As the crowd chanted, "Sweep, sweep, sweep" before a national television audience, the Sox were unable to prevent the Rangers from brooming them in a three-game series for the first time since Aug. 20-22, 1999, also in Texas.
"We came in and they just beat our butts," center fielder Johnny Damon said.
In their futility, the Sox wasted a dazzling start by Tim Wakefield, who rationed the red-hot Rangers only two runs on five hits and a hit batsman over seven innings. Overcoming his personal demons in Texas, where he seldom has fared well, Wakefield departed with a 2.25 ERA after improving the average he has allowed opponents to .196, one of the league's best.
Part of the problem was Wakefield's counterpart, Texas starter R.A. Dickey, who doled out only the one run on four hits and four walks over 8 2/3 innings.
"I just got outpitched," Wakefield said. "He did a great job."
The Rangers nicked Wakefield only when Brad Fullmer lined a triple past Damon in center field and scored on Mark Teixeira's groundout in the fourth inning and when David Dellucci launched a solo shot with two out in the seventh. Wakefield's relief, Alan Embree, allowed the final two Texas runs in the eighth inning when Michael Young tripled and scored on Hank Blalock's sacrifice fly before Alfonso Soriano cranked his 100th career homer.
The Sox, who arrived in Texas with a 4 1/2-game lead over the Yankees, suddenly found themselves clinging to a 1 1/2-game edge, thanks largely to the Rangers.
"The same things we've been doing to teams," manager Terry Francona said, "they did to us this series."
Missing Nomar Garciaparra and Trot Nixon more than ever, the Sox headed for a long late-night flight to Cleveland hoping to respark their sputtering offense. They averaged only three runs in the series, which lasted less than 28 hours from the start of Saturday's twinight doubleheader to the end of last night's loss.
