That's about as soul-stirring as the day would get, on an afternoon Red Sox starter Derek Lowe, working on 10 days' rest, reacted as if he'd never seen a mound before, failing to get out of a third inning in which the Yankees scored six times on six hits and a walk.
"Baseball is a feel game," said Lowe, who insisted he didn't want to use the extended layoff as an excuse but found no other way to explain his dreadful outing. "It's like the first time a New Englander goes out in the spring and golfs. It's not going to be the game he knows.
"That's why I'm not coming away as frustrated as maybe people think I should be, because I know that in my next game, Friday night [in New York], you're going to see a different guy."
That's of little comfort to the 35,011 at Yawkey Way yesterday who watched Lowe walk two batters in the first, another in the second, and allow five straight Yankees to reach base in the third, the first when Rodriguez, after falling behind 0-and-2, drew a base on balls. Jason Giambi lined a single off the Wall, Gary Sheffield shot a ground-ball double into the left-field corner, Hideki Matsui lined a 2-0 pitch to left for another hit, and Jorge Posada grounded another double into the corner.
"I got a check sitting in my locker," Lowe said, talking about his forced inactivity. "I feel like I should give it back. This is a situation unless you play the game and you've been in this situation, it's hard to explain. People think I should feel really strong after 10 days off but that's not how it works. I'd rather pitch on three days' rest than 10 days' rest."
Sox manager Terry Francona, who made the decision after two rainouts last week to skip Lowe's turn, took the rap. So did pitching coach Dave Wallace. "I should have found him an inning or two to throw between starts," Wallace said.
Yankees starter Jose Contreras was just as uninspiring, failing to survive the Sox' half of the third, when Joe Torre was forced to turn to his bullpen after Manny Ramirez's two-run double, a walk to Kevin Millar, and a wild pitch to the next batter, Ellis Burks.
