|
|
|
|
 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
TIGERS 9, RED SOX 5 Somber Red Sox get run down
By Nick Cafardo, Globe Staff, 7/6/2002
He spoke to him on the Fourth of July.
DiMaggio said he usually recapped the highlights of the Sox game the night before for him.
On the Fourth, DiMaggio said, Ted was too weak to talk long.
DiMaggio believes, however, on a night when nobody felt like playing or watching baseball that ''Ted would say `Let the games go on.'''
And with heavy hearts and respect for the greatest Red Sox player of all time, the game did go on. Unfortunately it didn't go well for the Red Sox, who committed three errors and had a couple of base-running snafus along the way in a 9-5 loss to the Tigers, ending a five-game winning streak (all against the Blue Jays).
Nomar Garciaparra, involved in one of two failed rundowns, had a personal relationship with Williams, but he shook off suggestions that the death spilled over to the field last night. ''I'm not going to make excuses,'' he said. ''It could have spilled over, but that's not an excuse.''
Manager Grady Little acknowledged the team's miscues, and said the atmosphere was different, but ''there's nothing we can do about that.''
The Sox had pulled within three runs on Garciaparra's RBI grounder following Johnny Damon's triple in the sixth. Damon wrapped a solo home run around Pesky's Pole in the eighth but was a double short of the hitting for the cycle.
The Sox had an unfortunate night on the basepaths and in the field.
Lou Merloni, who made a great backhanded stop earlier in the game, threw over catcher Doug Mirabelli's head in the ninth inning, allowing the Tigers' final run to score.
''We basically gave them four runs,'' said Merloni. ''A lot of people talk about the records of some of these teams we're playing, [but] you have to give [the Tigers] respect. They played very well.''
The Sox had two on with nobody out in the ninth, but managed only a sacrifice fly by Trot Nixon for Boston's final run.
Nixon was in the thick of the action. After doubling with one out in the seventh, he was thrown out trying to go to third on Bryant Nelson's liner to right. Third base umpire Jim Wolf called Nixon out after right fielder Robert Fick's strong throw.
But the replay showed third baseman Shane Halter never applied the tag. In the fifth, Nixon was picked off first on a snap throw by catcher Brandon Inge. In the fourth, Rickey Henderson was thrown out at home on a perfect throw from center fielder Wendell Magee.
Nelson, who has been a spark plug since his call-up from Pawtucket May 14, kicked off the poor fielding night as the Tigers opened the scoring with two runs in the third.
With one out, Nelson, getting the start at second base, allowed shortstop Ramon Santiago's routine grounder to go under his glove. Left fielder George Lombard followed with a single to right. Lombard was caught leaning at first by Frank Castillo's quick pickoff move, but the Sox botched the rundown.
First baseman Tony Clark's lob to Garciaparra, who was moving toward the runner, bounced off the top of his glove, allowing Lombard to reach second while Santiago scored.
It appeared Garciaparra, who was charged with the error, took his eyes off the ball, concerned with Santiago rounding third.
''Went off the top of the glove, you guys saw it,'' said Garciaparra.
After a ground out and an infield single by Dmitri Young, Randall Simon singled to center, driving in Lombard with the second run.
Castillo wasn't out of the woods. Fick singled to center, but Henderson nailed Young at home with a strike to Mirabelli.
Tigers lefthander Mark Redman (4-3 with a 2.18 ERA in his last nine starts) retired the first nine batters before Henderson, fresh off his assist in the third, doubled off the Wall leading off the fourth. But the Sox squandered runners at the corners with nobody out when Henderson got thrown out at home on a strong throw from Magee on a shallow, soft liner by Garciaparra.
Despite the miscues, the Sox had their chances. Mirabelli blasted a 410-foot home run above the left-field screen, making it a 2-1 game in the fifth. The Sox tied it when Nelson doubled and Merloni singled him home, bringing on chants of ''Lou, Lou.''
But the Tigers retook the lead in the sixth inning with six hits, four consecutive off Castillo, who left with the broken blood vessel in his index finger.
Tim Wakefield entered with the bases loaded, nobody out. After striking out Inge, Wakefield hung a knuckler to Santiago, who lined a single over Nelson's head at second, staking the Tigers to a 5-2 lead. Lombard added a single to left, scoring the sixth Tigers run.
The Sox were no longer in the game - body, mind or spirit. The death of Ted Williams was overwhelming.
This story ran on page F1 of the Boston Globe on 7/6/2002.
| |||||||
|
|
ed Sox great Dom DiMaggio spoke to Ted Williams, his lifelong friend and former teammate, every day.