Red Sox can't catch a break

BOSTON - Sunshine finally made more than just a cameo appearance over Fenway Park yesterday, but a dark cloud seemed to hang over the Red Sox.

Whether at the plate or in the field, every time the Red Sox seemed due for some good fortune, luck found its way into the Mariners dugout instead.

A certain RBI single by Jacoby Ellsbury instead became a critical out. A harmless popup behind the Red Sox infield instead produced the game-winning run. It all added up to a 3-2 loss before a holiday crowd of 37,656 and doomed the Red Sox to their first series loss in almost a month.

"That's kind of how it goes," said Rocco Baldelli, the victim of Ellsbury's smash gone bad in the sixth inning. "You can't really worry about that. We got beat today. We hit some balls well, but it doesn't matter sometimes. It just didn't work out."

The loss cut the Red Sox's lead in the American League East to one game over the Yankees, with both reaching the halfway point of the season today with game 81.

The Red Sox got another six strong innings from Brad Penny and came to the plate in the sixth tied 2-2. Baldelli led off by being hit by a Garrett Olson pitch, then moved to second on a single by Jason Varitek, who had given the Red Sox a 2-0 lead in the second with a two-run homer.

As Olson prepared to throw a 1-1 pitch to Ellsbury, Baldelli confirmed his instructions with third base coach DeMarlo Hale.

"He said, 'On the ground. You're going. Stay out of a double play,' " Baldelli said. "So off the bat, I was going." Ellsbury hit the ball on the ground hard up the middle, and Baldelli broke home. But the ball hit Olson and died by the mound. Olson pounced quickly, and Baldelli was trapped between third and home.

"I thought it was going through," Baldelli said. "But, either way, I was going. I could have maybe tried to break back to third base. If I'm not going to score on that play, the least I can do is not let them get two outs." Baldelli ended up in a rundown, but he was forced back toward third base, preventing Varitek and Ellsbury from advancing into scoring position. Jeff Bailey, playing on an injured ankle, then hit into an inning-ending double play.

"We couldn't string anything together or get one big hit," Red Sox Manager Terry Francona said. "We had the one great chance. Ellsbury hits a rocket up the middle, and it takes a bounce where the best thing that could happen for them did."

Where the Red Sox failed to capitalize, the Mariners, for the second straight day, managed to score in their final at-bat for a victory. Takashi Saito (2-2, 3.45 ERA), who hadn't pitched since taking the loss in the hideous collapse in Baltimore Tuesday, found more trouble yesterday.

Working the ninth after Justin Masterson and Hideki Okajima each pitched a scoreless inning, Saito lost his usually-pinpoint control, walking three of the first four batters he faced to load the bases with one out.

"In the beginning, I think I was over-thinking things a little too much and trying to be a little too fine in spotting strikes, and those ended up being balls," Saito said through an interpreter. "From there on, I couldn't make the proper adjustments."

Saito appeared to get a break when Chris Woodward lofted a popup behind first base. But with the infield in with the bases loaded, the ball landed just beyond the dive of second baseman Dustin Pedroia, scoring pinch runner Wladimir Balentien with what proved to be the winning run.