THE RAYS and A ONE WAY
TICKET TO "MANNY-WOOD" ...
Varitek's walk-off hit gives Jonathan Papelbon
his second win in two days

April 30, 2008 ... The Red Sox came storming out of their dugout to celebrate another apparent walk-off win, only to have plate umpire Sam Holbrook stop them short when he signaled that Jed Lowrie was out at home, the left leg of Toronto catcher Rod Barajas blocking Lowrie from his destination in the bottom of the ninth.

Not quite deja vu but on Jason Varitek's hit to center, Manny Ramirez beat another Wells throw to the plate, sliding around Barajas, then popping up and slamming his helmet to the ground to punctuate another last at-bat win, by a 2-1 score over the dazed Blue Jays.

Along with 37,710 other folks in Fenway Park. If the last inning of the season's first month is any barometer, Sox fans are in for another enchanted summer. This was the Sox' second walk-off win over the Jays in two nights, and their eighth last at-bat win since Ramirez started that ball rolling with a two-run, 10th-inning double in the Tokyo Dome season opener back in March.

David Ortiz homer to break a scoreless tie in the seventh, then hit a single through the Toronto shift that handcuffed second baseman Aaron Hill and began the winning rally in the ninth. The pitching has managed to keep them right there and allow one big hit or two to win a game.

And for the second straight night, the winner was closer Jonathan Papelbon, who punctuated his outing with the first regular-season pickoff of his career. Unlike his pickoff of Matt Holliday in Game 2 of the World Series, the brainstorm of bench coach Brad Mills, Papelbon did this one on his own, nabbing pinch runner John McDonald after Matt Stairs had opened the ninth with a single.

Meanwhile, there was no margin of error for Sox reliever Manny Delcarmen. Francona, mindful that the Sox had won just one of their three previous pitching gems, yanked Delcarmen after he faced just one batter, Adam Lind, and gave up a single to open the eighth. Francona summoned Hideki Okajima, and Okajima had not yet made it to the mound when a snack container came flying out of the Sox dugout, tossed by the miffed Delcarmen, who had allowed runs in each of his last three relief appearances and six of 13.

It's a fair guess that Delcarmen's humor did not improve when Gregg Zaun lined a double into the left-field corner, only the third extra-base hit allowed by Okajima in 39 plate appearances, and Alex Rios brought the tying run home with a liner to Moss in right. The game remained tied, Okajima striking out David Eckstein and Rolen. The Sox profited from bad base running by pinch runner Marco Scutaro, who should have advanced to third on Rios's fly ball but had advanced too far to tag up the Jays could have had runners at first and third and none out with Eckstein, a terrific bunter, at the plate.

Ortiz's home run, which reached the first rows of the right-field grandstand, was his first hit since he homered off Scot Shields of the Angels in the ninth inning last Thursday, a span of 14 at-bats. It was also Boston's first extra-base hit in 39 innings since Ramirez's fifth-inning double against the Rays last Friday night. Ortiz's home run came off Jays starter Dustin McGowan, who had allowed just one hit, Ramirez's single to open the second, and set down 16 in succession until Ortiz hit a 2-and-0 pitch for his fifth home run of the season.

But after Ortiz singled in the ninth, Francona did not permit him to run the bases, like he had in Boston's 1-0 win the night before, when Ortiz scored from second on Kevin Youkilis's base hit to Wells, who bobbled the ball. Ortiz told Francona his right knee was too sore to try that again last night. The pinch runner, Lowrie, failed to score after taking a cautious secondary lead, but Ramirez rumbled in when Varitek delivered.

Since 1956, Pedro Martinez (2000) and Beckett (2007) are the only Sox pitchers to have gone 5-0 through April 30. Daisuke Matsuzaka (seven scoreless innings) didn't factor into the decision last night, leaving him 4-0.