"Hey, Millar, let me show you how to run the bases!" Martinez shouted across the clubhouse afterward as he emerged naked from the shower.
Ramirez, clad only in a towel, joined in the slapstick by tossing a copy of Sports Illustrated's baseball preview across the carpet to serve as a base. At that, Martinez, still naked, comically demonstrated the fine art of rounding a base without losing one's balance, drawing chuckles from one corner of the clubhouse to the other.
Millar could do little more than laugh. But that's what the Sox needed most, a great big smile as they prepared to board a jet for San Francisco after their 11-0 laugher over the Rockies before 40,088 at Coors Field. The victory marked only the second time in 400 games over five years that the Rockies were blanked at hitter-happy Coors.
"Everything went real well," said Sox manager Terry Francona, free of the grim disposition that gripped him the night before.
Things went so well that the long-struggling Lowe stopped a Sox losing streak for the first time this season. Better yet, Lowe gave every indication he has regained his excellence as he extended his run of scoreless innings to 14 in dominating the Rockies.
"He's been showing us the D-Lowe that everybody expects from him," said David Ortiz, who collected a career-high five RBIs with a two-run homer, a two-run double, and a run-scoring single in pacing the 14-hit attack. "He's picking it up at the right time. That's exactly what we needed right now."
Lowe, who improved to 6-5 and lowered his ERA to 5.25, scattered four singles and four walks over seven innings. The sinkerballer, who held the Rockies hitless all five times they batted with runners in scoring position, recorded 17 of his 21 outs on grounders and three others on strikeouts. He appeared even sharper than he did in holding the Dodgers scoreless for seven innings last Friday at Fenway Park.
"This is not an easy ballpark to do what he did," Francona said. "He did what he has to do to be very effective."
To Lowe, who has worked with sports psychologist Harvey Dorfman, the key to success was as much mental as physical. Even though pitchers are "supposed to fail" at Coors, Lowe said, he entered the game with a positive outlook and maintained it.
