June 29, 2003 ... Finishing a bombastic homestand with more fireworks than anything David Mugar can produce on the Esplanade, the Sons of Grady Little peppered their ancient yard's outer limits with six home runs, finishing a 6- 1 homestand with an 11-7 victory over the shell-shocked Florida Marlins.

It was Ball Day in the Green Monster seats. New cult hero Gabe Kapler hit two homers and a single, giving him a two-day debut of 7 for 9 with five extra-base hits. Todd Walker added a pair of homers, Trot Nixon plopped an opposite-field blast into the Monster seats, and Jason Varitek capped it with a heat-seeker off the Sports Authority sign in the eighth. The beneficiary of the outburst was Derek Lowe (seven innings, six runs), who pitched long enough to earn his team-leading ninth win.

The three-game set produced 70 runs and sent the Sox to Tampa with a team batting average of .300 and 190 runs for the month of June, their most in a month since Carl Yastrzemski's rookie year (194 in June of 1961).

There was certainly no place for the Marlins staff to hide. The smashing Sox set the tone in the first inning. After Brad Penny's leadoff walk to Johnny Damon, Walker turned on a 3-1 pitch and drove it over the Florida bullpen, giving Lowe a 2-0 lead.

Boston's tall righty gave it back in the top of the second. Lowe hit Mike Lowell with a pitch, then surrendered a triple to right- center to Juan Encarnacion. It looked like Lowe was out of the jam when he fanned Derrek Lee and Miguel Cabrera, but Alex Gonzalez singled to right to tie the score.

The ripped Kapler put the home team back ahead in the bottom of the inning with a tee shot into the Monster seats. Welcome back, indeed. It was Kapler's fifth hit in his first six Sox at-bats, giving him a cycle over two games.

Again, Lowe lost the lead. In the top of the third, Ivan Rodriguez scored Luis Castillo with a booming double off the center field wall, making it 3-3.

Nixon gave the Sox a 4-3 lead with a two-out homer off the top of the Monster in the fourth. Florida manager Jack McKeon, a ubiquitous presence over the weekend, came out to argue and the umpires convened before agreeing it was a homer. After Nixon's homer, Kapler singled to right, then scored on a triple to right-center by Bill Mueller, giving the Sox a 5-3 lead.

The Sox blew it open in the fifth, and again Kapler was in the mix. For the second straight inning, Penny got into trouble after getting the first two outs. David Ortiz started things with a line single to left (misjudged by Cabrera), then Kevin Millar walked. Nixon cracked an RBI single up the middle, then Kapler hit his second shot into the Monster seats. This one came on a 1-0 pitch and drilled a female fan near her right collarbone. It was 9-3. Kapler said he wasn't sure if this was his best two-game stretch in the bigs. He said he had two great games at the start of the 2000 season with the Rangers.

Lowe was unable to cruise to the finish line. In the sixth, after retiring 15 in a row, he gave up a two-out walk to Encarnacion, then watched Lee crush a two-run homer into those new seats. Blaine Neal relieved Penny to start the sixth and Walker hit a one-out homer into the Boston bullpen. It was Walker's second two- homer game in nine days.

Naturally, it still wasn't over. Leading, 10-5, in the eighth, Lowe departed after hitting Ivan Rodriguez to open the inning. Mike Timlin was first out of the pen and immediately hit Lowell with a 1- 2 pitch. After a force play, Lee hit a sky-high pop to shallow right. It was trouble from the start and clanged off the glove of a sliding Nixon. It was 10-6 and the tying run was in the on-deck circle. Timlin got out of the jam.

Armando Almanza came on to pitch the ninth for the Marlins and Varitek banged a pitch off the Sports Authority sign, making it 11- 6. It marked the most homers allowed by the Marlins in a game. Less than 20 hours after coughing it up against the Marlins, Brandon Lyon got the call again in the ninth and struggled. He walked the first batter, then gave up a double and single. Boos rained down as Rodriguez came to the plate. Lyon worked the count to 3-2 before striking out the catcher. That brought up Lowell, who'd burned Lyon a few hours earlier. Lyon got to 0-2 on Lowell for the second straight day, wasted two pitches, then fanned the slugger on an 87-mile per hour slider. He got Brian Banks on a harmless fly, putting an end to a Monster Mash week at Fenway Park.

Manny Ramirez was given the day off. He had an ice bag on his right knee while walking around the clubhouse in the morning. Before today, Ramirez was the only Sox player who'd been in every game.  Bill Mueller made a spectacular backhanded play on Mike Lowell's rocket in the sixth. Nomar Garciaparra had his 31-game Fenway hitting streak snapped.