G51: Athletics 8, Red Sox 3

Red Sox   - 000 110 100 - 3  6  0
Athletics - 304 001 00x - 8  8  1

Four consecutive pitches from Wakefield with one out in the first inning -- Crosby double, called strike, Cust RBI single, Thomas 2-run dong -- put the Red Sox in an early hole.

Oakland got four more runs off Wake in the third. A walk and two singles brought in one run, then Ellis whacked a three-run dong to left, and it was Oakland 7-0.

Pedroia homered in the fourth. Ellsbury drove in Boston's other two runs: singling in Drew (who had doubled) in the fifth and Lugo (who had reached on an infield error) in the seventh.

Tampa Bay shut out Baltimore 2-0 to move back to 1.5 GB. The Yankees pounded Seattle 13-2, but remain locked in the basement.

***

Tim Wakefield (4.33, 99 ERA+) / Rich Harden (2.91, 131 ERA+)

Back on May 15, I noted (expected, hoped, etc.) that the Red Sox were going to "put an obscene beating on both the Brewers and Royals".

The team went 7-0, outscoring Milwaukee and Kansas City 49-28. That may not be obscene, but it'll do. The team batted .300/.377/.520 while holding its opponents to a .219/.312/.388 line.

Tonight starts a ten-game road trip with three in Oakland, three in Seattle and four in Baltimore. Then it's back to Fenway for a three-game AL East showdown with the Devil Rays.

As you can see by the schedule, the Sox have put together separate losing streaks of 3, 4 and 5 games as well as separate winning streaks of 4, 5, 6 and 7 games. All in the first 50 games of the season.