Season unravels in sadness for Boston

September 2, 2006 | Sports Illustrated

 

BOSTON -The losses kept coming and so did the injuries. The Boston Red Sox dropped from first place at the end of July to an eight-game deficit at the end of August. Then the really bad news came.

Jon Lester, the 22-year-old rookie pitcher with a bright future, has cancer.

"It's an incredibly scary thing. You're talking about a kid at the beginning of his life,'' Curt Schilling said. "You've got a father and a mother and a family that's worried about their child.''

Suddenly, the team's miserable August didn't matter as much.

The perennial contenders were 9-21 in the month, the lowest winning percentage in the majors.

Their postseason hopes shattered, they traded pitcher David Wells to San Diego on the last day of the month. Instead of adding a player to help them get to the playoffs, they sent one away.

"It's not where we expected to be, not where we wanted to be,'' general manager Theo Epstein said, "but we're not immune from that kind of a month if we play poorly and we have a rash of injuries and we don't get breaks.

"This is the reality right now.''

The reality of the team with the second highest payroll in baseball - and just two years removed from its first World Series championship in 86 years - is harsh and hard to believe.

Five starters and the top backup position player have been sidelined for some time. David Ortiz (heart palpitations), Manny Ramirez and Jason Varitek (knees), Trot Nixon and Alex Gonzalez (ribs) and Wily Mo Pena (wrist) remain out.

Four of manager Terry Francona's original five starting pitchers are unavailable. Tim Wakefield and Matt Clement are on the disabled list, Schilling will miss at least one start with a mild strain in his right side and Wells is in San Diego. Even reliable closer Jonathan Papelbon may not pitch for a week after straining his shoulder Friday night.

"Injuries have been a part, but we haven't played well consistently in all areas like we did early in the season,'' second baseman Mark Loretta said. "You can't just blame one thing.''

Schilling can't remember being on such a depleted team.

"I spent a couple of years in Philadelphia where Tito (Francona) almost handed the lineup card to the clubhouse and said, `here, whoever's healthy put your name on the card, " Schilling said. "But, no, not to this degree. And the magnitude of this is much bigger just because of the real-life implications.''

That started with Ortiz, the smiling slugger and AL leader in homers and RBIs.

It was his heart.

He was admitted to a hospital Aug. 19 for palpitations during the Yankees five-game sweep at Fenway Park. He was cleared to play, but the palpitations came back before last Monday's game at Oakland and he returned to Boston the next day.

On Saturday, two days after being released from Massachusetts General Hospital, he sat beside team physician Thomas Gill at a news conference after tests showed no abnormalities.

"The most important thing right now is that I have no problem with my heart,'' said Ortiz, who will continue to wear a heart monitor. He will be examined next week to determine when he can play again.

For a change, that was some good news.

One day earlier, the news was terrible.

The team announced that Lester has a treatable form of anaplastic large cell lymphoma, a type of cancer that forms in the body's lymph system.

Lester, an only child from Tacoma, Wash., has been one of Boston's brightest prospects since being drafted in 2002.

This season, the lefty starter reached the majors for the first time on June 10 and won his first five decisions. He was 7-2 with a 4.76 ERA when he went on the disabled list Monday with a back problem. The lymphoma showed up when he was examined.

"From what we've heard, it's a horrible thing, but we're going to be behind him. We're going to be praying for him,'' reliever Mike Timlin said. "Knowing the spirit that Jon's got inside him, he'll come through.''

Lester is scheduled to begin treatment this week.

Mike Lowell has some idea of what he's experiencing. Boston's third baseman was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 1999.

"You're scared. It's normal,'' Lowell said, "but I think the fact that it's something that he can recover from fully is very positive.''

Meanwhile, the games must go on.

On the day Ortiz left the hospital, the Red Sox broke a six-game losing streak. On the day Lester's condition was announced, they won again.

But they lost Saturday to Toronto with Eric Hinske, Javy Lopez, Carlos Pena and David Murphy in the starting lineup, four players who weren't with Boston a month ago. They can finish second for the ninth straight season but lead third-place Toronto by just three games.

"When you give yourself choices, a lot of times people pick the path of least resistance. Right now the choice is mail it in and count the season as over,'' Schilling said. "We won't do that. There's too much character in this clubhouse.''