Foulke is pen's lone bright spot

Mike Timlin, the senior member of Boston's battered bullpen, acted as its spokesman yesterday in capturing the psyches of his fellow beaten-and-bruised relievers.

``When you get your tail kicked for five straight games," said Timlin, one of the culprits in Sunday's late-game meltdown, ``your confidence level is not very high."

But amid the burning of the bullpen (a fire alarm that beeped during manager Terry Francona's pregame news conference could have signaled the arson that took place during the sweep), an unlikely candidate entered a tough situation in yesterday's 2-1 loss to the Yankees and gave his club -- which will take any positive it can get these days -- a lift it desperately needed.

With closer Jonathan Papelbon unavailable (42 pitches Sunday), shellshocked righty Craig Hansen (6.60 ERA) en route to the minors after allowing three 10th-inning runs two nights ago, and call-up Bryan Corey's arrival at Fenway Park dubious because Pawtucket was in Ottawa, Keith Foulke gave the Sox 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief.

Although an eighth-inning wild pitch -- a splitter that bobbled off the heel of catcher Javy Lopez's mitt -- allowed Nick Green to score the game-winning run, Foulke didn't allow a hit, punching out Derek Jeter and Bobby Abreu and throwing 10 of his 18 pitches for strikes.

``For a couple years, Keith's been a key part of the bullpen," said Doug Mirabelli. ``We need him to be effective and pitch like he knows how. He gave us two quality innings and gave us a chance to do something in the ninth inning and even in the eighth inning.

``That's all we've ever asked of those guys -- keep it the way it was when you came in. It's not always going to work out that our offense is going to do something magical."

The numbers for the men in the pen haven't been pretty. Manny Delcarmen allowed a run in a third of an inning Saturday. Timlin didn't retire a batter Sunday; he allowed a Johnny Damon single to lead off the eighth, then hit Jeter with his third pitch of the outing before getting pulled. Javier Lopez didn't do much better, walking Abreu to load the bases.

Over the course of the weekend, the Sox recalled Jermaine Van Buren from Pawtucket, designated Rudy Seanez (four walks, four earned runs in 1 1/3 innings Friday) for assignment, then punted Van Buren (three earned runs in 1 1/3 innings Saturday) back out the door to make room for Lopez.

Phew.

``We've got good arms out there," Mirabelli said. ``It's not about the talent or quality out there. It's more about execution. We've got to get guys confident and back on track. Those arms are as good as any."

Not that Foulke's season has been any calmer. The erstwhile stud closer, whose injury woes had him contemplating retirement earlier this year, was activated after the first game of Friday's day-night doubleheader and threw two scoreless innings in the nightcap.

Francona had hoped to ease Foulke back in, giving him action when the Sox held comfortable leads, but those were nowhere to be found during this series. So with starter David Wells having thrown 104 pitches and the rest of the bullpen resembling a gas-soaked fuse, Francona turned to Foulke to keep the game from blowing open in the eighth.

His 1-and-1 splitter to Jeter skipped away from Lopez, but aside from that slip-up, Foulke retired every batter he faced, perhaps the lone silver lining against the Yanks.

``I felt a lot better today," said Foulke (2-1, 5.05 ERA). ``I slowed things down and tried to make my pitches to the corners. I was a small part of the weekend."

And so the Sox flew off to California, hopeful that the cross-country flight would calm their creaky arms. Timlin, whose ERA jumped from 3.13 to 4.05 after his two most recent appearances, called the series a low point, but they have to show they can recover.

``If this is something you bet on, you would definitely bet against it," Foulke said of the sweep. ``It hurts. We're in the middle of a playoff run, it's late in the season, and we drop five to our closest competitor. It hurts.

``But you forget about it, get on the plane, head west, and take care of business. We've got 5-6 weeks left of baseball. We put ourselves in a little hole."

With that, Foulke turned to Dave Goucher, the Boston Bruins' play-by-play announcer, and started to talk hockey, a sport he's grown to love. Anything to get his mind off baseball.