Sox' win a walk in park

Orioles not wild about this outing

April 08, 2006|Nick Cafardo, Globe Staff

BALTIMORE -- It's nights like these when Leo Mazzone, who earned a reputation as one of the best pitching coaches in the majors, might pause and wonder why he left the Braves to come to the Orioles.

Actually, the reasons were obvious: more money, a chance to come home, and an opportunity to work for boyhood friend Sam Perlozzo.

Pitching is pitching in either league, except when you don't have much. Except when one of your better young pitchers, Daniel Cabrera, issues seven walks in the first 1 1/3 innings; when your pitchers allow 14 walks to one of the most patient lineups in baseball; when your staff throws 223 pitches and only 107 of them are strikes; when a team such as the Red Sox gets 14 at-bats with the bases loaded. And even though the Orioles got enough garbage-time hitting to score eight runs in the seventh and eighth innings (four against starter Matt Clement and four against Rudy Seanez), they ultimately didn't get close, falling, 14-8, to the Sox last night before 37,063 at Camden Yards.

Boston took advantage of one of the most hideous pitching performances since another of Mazzone's pupils, Atlanta's Russ Ortiz, issued seven walks May 15, 2004, against Milwaukee.

Once Trot Nixon, who drove in four runs, including a two-run homer, was issued the Sox' seventh walk, manager Perlozzo emerged from the dugout and spent a few minutes delivering what appeared to be a pep talk, before asking for the ball.

''It's not the end of the world," Perlozzo said. ''It was only one inning. He could have come back. We could have scored more than four runs for him. It's a learning process for him. He just needs to maintain his composure and have damage control."

Cabrera, who finished 10-13 with a 4.52 ERA last season, walked six as the Sox scored four times in the first inning. Bases-loaded passes to Manny Ramírez (three hits), Jason Varitek, and Mike Lowell (two hits and two RBIs) produced single runs. The fourth came across when Kevin Youkilis inexplicably swung at the first pitch, producing a sacrifice fly in the right-field corner. The inning started with Coco Crisp laying down a beauty of a bunt single down the third base line.

''Cabrera was a little erratic and we just needed to be patient," said Nixon. ''We just needed to take advantage and make him throw some pitches. He's got a great arm, so when you have a chance to take advantage of it, you'd better do it."