Then again, maybe it was just a matter of facing a pitcher in Cole Hamels who did everything he needed to do to limit the damage. That was highlighted after Victor Martinez drew a walk in a 15-pitch at bat to put runners at first and second with no outs in the sixth.
Hamels, who was approaching 100 pitches, came back to strike out Adrian Beltre on three pitches and then retire David Ortiz and Mike Lowell to preserve a 4-1 lead.
"For him to do what he did after [the Martinez at bat] I think shows even more what type of a pitcher he is," Terry Francona said of Hamels. "That was an unbelievable at bat and in a lot of ways it can maybe take something out of a pitcher, but we still couldn't get it done.
"He's a good pitcher that pitched a great game."
Tim Wakefield was not much worse, but five of his seven hits allowed came in succession during a four-run fourth that the Sox never recovered from.
Looking ahead, Kevin Youkilis said he is fine and should be in the lineup Tuesday when Boston and Arizona begin a three-game series. And initial tests on Daisuke Matsuzaka's right forearm were "very encouraging," according to Francona.
The team's medical staff determined that an MRI was not needed at the time.
We will be back with you Tuesday night for the openers with the Diamondbacks. First pitch from Clay Buchholz will be thrown at 7:10 p.m.
Final, Phillies 5-3: The Sox get two runs in the ninth on a wild pitch with a runner at third and an RBI single by Daniel Nava. Representing the tying run, Marco Scutaro pops to third to end it.
Some wasted scoring chances and one bad inning for Tim Wakefield add up to a Red Sox loss in the series finale, just the sixth win in the last 24 meetings for the Phillies.
Boston has a day off before hosting Arizona for three straight games. It should have Kevin Youkilis and Mike Cameron back and ready to go Tuesday night, when Clay Buchholz opposes former Yankee Ian Kennedy.
There may be other injury updates forthcoming. We will head downstairs and see if there is anything new on Daisuke Matsuzaka's condition.
Back in a bit to wrap it all up.
4:24 p.m.: J.C. Romero did not do the job. David Ortiz's legs did. The Sox are back within 5-2 after Ortiz doubled, went to third on a fly to right and then scored on a wild pitch. Following a J.D. Drew walk, Romero was lifted in favor of Phillies closer Brad Lidge.
Mid 9th, Phillies 5-1: If this score holds up, the Sox will have lost two games to Cole Hamels by a combined score of 10-2. In the other four games between the teams, Boston has outscored the Phils 35-7.
Former Red Sox reliever J.C. Romero is on to try and get the last three outs for Philadelphia.
End 8th, Phillies 4-1: It looked for a moment as if all the Red Sox needed to do was get Cole Hamels out of the game. With Jose Contreras on the mound for the Phils, Boston got runners on the corners with one out, but for the second straight frame hit into an inning-ending double play. This time it was Adrian Beltre grounding into a 5-4-3.
Ramon Ramirez has relieved Dustin Richardson, who got the last two outs in the seventh.
Mid 8th, Phillies 4-1: A Marco Scutaro defensive highlight helps Dustin Richardson clean up the mess in the eighth. Scutaro ranged to the second base side of the bag and threw to first as he fell to his back side to get Ryan Howard at first.
Cole Hamels is done after giving up one run in seven innings for the second time this year against the Red Sox.
3:43 p.m.: Tim Wakefield's day is done one out into the eighth. He was removed after allowing a double to Placido Polanco. Dustin Richardson, a tall lefty, is making his 2010 debut for the Sox.
End 7th, Phillies 4-1: If Erin Andrews is in the house, as was rumored to be the case, she doesn't have a smile on her face after Daniel Nava hits into a double play to finish the seventh.
Tim Wakefield is out there to start the eighth.
Mid 7th, Phillies 4-1: Unfortunately for the Red Sox, all of the big hits against Tim Wakefield were bunched together. Aside from the Phillies' four-run outburst in a span of about five minutes in the fourth, Wake has been solid and has given the team the innings it needed.
Dustin Richardson was up and warming in the Red Sox bullpen but has since sat down. Wakefield's pitch count is 103.
End 6th, Phillies 4-1: Dustin Pedroia's double, which might be changed to an error, did some damage to Cole Hamels to start the bottom of the sixth, but it was Victor Martinez's at bat which will be discussed for some time, and may spell an earlier exit for Hamels.
Martinez saw an astounding 15 pitches from Hamels before finally working a walk. He fouled off 10 pitches, including the last six before ball four.
Adrian Beltre, who unlike Martinez has never been known to work pitchers, then struck out on three straight pitches, David Ortiz grounded into a fielder's choice and Mike Lowell flied to right. A prime scoring opportunity goes by the board.
Mid 6th, Phillies 4-1: Here is how Tim Wakefield's day has gone. Hit batter, single and a walk to start the game, followed by 10 straight outs. Then a double, single, home run, double and a single came along, after which he has recorded eight straight outs.
End 5th, Phillies 4-1: Daniel Nava gets the crowd on its feet again with his second double and third extra-base hit since joining the team Saturday. He is stranded when Marco Scutaro grounds to first, continuing Cole Hamels' dominance of the Sox.
In 19 career innings against Boston, Hamels has allowed four runs on 14 hits and three walks while striking out 20. All four of the runs have come on solo homers. He entered 2-0 vs. the Sox.
Mid 5th, Phillies 4-1: That's the mystery of the knuckler, I guess. It can just stop working for a handful of pitches and then come back strong the next inning. Tim Wakefield rebounds from a four-run fourth to retire the side in order in the fifth.
Wakefield has thrown 80 pitches through five. With the way the bullpen was spent Saturday, the Sox would like to get two more out of him. Daniel Bard, Boof Bonser and Dustin Richardson were the three not used Saturday.
End 4th, Phillies 4-1: That's what you want out of your starter after having a big offensive inning. Cole Hamels retires the 4-5-6 hitters in the Red Sox lineup in a matter of minutes and Tim Wakefield is back out there hoping for some better results.
Mid 4th, Phillies 4-1: Tim Wakefield knew it the second Raul Ibanez made contact, hanging his head immediately as Ibanez's two-run drive sailed into the Phillies bullpen. With the way the knuckler was hanging in the fourth, Wake may have even seen it coming.
After recording his first strikeout of the game to start off the frame, Wakefield surrendered five straight hits, including RBI singles by Jayson Werth (one pitch before Ibanez's clout) and Juan Castro.
Wake mixed in his curve and fastball with effectiveness in his previous start. But he threw 17 straight knucklers to begin the fourth before mixing in a few other pitches during an inning-ending at bat against Carlos Ruiz.
In one inning, the Phils scored as many runs as they had in their last three games combined.
End 3rd, Red Sox 1-0: A double and a single with two outs yields nothing for the Red Sox, who strand both Marco Scutaro and Dustin Pedroia.
Scutaro had the double and was stopped at third when Pedroia hit a hard base hit to left. I actually heard a few groans when third base coach Tim Bogar held up Scutaro, but he would've been a dead duck. Hard to win when you coach third — they're all over you when someone gets thrown out at home, but hate it when you hold 'em up.
Mid 3rd, Red Sox 1-0: The milestones keep coming for Tim Wakefield. With the second out of a perfect third he became the third active pitcher to reach 3,000 career innings. Jamie Moyer and Andy Pettitte are the other two.
Wakefield has set down eight in a row, with one of them being a double play. That is 11 scoreless innings vs. the Philles for him this year.
End 2nd, Red Sox 1-0: Adrian Beltre is batting cleanup for the first time in 2010. Last year, with Seattle, he his .210 with two home runs in 34 games in this slot, while batting a collective .289 in all other positions in the lineup. No issues in his cleanup debut with the Sox.
Beltre took a Cole Hamels offering into the second row of the Monster seats for his ninth home run of the season.
After batting .338 in March/April and .333 in May, Beltre is up to .354 (17-for-48) in June. Quite a year at the plate thus far.
Hamels may have been a bit irked by the blast. He struck out the next three in order.
Mid 2nd, 0-0: Mike Lowell has not had much of a chance to show potential suitors his bat, but he's had even fewer opportunities to show he can play first base. Even when he's out there the chances have been few and far between. Not so in the first inning.
Lowell makes a nice diving stop to his backhand side on a hard grounder by Raul Ibanez, and then throws to Tim Wakefield covering for the first out of the second.
It is part of a 1-2-3 second inning for Wakefield, who has recorded six straight outs since loading the bases with no outs in the first.
End 1st, 0-0: Marco Scutaro gives one a ride to start the bottom of the first, but Shane Victorino tracks it down in center. Dustin Pedroia knocks one into the corner in left, but Raul Ibanez hauls it in. Victor Martinez then looks at a third strike. A good start for Cole Hamels, with a little help from his defense.
Mid 1st, 0-0: I mean this in the kindest way possible, but the Phillies are pathetic right now.
Tim Wakefield loads the bases with no outs on a hit batter, a single and a walk. Ryan Howard's fly to right gets nothing more than a bluff home by the runner at third, Shane Victorino, and Jayson Werth hits into a 5-4-3 double play to end it.
Really rough going for the Phils, who can't buy a run these days.
1:26 p.m.: As the 2010 Red Sox Scholars are being introduced and escorted out onto the field at Fenway, we think back to Saturday and another rising star, Daniel Nava.
Nava said he had 140 text messages when he checked his phone after the game (in case you've been under a rock, he hit a grand slam on the first pitch he ever saw as a major leaguer). At dinner with his parents at Capital Grille, a few fans recognized him, despite having a hat pulled low.
And through it all, he couldn't turn his thoughts off.
"I was pretty tired last night but I still didn't sleep very well," Nava said hours before Sunday's affair. "I was just trying to sit back and let everything settle down and I couldn't. It was just running through my mind what happened."
Nava said he was excited to see his name back in the lineup when he arrived at Fenway Park on Sunday morning. He also knows that one historic swing does not make a career.
"That's the great thing about baseball. You have a great game you gotta go back out there and play again, or you have a bad game, you still gotta go out and do it again. You have plenty of opprortunities to redeem yourself or keep something going."
We will see if he can keep something going in just a moment.
1:01 p.m.: Terry Francona talked at length this morning about the trials he has faced with this team, which has suffered several major injuries and has many other players fighting through nagging issues.
Francona said that the challenge in 2010 is not necessarily greater than in past years. The trials of those years are not as fresh in our minds, he said.
He also hinted that days like Saturday, when the club loses another starting pitcher and eventually its star first baseman and still has no problem rolling over the Phillies, have the potential to help going forward.
"Yesterday was a challenge," Francona said. "But it was a great day. That's the way teams, I think, come together. We had a ton of personality, had the young kid do something special, the bullpen did more than it was supposed to and everybody had a bunch of energy.
"I know it takes a toll on your team because today we're a little short, but that really helps in the long run if you handle it and we handled it well."
The one casualty of the win, which saw five relievers combine to pitch nine innings when Daisuke Matsuzaka was scratched, is that the pen may be a bit thin.
With a day off Monday, Francona said they should be in OK shape with the relievers, but there may be a situation where he won't be able to play to the matchups, bringing in a lefty to face a lefty or something like that. All that would be rendered moot if Tim Wakefield does what he did the last time he saw the Phillies (eight scoreless innings).
"We could use Wake to have a good outing," Francona said.
As for Matsuzaka, there is no new news to report. He came in feeling good, Francona said, but had yet to see Dr. Thomas Gill. We may have more on that after the game. Francona added he is "cautiously optimistic" that Matsuzaka will rebound just fine.
Mike Cameron is off for the second straight game. He was actually originally penciled in to play center, with Darnell McDonald in left and cult hero Daniel Nava on the bench. But Francona though sitting Cameron one more day and then adding in the off-day Monday will allow him to build up some strength.
"It's there and it's something he has to fight through"the skipper said of Cameron's side pain. "I think the early day games are tougher for him."
12:10 p.m.: Kevin Youkilis is out of the lineup for the second time in three games, creating another new look for the Red Sox. Youkilis was hit by a pitch on the right elbow in Saturday's win. He will be fine, but with the day off Monday it gave Terry Francona a chance to give his first baseman an extended rest after a rough couple of days (remember, he hurt his back the other day in Cleveland).
Here are the lineups for both teams:
Red Sox
Marco Scutaro, SS
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
Victor Martinez, C
Adrian Beltre, 3B
David Ortiz, DH
Mike Lowell, 1B
J.D. Drew, RF
Darnell McDonald, CF
Daniel Nava, LF
Phillies
Shane Victorino, CF
Placido Polanco, 3B
Chase Utley, 2B
Ryan Howard, 1B
Jayson Werth, RF
Raul Ibanez, LF
Ben Francisco, DH
Juan Castro, SS
Carlus Ruiz, C
10:35 a.m.: When there is rain in the forecast but you arrive at Fenway Park and the tarp is not on the field, you know things are going to be OK. The field is set for both teams to take batting practice in a bit, so the wet stuff must be steering clear.
We will have the lineups and all the injury updates (Matsuzaka, Youkilis) in a bit.
8:19 a.m.: As the injuries mount among Red Sox starters, Tim Wakefield's spot in the rotation becomes more firm. If he can duplicate the way he pitched the last time he faced the Philadelphia Phillies, that's a good thing.
Wakefield will face the slumping Phils for the second time in five starts when he and the Red Sox go for a series sweep Sunday at Fenway Park.
The veteran knuckleballer threw eight scoreless innings in an 8-3 win at Citizens Bank Park back on May 23. In doing so, he improved to 4-1 with a 2.68 ERA against Philadelphia.
Cole Hamels, who dominated Boston in the opener of that May series, goes for the Phillies, who have lost 14 of 19 while averaging just 2.3 runs per outing.
First pitch is 1:35 p.m.
