AGAIN, WAKEFIELD LEFT WITHOUT SUPPORT

The Red Sox went 6 for 34. That's .176. The Red Sox reached base 7 times out of 35 appearances. That's a .200 OBP. Combined slugging was .294. The Red Sox had no offense at all. Tip your cap to Scott Kazmier, and Travis Harper. But seriously, 1 run against the Devil Rays?

The Red Sox had an opportunity to go up early. Youkilis had a leadoff double, was moved to 3rd by a Loretta groundout, but was left there after Ortiz struck out and Ramirez grounded out.

The Sox got their lone run in the 2nd when Mohr knocked out his 2nd homer of the season over The Monster.

Bottom of the 3rd, Alex Gonzalez led off with a basehit, three straight outs. Nonproductive outs at that. Then 10 straight Red Sox hitters were retired.

The Sox had 2 on in the 6th, nothing happened. In the 9th, the Sox threatened but couldn't bring home a run. Manny had an infield single, Lowell reached on an error, Willie Harris got his first hit in a Red Sox uniform to load the bases with 1 out. Nixon struck out, then Tek pinch hit and flew out.

Just no offense at all.

The shame is, Wakefield actually pitched pretty well. Two earned runs in 8 innings. 4 hits, 2 walks. You don't get too many starts like that out of pitchers, and Wakefield isn't going to do that for us more than a few times this year.

The Man of the Game is Tim Wakefield. For the second straight time, he wins it despite getting an L. He was the best player out there. Kazmir pitched well, but fell apart after 5.2.

Now for the B*tch-Goat:
Wakefield: 0.2 - 8 IP, 2 ER, 3 R
Bard: 0.1 - Passed Ball, 0 for 3, K
Tavarez: 0.3 - 0 IP, 2 ER
Ortiz: 0.2 - 0 for 4, 3 LOB
Lowell: 0.2 - 0 for 4, 3 LOB

The Red Sox end their 10 game homestand with a 6-4 record. Not bad, but not great. Now it is back on the road where we struggled so much last year.

Beckett against Burnett tomorrow night in Toronto in a battle of former Marlins pitchers.

SOX AND D-RAYS GANG UP TO BEAT D-RAYS

Curt Schilling was the first starter to 4 wins last night as he pitched 6 innings against Tampa allowing 1 earned run. Schilling was given a 1 run lead in the 1st thanks to a Youkilis leadoff homerun. Then the Sox gave Curt 7 more runs in the 3rd with some good opportunistic hitting off of bad Tampa pitching and bad Tampa defense.

The inning summary for the 3rd inning says ALOT:

0 on, 0 outs
Gonzalez strikes out.

0 on, 1 out
Youkilis singles to center.

runner on 1st, 1 out
Loretta singles to center, Youkilis to 3rd
Throwing error by Gathright, Youkilis scores, Loretta to 3rd

runner on 3rd, 1 out
Ortiz intentionally walks

runners on 1st and 3rd, 1 out
Ramirez walks, Ortiz to 2nd

bases loaded, 1 out
Nixon singles to right, Loretta scores, Ortiz to 3rd, Ramirez to 2nd

bases loaded, 1 out
Varitek sac-flies to center, Ortiz scores, Ramirez to 3rd

runners on 1st and 3rd, 2 out
Lowell doubles to right, Ramirez scores, Nixon scores

runner on 2nd, 2 out
Stern reaches on catching error by Childers, Lowell scores

runner on 1st, 2 out
Stern advances to 2nd on Wild Pitch

runner on 2nd, 2 out
Gonzalez walks

runners on 1st and 2nd, 2 out
Youkilis singles to left, Stern scores, Gonzalez to 3rd

runner on 3rd, 2 out
Loretta flies out to left

7 RUNS, 5 HITS, 2 WALKS, 2 ERRORS, 1 LEFT ON BASE

Productive nights all around. Loretta went 2 for 5, Ortiz walked twice, Manny walked thrice, Trot went 2 for 4, Tek had a SAC fly, Lowell went 2 for 4, Stern reached on that error and scored, Gonzalez had an RBI SAC fly.

Seanez pitched a scoreless 1 hit inning, Tavarez and Foulke were perfect in the 8th and 9th, respectively.

The Man of the Game is Kevin Youkilis. Youk went 3 for 4 with a pair of singles and a leadoff homerun. He knocked in 2 runs and scored twice. He also went 2 for 2 in the 3rd inning rally with a 1 out single to get things started, and a 2 out single that was the end of the Red Sox scoring in the inning.

Wakefield goes against Kazmir tonight as the Sox look for the sweep.