''I thought they were saying 'Boomer,' " joked Wells after his horrid 78-pitch outing. ''I know there's going to be a lot of negative things said and reaction from people, but I can overcome that. I'm not going to dwell on the last start. Tonight's over. It's filed and I won't take it home. Tonight wasn't good. Hopefully, the next one is going to be better."
Wells had to know he was going to hear it from the crowd if he failed to perform. This is a man who said he didn't want to pitch in Boston. He said he wanted to be traded somewhere closer to home, preferably to the San Diego Padres. He was the lone ranger in Fort Myers, Fla., in the spring of '06, often working out apart from his teammates and bolting the premises before the end of practice.
Only when it became apparent that he would have to pitch for the Sox in order to start collecting his $4 million salary did Wells announce he was withdrawing his trade request. Then he groused about being skipped in the first turn of the rotation, called his manager an ''idiot" (a term of endearment in the Damon days), and went to Pawtucket for a rehab assignment, where he was cuffed around by the Rochester Red Wings.
Last night, he was routed by the Jays and Sox fans were wondering why Theo Epstein traded Bronson Arroyo for Wily Mo Peña. We are eight games into the season and Arroyo has two more wins than Wells, and one more home run than Peña.
''I think it's a matter now of repetitions and getting confidence and throwing strikes and staying out of the middle of the plate," said manager Terry Francona, who lifted Wells with no outs in the top of the fifth.
Getting more run support than any pitcher in baseball, Wells went 15-7 in his first season in Boston in 2005, including 8-1 at Fenway Park. Not bad for a 42-year-old lefthander with a Michelin body. The last time we saw him he was coughing up a 4-0 lead in Chicago in the second game of the Division Series. That was the night Tony Graffanino's Buckneresque, two-out error preceded a three-run bomb by Tadahito Iguchi, which effectively dethroned the Red Sox and catapulted the White Sox to a World Series championship.
