Wells hangs tough but Sox can't avert a Yankees sweep

August 22, 2006|Globe Staff

Sitting in the dugout, after an outing that was almost more than anyone could have asked of the 43-year-old pitcher, David Wells flung his cap in disgust, threw a towel, and stomped off into the tunnel.

It was an odd moment, full of the emotion that was expected but not seen, anticipated but not felt, on an indolent afternoon in which the Red Sox succumbed to the Yankees for the fifth time in four days. The 2-1 setback was a resigned loss in many ways -- the bone-weary Red Sox lost their shortstop and left fielder before the game was halfway over -- and exhaustion was written all over the subdued movements of both teams.

Not Wells. The only freshness in a game that seemed to be a continuation of the never-ending four games before it, Wells obviously wanted this one. It was his old team, after all, and a win would have stopped the Red Sox' skid before they sunk to a 6 1/2-game deficit in the American League East. His dugout antics were surprising -- but, at the same time, they made so much sense.

His afternoon had just ended with Nick Green on third base, and Keith Foulke coming in to relieve in a one-run ballgame. Wells was still on the bench as the next hitter, Derek Jeter, stood at the plate. Two pitches into the at-bat, Foulke reared back with a split-fingered pitch that wasn't blocked by catcher Javy Lopez, the ball bouncing up and off his chest protector and rolling away, the wild pitch taking the final Red Sox chances with it. Green scored with the Yankees' second and decisive run, the one that pushed the New Yorkers to a five-game sweep at Fenway Park.

``It's been an emotional weekend," said Sox second baseman Mark Loretta. ``That was, I think, the most physically and emotionally demanding stretch of games I've ever been a part of. For everybody. Just from the doubleheader, the rain delay, the length of games, the outcome of games, it doesn't get much tougher than that."

Or much more surprising. After an awful-looking 12-2 loss to the Orioles last Thursday, it seemed nearly impossible that the Yankees could come to Fenway and storm through this entire series, outscoring the Red Sox by an astounding 49-26 count. It was a series that included beatdowns and heartbreakers and, if only in the final game, a close one that fell away with missed chances and the bounce of a ball.

``It's not easy to take," manager Terry Francona said. ``We came into the series thinking we could make up some ground. We're playing the team right in front of us. Everything went about as wrong as it could. I mean, today David pitched so well and we couldn't generate any offense.

``It's not been a very good [four] days. That's probably the understatement of the year."