Crossed arms

Clement, Riske can't get it straight as Jays edge Sox

May 30, 2006|Chris Snow, Globe Staff

TORONTO -- Standing before his locker last night, Matt Clement called it ``a bad day . . . inexcusable . . . very embarrassing." He categorized his last two outings (7 2/3 IP, 16 H, 14 R) as ``disastrous." He said he feels ``disappointed to the point that it's embarrassing . . . I feel like I let the team down." He said that no matter how bad it gets -- and it's as bad as a 6.91 ERA and 101 base runners, 44 of whom have scored, in 54 2/3 innings -- ``I can't feel sorry for myself."

Despite the fact that Clement was in a 6-0 crater and done for the night after just 3 1/3 innings, there was a tie game on display for the 24,038 at a muggy Rogers Centre (game-time temperature: 93 degrees) when Shea Hillenbrand delivered a pinch-hit RBI single in the eighth inning off David Riske for the decisive run in Toronto's 7-6 win over the Red Sox.

You might be wondering why Riske, who'd pitched only twice this season, was on the mound in the eighth inning in a tie game. Well, with Mike Timlin on the disabled list, the bullpen looks like this: Jonathan Papelbon closing, Keith Foulke setting up, Riske, Julian Tavarez, and Rudy Seanez pitching mid-to-late relief, and Manny Delcarmen and Jermaine Van Buren working long relief.

Now, begin crossing off names as options available to Terry Francona in the eighth. Van Buren (last big-league appearance: April 22) and Delcarmen (last big-league appearance: May 7) had followed Clement with 3 2/3 imperative innings of shutout relief. (``Delcarmen and Van Buren did a great job to give us a chance to win," Francona said). Tavarez and Seanez threw a combined 54 pitches Sunday vs. Tampa while walking five in the ninth inning, making them too spent and dangerous to use. Francona said he didn't want to use Papelbon in that situation, so the decision was between Riske and Foulke.

Riske, who'd felt sick this past week and pitched only once in seven days since coming off the DL, was warming up in the eighth with the Sox behind, 6-3, when Jason Varitek launched a two-out, three-run, game-tying homer off righty Justin Speier. Anyone interested in questioning Francona for using Riske ahead of Foulke might also question Toronto manager John Gibbons for keeping Speier in against Varitek with B.J. Ryan warm. Varitek vs. Speier before that at-bat: 1 for 5 with a homer. Varitek vs. Ryan: 2 for 15, 8 whiffs.

Speier got ahead 0-and-1 on Varitek. Bengie Molina set up for a fastball away but Speier yanked it, throwing one over the inner half, and Varitek turned on it. Alex Rios drifted toward the wall in the right-field corner, near the 328-foot marking. He leaped. The ball, according to the public relations folks at the Rogers Centre, covered 333 feet, and that was enough.