"That's all I really need," he said, "and I'm ready to go."
He got plenty of use out of his lineup card in the finale of a four-game opening road series against the Orioles, marking it every which way in an urgent attempt to help the Sox prevail amid a prolonged 2-2 standoff at Camden Yards. But all the ink ultimately went for naught as Bobby Jones walked four batters in the bottom of the 13th inning to lift the O's over the Sox, 3-2, before the frenzied stragglers from a crowd of 31,121 in a chilly rain.
Jones issued the decisive walk with one out on his eighth pitch of the at-bat to Larry Bigbie, forcing in Javy Lopez, who walked leading off the inning.
Jones, who also pitched the 12th inning, was the last Sox pitcher available since Francona said Ramiro Mendoza told the trainers to stay away from him if possible because of "a little tightness" or "a little stiffness."
"I went out there and battled the best I could," Jones said, "and it didn't work out."
Let the second-guessing begin, as inevitably occurs in the aftermath of a marathon game (4 hours and 37 minutes) fraught with managerial options. Both teams had a number of chances to snap the stalemate as they played deeper into the night.
"We found ways to keep the game going, but we didn't do enough offensively to really give ourselves a good chance to win," Francona said. "On the road, when you get that deep in a game, you're playing with fire."
The Sox, who erupted for 10 runs on 14 hits the night before, mustered only six hits.
"We just didn't swing the bats," Johnny Damon said. "Two runs is not going to win you too many ballgames."
The Orioles took a shot in the 12th when Bigbie singled leading off against Jones and scampered to second on a sacrifice by Brian Roberts. But Jones got Melvin Mora to fly out, then intentionally walked Miguel Tejada before he escaped by inducing Rafael Palmeiro to ground out. The Sox also benefited in the 11th when Jay Gibbons tried to advance from first base into scoring position on a fly to center and was ruled out for leaving too early.
