In some respects, sentiment now offers Tim Wakefield’s best shot at making the All-Star team. In some respects, sentiment for Wakefield’s candidacy contributed to the Red Sox’ 6-5 loss against the Mariners in 11 innings on Friday. (Recap.)
Make no mistake: virtually everyone in and around the Red Sox would like to see Wakefield become a first-time All-Star at the age of 42. Members of the team make little secret of their rooting interest.
“If Wake’s on this All-Star team, it would be a really pleasurable message,” Sox manager Terry Francona said before Friday’s game. “I wish I had the ability to make the announcement.”
And so, in a season in which the knuckleballer injected himself into the conversation for that honor primarily on the strength of his wins total, it was understandable that the Sox wanted to give him every chance to become the first pitcher in the league with 11 victories.
Wakefield pitched quite well at times on Friday, but a hiccup in the third and fourth innings left him behind the eight ball against the Mariners and ace Felix Hernandez. In those two frames, Wakefield was stung for four runs in unlikely fashion – keyed by a homer from Ronny Cedeno, whose .131 batting average entering Friday was the worst in baseball by almost 50 points.
But Wakefield settled, and shut out the M’s in the fifth through seventh innings. Even so, in most games, the Sox would have called it a night at that point.
Wakefield had been held to 93 or fewer pitches in each of his previous five starts, and had been held to 101 or fewer pitches in his prior 11 outings. But the Sox, who were trailing, 4-3, after seven innings, wanted Wakefield to stay in the game and to squeeze out one more inning in order to buy more time for a comeback. Clearly, with final decisions on the All-Star roster coming, the Sox wanted the knuckleballer to have a shot at that 11th win.
“Obviously,” acknowledged Sox manager Terry Francona, “we wanted to give Wake every opportunity tonight to get a win.”
“We probably pushed him a little deeper in the game,” agreed pitching coach John Farrell, “because he's earned that right to have an opportunity to record another win.”
The move may have backfired, however. Wakefield gave up a leadoff homer to Jose Lopez in the top of the eighth, putting the Sox at a 5-3 deficit. And so, the Sox’ two-run rally in the bottom of the eighth merely served to tie the game, rather than provide the team with a lead and a win. The game extended into extra innings, where the Mariners plated a pair of runs against reliever Ramon Ramirez to beat the Sox.
Wakefield received a no-decision, and saw his ERA increase slightly to 4.30. Even though he provided his team with innings, he did little to advance his candidacy for the All-Star game. He must now wait until Sunday to find out if he’ll get a spot in the exhibition game for the first time in a distinguished career that began in 1992.
“Hopefully I can make the team,” Wakefield said. “If not, I can’t. All I can do is go out there and try to win for us, and it’s up to the manager and the rest of the guys in the league to vote me in.”
While Wakefield will have to wait to learn about the potential All-Star honor, there will be no question about another honor that he did secure on Friday. He made his 383rd career start as a Red Sox, surpassing Roger Clemens for the most turns as a rotation member in franchise history.
“It was a pretty special night for me,” said Wakefield. “(The record) means I’ve been here a long time and been given the opportunity and been blessed to be healthy for as long as I have, and the organization has been giving me the ball this long. And I’m very, very thankful for that, and hopefully I can continue to go.”
In many respects, that is the more significant achievement. An All-Star game represents a fleeting success. A franchise record for starts represents the consistency, reliability and value of the pitcher’s contributions over the long haul.
Here are four other things we learned on Friday:
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