Sox get back in good standing

There will be no ring ceremonies when the Sox return home to play the Oakland Athletics tomorrow night at Fenway Park, but the fast start augurs well for making plans in October. Since 1996, the first year under the wild-card format in which MLB played a full schedule in April, four teams with the best record in April went to the World Series and five other teams won their divisions. Last season, the Tigers went 16-9 in April, the second-best record in the league, and went to the Series.

"We're playing good baseball and we're making a statement," said second baseman Alex Cora, whose fifth-inning two-run home run off Yankees ace Chien-Ming Wang, the first hit of his career in Yankee Stadium, vaulted the Sox ahead of the Bombers, 4-3, after souvenir collector Doug Mientkiewicz had wiped out an early 2-0 Sox lead with a three-run home run off Tavarez.

Cora's infield out in the third also drove home Coco Crisp, who had tripled, with Boston's second run after David Ortiz's upper-deck shot off Wang in the first, Ortiz's seventh home run of the season, had opened the scoring.

"We play solid games to get Ws," said Cora, whose hot bat (.360) threatens to take playing time from rookie second baseman Dustin Pedroia (.111 in his last 16 games). "It's not like we're doing anything fancy, we're getting guys over, we're getting guys in, we're getting the lead. And with the bullpen throwing the ball the way they are, it's a good feeling when you have that lead in the sixth or seventh."

The Sox bullpen continues to be a great source of shiawase -- that's Japanese for happiness -- which is why Tavarez goes out of his way to keep not only Daisuke Matsuzaka but Hideki Okajima smiling.

"They're all my friends, Okajima and Matsuzaka," said Tavarez, whose only trouble yesterday came in the third, when he walked Jorge Posada and Robinson Cano, then crossed up catcher Jason Varitek by throwing a slider when Varitek was calling for a fastball, which allowed Mientkiewicz to forgo a bunt and deliver a long ball instead.

"I try to talk to those guys, come out with a joke every day," Tavarez said. "Hopefully, they like me a lot. I just try to make them happy. I think I'm the only player who tries to say something every day, even if it's a stupid thing."