Tigers sweep sox as all Stars head West

Detroit 6, Sox 5
WP: Robertson (5-6)
LP: Matsuzaka (10-6)
SV: Jones (22)
HRs: BOS- Bailey (1), Lugo (4); DET- Sheffield (21), Thames (10), Guillen (14)

SUMMARY
The Sox stagger into the All Star break having lost three in a row to the surging Tigers, and if it weren't for the D-Rays the pre-break skid could have been a lot worse.

Daisuke Matsuzaka had his worst outing in a month and a half and although Boston made a nice comeback from down 6-2, the large early deficit proved to much to overcome.

#1 STUNNER: Sheffroid 3-4, 2R, 2BI, HR, 2-2Bs
The man with the quick bat and surly personality clubbed the Sox into submission today, pounding Dice-K to the tune of a homer and two doubles and was a general nusiance to Boston pitchers all seeries long

PAN's FAUN: Dice-K 5IP, 10H, 6ER, BB, 4K, 3HRs
To say Matsuzaka had a bad game would be like saying Roger Federer has a pretty good record at Wimbledon (he won his 5th straight title there today, BTW.)

On a day when the Nation needed their stud rookie to come through with a huge outing, Matsuzaka had his worst game since he gave up 12 hits and six runs in 5.2 innings to Cleveland on May 30th, a span of eight starts.

RECAP
Bring back the Devil Rays!

Following the series against Tampa Bay in which Boston slugged 37 hits and scored 26 runs in sweeping the Rays out of Benatown, the Sox were treated just as rudely by their hosts in Motown as the Tigers completed a three game sweep with today's odd 6-5 victory.

Odd because Daisuke Matsuzaka, who had been on a tremendous roll for the last month, got hammered like chopped meat by the Tigers hitters, and odd for the fact that Detroit hit three homers, had two runners caught stealing and committed a season-high five errors in nearly blowing a four-run lead, yet they still managed to hang on for the win.

And the unfortunate realization for Sox fans is that the man who had looked as if he had put all of his early season wildness behind him with a stellar month of June took a giant step backward at a time that his teammates, and his nations, needed him most.

It was apparent from the early going amid pristine conditions and a capacity bi-partisan crowd that Matsuzaka did not, as they say, have his stuff working. And by early going I mean the third batter of the first inning early.

That's when Gary Sheffield, who had a big night in the opener and was a problem all series long, got hold of a poorly located Dice-K fastball and quickly deposited it over the wall in left field, and before the crowd was even settled in the Tigers had a 1-0 lead.

Turns out that longball would foreshadow the kind of day it would be for Dice, and if the early deficit wasn't enough of a clue, then his failure to hold the 2-1 lead his hitters gave him after the third was a dead giveaway.

The Sox touched up Tiger's starter Nate Robertson (6.1IP, 4H, 4ER, 4BB, 2K) for a pair of runs in the frame, but as has been the case so many times of late, the damage done could have been far greater.

Julio Lugo, who had a huge game (3-3, 2R, 2BI, HR) for the first time in an eon, drew a one-out walk from Robertson, then stole second and went to third when Tigers catcher Mike Rabelo threw the ball into center field.

Coco Crisp followed that gaffe with another walk, and when Pedroia also drew a base on balls to load the bases it looked as if the Sox were going to blow the game wide open and Dice was going to cruise to an easy victory.

Ah, not quite.

The first run came in for Boston when Robertson nicked the fabric of Big Papi's jersey for the always entertaining bases loaded hit-by-pitch (hey, at least it tied the score), and then hot-hitting Mike Lowell contributed with another incredibly exciting scoring play, the sac fly, and the Sox had a 2-1 lead.

But after Captain Tek drew the fourth walk of the inning by Robertson, an intentional job that re-loaded the bases, J.D. Drew hit one of his patented dribblers to the right side of the infield to end the inning, and instead of a major uprising the Sox had to settle for a minor skirmish.

That failure to capitalize on a golden opportunity would, of course, come back to bite Boston in the ass when Matsuzaka couldn't keep the Tigers batters from leaving the yard.

One out into the bottom of the third Dice surrendered the lead right back, allowing the game-tying homerun to moonshot master Marcus Thames, and absolutely titanic blast high and deep to straightaway centerfield that served as a powerful notice that the Tigers would not go down quietly today.

After Sheff followed with a deep double to left that sailed over a perplexed Wily Mo Pena's head and then took third on a wild pitch, Sean Casey flared a single to right to score Sheff with the go-ahead run, 3-2, and when shortstop Carlos Guillen crushed another Matsuzaka fastball for a demoralizing two-run homer to make it 5-2, it was obvious that a win today was going to be tough to come by.

With the bullpen taxed due to the lengthy game last night and the numerous injuries, Tito needed Dice to give him as many innings as possible, apparently regardless if he had anything to give.

When the Tigers put another run on the board in the fourth, once again involving Sheff, whose ground rule double scored Curtis Granderson, who had also doubled, it was obvious he didn't, and it was almost time to start packing for the All Star break destinations.

Matsuzaka finally came out after six painful innings, suffering his worst outing since a 12 hit, six run debacle against the Tribe way back on May 30th, and ironically it was after that when Boston mounted its final attempt to salvage a game-and some dignity-from this series.

And wouldn't you know it was career minor leaguer Jeff Bailey who pulled his team off the mat, joining a select group of players by hitting a home run for their first major league hit, taking a Robertson offering and crushing the ball to left for a big run for him and his new mates.

As if to confirm that miracles do happen, Lugo followed Bailey's blast with a homer of his own, his first longball since June 8th and only his second since May 19th, and just like that the Sox were right back in the game at 6-4.

Boston would creep a run closer in the eighth when Lugo doubled in Drew who had led off the inning with a walk, to slice the deficit to 6-5, but reliever Zach Miner came in and struck out Coco to quell the threat and leave Boston with just one more shot at tying or winning this one.

Damn if they didn't come close, too.

Pedroia led off the ninth with a single of clutch Tigers closer (and former Red Sox reliever) Todd Jones, then got to third on a single by Tek and a careless error by leftfielder Craig Monroe, his second of the game.

But with the game on the line and the ducks on the pond, Jones got Drew to foul out harmlessly to third base, the rally was snuffed out and the members of the Sox who aren't headed to San Fran will have three days to cleanse all memories of this hideous getaway weekend and start the second half fresh.

I mean they still have a 10 game lead at the break, so things could be worse, right?

RECORD: 53-34
AL EAST: Up 10
STREAK: L-3
LAST 10: 4-6
UP NEXT: All Star Game; Thu vs.*TOR @ Fenway

(*not CLE-thx RS Bat Boy!)