Table-setter Bellhorn enjoys a feast

The streak continues.

For the 43d time this season -- every game he's played in -- Mark Bellhorn has either walked or struck out.

Last night, in his final at-bat in the eighth, the Red Sox second baseman whiffed, giving him an AL-leading 52 strikeouts. He is also second in the league with 39 walks, one behind Chicago's Frank Thomas.

"I didn't really know they had a statistic like that," said Bellhorn, after an outstanding game against the team that originally signed him out of Auburn in 1994. "But I don't know if I want to. Is it a good stat or a bad one? I don't know what to make of it. I know I walk and strike out a lot. I always have."

He did quite a bit more last night at Fenway Park, helping the Red Sox to a 12-2 victory over the Athletics and Tim Hudson.

Bellhorn, who was penciled in as a bench player before the season, has played an important role in the Red Sox' flight to first place. Last night he went 3 for 6 with a double and a home run, scored four runs, had five RBIs, and improved his average to .244. The four runs were a career best and the five RBIs tied a career high.

"To have a game like that against your ex-team is always good," he said.

Oakland manager Ken Macha remembers Bellhorn.

"The guy can play second or third very well and occasionally go to short," said Macha. "When he came up here, he didn't get much of an opportunity and obviously he took a lot of pitches and it was a break for him to get somewhere else."

Said Bellhorn, "You have to take advantage of the opportunities you get. It's nice for me just to get out and have some success this year."

The night didn't start off well for Bellhorn. He swung at the first pitch he saw from Hudson and hit into a double play, after Johnny Damon opened with a single.

"I never faced him before," said Bellhorn. "I didn't know what to expect. Johnny said you have to be aggressive with him because he can get you in a hole. He can locate his pitches and make you swing at balls outside the zone."

Bellhorn led off the third with a single and scored on Jason Varitek's double to right for the Sox' second run. In the fourth, he knocked in two runs with a double to left. It was quite an at-bat. Hudson had him down in the count, 0-and-2, and Bellhorn battled back.

"I told myself he wasn't going to get me out, and I tried to get a pitch to hit," he said. "I was lucky to foul a couple off."

"That was a professional at-bat," said Sox manager Terry Francona. "That's not the first time he's done something like that."

In the fifth Bellhorn knocked in his third run when he reached on a fielder's choice, and in the seventh he hit his sixth home run of the season, connecting on a changeup from Ricardo Rincon and bouncing it off the Pesky Pole. "I've hit a couple of balls down the line a couple of times this year and they just went foul," he said. "Kind of nice to take advantage of your surroundings."

Bellhorn, who was acquired from the Rockies for a player to be named last December, has been a good table-setter for sluggers David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez. This month, he has reached in 22 of 24 games, and for the season he has been on base in 39 of 43 games. In the last four games, he has scored eight runs; he has 13 RBIs in his last seven games; and he has 29 RBIs in his last 30 contests. Last night marked his 10th multi-hit and sixth multi-RBI game.

"I just go out there and try not to do too much, just play my game and try to get on base," said Bellhorn, who said he is getting close to the groove he had two years ago when he hit 27 home runs for the Cubs. "I'm not there yet, but I'm getting close. This is a great team, a great group of guys. They make everybody feel comfortable."