Red Sox bear down vs. Cubs

That was his most significant contribution in the Sox' decisive 8-1 beating of the Cubs. His most enduring? Well, that might have been on the basepaths, where he produced a slide that was anything but brutal.

Scene: Sixth inning, Red Sox leading, 3-0, Doug Mirabelli on third, Wakefield on first, Johnny Damon at the plate. Damon hits a ball to the left-center field gap. Mirabelli scores with ease. Wakefield, motoring, touches second and catches sight of third base coach Dale Sveum's right arm, which, of course, was whirling.

''He was a position player," noted Sveum, alluding to Wakefield's status as the corner infielder the Pittsburgh Pirates used an eighth-round pick to select 17 years ago. ''There were two outs. The outfielder bobbled the ball. We need every run we can get. We had to take a chance."

Wakefield ''made a really nice turn," Sveum noticed, and headed for home, three words running through the 38-year-old's head: ''Oh my God." Sure enough, he slipped under the tag of catcher Michael Barrett, lifting the Sox to a 5-0 lead.

''I don't know if I could have scored from first," Mirabelli acknowledged.

The run pumped energy through a Red Sox dugout that, in the words of manager Terry Francona, was ''looking for something to get them energized."

The sources on this night were numerous. Leadoff man Damon and Kevin Youkilis, who batted third for a resting Bill Mueller, both fell one hit shy of the cycle. Damon doubled in the third, homered in the fifth (his second of the year and first in a team-high 149 at-bats), and cranked the two-run triple in the sixth.

Youkilis homered with two outs in the first, singled in the fifth, and doubled to lead off the seventh. He scored moments later when Manny Ramirez rifled a hanging Joe Borowski breaking ball onto Waveland Avenue. Ramirez, who hadn't homered in an alarming 69 at-bats, finished his swing with a high, elaborate flourish.

''I can't hit," the slugger with the .251 average said as he put on a purple shirt, ''but I can dress."