Papi put on an impressive power display with a pair of homers and three RBI, but unfortunately the Sox had dug themselves into too deep a hole for that to really matter this night. Wake got shelled for the second time in his past three outings, giving up three long balls and six earned runs in just 2.1 innings of work. (You know you're in tough shape when the likes of Willy Aybar and Fernando Perez take you deep with relative ease.) Losing two out of three this past series, the Sox fell to two games out of first in the East with 10 left to play. The road doesn't get any easier from here as they'll face A.J. Burnett, Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee in three of their next five games.

Still waiting for the Rays to experience that highly anticipated second half slump, but with under a dozen games to go, it appears to be too little, too late. Invoking a popular saying from years past, "At least we still got the wild card."

Regardless of the losing effort, it's nice to see the Trop selling out for a change with the Sox in town. I really don't know what more this team could do to put some of those wrinkly, loose-skinned, AARP card-carrying asses in the seats. Do they just not realize what's going on and how huge this is not only for Tampa Bay, but for the entire landscape of Major League Baseball? What are bleacher seats, like $12 bucks? You can afford a three-bedroom condo in a gated community with a security staff off the 15th hole but not a hundo for a 10-pack of games? Really?

I guess it's alright, it's not like they're making MLB history or about to make the postseason for the first time ever or anything...