It's hard to fathom the majority of a start going so well, and the end result being so bad, as was the case for Red Sox knuckleballer Tim Wakefield on Friday night at U.S. Cellular Field.
For all but one of the innings Wakefield worked, his knuckleball dipped and it dove.

And in one horrific sixth inning, everything changed. Wakefield's knuckleball stayed up and the Red Sox went down, taking an 8-4 loss that swiftly wiped away the momentum of Thursday's thrilling 6-5 win.

The one positive development on the night for Boston was Rule 5 Draft pick Adam Stern launching his first Major League homer, a two-run shot to right, in the top of the ninth.

But the most significant home runs came from the other side, helping to sink the Red Sox. The long ball (three of them) crushed Wakefield in his last start against the Yankees, and it was equally detrimental in this one. On Friday, he allowed another trifecta of home runs (two of them in that fateful sixth), accounting for all seven runs he allowed. The knuckleballer has surrendered a total of eight homers in his last three starts, all of which have been losses.

"I talked to Dougie [Mirabelli] afterwards and he said the ball was moving but it was up. It didn't have that late finish that it needs to have," said Wakefield. "I don't know if it's something mechanical. I'll have to look at some tape and figure it out. I asked him, I knew it was up, I just asked him if it was spinning out of my hands. He said it was knuckling, it was just up."

High knuckleballs seldom lead to good things. Two of them deep-sixed Wakefield and the Sox on this night.

Believe it or not, this was a tense 1-1 game entering the bottom of the sixth. Wakefield seemed up to the challenge of matching Jon Garland, who wound up picking up the win to improve to 15-4.

Who could have known how big a two-out single by Paul Konerko was going to be? That set up runners at the corners with two outs, allowing A.J. Pierzynski to unload on a 2-2 offering and put it over the wall in right for a three-run homer.

"I got in a situation with two outs," said Wakefield. "I got Pierzynski down 0-2, and I thought I threw a good pitch, and it could have been called strike three, but it wasn't and he fouled off four or five pitches there. And I thought I threw a good pitch to him and it was down. A left-hander down and in is probably the sweet spot, and it happened to find his barrel there. After the home run, my job is just to get another out, and I wasn't able to do that. I couldn't stop the bleeding."

Not at all. It was an inning Earl Weaver (the most famous proponent of the three-run homer) would have dreamed about during his days as Orioles manager. The White Sox followed the homer with two more singles. That put Juan Uribe in position to give Chicago its second three-run homer of the inning, a blast to left that made it 7-1.

"It got away in a hurry. You're not kidding," said Red Sox manager Terry Francona. "Pierzynski's at-bat, we're in a 1-1 game and Wake looks terrific. Pierzynski fouled off some good pitches and finally got to one. Before you know it, they spread it out. I think they've done that a few times this year."

The fact that this latest bit of misfortune came against the White Sox shouldn't come as a big shock. Wakefield has lost his last six starts against the White Sox and hasn't beaten them since July 3, 1998.

Though you'd never know it by the final result, the Red Sox actually broke out first in this one. Garland helped open up a scoring opportunity for the Red Sox by walking Manny Ramirez with two outs and nobody on in the fourth. Trot Nixon followed with a single to right and Kevin Millar smacked an RBI single to left to give Boston a 1-0 lead. Millar's hit was just Boston's third in the first four innings.

The White Sox did not wait long for their rebuttal. Aaron Rowand, the second batter of the fourth, pummeled a Wakefield offering over the wall in left to make it 1-1. That was Chicago's first hit of the night.

Every time the Red Sox had an opportunity against Garland, the blossoming right-hander squashed it. Take the top of the fifth, for example, when the Sox had runners at the corners with nobody out and the top of the order coming up.

Garland pulled off quite a Houdini act, popping up Johnny Damon and Edgar Renteria (both to first base) and inducing the menacing David Ortiz into a flyout to center.

"First and third nobody out, a 1-1 game," said Millar. "It's a whole different ballgame if we score there. He made some good pitches when he had to to some good hitters there."

Damon drew the Sox a tad closer in the seventh with his sixth homer of the season, a solo shot. And Stern's two-run shot made the final score respectable.

"It's exciting, but it would have been a little more exciting if we won," said Stern. "It's good to get your first home run. It would have been a lot better if it came with a win tonight."