Wells hangs tough but Sox can't avert a Yankees sweep

Sitting in the dugout, after an outing that was almost more than anyone could have asked of the 43-year-old pitcher, David Wells flung his cap in disgust, threw a towel, and stomped off into the tunnel.

It was an odd moment, full of the emotion that was expected but not seen, anticipated but not felt, on an indolent afternoon in which the Red Sox succumbed to the Yankees for the fifth time in four days. The 2-1 setback was a resigned loss in many ways -- the bone-weary Red Sox lost their shortstop and left fielder before the game was halfway over -- and exhaustion was written all over the subdued movements of both teams.

Not Wells. The only freshness in a game that seemed to be a continuation of the never-ending four games before it, Wells obviously wanted this one. It was his old team, after all, and a win would have stopped the Red Sox' skid before they sunk to a 6 1/2-game deficit in the American League East. His dugout antics were surprising -- but, at the same time, they made so much sense.

His afternoon had just ended with Nick Green on third base, and Keith Foulke coming in to relieve in a one-run ballgame. Wells was still on the bench as the next hitter, Derek Jeter, stood at the plate. Two pitches into the at-bat, Foulke reared back with a split-fingered pitch that wasn't blocked by catcher Javy Lopez, the ball bouncing up and off his chest protector and rolling away, the wild pitch taking the final Red Sox chances with it. Green scored with the Yankees' second and decisive run, the one that pushed the New Yorkers to a five-game sweep at Fenway Park.

``It's been an emotional weekend," said Sox second baseman Mark Loretta. ``That was, I think, the most physically and emotionally demanding stretch of games I've ever been a part of. For everybody. Just from the doubleheader, the rain delay, the length of games, the outcome of games, it doesn't get much tougher than that."

Or much more surprising. After an awful-looking 12-2 loss to the Orioles last Thursday, it seemed nearly impossible that the Yankees could come to Fenway and storm through this entire series, outscoring the Red Sox by an astounding 49-26 count. It was a series that included beatdowns and heartbreakers and, if only in the final game, a close one that fell away with missed chances and the bounce of a ball.

``It's not easy to take," manager Terry Francona said. ``We came into the series thinking we could make up some ground. We're playing the team right in front of us. Everything went about as wrong as it could. I mean, today David pitched so well and we couldn't generate any offense.

``It's not been a very good [four] days. That's probably the understatement of the year."

Surmising that Wells had about 100-110 pitches considering his balky knee, Francona put his faith in the lefty with the perfect game on his résumé to bail out his team when even Curt Schilling couldn't. And it seemed like it might work. Through five scoreless innings, Wells and Yankees starter Cory Lidle flew through the lineups, just two hits allowed by each pitcher.

But two outs into the sixth inning, with Melky Cabrera still on first base after a single, the left fielder took off for second, stealing the bag under the throw from Lopez. That left it up to Abreu, the trading-deadline acquisition who would go 10 for 20 with 4 doubles, 3 RBIs, 5 runs, 7 walks, and 2 steals in the series. He, of course, doubled home Cabrera with the game's first run.

Wells was left with a line that seemingly would have won any other game in the series, a sparkling 7 1/3 innings pitched, with 6 hits, 4 strikeouts, 1 walk, and 2 runs, a line that surpassed that of any other starter in this series, save Lidle.

That's not to say the Red Sox didn't have their chances. They did. More than the Yankees, in fact, as they put men in scoring position in the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings, before Wily Mo Peña came through with the team's only run, homering into the visitors' bullpen in the eighth.

Their best opportunity was in the fourth when, with one out, Manny Ramírez walked. After a fielder's choice from Eric Hinske and walks to Mike Lowell and Peña, the bases were loaded for Lopez. But the catcher -- one of the players who have auditioned for the No. 5 slot the past couple of days -- could do no more than a grounder to second that cut down Peña at second.

Two more runners were left on base in each of the next two innings, and one in the seventh. It was a familiar lack of timely hitting, with the Red Sox going 0 for 6 with runners in scoring position. Not good, though certainly not as bad as the 0 for 16 they put up in the first game of the series, way back on Friday afternoon.

``We certainly didn't put ourselves in a good position," Francona said. ``If we allow it to devastate us, then we weren't good enough. So we have to find a way to overcome this. And it won't be easy because of the way we played. But we need to find a way."

And soon. Both the Red Sox and Yankees headed out to the West Coast after the game, with Boston 6 1/2 games back. There are 38 games left. That's not insurmountable. It's just not easy.

``We dug ourselves a hell of a hole," Lowell said. ``I think we've got to take it in pieces. We've got to look at it like if we can gain one game in a week we can do something.

``You can't look to gain six games in a week because you're going to be looking at something that's impossible.

``But we need a big turnaround. That's for sure."