Tied For First-Virtually!--Peter

Well, finally, here we are! The Sox went to Tampa for their final series of the regular season against their new rival for the year. Never having beaten the Rays in Tampa this year and needing at least two of three to leave here with, more or less, at least a tie for first, they had their work cut out for them. They settled the first game fast!

While the Diceman was busy gaining his 17th win against just two losses, allowing just three hits and a pair of passes in five innings, five innings in which he surrendered just a single run, a solo shot by his countryman, Iwamura, the Sox wasted no time in taking apart the Rays pitching for the night.

After the first nine pitches of the evening, the Sox had men on first and second and a 1-0 count on Big Papi. The tenth pitch of the game never found leather. Instead it found its way into the cheaps deep in right, three zip, Sox.

But the Hose were far from finished in this night--not even close. After Iwamura's 3d inning solo shot cut the lead to 4-1, the Sox closed out the game in the 4th. Sending ten men to the plate, they started immediately when Jason Bay powered one into the seats in dead center. A couple of batters later, the Sox captain, Tek, made the souvenir hunters in the left field seats happy, driving a ball into their midst and sending Lowrie home ahead of him, 7-1 Sox.

Not to be outdone, after Dusty and Big papi had added a pair of runs on the ground, Yoooouk blasted one into the same left field seats, plating Papi in front of him and finishing the scoring--for the inning.

As the game wore on, the Sox continued to build their lead, Jake adding a single run on a solo shot to the seats in right in the 5th, followed by Yoooouk's RBI two bagger to left in the 6th. At that point, it was Sox, 13-1, and Dice-K was relieved by Smith.

Not sure if it was sympathy on Tito's part, but in two innings, Smith gave up four hits, two of them two-run shots, producing the Rays' final four runs of the evening. Jenn's favorite, Timlin, and Pauley handled the mop-up, each tossing an inning of no-hit, shutout ball.

Extra Info: The six homers the Sox put in the seats is the most since they did the same thing to the Orioles in August of 2003. At the same time all of this was finding its way into the history books, Dice-K's 17th win makes him the all time highest winning Japanese pitcher in MLB, surpassing another former Sox pitcher, Hideo Nomo, who won 16 in a season thrice for the Dodgers. If that's not enough history for you, Jenn's fav, Timlin, also achieved a landmark. Tonight's appearance marked the alltime record number of relief appearances for a right handed reliever, 1,051. The old record was held by a Pirates great, Kent Tekulve. In spite of his problems this season, you don't get to hang around the Show that long if you don't have some ability. Prediction from this corner: after the final Sox win of the year (hopefully, in its final game of the year), Mike hangs 'em up--hopefully wearing his third ring.

Now, about that headline. True, the Sox eliminated the one game margin they had trailed the Rays by. However, as the number of games they and the Rays have played differ slightly to this point of the season, the Sox still trail the Rays--by just over 1 percentage point, .594595 Rays to .593333 Sox. Beckett takes the ball tomorrow and, hopefully, he'll take care of that percentage point and change--and then some.

Oh, the wild card--Mr. Hankie's Yankees won, so they remain the same distance to the rear of the Sox--tied with the Jays, who lost a half game in the standings as they were idle. The Twinkies lost and dropped another game astern of the Hose. Twelve left for the season.