Add to that the deception and tremendous velocity swings of White Sox closer Shingo Takatsu, whose pitches ranged from 53 to 88 miles per hour and who induced Orlando Cabrera into a half-swing game-ending tapper back to the mound with runners at the corners in the ninth,
and it added up to a gloomy loss on a gloomy day for 34,405 at Fenway. The figure allowed the Sox to eclipse 2 million in attendance earlier than any time in franchise history.
Sox center fielder Johnny Damon said Boston's lack of speed is the main reason the club's had seven men cut down at home over the last 13 games. Damon said third base coach Dale Sveum has been receiving far too much criticism for his decisions.
"I actually thought Youkilis got in there after I saw the replay," Damon said. "But we have to start rounding the bases better. Today was difficult because the bases were a little wet because of the rain. It's tough to be losing so many one-run games, especially those where you're getting a runner thrown out at the plate. With two outs, we're off at the crack of the bat. We should be scoring. I understand we're getting thrown out on good throws, but we've got to get faster as a team."
Damon's assertion is backed up by a telling statistic: Of Boston's 312 hits with runners in scoring position, 52 have not produced an RBI.
In the third inning, Youkilis led off with a bloop single to right. After White Sox lefthander Mark Buehrle fanned Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz back-to-back, Varitek moved Youkilis to second with a single to left-center. That's when Cabrera, who broke out of his funk with a three-hit day, stroked a single to center. Sveum gave Youkilis the go-ahead but Aaron Rowand's perfect throw to Sandy Alomar spelled doom for Youkilis, who ran smack into Alomar's shinguard and suffered a deep contusion on his right leg and a possible twisted ankle.
Youkilis and Alomar, who suffered a groin injury, had to leave.
