased it to 3 on John Valentin’s run-scoring double in the fourth. Bobby Abreu  had a solo shot in the sixth, but Daubach, hitting .308, got that one back in the seventh and the Sox held on despite some shaky relief work. Brian Rose went 5 innings to run his record to 5-2. The Phils rebounded the next evening,

however, overcoming a 3-0 deficit in a 5-4 victory. Boston went ahead on homers by Daubach and Jason Varitek (11th for both), but Ron Gant’s two-run shot started a comeback, and Scott Rolen’s homer in the sixth provided the winning margin. Saberhagen went 5-plus and took the loss, though still 6-3 with a 2.81 ERA. Closer Wayne Gomes picked up his 13th save.

Game 3 was ugly, as the visitors slammed 4 Boston hurlers for 18 hits in an 11-3 drubbing. The Phils went out 7-2 after six and breezed in, with Doug Glanville and Mike Lieberthal each picking up 4 safeties and  Gant driving in 5. Portugal lasted only  2 1/3, and three relievers did little better. The only Sox bright spot was a homer from newly-returned Nomar Garciaparra.

Sunday the 18th saw the Sox at 50-41, only 3 ahead of the third-place Blue Jays and having dropped 7 of 11. Nomar led the hitters at .359 with 24 doubles and a .618 slugging percentage. Meanwhile, 27-year-old Manny Ramirez of the Indians was tearing up the AL at .338 with 25 homers and an incredible 98 rbi’s. He would finish with 165.