Swept away
There was at least one moment of levity as Terry Francona talked about his team’s devastating five-game sweep at the hands of the Yankees, culminating in today’s 2-1 loss, when the window shade in the Red Sox press conference room suddenly went up, revealing a smattering of light across the normally artificially lit room.
“Things are getting brighter,” he quipped.
Of course, it is anything but for the Red Sox, who were demoralized, embarrassed, and outplayed in getting swept by the Yankees, who now own a 6½ game lead in the AL East. Red Sox pitching allowed 49 runs in the series, the first time Boston has been swept in a five-game set since 1954.
It was a series that Mark Loretta, who hit .378 over the five games, called, “the most physically and emotionally tiring stretch of games I’ve ever been a part of.”
“It’s not easy to take,” Francona said. “We came into this series thinking we could make up some ground. It’s not been a very good five days. That’s probably the understatement of the year.”
At 75-58, the Yankees are a season-best 27 games over .500. The Red Sox completed an 11-game homestand just 4-7, after sweeping the Baltimore Orioles to start the stretch, and dropping seven of their next eight.
Yankees manager Joe Torre said his team came into this series on a mission.
“Managers have this vision of sugar plums,” he said. “You always want to win every game, but you never anticipate that you are going to be able to do that.”
The Red Sox’ road doesn’t get any easier either, as they hit the West Coast beginning tomorrow in Anaheim, seemingly falling further out of the playoff race.
“We certainly didn’t put ourselves in a very good position,” Francona said. “If we allow it to devastate us then we weren’t good enough. So we have to overcome this, and it won’t be easy because of the way we played, but we need to find a way.”
The Red Sox have 38 games remaining on the 2006 schedule, little time to make up a seven-game deficit in the loss column.
“It can be done,” pitcher Mike Timlin said. “There’s a feeling that we can come back. We’re not giving up.
“We are going to the fire. Character is not built on a mountain, it is built in the low valleys, and that’s where we are.”
Ramirez had been Boston’s hottest hitter in the series; .406, two homers, and nine runs batted in.
“It would have been nice to have him the whole game,” said Loretta.
“I can’t tell a guy is cramped unless he starts limping. He went to the trainers and they came to me,” Francona said.
Francona was noncommittal about Ramirez’s availability tomorrow in Anaheim.
“We’ll see how sore it is. We tried to get him out so it doesn’t end up being a couple, three days,” he said.
“That lineup, from top to bottom, even with Matsui and Sheffield, I don’t know if they necessarily get that much better,” he said. “They’re that good now.”
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