Squad remains upbeat

His hitting streak had reached 16 games thanks to his seventh-inning home run that temporarily tied the score, but Johnny Damon, like his Red Sox teammates, wasn't in a celebratory mood yesterday despite the team winning five of six games on its pre-All-Star Game homestand.

Damon was stranded on third base when Mark Bellhorn struck out to end the game -- and the symbolic first half of the season -- as the Texas Rangers prevailed, 6-5, in a game Damon thought for sure would wind up a Boston victory.

"We had our opportunities, a few close calls at the end didn't go our way and we came up just short," said Damon in reference to pinch runner Pokey Reese getting picked off first base for the second out of the ninth and a called third strike to Bellhorn that appeared to some to be low and outside. "I thought we were going to win. We all had that feeling, even against an All-Star pitcher [Francisco Cordero] like that. We're definitely upset. We've been playing a lot better baseball lately, but we felt we should have won this game."

No one was more upset than closer Keith Foulke, who took the loss after giving up Alfonso Soriano's sacrifice fly in the eighth. "I pitched like [expletive]," he said. "There's not much more you can say. I've got to strike him out right there and I left the ball up."

Manager Terry Francona was less hard on Foulke, calling him, "a special guy . . . he's not perfect. He was close for a long time."

The same could be said for the Red Sox of late -- nearly perfect over their last half-dozen games but not quite able to make it 6 for 6. Red Sox starter Tim Wakefield felt the frustration after giving up three home runs, the result, he said, of leaving his knuckleball too high. Nevertheless, he has been part of the team's resurgence with a 2.00 ERA over his last four starts.

The ninth inning had all the makings of another come-from-behind job.

Bill Mueller led off with a walk and Manny Ramirez, who didn't start because of sore hamstrings, was sent up for Doug Mirabelli. But Ramirez popped to shallow right, and then Reese was caught leaning the wrong way as he thought about stealing second. Damon kept the ninth alive with a ground ball that ate up the left side of the Texas infield and he got to third on a throwing error after taking off for second on a steal attempt.

"[First baseman Mark Teixeira] tagged me on the butt after I got back," said Reese. "[First base umpire Randy Marsh] missed the call. But that's in the past. We played great on this homestand and we need the same intensity on the road. They've got a great team in Anaheim, and even though Seattle's having a tough year we've still got to go there and play good baseball."

Mirabelli, who hit a two-run homer over the Green Monster that preceded Damon's tying shot into the right-field seats, said it's time for the Red Sox to rest for a few days, recharge their batteries, and forget about the loss.

"This last week overall was good, very good," said Mirabelli. "This was a streak we were trying to put together and it came at just the right time." Mirabelli said he was optimistic about the second half of the season and gave five reasons: "Manny Ramirez, David Ortiz, Nomar Garciaparra, Pedro Martinez, and Curt Schilling" before predicting better second halves for Derek Lowe and Kevin Millar.

The locker room, quiet to begin with (there was no music playing after the loss) became even quieter as players quickly dressed, put the game behind them, and began their three-day break.

"Now we have everything in place," said reliever Alan Embree before departing. "We've got the people to make things happen. We showed that here at home. Now we have to keep it up out West."