Curt's Bloody Sock: Sox reach new low, get pounded by KC

Royals 9, Sox 3
WP: Gobble (4-1)
LP: Wakefield (10-9)
HRs: None

RECAP
In what has to be one of the most disappointing losses of the 2007 season to date, Boston got outplayed in the field, at the plate and on the basepaths as Kansas City took advantage of a quiet crowd and sloppy Sox squad to hand the Olde Towne Team an embarrassing defeat.

#1 STUNNER(s) Gordon & Pena 6-10, 3R, 3-2B, 2BI
The two youngsters who occupy the left side of the Royals infield finally had the type of games the KC brass envisioned would be everyday occurrences when they promoted the talented rookies.

Pre-season ROY candidate Gordon rapped three hits, stole a base and scored three times, while the erratic SS Pena had a single and a pair of doubles and drove in a couple of runs, although he did make an error and got caught stealing. Still...

PAN's FAUN Wakefield 6IP, 9H, 6ER, 0BB, 1K
Wake's three game winning streak came to a crashing halt as he continues to get hammered like a celebutard fresh out of rehab; in his last six starts the the vet has allowed 26 earned runs and 48 hits in 36 1/3 innings for a 6.44 ERA.

RECAP
What.

The fuck.

Was that?

I mean I just got done watching the game, and I think I know what I saw, but for some reason I'm confused.

Because it appeared to me that the boys from Boston decided to don those distinctive Royal blue unis, while those pranksters from the prairie land thought it would be fun to run around historic Fenway dressed as Red Sox players.

That's the only explanation I can come up with after the team that was dressed in the home whites, the one with the best record and second-highest payroll in baseball took it on the chin from the team with the microscopic budget and vanishing fanbase.

What went on tonight at the Fens goes beyond the simplicity of a bad loss to a bad team; it takes what has happened to the Sox since that meteroic start and puts it into a proper perspective:

the team that started the season 36-16 was awesome and seemingly unbeatable every night, while the one that has been wallowing in mediocrity at 20-21 since is a fragile, fickle squad that can make two-run deficits seem insurmountable and turn minor league hayseeds into Hall of Fame candidates.

Case in point regarding the latter would be 23-year old hurler Leo Nunez, making his first appearance of the season and first start of his career after being recalled from AAA yesterday.

The skinny Dominican had pitched in 48 games as a reliever in 2005 & 2006 for KC but was making his first start ever with John Thompson placed on the DL; all the kid did was hold the powerhouse Boston lineup to one run on six hits in 4+ innings, and if his manager had just left him in there for a few more batters he could've picked up the win.

I'm sure Buddy Bell would have let the Nunez finish the fifth instead of removing him after Julio Lugo led off the inning with a double had Bell known his team would turn a close game (3-1 KC) into a laffer with a five-run seventh.

Perahps he should've asked Tito when he was going to remove Wakefield and then played it from there.

The knuckleball was dancing early, though, as Wake plowed through the first three innings only allowing one base runner, a single by Pena in the third, and he was erased when Mirabelli threw him out trying to swipe second base immediately thereafter.

Unfortunately Boston started playing its favorite game, Missed Opportunities, ealry as well, blowing a leadoff walk by J. D. Drew in the first when Pedroia grounded into a double play, and committing its first baserunning gaffe of the night on an emptyheaded play by Mike Lowell (3-4, R) in the second.

After Youk flied out on a second consecutive nice catch by rightfielder Mark Teahen, Lowell, being the Professional Hitter that he is, ripped a ball off the Monster for a one-out double. But when Coco turned the first pitch he saw from Nunez into a lazy flyout to right, Lowell decided to test the arm of Teahean and tried to take an extra base.

He was out by about four feet.

The Sox took one more crack at Nunez in the third, getting two men on base on an error and a single by Pedroia with two outs, but David Ortiz (1-5) grounded out weakly to second base and another potential scoring chance had gone by the wayside.

And then the Royals struck back.

As if being shut out for 12 consecutive innings finally got them pissed off, Kansas City struck for a pair of runs in the fourth when someone named Billy Butler doubled home Mark Grudzielanek and Teahen, who had both singled with one out.

Not content to settle for just a couple of runs, the Royals followed yet another blown scoring chance by Boston (two on, no outs) in the bottom of the fourth with a single run in the fifth on a single and stolen base by Gordon and an RBI double by Pena, his second hit of the game.

This from a guy who was in an 0-10 slump coming in.

The Sox would finally get a run across in the fifth, but it wasn't exactly on an offensive explosion like yesterday. After Lugo's (3-4, R) leadoff double, Jimmy Gobble came in and got Drew to fly out but saw the Sox score when Grudz misplayed Pedroia's grounder and Lugo came home to make the score 3-1.

Game on.

For an inning.

Following yet another botched rally attempt when Lowell's leadoff single in the sixth was wiped out on a Coco double play, Kansas City tore the game open with a soul-crushing seventh.

Reggie Sanders (yup, he's still playing) opened the frame with a wall-rattling double and Gordon ripped a single to right one pitch later to set up second and third with no outs. Tito stuck with Wake, and on the very next pitch catcher John Buck ripped another double off the Monster that chased both runners home and gave the Royals a 5-1 lead.

After a groundout moved Buck to third, Francona pulled wake and brought in Javier Lopez, who only added fuel to the fire that is Wakefield's ERA.

Lopez promptly walked David DeJesus, then let Buck waltz home on a passed ball. Grudz (2-5, 2R, BI) then singled DeJesus home, and by the time the inning was over, KC had turned a 3-1 contest into a 8-3 blowout.

In the bottom of the seventh one play would typify what kind of night it was for the sad Sox. Lugo again led off with a single, and when Pedroia walked with one out, it looked for a moment as if they might be able to climb back into it if they could get a few runs across here.

Papi came up and lofted a deep fly to left center that was drifting towards the Wall and looked like a sure RBI double. Except Emil Browne lunged at the last moment and stabbed the ball just inches from the Monster, and as Lugo and Pedroia scurried to get back to their bases, Brown rifled the ball to first to double up Dustin and end another inning with egg on Boston's faces.

The game was over right there, but just for shits and giggles KC scored another run in the eight off Joel Pinero, and even though Boston finally put a decent string of hits together and scored a couple of runs in the bottom of the inning on a triple by Coco and a single by Belli, it fell squarely in the 'Too Little, Too Late' category.

It's still tough to say that things have reached critical stages with a team that is still almost 20 games over .500, but keep playing lousy ball against lousy teams, and eventually it's bound to catch up to you.

And don't look now, but the Stanks are just 8 games back.

NOTES

En fuego: Lugo's three hits extended his hitting streak to seven games (14-22, .636) and raised his average to .217; it was his third three-hit game during the streak
Lowell is also riding a seven game streak (10-27, .370)
The Sox (12) and Royals (13) pounded out 25 hits one day after combining for only 10 knocks
Kansas City made a pair of errors and has committed three in the series; all Boston's errors were mental
Pena's 'E' was his 16th on the season and 15 have come on the road
Royal pains: KC has now defeated the mighty Sox in seven of the teams' last 11 meetings dating back to last season
Easy money: Gobble got the win despite facing just three batters
Teahen titan: aside from notching his 12th assist when he nailed Lowell, the Royals rightfielder robbed Manny of extra bases when he made a nice running catch of a deep drive to the warning track to end the first
Triple threat: Coco's 8th inning shot to the deepest part of the park--the corner of the triangle--that scored Lowell in the 8th was Crisp's third three bagger in his last 10 games