MLB

BOSTON NOW THINKS ONLY ‘WILD CARD’

BOSTON — The Yankees are in the Red Sox’s heads. Just listen to David Ortiz, who offered this honest evaluation after his Sawx were bludgeoned, 20-11, last night at Fenway Park by Hideki Matsui & Co.:

BOX SCORE

SOX BOUGHT CLUNKERS

DAMON HURTS KNEE

HAPPY DAYS FOR YANKS

MATSUI POWERS ROUT

PEDROIA OUT-EFFORTS CANO

RICE RIPS JETER

“I can tell you one thing: That’s not a team that we played two months ago,” Big Papi said of this Boston Massacre. “You have to keep that in mind. They’ve got good players. They always find a way to pull themselves together. I’ve been watching that for years. They did it all tonight.

“But we’ve got hitters here, too. It’s all about holding their offense and we’ll see what happens.”

It’s hard to believe the Red Sox won the first eight meetings between the clubs this season, but much has changed. The Red Sox are trying to hold onto the wild card. It’s no longer about winning the AL East. It’s about survival. The Rangers and Rays are the Red Sox’s chief rivals, not the Yankees, who are 7½-games ahead.

The Red Sox must get to October before they can entertain any thoughts about beating the Yankees.

Manager Terry Francona insisted his Red Sox are not dwelling on the fact the Yankees have such a big lead. He said there are still lots of games ahead.

“We’ll just try to play as well as we can,” Francona said. “If you do that, when it’s all said and done, we’ll be where we are supposed to be.”

That would be the postseason.

“This is fun,” Francona added. “You work all winter, you go through spring training, you play 120 games and now every game we play is so exciting because it means so much. If you lose a game it hurts.”

Last night really hurt. The Red Sox scored 11 runs, but were never in this game.

The Red Sox need pitching help and are trying to land Mets reliever Billy Wagner. The last big move the Red Sox made was trading for Victor Martinez. That move was done as a way to counter the Yankees big offseason acquisition of free agent Mark Teixeira.

The Red Sox went into the game having won their last seven at Fenway against the Yankees, their longest home winning streak against them since 1990. This was the 901st game between the two teams at Fenway and it’s been close all the way with the Red Sox holding a 450-447-4 edge.

This is not over, perhaps it’s just beginning. Consider that heading into the ninth inning, the scoreboard listed 19 hits for the Yankees and eight for the Red Sox — 19-8, that was the Yankees’ winning score in Game 3 of the 2004 ALCS. The Red Sox won the next four games and then went on to win their first World Series since 1918.

Now, though, it’s the Yankees who are on a mission.