Bleary Sox fall to Jays

Toronto 7, Sox 3

WP: Ohka (1-2)

LP: Wakefield (2-2)
SV: Frasor (2)
HRs: Thomas (3), Hill (4)

Sox box

SUMMARY:

The Sox attempted to give the Jays a fight tonight and even held a brief lead at one point. But after the tiring weekend series with New York the results just weren't there as Boston dropped its first game in nearly a week. Frank Thomas and Aaron Hill homered and Tim Wakefield had an off night as the Sox fell to 12-6 on the year.

HERO: Aaron Hill 4-5, 3R, 2RBI, 2-2Bs, HR

The Jays second baseman had a monster game with 4 hits, including 2 doubles and a 2-run, 2-out homer in the 9th off Mike Timlin that put a close game (5-3) out of reach.

GOAT: Tim Wakefield 6IP, 8H, 3ER, 2BB, 5K

Wake wasn't terrible, but the knuckler just wasn't dancing his way tonight. The veteran hurler saw his league-leading ERA rise from 1.35 to 2.08, and the 3 earned runs he allowed were more than he had let in all year.

Still, if Boston's batters weren't so tired they might have been able to overcome the deficit.

KEY MOMENT: Top 6, 0 out, 1 on

The Sox had just taken the lead in the 4th and were feeling good about their chances with the ERA leader on the mound. But Wake fell victim to the Big Hurt, as Frank Thomas rocketed one off the Volvo sign atop the Monster to give Toronto a lead it wouldn't relinquish.

RECAP:

The Sox gave all it could tonight, but playing a game less than 20 hours after that Stankee series concluded was akin to baseball torture.

No matter that the players got to sleep at home and didn't have to be at the park till 3:00 or so. The draining effect of three straight come-from-behind wins against their arch rivals could take days to dissipate, yet the Sox have no off days for another week.

So they played the game tonight at Fenway against those pesky Jays, and wouldn't you know just as I predicted the sleepy Sox fell to their division rivals again. Toronto had been riding a 5-game losing streak before hitting Fenway, but as soon as they saw the somnambulent Sox they started salivating at the prospect of grabbing their 14th victory over Boston over the last two seasons.

Toronto got to Wakefield early, striking for a run in the first. After Vernon Wells doubled with two outs, he stole third and then came home on catcher Doug Mirabelli's throwing error. It would remain 1-0 Jays until the bottom of the 4th, when the emerging Dustin Pedroia registered a wall-scraping double that scored J.D. Drew and Willy Mo and gave the Sox its first-and only- lead of the night, 2-1.

For all intents & purposes the game was over in the 6th. When Thomas stepped in and launched that ball up into Mannyland (had it been a foot higher it would have cleared Lansdowne easily), you could almost feel the air go out of the spent players and fans. When Toronto tacked on another run later in the inning, it was almost time to pull the curtain.

Could the Comeback Kings do it again?

Uh, no.

Boston clawed back to within a run at 4-3 when Lowell scored on a Royce Clayton throwing error in the bottom of the 6th, but the Jays kept pecking at the Sox pitchers, notching a run off of JC Romero in the 7th and then capping it off with Hill's blast in the 9th.

So the beleaguered Boston batters will try to comeback and get the Jays tomorrow night in the last game of this abbreviated series. After one more night's rest they should be recovered enough to do some more damage to American League pitching.

What's that you say, Halladay is throwing for the Jays tomorrow.

Oh.

Never mind.

NOTES:

-Thomas' bomb was the 490th of his career and his 37th against Boston, most among active players

-After averaging 7 runs and 12 hits against New York for three games, the immortal Tomo Ohka & Co. held Boston to 8 hits (7 singles) and 3 runs

-Coco got the night off again after aggravating an injury Saturady night; his replacement, Willy Mo Pena, had struck out in 5 straight at bats before lining into a forceout in the 4th. He added a single in the 6th

-Drew had another hit to extend his on-base streak to all 18 games. Funny how those nasty preseason boos have turned into loving early season "Drooooowwwws" now, isn't it?

-Pedroia continued to come out of his funk; he had the 2-RBI double and a walk

-Mirabelli continued his once-weekly hot hitting- he's had 2 hits in each of his last 3 games

-Lowell had 2 more hits but also made another error, his 6th of the season, already matching his total from last season

-Lugo went hitless for the 6th time in the last 7 games, left 6 men on base, and saw his average dip to .246

RECORD: 12-6

AL EAST: Up 1.5 on BAL

UP NEXT: TUE vs. TOR 7P