Corps providing little relief

It's very easy to understand the problem with the Red Sox bullpen. It's inconsistent. And the issues were never more evident than in yesterday's doubleheader against the Texas Rangers.

From the 3 2/3 scoreless innings in relief of Josh Beckett to the seven runs in relief of David Pauley, the differences between the Manny Delcarmen-David Riske pairing and the Julian Tavarez-Rudy Seanez-Keith Foulke grouping stood out both in the box scores and those who watched. In Game 1, the Red Sox had a chance. In Game 2, they did not.

As Delcarmen watched David Ortiz's shot land in the outfield seats to end Game 1, he tried to meet the slugger at home plate. What he nearly got was a face full of dirt after almost falling as he hopped over the dugout fence. It would have been an embarrassing capper to his first major league win.

``I was thinking about it with two outs and Ortiz up," Delcarmen said. ``I was like, `Man.' Then when he hit that, I ` about tripped over the fence trying to jump on the field. It kind of hit me when everybody started shaking my hand, when I got to home plate. It was pretty cool."

With Beckett flaming out after a Kevin Mench home run into the Monster seats, it was left to the Red Sox bullpen to find its way through the 3 2/3 innings until Big Papi delivered. And, with Riske and Delcarmen manning the hill, it was an easy, no-run slide into the bottom of the ninth.

So, between his first win and the dramatics of the blast, the exuberance certainly was warranted.

``If we give up a run, who knows," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said between games. ``When the game's over, nobody might say anything, but the ability to put up zeros is huge."

Something the Red Sox were lacking in Game 2. Because, if the first game was the bullpen at its best, the second might just have earned worst status.

With Pauley struggling with the offensive power of the Rangers -- six runs on 12 hits in 5-plus innings -- it was left to the remainder of the relief corps to keep the Red Sox within, say, grand slam distance. And, for a very short time, it seemed as if they might comply. Five hits and four runs in the sixth brought Boston to within 6-4, before a series of ineffective relievers trotted in from the pen.

``We were not only within striking distance, but you look down at the end of the bench and you see Manny [Ramírez] sitting there with his spikes and his bat ready to hit," Francona said. ``We thought we were coming. You could kind of feel it. We just couldn't stop them."

The trio of relievers -- Tavarez, Seanez, and Foulke -- all have had difficulty at times this season getting outs. Last night was one of those times.

``Two of the pitches where I was really upset on were the two outs to right field," said Foulke, who was pitching for only the second time since May 31. ``Those were the ones where I kind of left the ball on the plate. Besides that you're talking off the end [of the bat], off the end, ground ball, off the end. They put the bat on the ball and the ball found grass. I'm beyond disappointed with the outcome. Any time you go out there and allow -- I don't know how many hits there were -- three, four, five runs, whatever it was. I'm very disappointed. It's my job to go out there and put up zeros."

He didn't. No one did, not in that second game. Foulke, over his two innings, allowed four runs on seven hits, facing 13 batters. Seanez contributed two runs in his two-thirds of an inning, and Tavarez got hit for another run. Though Foulke said he felt tight in his first game back Saturday, when he gave up a two-run home run to Hank Blalock that sealed a 7-4 Ranger win, he said he felt fine in the bullpen warming up, fine going out to the mound, it just didn't translate to success.

``They had 54 hits [actually 22], they're a very aggressive team," Foulke said. ``They don't take pitches. I made some good pitches on the corners, off the end, off the end, ground ball through the shift, ball in the lights, the outcome was terrible. I'm happy with the way the ball's coming out of my hand. Eventually it's going to come together. [I'm] just battling through, get as many innings as I can. It can't get any worse than that."