Offense shows lack of punch
Sox can't get anything started against Mariners
There were no brawls on the field, no dust-ups in the dugout, and no fight in the Red Sox - unless the sight of Bartolo Colon slapping himself silly qualified.
The Sox, smarting from three suspensions handed down by Major League Baseball's chief disciplinarian, Bob Watson, in the aftermath of Thursday's rumble with the Rays, succumbed quietly to the Seattle Mariners, 8-0, last night before a crowd of 37,757 that claimed the unfortunate distinction of being the first Fenway gathering since May 1 to see the home team lose.
Boston's 13-game home winning streak came to an end against a team that has served as a punching bag for the rest of the American League - Seattle has a league-worst 22-39 record - but has beaten the Sox in three of four meetings.
"We were flat tonight," said manager Terry Francona, informed less than two hours before the game that Coco Crisp (seven games), Jon Lester (five), and Sean Casey (three) had been suspended. "I think some of that is making right turns [into the dugout]. Them scoring a bunch of runs and us not having a lot of success at the plate. We played a flat game tonight, I agree with that. I don't know if it's because of last night. Some of it has to do with the other guy [Felix Hernandez] on the mound.
"It did seem like a busy day, though. A lot of things happened before the game. We needed, myself included, we needed to deal with it better. When the game starts, that's what we come for. That's why we play, regardless of what happens during the day."
With Manny Ramírez (hamstring) and Jacoby Ellsbury (wrist) joining David Ortiz among the spectators, the Sox were no match for Hernandez, who spun a one-hit shutout at them when they were at full strength last Sept. 11, and threw six scoreless innings last night.
"I'm hopeful we'll DH Manny [this afternoon]," Francona said. "I talked to him late in the game. I think he'll be OK."
Without Ramírez, who has an 11-game hitting streak (17 for 44) with five home runs and 17 RBIs, the Sox had runners on base in every inning Hernandez worked, but were 0 for 6 with runners in scoring position with Hernandez on the hill.
"Felix stepped up and has been pretty good in Fenway Park," said John McLaren, Seattle's embattled manager, of the Venezuelan righthander, who is in his fourth big league season but only 22. "And we took advantage of the other team, which we haven't been able to do."
Colon, meanwhile, contributed mightily to his own demise with two throwing errors and another fielding misplay, the Mariners capitalizing on the errors to score three unearned runs. Colon threw away a first-inning comebacker, splitting the infielders with a throw into center field on what could have been a double-play ball by Adrian Beltre.
That led to two unearned runs, and the Mariners added a third when Colon attempted to pick off Ichiro Suzuki at second base and bounced his throw into the dirt, allowing Suzuki to take third and Jose Lopez, who had singled, to advance to second. Suzuki, who had reached base on Mike Lowell's throwing error, scored on Beltre's sacrifice fly.
"It is strange for me not only to make the errors but to make that many in one game," said Colon, who made as many errors last night as he had in 396 1/3 innings since the start of the 2005 season. "I thought I had some pretty good stuff. The errors were pretty much the problem. That's what really got me out of the game."
Suzuki singled home two more runs in the fourth, a single by Richie Sexson and Yuniesky Betancourt's bloop ground-rule double putting runners in scoring position, and three singles - the last by Sexson clanking off Colon's glove - finished Colon for the night.
Colon had won all three of his previous starts for the Sox. He gave up eight hits and walked one in five innings last night.
Ellsbury's absence apparently will be a short-term thing. An MRI of his wrist came back negative.
"We'll see," Ellsbury said when asked when he might play again. "We're taking it day to day to see how it feels, but everything came up how we wanted it to."
Without him, Boston's pugilist of record, Crisp, led off, having appealed the suspension he was given for charging the mound after being struck by a pitch by Tampa Bay's James Shields. Crisp, who will continue to play until the appeal is heard, didn't get the ball out of the infield in four trips.
Sean Casey, whose three-game suspension is not scheduled to begin until next Saturday, giving him a week to decide whether to appeal, singled twice and doubled while serving as designated hitter in Ramírez's absence, but other than him and J.D. Drew, who singled twice and drew a walk, the Sox' offense was somnolent.
Dustin Pedroia went 0 for 4 and has yet to hit safely in a dozen at-bats on this homestand. He is just 10 for 67 in his last 17 games, a .149 clip.
The Mariners added a couple of runs off David Aardsma in the sixth before Javier Lopez worked the final three innings, the longest stint of his big league career.
Gordon Edes can be reached at edes@globe.com.
