TORONTO -- The petty bloggery, Barry blathering, and Papi peeving? Excess baggage, the kind the Red Sox were more than happy to leave at the border.
When a trip has been as good as this one was for the Sox -- five of six wins against the Twins and Blue Jays, a lead in the American League East stretched to seven games, 10 1/2 over toasted Toronto -- who comes home with such worthless stuff as souvenirs?
Instead, the Sox bring back such shiny mementos as:
A league-best 1.79 ERA for Tim Wakefield, who pitched seven shutout innings in Minnesota in the first game of this trip, seven shutout innings in Toronto in the last, and has thrown 16 1/3 consecutive scoreless innings.
"I hope it lasts all year," Mike Timlin said when informed of Wakefield's ERA. "I hope he wins the Cy Young."
Used to be the only time Wakefield's name appeared in the same sentence as Cy Young was when someone asked whether the 40-year-old knuckleballer intends to pitch as long as old Young did (44).
"So far, so good," said Wakefield, who in typical low-key fashion said he's looking only as far as Detroit, the team he'll be facing in his next start.
Wakefield set down 16 Jays in a row, a streak that started when catcher Doug Mirabelli and first baseman Kevin Youkilis caught Troy Glaus napping at first with Frank Thomas at the plate on a strike-'em-out, pick-'em-off double play that turned a bases-loaded threat into the last time the Jays were heard from the rest of the night in the Red Sox' 8-0 victory.
"He knew, I knew, [a play] was on, and fortunately [Thomas] swung through a pitch," Youkilis said. "Definitely a huge play for us, bases loaded, no runs scored. Wake was having a little trouble throwing the ball over the plate. Coming back to strike out Frank was huge and getting the runner out like that was great. I can't tell you what the sign was. You guys can't know everything."
Home runs in all three games in Toronto by third baseman Mike Lowell, including a three-run shot last night in a shocking six-run, third-inning uprising against Toronto ace Roy Halladay, who could not keep the Jays from losing their ninth straight game. Lowell has five home runs and is batting .407 against the Jays this season, and is batting .376 overall against Toronto, the highest average of any Jays opponent with 100 at-bats or more.
"Obviously, we respect him as much as any pitcher in the league," manager Terry Francona said. "It's nice to come away with a win any time he pitches."
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