G31: Rays 14, Red Sox 5

Rays    - 200 065 100 - 14 17  2
Red Sox - 010 022 000 -  5 10  1

Work pulled me away from this one in the third inning, so I missed all of the fun. Toronto beat Oakland 6-4. We are 1 GB.

***

Scott Kazmir (6.00, 80 ERA+) / Jon Lester (5.11, 98 ERA+)

Terry Francona, on Friday's game:

All of a sudden, we get a couple of baserunners, and there's Jason Bay again.

Bay's last three home runs, and four of his last five, have been three-run dongs. All nine of his home runs this season have come in the sixth inning or later. He has driven in 12 runs in the last five games. Over his last 15 games, dating back to April 24, he is hitting .385/.508/.788.

Bay:

I don't like to look at my numbers. I don't jump on the Internet every morning or tear through the stats pages. It's a long season. It would be counterproductive to focus on today.

Kevin Youkilis and Bay and 1-2 in the American League in OBP, OPS and Offensive Winning Pct.; they are 2-3 in slugging. Bay is 1st in Runs Created and 2nd in both RBI and walks.

He is comfortable in Boston:

It was nice to go into Spring Training and just be another guy. I wasn't the novelty. I was just a regular left fielder of the Red Sox. I relish that. I really like blending in with the team and being another guy on this team rather than the standout news story.

John Tomase, Herald:

Jason Bay's 2-year-old daughter Addison recently added a new phrase to her vocabulary, and it couldn't have come at a better time: "Home run, da da."

"She says it about 50 times a day when the game's on," Bay joked. "She's bound to be right sometimes."

Sometimes? Red Sox fans would agree it feels like she's right all the time.

Also last night, Pawtucket's Clay Buchholz allowed only one hit over seven innings and struck out eight. He has allowed only three hits in his last 12.1 innings of work. Overall, in five starts (27 innings), Buchholz has a 1.33 ERA.

I got a hold of a couple of things that I didn't have a grasp of last year. I'm not really sure what it will take to get back to the Majors. I feel like I'm really in my prime right now.

Dom DiMaggio (1917-2009): Globe obit and photos -- Pesky talks -- Video from Fenway -- Times obit.

***

Most Red Sox Wins By Manager

                  Wins     Seasons
Joe Cronin       1,071     1935-47
Mike Higgins       560     1955-59; 60-62
Terry Francona     489     2004-present
Bill Carrigan      489     1913-16; 27-29

If the Red Sox win another 72 games this year, which would give them 91 victories, Tito will move past Pinky Hggins into second place.