Jays, by a wing

TORONTO -- For two weeks, as the Red Sox rolled to an 11-4 mark, the club's harmonious play -- sterling starting pitching, clinical defense, and a guy on the back end in Jonathan Papelbon to tug on the light-bulb string -- steered the focus clear of the team's situational-hitting deficiencies.

Yesterday, the lack of clutch hitting was immaterial by the time Kevin Youkilis and Mark Loretta came to bat in the third inning with runners on second and third. By then the Sox were behind, 5-0, which would become 8-1 an inning later, which is how it would end, in a mercifully hasty 2 hours 23 minutes before 34,387 at the Rogers Centre.

But, in that situation, Youkilis grounded out and Loretta lined out, as the Sox went 0 for 6 with runners in scoring position. They are 0 for 10 two games into this series, 1 for 17 (.059) over their last three games (all losses), and just 39 for 163 (.239) on the season. In 18 games, they've scored three or fewer runs seven times.

It didn't help that the Sox rolled out another low-wattage lineup yesterday, with J.T. Snow, Dustan Mohr, Alex Cora, and Josh Bard rounding out the final four spots. Those four are a combined 13 for 70 this year, a .186 clip.

And it didn't help that Harry Leroy Halladay III, who has as many All-Star Game appearances as Lenny DiNardo does major league starts (three apiece), was on the mound. Halladay, so buoyed by his offense, needed pitch only five innings for the win. DiNardo was gone sooner, two batters and two base hits into the Toronto half of the fourth.

The Blue Jays, who have scored seven or more runs in four of the five meetings between these teams, pounded DiNardo early and often. The first inning: Reed Johnson single to left. Alex Rios fly out. Vernon Wells chopped infield single. Troy Glaus two-run double off the peak of the wall in left. Bengie Molina two-run homer to center. Shea Hillenbrand single.

The damage stood to be greater than four runs, until Lyle Overbay fanned and Hillenbrand was caught stealing on the same sequence.

''They were elevating some balls with authority," Sox manager Terry Francona noted.

Rios's one-out single in the second increased the Toronto lead to 5-0, which the Sox would cut only to 5-1, on Trot Nixon's one-out RBI double to left-center in the fourth. But with Nixon in scoring position, Snow grounded out, and Mohr waved at a bending Halladay offering.

The Jays delivered another crushing inning in the fourth, sending seven men to the plate and scoring three times. Aaron Hill and Connecticut native John McDonald began by singling, bouncing DiNardo.

''Early in the game I was leaving [pitches] up, and you can't afford to do that against a ball club of this caliber," DiNardo said. ''Later on I was getting the ball down, but at the same time they're hitting the balls on the ground and they seemed to find a lot of holes. You've got to accept that."

Francona said DiNardo's role as the fifth starter ''doesn't change" because of yesterday, and the lefthander still is expected to pitch Friday at Tampa Bay. However, the club might be tempted to take a look at Abe Alvarez, another soft thrower but a pitcher who is 3-0 at Triple A with a 1.96 ERA, a .139 batting average against, and just 11 hits allowed in 23 innings.

Jermaine Van Buren, who was told after the game that he'd be optioned back to Pawtucket, relieved DiNardo. He walked the first batter of his Sox career and allowed all three runners on base to score, on a Rios sacrifice fly and a scorched two-run triple by Wells.

The Sox again left two runners on base with one out in the fifth against Halladay. Only one Sox player reached base over the closing four innings, and that was Bard, who walked with two outs in the seventh (he reached base three times, with a double, single, and walk, playing because Francona wanted to give Jason Varitek a day off).

''I like our team a lot," Francona said of his club, which is batting .256 this season, to the Blue Jays' .314. ''Today is a bad day [following] a tough night [Friday]. It happens. It's not fun. I'm comfortable with our ball club. When Coco [Crisp] is gone, you have to make things stretch that don't always stretch."

The Sox have lost four of five to Toronto this season and are 8-15 vs. the pesky Jays since the start of last season. Here in the stadium formerly known as SkyDome, they were 55-37 between 1989 and 2002; since, they are 13-16.

''I don't know if it's a message to the league, as much as it is in this clubhouse," Halladay said, of winning four of five against the Sox. ''I think being able to win some series like this, especially [Friday], being able to come back and get the win there, builds confidence in here.

''We felt we could play with this team, beat these teams. Now that we're actually doing it a little bit, I think it helps here more than anything."

Today, the Sox try to avoid a sweep and a fourth straight loss. Tough one to handicap. Toronto starter Josh Towers is 0-3 this season with a 9.24 ERA. Matt Clement, in his Sox career against the Blue Jays, is 0-3 with a 9.45 ERA.

A push.

Possibly to give way to a shove, on to Cleveland.