CHICAGO -- Tony Graffanino hasn't been with the Boston Red
Sox long, so maybe he doesn't know how they work.
"We don't point fingers in here," team captain Jason Varitek
said.
Graffanino took responsibility for the Red Sox loss Wednesday
night after he allowed a potential double-play ball go through his
legs and Tadahito Iguchi followed with a homer. The three-run shot
off David Wells gave Chicago the lead, and the White Sox beat
Boston 5-4 to take a 2-0 advantage in the best-of-five series.
"That's a huge play right there," Graffanino said. "He hit
the homer and I felt like the game turned in their direction. It's
completely my fault."
But the Red Sox refused to blame their second baseman.
"If you're going to point a finger, you point it at me," Wells
said. "He just said, `Pick me up.' I said, `No problem.' It's
called teamwork. I didn't do it, so I'm the one who feels bad. I'm
sure he does, but I feel worse."
A big-game pitcher who needed to pitch a big game to keep the
Red Sox from the brink of elimination, Wells instead allowed seven
hits and five runs, just two earned, and fell to 10-4 the
postseason. He was booed by the Chicago fans -- he pitched for the
White Sox in 2001 -- when he left with two outs in the seventh.
The series moves to Boston for Game 3 on Friday, with Tim
Wakefield facing Freddy Garcia and the World Series champions
needing a win to avoid a quick end to their title defense.
"They're not going to quit," White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski
said. "They've been down 2-0 before; they've been down 3-0 before.
They're not going to go away. We've got to find a way to win one
more game and it's not going to be easy in Boston."
The Red Sox have won eight of their last nine when facing
elimination, including an unprecedented four straight after
trailing the New York Yankees 3-0 in the AL championship series.
Boston ran off eight in a row to beat the Yankees and then sweep
the St. Louis Cardinals for their first World Series crown since
1918.
"It's good to know that we have" done it before, said
Graffanino, who was acquired from the Royals at midseason.
"Because now we have to."
Chicago won the opener 14-2, but Boston hoped the memory of last
year's rally would inspire it to victory. The night before the Red
Sox began their eight-game win streak, they lost 19-8 to the
Yankees to fall behind 3-0 in the best-of-seven series.
They appeared to be on their way when they scored two runs in
the first inning and two more in the third to take a 4-0 lead
against AL All-Star starter Mark Buehrle.
But everything fell apart in the fifth.
Carl Everett singled and scored when Aaron Rowand doubled into
the left-field corner, then Joe Crede bounced a single through the
infield with one out to make it 4-2. Juan Uribe hit a slow bouncer
to second base for a potential double play, but it rolled through
Graffanino's legs.
He went to the mound and gave Wells a pat on the back. Wells
responded in kind.
"I told him, `My bad right there.' I asked him to pick me up,"
Graffanino said. "Everybody who's ever been in the game has been
in a situation where they screwed up the game. It crushed me. We're
losing, and it's my fault."
But after Scott Podsednik fouled out to third base, Iguchi
homered to give Chicago a 5-4 lead.
Asked whether something needed to be said to Graffanino to take
the pressure off him, Varitek said, "We'll take care of it."
"If we were able to keep the game where it was ... if we were
able to get one more out," Varitek said, "everyone would forget
about it."
Graffanino said he "didn't get a good read on the ball" and
may have taken his eye off it to check on the runner. A slow
bouncer, Graffanino would have needed to hurry to turn two.
"If people think that was an easy play to make, they're
wrong," said White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, a former shortstop.
"I have been there before, and I know how it feels. It was not an
easy play for him."