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Joe Borowski doesn't know what's wrong. One day he feels like he can throw the ball through a brick wall.

"The next day, I feel like I'm throwing through water," said Borowski.

Monday night, Borowski should have come to the mound in the ninth inning at Progressive Field wearing scuba gear. Boston, quick to recognize a theme, dunked the Indians closer, turning his 4-3 lead into a 6-4 defeat as Manny Ramirez hit a two-run, two-out homer into the left-field bleachers.

Borowski met with Tribe manager Eric Wedge, General Manager Mark Shapiro and the team's medical staff after the game to discuss the condition of his right arm and shoulder.

"I hope we can pinpoint something," said Borowski. "Right now, it's driving me crazy. I'm grasping at straws. Maybe it's something. Maybe it's nothing."

He could undergo tests today.

Borowski, who led the American League with 45 saves last year, started the ninth with what appeared to be a slo-pitch softball offering to Julio Lugo. The Boston shortstop yanked the next pitch down the left-field line for a double that broke an 0-for-16 slump.

After Coco Crisp bunted Lugo to third, Dustin Pedroia tied the game with a sacrifice fly to left. David Ortiz sent a bloop single to left with David Dellucci playing near the warning track to prevent anything from being hit over his head.

Then came Ramirez. He sent Borowski's first pitch into the left-field bleachers for the eventual game-winner. It was the 493rd homer of his career, tying him with Lou Gehrig and Fred McGriff for 24th on the all-time homer list.

"I had nothing," said Borowski. "I was stuck in one gear."

Ramirez seemed stunned by the pitch Borowski threw him.

"It seemed like a fastball," he said. "It was something like 80 mph. Maybe it was change-up. It was right there."

Ramirez has hit 132 homers as a Red Sox and an Indian at what is now known as Progressive Field. It was his 16th homer against the Indians since leaving Cleveland as a free agent after 2000.

It was Borowski's second straight blown save. On April 7, he gave up a game-winning grand slam to Torii Hunter at Angel Stadium of Anaheim to erase a 4-2 Tribe lead.

Wedge said he wouldn't make any decisions on Borowski's status until meeting with him. He has options if Borowski has to go on the disabled list or gets replaced as closer. Rafael Betancourt, Masa Kobayashi, Jensen Lewis, Rafael Perez and Jorge Julio are possibilities.

The win went to Mike Timlin (1-1), who pitched a scoreless eighth. Jonathan Papelbon pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his fifth save.

Borowski (0-2) has allowed eight runs on seven hits in four innings. He's 2-for-4 in save situations.

Kevin Youkilis kicked the Boston comeback into gear with a leadoff homer against Betancourt in the eighth to make it 4-3. Betancourt relieved Jake Westbrook in the seventh with two out and two on. He ended the inning by striking out Ortiz and Ramirez.

Ortiz and Ramirez entered the game 0-for-11 against Betancourt.

"You have to be very aggressive against those two hitters," said Betancourt. "I found that out in the postseason last year."

The homer has hurt Betancourt in April. He's already allowed two in seven innings. He allowed three in 79 1/3 innings last year.

"I don't feel I did my job tonight because we lost," he said.

The Indians built a 4-1 lead against left-hander Jon Lester in the fourth and fifth innings.

After Asdrubal Cabrera walked and Travis Hafner singled to start the fourth, Victor Martinez singled to make it 1-1. After Jhonny Peralta struck out for the first of three times, Ryan Garko came back from a 1-2 hole to single to left for a 2-1 lead.

Casey Blake and Grady Sizemore started the fifth with walks. Cabrera advanced the runners with his second sacrifice bunt of the game. Hafner delivered them with a single into center for a 4-1 lead. It gave Hafner four RBI in the past two games.

Westbrook carried the 4-1 lead into the seventh, but faded.

He walked Sean Casey to start the inning. After Lugo forced Casey at second, Crisp reached on a bunt single. Pedroia singled off Westbrook's left hand to make it 4-2.

Boston took a 1-0 lead in the first on a two-out double by Youkilis.

Westbrook allowed two runs, one earned in 6 1/3 innings. He struck out five, walked three and allowed seven hits.

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Needless to say this was a tough loss to stomach. After what happened last postseason, the last team I want to lose a heartbreaker to is the f'n Red Sox.

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should never have been given the closers role.

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Originally posted by jclong2003:
After hearing last year that Joe Borowski was given the closers role all I could think was we got rid of Bob Wickman and this is what we decided to go with, hmmmm. He then led the league with 45 saves, all I could think was we dodged that bullet...then the Tribe picked up his option and I was floored...we have Betancourt and we have Tom Mastny a young pitcher who looked pretty good when he was given a tryout in the closers role. Now Borowski is showing his age and its not pretty...hopefully Wedge can find a "real" closer in the bullpen.

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Originally posted by JGerlich71097:
Wow.....Suffering through last night's 9th while trying to recover from a major case of Jet Lag was probably the only thing keeping me from firing the remote @80 plus through the big screen.

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Originally posted by CIMO:
I guess my order of preference would be 1. Lewis 2. Betancourt 3. The Rest

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Originally posted by JGerlich71097:
Can we add "Jorge Julio has nothing" to this thread also.

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Originally posted by Beanpot:

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should never have been given the closers role.

I'll disagree just a little bit here, Dana. If he comes in with a 2 or more run lead (as he did 39 times last year), I'm not going to lose my lunch too much. You know it's going to be eventful but, hey, at least it's not a one run lead or a tie game in the 8th. I'd much rather have him in that spot than in a higher leverage situation.

Of course, it doesn't matter when he enters the game if he's only bringing an 83 MPH fastball to the table. That's just a tick above what you see in freaking batting practice.

Beanpot

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Originally posted by SoCalBrownsFan:
I agree Todd, but I am tired of the Bob Wickman type of stopper here. I want someone to come in and shut the door, not give up hits and walks every outing they pitch. It's brutal to watch and not easy on my old heart.

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Even worse than that was watching the Boston fans celebrate in our building. Disgusting. And I like the Red Sox, kinda. Never when they're playing the Tribe of course, but they're the team I most like to watch when the Tribe isn't playing. Their fans, on the other hand, can go suck it.

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They reminded me of our late 90s Tribe in that the fans were truly passionate and dying for a title but couldn't get it. It only helped me like them when the Yankees and Marlins (my two most hated teams) were winning everything...

...The team and the fans have become so unbelievably arrogant that I can't even stand it. And of course now Boston has the most fair-weather fans of any team in any sport, and the fans who didn't care about the Sox until 2004 are even worse than the lifers.