The Boston Red Sox had their postseason winning streak broken–make that smashed–at eight games Tuesday.
But if nothing else, the World Series champions have proved themselves resilient. In fact, they have been through games like Tuesday’s 14-2 opening defeat in the American League Division Series against the White Sox.
In last fall’s AL Championship Series against the Yankees, they lost the first two games in New York, then the first game at Fenway Park 19-8. For those with short memories, that last loss started them on an eight-game winning streak.
No one is hoping more for resiliency than Matt Clement, who was pounded for eight runs in 3 1/3 innings Tuesday.
“I have no excuse,” the former Cub said. “I pitched bad. It was no fun, especially as much as this team has battled, to put us in a hole. But it’s only one game, and this team is pretty resilient.”
Manager Terry Francona wasn’t buying any of the looking-back stuff, even though it could be a positive.
“That was a year ago,” he said of the comeback against the Yankees. “Last year doesn’t matter. What matters to this team is how we bounce back [Wednesday]. I don’t have any doubt we will.”
Part of the confidence is based on having David Wells start Game 2. Not only is the veteran left-hander playoff-tested, he finished the season winning six of his final seven decisions.
“Everybody knows David is a great pitcher in a playoff situation,” designated hitter David Ortiz said. “I’m pretty sure he’ll pitch a good game.
“Our pitching needs to hold them down. If we don’t get that, we’re going to be toast. Playoff game, to give up 14 runs, it’s not happening.”
So Clement is the culprit of Game 1.
“It’s come to the point where you can’t dwell on what happened,” Clement said. “You have to turn the page and know you might be needed to get outs later in the series or postseason. You can’t feel sorry for yourself. I’m extremely disappointed with how it went down. It was terrible. I stunk.”
In fact, Clement stunk from the beginning, hitting two of the first three batters and allowing a three-run homer to A.J. Pierzynski before the first inning was over. He also served up homers to Paul Konerko and Juan Uribe.
Because the Red Sox had to battle until the last day to win the wild card, their rotation was stuck out of order for this series. Clement, who ended the season 0-3 with a 7.20 ERA in his last five starts, would not have been Francona’s first choice.
“I’m not even sure who the No. 1 guy is,” Johnny Damon said. “Matt was a good choice. He’s capable of going out and making guys look silly. But he hasn’t had it the last month.”
While Clement was struggling, the White Sox’s Jose Contreras was throwing a shutout for the first three innings. It included a first-inning strikeout of Ortiz with a man on second.
“He was spotting the ball, he’s got a nasty splitter that he used a lot, and he’s got a 95-m.p.h. fastball,” Ortiz said.
Said Francona: “That’s not an easy game, to sit there and watch us give up runs. But at the same time I don’t want to throw a ton of innings [by the bullpen] in a game where we were already down pretty significantly. Sometimes a team gets on a roll and it’s hard to stop.”
So the Red Sox, who came in on such a postseason high, need to revisit the resiliency that carried them through last October, when they learned that a series wasn’t over until it was over.
“We’re definitely not happy about losing, but we also know [the White Sox] need two more [victories] in the series,” Damon said. “We’re capable of winning three in a row, we’re capable of winning three of four.
“But we need to pitch. If we don’t pitch, it’s not going to be a good series for us.”
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dvandyck@tribune.com
