Sunday, September 07, 2008

Everybody Takes a Beating Sometime

The title of this post is an immortal line uttered by Ray Liotta in the classic film "Goodfellas." And I guess that applies to Tim Wakefield and the Red Sox, who got whacked by the Texas Rangers in Arlington last night, 15-8.

Wake was pitching in his 500th game in a Red Sox uniform and it sure was one he'd like to forget. It started off well for the Sox, a 1-0 lead in the second inning, and Wakefield had retired the first five hitters on fly balls, and it looked like the knuckler was working for him. But Gerald Laird doubled to left, and wake issued a wild pitch, and then a passed ball tied the game.

And the roof caved in, as Wake couldn't seem to control the knuckler, as he started walking hitters, hit another, and was mercifully pulled after Texas scored seven runs. It was his second shortest outing of his career. Chris Smith came in and ended the inning by picking Hank Blalock off first base.

The Sox got to Texas starter Matt Harrison for a three-run homer by Kevin Youkilis in the third, and it looked like they'd get back in the game. But Smith gave up a home run to Nelson Cruz in the bottom of the inning to make it 9-4. The Sox couldn't touch Harrison for the other three innings he pitched, and the Rangers tacked on more runs to put the game away by the sixth.

Despite the ugly loss, the Sox lost no ground in either race they are in. Tampa Bay lost to Toronto in 13 innings when Gregg Zaun hit a grand slam to win it off Troy Percival, 7-4. So the Red Sox remain 2 1/2 games back for the division. Minnesota lost at home to Detroit, 6-4, so the Wild Card lead remains at 5 1/2.

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