Sox send Rays to 10th straight loss

Sox 7, Tampa Bay 5
WP: Wakefield (9-8)
LP: Jackson (1-9)
SV: Papelbon (20)
HRs: BOS-Lowell (13); TB-Casanova (4)

Nothing beats the pomp & pagentry of a July 4th baseball game--it's the freaking American way! (Globe/AP photo)

SUMMARY
The Boston bats really exploded today as the Sox slammed six extra base hits and ran out to a six-run lead before the Rays made it a game late.

After Wake tired in the 7th and Lopez allowed three runs to score, Jonathan Papelbon came on in the 9th to close the door on save No. 20 and put a wrap on Boston's third consecutive victory.

#1 STUNNER J.D. Drew 2-4, R, RBI, 2-2Bs
Not only did Drew have a nice game at the dish, but his awesome stop of a Carl Crawford shot down the rightfield line in the third held CC to a single and prevented the speedy All Star from taking two or three extra bases when the game was still tied at one apiece.

PAN'S FAUN Edwin Jackson 5IP, 9H, 7ER, 1BB, 5K, HR
Despite the linescore it's not like Jackson pitched that poorly, but when a guy's 1-9 and his ERA is over 7.00, I don't think the manager should say things like (from)"what I saw today...you could project this young man to be a member of a championship starting rotation."

In what, the Mexican league?!

RECAP
Nothing like a series against the struggling Devil Rays to cure what ails a slumping team, now is there?

For the second consecutive game Boston bats got healthy on Tampa Bay pitching, and if not for a late-game swoon by Wakefield and Lopez, this game could have been a lot uglier than the final score indicates.

That's because for six+ innings the Sox were coasting, building on a first inning lead by posting back-to-back three-run spots in the fourth & fifth, while Wakefield's knuckler was dancing and dazzling most of the dumbfounded Rays hitters.

The Sox hung a run on the board not long after the pregame flyover and Independence Day festivities subsided when Coco led off the first with a triple deep in the rightfield corner and Cora squeezed him home with a "bunt" to the pitcher.

Unfortunately that lead didn't last long, as fourth string catcher Raul I am not your Casanova pumped a two-out, two-strike homer into the Monster seats off wake to tie the game and give the Rays hope that they might break their wretched 9-game losing streak today.

That feeling went away shortly thereafter.

Jackson actually settled down and threw two straight 1-2-3 innings in the second & third, but by the fourth he was back to being the pitcher who has been a frustrating mystery since arriving in Tampa as part of the Dany Baez/Lance Carter trade in 2006.

The Sox wrapped singles by Papi (1-3, R) & Lowell around strikouts from Drew and Hinske, and with the bottom of the order due up it looked as if Jackson would escape the frame without any damage done.

Wrong.

Instant fan favorite Jacoby Ellsbury, taking Manny's place in left today, worked the count to 2-2 before driving a double to center that scored Ortiz with the go-ahead run and set up runners at second & third for Doug Mirabelli, he of the .174 average coming in. Uh oh.

But these are the D-Rays, with the pitching staff that makes sub-Mendoza hitters look like the second coming of George Brett, and wouldn't you know Dougie Boy laced his first hit in more that two weeks, a single to deep right that scored Lowell and Ellsbury with ease to make it 4-1 Boston and gave Wake a bit more breathing room to work with.

Didn't really matter that Lugo (0-3) flied out to end the inning.

What did matter was that Boston put up another three runs in the fifth, because little did we know at the time, as it turns out two of those three would be very integral to this victory.

Cora (1-3, R, BI) started the winning rally when he stroked a one-out double to right, and after Papi flied out, Cora took third on a wild pitch by Jackson, then waltzed home on an opposite field double off the Monster by Drew. That ran the score to 5-1 and had Jackson on the verge of being run from the game.

Rays manager Joe Maddon should've had reliever Jason Hammel make a premature entrance from the bullpen right then, because two pitches later All Star Mike Lowell (2-4, 2R, 2BI) ripped a two-run Monster shot to make the score a rout, 7-1, and after escaping the inning with no more damage done, Jackson would get the rest of the day off.

Too bad because he missed a heck of a comeback by his teammates. By the seventh Wake was tiring (he is 40 for crying out loud), and when he gave up singles to Ty Wigginton, Casanova, and Aki Iwamura (1-5, R) in the inning it was time for Wakefield to join Jackson in the showers.

Not like that, sick fucks.

Javier Lopez (.1IP, 2H, R, K) came on to relieve Wake and stop the bleeding, but all he ended up doing was slicing the wound wide open.

Crawford (3-5, R, 2BI) ripped a 2-0 pitch from Javier for a two-run double to cut the lead to 7-3, and after Brendan Harris whiffed, old friend (and new Sox killer) Carlos Pena scorched a single to center that scored Iwamura and Crawford and turned what was a laffer into a tight, two-run contest.

Oh boy.

That's when Tito went to his new bullpen weapon, the rapidly emerging Manny Delcarmen, and all the local kid did was fan pinch hitter Jonny Gomes on four pitches, catching the slugger looking at a gorgeous inside cutter for called strike three.

Delcarmen would go on to strike out two more rays in the 8th, and then it was time for All Star closer Papelbon to come in and do his thing.

Which for Paps would include retiring the Rays in order on nine pitches, including fanning Iwamura swinging to open the inning and Harris looking at a sizzling high fastball to end the game.

And just like that Boston is on a mini-winning streak and should enjoy a sizable lead heading into the break, while the Rays have lost 10 in a row for the first time in two years.

Oh yeah, and they face All Star (starter?) Josh Beckett tomorrow.

Thanks for coming, guys.

QUOTES

"Obviously, our offense made it a whole lot easier to pitch."--Wake. Ah, yup.

"He is getting some pretty big outs in pretty big situations. ... I look forward to seeing some more exciting stuff out of him in the second half."--Tito on Delcarmen.

"I just didn't put people away when I had to."--Jackson, a.k.a. Captain Understatement

RECORD: 52-31
AL EAST: Up 11.5 on TOR
STREAK: W-3
LAST 10: 5-5
UP NEXT: Thu vs. TB 7:05