Wakefield takes the cake with win No. 150

There just might have been some celebrating on the way to Seattle yesterday. Not only did the Red Sox take a series from the Orioles and pick up a game on the Yankees, but Tim Wakefield reached two milestones. He won his 150th game with the Sox, becoming just the third pitcher to reach that milestone behind Cy Young and Roger Clemens (192 each). And he turned 41, making him undefeated in four career birthday starts.

"It's just a number. I don't feel 41," Wakefield said after the Sox' 7-4 victory. After being asked how old he feels, he replied, "Forty."

Wakefield is hardly one to sing his own praises. He saluted the training staff for its help in maintaining his health and workout routine. Then he deflected a question on the possibility of eclipsing his career high for wins.

His manager was more loquacious.

"I'll take all the time you want and brag about him," Terry Francona said. "He's a pro, he's been a pro, he will continue to be a pro. For him to be at that stage in his career and being successful, it's taken a lot of hard work. 'Cause the older you get -- what is he, 48 today, 49? -- you have to work really hard to stay productive, and he has done that."

Wakefield has decisions in each of his 22 starts (13-9), which puts him on track to surpass the 17 wins he put up in 1998 with the Red Sox. He and Josh Beckett are among those tied for the American League lead in wins.

"I'm so proud of him, what he's done in his career," catcher Doug Mirabelli said. "He just goes out there every fifth day and gives everything he has. To be behind the plate with a lot of those wins, it makes me feel like I have a piece of those wins with him.

"We live and die together there as a battery."

Eric Gagne got the loudest cheer of the afternoon when he entered the game to start the ninth inning. Since Jonathan Papelbon closed Wednesday's game and the Sox had a four-run lead to start the ninth yesterday, it was considered the right time for Gagne to make his Boston debut. "It was good to get that first one out of the way," Gagne said. "I was a little nervous, butterflies, but it was fun just to get that first one out of the way and now I can just focus on throwing the baseball. I felt great. I threw the ball really good. A couple of hits, but balls that weren't hit that hard. I really can't control that. When I release the ball, the ball's gone. I can't control that. It felt great." Though he breezed through the first two batters on seven pitches, striking out Kevin Millar and Miguel Tejada looking, he then gave up a ground-rule double to Aubrey Huff on what was essentially a pop fly down the third base line, then a single to Jay Payton that scored a run. He ended the game by getting Jay Gibbons on a liner to left field.

Francona announced that the Sox will juggle the rotation, flip-flopping Josh Beckett and Curt Schilling. That means Beckett will start on his normal day, Sunday in Seattle, with Schilling pitching Monday in Anaheim. Pawtucket manager Ron Johnson was raving about Schilling's rehab stint with the team, calling it one of the smoothest he had seen. "I can't hide the fact of how impressive this one was," Johnson said. Rehabbing from shoulder tendinitis, Schilling allowed eight hits and no runs in 15 innings over three starts with Pawtucket. He struck out 18. "I want to be healthy," Schilling said. "Goal-wise, I wasn't concerned beyond being healthy. If I can take the ball and I'm healthy, then the rest is up to me." . . . By the time the Sox return home Aug. 12, they will have been on the road 17 of 21 days, including trips to Cleveland, Tampa Bay, Seattle, Anaheim, and Baltimore. "We've got our work cut out for us," Mirabelli said. "This is as tough a road trip as we've had. After being home for three days, at the end of that road trip, it will feel like we've been on the road for a month."

The Orioles had significant trouble in the outfield yesterday. Payton misplayed two consecutive balls hit to left in the third inning. The first miscue gave David Ortiz a double on a ball that fell next to Payton's glove. The second was a Manny Ramírez liner that went over Payton's head and scored Ortiz with the Sox' first run. Payton also let a Dustin Pedroia hit bounce past him to the Wall in the fourth, though Pedroia settled for a single. Nick Markakis not only was charged with an error in the sixth when he dropped a Kevin Youkilis fly, but he played a Pedroia ball into a two-run double in the seventh . . . Brendan Donnelly is driving to Arizona, according to Francona. The pitcher will then fly to California, where Dr. Lewis Yocum will perform Tommy John surgery on his right elbow. Donnelly said Tuesday he hoped to have the surgery today or Tuesday, but Francona said it likely won't take place until the end of next week . . . Julio Lugo got a rest because the day game followed a night game. Alex Cora filled in at shortstop . . . Ramírez recorded his 1,585th RBI with a third-inning single. That pushed him past Rogers Hornsby and Harmon Killebrew into sole possession of 32d place all time . . . The Red Sox have the best record in the majors in day games (23-9) . . . Coco Crisp is batting .369 (55 for 149) in his last 39 games. He has four homers and 26 RBIs in that span. He had a season high with two stolen bases yesterday, his 19th and 20th.