Albert Belle versus Jose Mesa.
This matchup made in jurisprudence heaven has played itself out in both of the White Sox’s trips to Jacobs Field. The differing results speak to why it is the Cleveland Indians who are showing signs they might deliver on their springtime promises.
When Belle made his initial return to Cleveland, helping the Sox take two out of three in the June series, Mesa was so out of whack that Belle couldn’t take it personally when his old friend hit him with a pitch. But Saturday, the rejuvenated–not to mention goateed–Mesa got Belle to fly out to the right-field wall with Frank Thomas on first, preserving a 9-7 Indians victory.
Belle’s ninth-inning drive had many in the crowd of 43,055 holding their breath, but it fell softly into Manny Ramirez’s glove. The end result was no surprise to anyone who has followed Team White Flag’s season.
“I thought it had a chance,” manager Terry Bevington said. “It wasn’t a definite deal–it was right to the wall.”
Belle, the much-loathed former Indian, went 0 for 5 with two strikeouts and one double-play grounder as the Indians positioned themselves to sweep the three-game series. The Sox have lost four in a row, falling to 69-72 overall. They trail AL Central-leading Cleveland by seven games, their biggest deficit of the season.
James Baldwin (11-14) failed to protect leads of 3-0 and 5-3, putting the Sox into an 8-5 hole by allowing two-run home runs to Matt Williams and Marquis Grissom in a span of four pitches in the fifth inning. Williams added a solo homer off Alan Levine in the seventh, giving him six homers during a 22-game hitting streak.
Bevington almost never criticizes his players. But he suggested Baldwin might have lost his concentration in the fifth.
The biggest moment in the inning, Bevington said, came when David Justice’s chopper toward shortstop Ozzie Guillen deflected off Baldwin’s glove for an infield single. The next three batters crushed the ball, with Sandy Alomar Jr.’s double hit even harder than the homers by Williams and Grisson.
Baldwin was hard on himself afterward, saying he shied away from his fastball. “You do that against a team like Cleveland and you’ll get your brains beat in,” Baldwin said. “I think that happened today.”
Second baseman Ray Durham, conversely, was too aggressive on the bases in the fourth inning. Dave Martinez’s single to left scored Magglio Ordonez and Guillen to put the Sox ahead 5-3. But the potential for a knockout punch died when Durham tried to go from first to third on the play. He was meat when Williams cut off Justice’s throw.
Belle’s flyout left him 0 for 9 in the series. He was twice robbed of hits Friday but had no such complaints Saturday. He simply failed.
