Wakes Stuck In The Muck At 199 Wins...Sox Lose To Mariners And Head Back To Where They belong...Boston.

It was another "good enough" performance over 8 innings by Timmy Wakefield, who is striving to earn his 200th victory. Boston manager Terry Francona let him pitch a complete game but it was all to no avail. And it was one inning, the third, that the Rays pounced. In his haste to turn two, the umpire (another just dandy performance by the men in blue) pronouced that Lowrie's foot was off the base. A run scored with more to come soon. The game was over according to the scoreboard after the sixth inning ended. But after the game, that "bad" call in the third inning on Lowrie, negating a double play, still was a source of torment. Here's the skipper, Titp Francona...

"I really thought he grazed the bag. I think you got to be pretty sure on that one if you're going to make a call like that. After looking at the replay, I don't know how he can be sure."

You can click on this post's title to gain access to the Boston home page and the all-important video of the play. As for Wake's overall eight full innings, here's Papelbon's opinion. After all, who would know better?...

“I think everyone on the team is pulling for Wake, Even our manager is doing everything in his power to get him that 200th win. Wake can’t do any more than he’s doing. He’s gone deep into the games. He’s just got to keep going out there.’’

Thanks to you, my Constant Readers, with your similiar sentiments. After all, we're almost all Wake fans. Oh, please don't forget to click on this post's title to see that horribly called blown double play call, but tomorrow's another day. The Yankees were rained out so the lead is down to one game. Here are the three game series pitching match-ups...

Tue. 16 TB** 1:05 PM ET SUN/NESN** J. Lester (11-6) vs. J. Shields (11-9)
Tue. 16 TB** 7:10 PM ET SUN/NESN** E. Bedard (4-7) vs. J. Niemann (7-4)
Wed. 17 TB** 1:35 PM ET SUN/NESN** J. Lackey (11-8) vs. D. Price (10-10)

Hey Boston, let's string together 6 of eight and take a firm hold of the AL East. And to my Constant Readers, I hope every one of you has a terrific week (yes, 'tis Monday yet again) and as always, BE WELL. Enjoy the Boston off day and we'll resume the wars on Tuesday. GO SOX and click on this post's title for some nice, revealing videos.