per-hour fastball) into the Sox pen to force a 4-4 deadlock. The manager stood by Martinez after he surrendered a double to the next batter, Bernie Williams, on the 108th pitch of his outing. And Francona relieved Martinez after he allowed a decisive RBI single with one out to Ruben Sierra on his 117th pitch. So it was that the Sox suffered a wrenching 6-4 loss in the opener of a three-game series that, by nearly all accounts, they needed to sweep to achieve their goal of overtaking the Yankees for the division title. The defeat dropped the Sox 5 1/2 games back with nine to play.
"It's definitely going to be tough," said Johnny Damon, whose go-ahead homer in the seventh inning went for naught. "We've got to win out and hope they don't win much more."
The frustrated legions among the 35,022 at Fenway Park turned their anger on Francona. They booed him on his march from the dugout to replace Martinez with Alan Embree. They booed him on the way back, and they booed him after he protested a close play at third later in the inning and replaced Embree with Mike Timlin. They booed Francona louder than he has been booed in 153 games since he succeeded Little.
Francona, who is adept at tuning out the crowd, defended his decisions.
"I wouldn't have left him in if I thought he was out of gas," he said. "I thought he was in command of what he was doing. I thought he deserved to stay out there and actually the reason he stayed out there is because I thought he was going to get them out."
Martinez's line, it turned out, was eerily similar to his line in Game 7, when the Yankees erased a three-run lead against him in the eighth inning, hastening Little's firing. Martinez, who surrendered five runs on 10 hits and a walk in 7 1/3 innings in Game 7, last night allowed five runs on nine hits, two walks, and a hit batsman in, well, 7 1/3 innings.
