First place was in their grasp. So close. Josh Beckett was humming, the Rays were putting up a line of zeroes, and even though it was only 1-0, the Red Sox had to feel good about taking first back last night.

Until Carlos Pena solved Beckett and put one into the seats over a leaping Jacoby Ellsbury (shown here). Suddenly, it was Tampa Bay starter Andy Sonnanstine and the remarkable Ray bullpen that looked magical. And whatever magical force is helping the Rays (Jayson Stark goes into some detail on this), it got the better of Justin Masterson, who went out to keep them down in the ninth. A hit, a walk, a hit batsman and a hit later, the Rays were 2-1 winners, back alone in first, and the Red Sox were shaking their heads and wondering (not for the first time) what it's going to take to beat these guys.

If it helps, Toeing the Rubber tries to put the game in perspective. The Sox get their last crack at Tampa Bay tonight, with Wakefield on the mound. After this, the Sox go to Toronto for the weekend, then host limping Cleveland and the corpse of the Yankees. Tampa Bay hosts the Twins, then goes on the road to Baltimore and Detroit to finish the season.

The Red Sox made some off-field news, by making the eminently sensible decision to lock up GM Theo Epstein for a few more years. At this point, even Dan Shaughnessy can't argue with the decision, which has to rankle him a bit. (Just because we can't get enough of it, here's a summary of spring 2007 quotes by Shaughnessy questioning the major-league ability of the Sox' rookie 2B. How'd that turn out?)

We wouldn't be Boston fans if we didn't take abnormal glee in events happening 200 miles to our south. There's the ongoing funeral in the Bronx, the Mets are in their annual anti-pennant race, and they're already trying to talk Jets fans off the ledge. Except for losing the damn Superbowl to NY, life would be just about perfect right now.

Photo by Mike Carlson/AP.