Ready for a dogfight

Lester, Ortiz are hot at key time of summer

BALTIMORE - The dog days are the agonizing part of the season when you're hot and worn down. When it hurts to put your jersey on. When every bone in your body aches from the rigors of three-quarters of a baseball season.

It was 90 degrees last night at Camden Yards and the Red Sox, reeling from a 15-4 pasting at the hands of the Blue Jays Sunday, were trying to shake it off.

It's never good when a team so primed to win at home as the Red Sox are loses two straight there and then has to embark on a nine-game, three-stop road trip against division rivals, starting with an Orioles club that had averaged 7.1 runs over its last 20 games and was leading the league in batting average (.311), on-base percentage (.372), and runs (195) since the All-Star break.

Didn't seem to bother Jon Lester one bit.

Didn't seem to bother David Ortiz one bit.

"This is the time of the year when you have to be at your best," said Ortiz, who was 2 for 5 with an RBI in last night's 6-3 Sox win. "I know to this point it's been a long season and you probably don't feel great, but this is what you play for.

"This is the time of the year when you go out there and be your best. I'm conscious of that from the day the season starts. I don't want to run out of gas."

Ortiz said his problematic left wrist feels fine. He has reduced the number of swings he takes in the batting cage, saving them for the game. While he was out with his wrist injury, he said, his knee got better as well. He's driving the ball.

Ortiz thinks the Sox have an advantage in these dog days because they've been there and done it. They don't need to be shown how to excel when they're the most tired.

In the dog days, the innings begin to creep up on young pitchers and they can begin to wilt. Lester, now up to 167 2/3 innings after pitching seven last night, seems to be getting stronger - a good sign for the Sox, who watched their former ace, Josh Beckett, take a pummeling from the Jays Sunday.

That's right, former ace.

The designations could change as the season goes on, and if Beckett begins to pitch more as he did a year ago. This is the time of the year when an ace must carry a team, stop losing streaks, etc. The guy doing that right now is Lester.

Lester, who won the clinching game of the 2007 World Series, has stopped five losing streaks this season and has pitched seven or more innings eight straight times and in 11 of his last 12 outings.

Lester recited the same old lines after the game - using phrases like "pounding the strike zone," "throwing strike one," and "staying aggressive." Manager Terry Francona said Lester has had a great cutter and great two-seam life on his fastball. Lots of movement.

Lester had a great moment in the seventh when he spotted Kevin Millar a one-out double and left him standing there, striking out Luke Scott and retiring Jay Payton on a ground ball.

He's receiving huge accolades from around the league as a pitcher deserving of ace status. Daisuke Matsuzaka might have 14 wins and Beckett might have the reputation as a tough SOB, but nobody's slapping Lester around these days.

Suffice to say, this is a huge stretch for the Red Sox, who are 22-23 against the AL East (7-15 on the road). With Baltimore red-hot, the Jays owning the Red Sox, and the Yankees always being the Yankees, this trip could definitely put a dent in Boston's playoff hopes.

The Sox are still looking up at the Tampa Bay Rays, who won the opening game of their huge series with the Angels last night. The Rays are baseball's Cinderella story, a team that doesn't seem to fade even though everyone keeps waiting for their demise. They seem to be the 21st century version of the Impossible Dream Red Sox, a young team brought together by an eccentric manager (Joe Maddon) who has them believing they can beat anyone, even with Evan Longoria, Carl Crawford, and Troy Percival on the disabled list.

"I wouldn't be surprised if they finished where they are now," said Ortiz. "Tampa Bay is playing unbelievable baseball. Nobody expected Tampa Bay to be there, but I've been saying since the start of the year they have the players."

While Beckett was beaten soundly Sunday, neither Francona nor the pitcher's teammates are willing to rescind his status as an ace, given his history. Yet a general manager said yesterday, "It almost seems that Jon Lester has become more of an ace than Beckett. It really doesn't matter who it is, but Lester is a lefty who when he takes the mound you feel you you're going to win the game and he's going to go deep for you."

Lester, Beckett, and Daisuke Matsuzaka had better keep going deep in games, because if the Sox have a weakness this late in the season, it's still the unpredictability of their bullpen. Hideki Okajima isn't the quality reliever he was last season. Manny Delcarmen, as good as he can be, is inconsistent - witness the two walks last night that prompted Francona to use Jonathan Papelbon in the eighth.

The dog days have brought down the best of teams. The Sox are trying to fight through them. So far, Ortiz and Lester are beating the dog.

Nick Cafardo can be reached at cafardo@globe.com.