From the Boston Globe
From the Boston Globe
SEATTLE - Consider it the Weight Watchers approach to championship baseball. Burdened by a four-game bulge as his club chases the division-leading Yankees, Red Sox manager Grady Little yesterday confronted the predicament as if he were suddenly determined to battle the unwelcome effects of a lifetime of late-night snacking - with undivided purpose, yet not too fast.
''It's like a guy who's really overweight,'' Little said. ''If you're overweight by a hundred pounds and you're trying to lose 80 pounds, that's a tough thing to do. But if you lose a pound a week, that's a little more achievable.''
Thus the Little Diet for the second-place Sox: incremental deficit reduction, starting tonight when they enter the final seven weeks of the season by opening a six-game odyssey through Seattle and Minnesota.
''It doesn't matter who we're playing,'' Little said. ''When you're behind the New York Yankees by four games, you set goals in your mind. Right now, what we're trying to do is pick up one game a week.''
At that rate, barring a work stoppage, the Sox would enter the postseason as kings of the American League East, three games up on Boss Steinbrenner's Nine. Nice plan, on paper.
But before the Fenway faithful become vegans en masse in solidarity with the Little Diet, they may want additional evidence that the Sox have fully overcome the two-month malaise in which they went 28-31 after roaring to a 40-17 start. The Sox showed signs of significant improvement in taking three of the last four games from the A's and Twins at Fenway before they headed west Sunday.
But as heartened as the Sox were, particularly by Tim Wakefield's brilliance in dashing the Twins Sunday, 3-1, they know they have plenty yet to prove. Almost to a man, Sox players and executives attributed their two months of underachievement to one of the banes of baseball: a lack of consistency.
''We've been a bit inconsistent for whatever reason,'' interim general manager Mike Port said. ''If we could identify or quantify it, we would adjust accordingly, but it varies. Some days we don't get the offense and we get the pitching. Some days we get the offense and we don't get the pitching. But I still have confidence in this club. We're in position to do some good things.''
Their inconsistency has been exemplified best by their woeful record in one-run games. After winning seven of their first nine one-run games, they have since won only four of 21 - and only one of their last seven.
Blame it on a paucity of clutch hitting, a porous bullpen, the performance of starters other than Pedro Martinez and Derek Lowe, or all of the above. Righthander John Burkett, a veteran of pennant races in both leagues, suggested that every member of the team needs to look in the mirror as they prepare for the stretch drive.
''I think the concentration level has to be better on all our parts,'' said Burkett (10-5), who faces righthander Joel Pineiro (11-4) tonight in the opener of the three-game set at Safeco Field. ''We need to concentrate harder on every aspect of the game. That's how you put together streaks. It's not going to happen just sitting and thinking it's going to happen. It's going to take tremendous concentration and execution.''
The sooner the better, Burkett indicated, as he tries to prevent the Sox from opening a sixth straight series with a loss.
''This game is going to be important,'' he said, ''because we need to get on a little streak right here.''
That could be problematic, since the Sox, who are 3-3 against the Mariners this season (1-2 at Safeco), will face Seattle's best starters: Pineiro, lefthander Jamie Moyer (12-4), and righthander Freddy Garcia (12-8). The Sox were fortunate to miss Moyer in the first six meetings and faced Pineiro and Garcia only once each. Boston will counter tomorrow with Derek Lowe (16-5) against Moyer and will send Casey Fossum (2-1) to oppose Garcia Thursday.
Garcia, who led the AL in ERA (3.05) last year and went 11-5 before the All-Star break, narrowly lost, 3-2, to Burkett May 19 at Fenway. But Garcia has struggled since the break, going 1-3 with a 6.63 ERA.
''This is as tough a stretch as I've had [in my career],'' Garcia told reporters.
The Sox could make headway if three players who have hit Seattle pitching well throughout their careers continue the pace. Brian Daubach has hit .367 (29 for 79) against the Mariners with 4 homers and 20 RBIs. Nomar Garciaparra has batted .339 (79 for 233) with 14 homers and 58 RBIs. And Manny Ramirez has averaged .312, with 21 homers and 74 RBIs.
But it may all come down to consistency.
''The hitting and pitching have to come together now instead of one carrying the other,'' said reliever Willie Banks. ''We haven't really played well in a while. We had that streak early in the season and just haven't turned it back on again. But that's the good part. We know we will, and that's what it's about - starting well and finishing well.''
