Crushing blow

And therein lies the current gulf between the Sox and Yankees. Having swept through New York over the first eight games of the season, the Sox now look up at their rivals, in performance and standings. The small comfort, if it could be called that on a night the Sox lost, 20-11, at home in a game that took 3 hours 57 minutes, was that the Rangers lost again, keeping the Sox’ lead in the wild-card standings at one game.

“It was very frustrating,’’ Mike Lowell said. “I don’t really care who’s on the mound for the other team. When you get down by a large margin, you’re in a total uphill climb. It really doesn’t make it easy for us. But we didn’t give up, not even until the last out of the game. I thought it was a big part of character. All the guys that left early, you saw them still in our dugout. That’s a big thing. It’s easy to pack it in in a game like this.’’

By the end, Penny was merely a memory, removed after giving up 10 hits and eight runs in four-plus innings. In regards to his future in the rotation, that discussion will continue today. Manager Terry Francona sounded eerily similar to the way he spoke of John Smoltz that day in New York that predicated the end of Smoltz’s tenure with the Sox.

“I think we’re always probably evaluating,’’ Francona said. “I’d rather not do that tonight, I mean it’s 10 minutes after the game. There’s obviously some things we need to talk about. [Tim Wakefield] pitched tonight, and again I haven’t even talked to Wake yet, but it sounded like it went pretty well. So we’ll get together tomorrow and we’ll see where we need to go.’’

Wakefield, who pitched 5 2/3 solid innings for Pawtucket last night, might just be pitching in the majors again by Wednesday, Penny’s next scheduled start. Penny, though, didn’t seem particularly worried about his position. “Not really,’’ he said. “I feel good, I’m healthy. I’ll turn it around.’’