Loss forces Red Sox to take Wild Card

09/27/2008 3:05 AM ET

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Loss forces Red Sox to take Wild Card
In place of Matsuzaka, Pauley sets wrong tone early vs. Yanks
By Ian Browne / MLB.com

BOSTON -- Even before they officially lost out on a chance to win the American League East with Friday's 19-8 defeat to the Yankees, the Red Sox weren't about to force the issue.

In advance of taking the field on this rain-soaked night at Fenway Park, Red Sox manager Terry Francona was clearly protecting his troops in order to be ready for next week's American League Division Series.

Daisuke Matsuzaka was scratched shortly before game time because of the inclement weather. The same went for David Ortiz, who would have made his first start of the season at first base but instead didn't play at all. When Mike Lowell felt something in his ailing right hip following his first at-bat, he was immediately removed from the game.

Clearly, the Red Sox were not in the mood to take any chances, division or no division.

Once the loss was complete, the inevitable was finally official. The Tampa Bay Rays are the AL East champions, and the Red Sox are the AL Wild Card entrants, set for a Division Series matchup with the Angels of Anaheim that will start on Wednesday in Anaheim.

"I guess I didn't really think about it much tonight," said Red Sox manager Terry Francona. "We were trying to get through the night, and we weren't doing a very good job of that. The important thing for us is to get our house in order, be healthy and try to get everybody enough at-bats, but not too many. We'll move some guys around, probably play [Mark] Kotsay at first tomorrow. We're just trying to get as ready as we can moving forward."

The Angels, who clinched the best record in the AL with the Rays' loss to the Tigers on Friday, got to decide which schedule to pick, and they opted for Division Series B. Game 2 will be on Friday. In the best-of-five series, only Games 3 and 4 (if necessary) can be played on back-to-back days.

To win the division, the Red Sox would have had to sweep the Yankees this weekend and have the Rays lose both Saturday and Sunday in Detroit.

With the start of the game being delayed by one hour, 31 minutes, Francona saw no reason to mess with Matsuzaka. Instead, Dice-K will take the ball on Saturday, weather permitting.

"There were a couple of different starting times -- it was getting pushed around," said Francona. "There was so much uncertainty, we decided to go ahead and make a change. I know [Saturday] might be iffy, too, but we'll go ahead and try to let him pitch uninterrupted. We didn't think there was a very good chance of that happening tonight."

The one down note of the game for the Red Sox was the setback of Lowell, who was back in the lineup after taking nine days off to rest the partial tear of the labrum in his hip. But before flying out to left field, Lowell aggravated the injury.

"I don't know what the solution is from here," said Lowell. "We'll give it one more try before the postseason, but I think saying I'm a little disappointed is a major understatement. So we'll see."

Following that delay, neither team came out rusty with the bats. Alex Rodriguez belted a two-out RBI single up the middle against last-minute starter David Pauley in the top of the first inning.

Jacoby Ellsbury got that run back with one swing, belting a leadoff homer in the bottom of the first to extend his hitting streak to 17 games. Yankees starter Alfredo Aveces couldn't find many answers against the Red Sox's bats in that opening frame. After Jed Lowrie walked, Kevin Youkilis roped a two-run shot into the Monster Seats, No. 29 on the season for Youkilis.

From there, though, it was all New York, as Boston's 3-1 lead disappeared in a hurry. The Yankees got three runs in the top of the second, fueled by a two-run homer from Johnny Damon. Back came the Bombers with three more in the third, knocking Pauley out of the game. By the fourth, when the Yankees put together yet another big inning -- this one a five-spot against David Aardsma -- the Red Sox were in a 12-3 hole.

There was another delay -- this one 38 minutes long -- in the top of the fifth inning.

The 19 runs allowed by the Red Sox were the most in the regular season since a 19-7 loss at Texas on Aug. 1, 2002.

But the 19-8 final had a familiar ring for those familiar with the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry. That was the score by which New York beat Boston in Game 3 of the 2004 AL Championship Series. Of course, the Sox rallied to win the next four games, becoming the only team in Major League history to come back from a 3-0 series deficit in the postseason.

However, this game didn't have anything close to those stakes. Both teams rotated players in and out.

For the Red Sox, the game gave Minor League journeyman Gil Velazquez a chance to record his first Major League hit, a single to left in the fourth. And later in the game, Sox catching prospect George Kottaras came up with his first career hit, a double in the fifth.

"It's tough losing like that, but for me, it was great to get in there," Kottaras said. "It's not the way I want to get in the game, but I'll do whatever I can to help the team come out on top. We didn't come out on top, but I got some playing time."

Ian Browne is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

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