The Tampa Bay Rays beat the Los Angeles Angels 6-4 Monday night and the confident (arrogant?) Red Sox fan smiled.

The Red Sox (72-56) trail the Rays (76-48) by 5 games in the American East. Boston has a little over five weeks (including 6 games with Tampa Bay) to reel the Rays in.

What Boston would love to do is not only to catch the Rays, but to have the best record in the AL (i.e. home field advantage). The Angels are 76-47.

Boston's best bet is to have the Angels lose, and the Red Sox take care of business.

Just one way of looking at it.

Yesterday's standout with the bat was Jason Bay (3-for-5, 2 HR, 4 RBI). He's batting .348 since coming to Boston. While the Red Sox miss the power and clutch of you-know-who, it is nice to talk about hustle instead of hair, character instead of contracts, and quality instead of quitting.

Only two of Boston's minor league teams played Monday:

Catcher Jon Still hit his 21st home run for Lancaster ... Infielder/outfielder Kris Negron went 2-for-3 with his fourth home run. He's hitting. 313 in 19 games since his promotion.

Greenville's 19-year-old outfielder David Mailman (.264) continues his hot streak, going 4-for-4 on Monday. He's hitting .373 since Aug. 2, and .429 in his last 10 games.

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