Lineup switches turned on power

The Red Sox' lineup changes attracted the bulk of the attention before the start of last night's Game 4, but Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon tinkered with his team, too.

Employing moves that worked quite well in September against Sox starter Tim Wakefield, Maddon inserted rookie speedster Fernando Perez into right field and opted for Willy Aybar as his designated hitter.

Not only did it provide Maddon with three consecutive switch-hitters (Aybar sixth, Dioner Navarro seventh, Perez eighth), but Perez and Aybar each hit home runs against Wakefield Sept. 17 in a game Tampa Bay won, 10-3.

As an added measure of how good a job Tampa Bay's coaches have done in preparing a very young team for its first postseason experience, each of those switch-hitters batted from the right side in the first inning against the righthanded Wakefield last night.

The thinking is, from the right side they have more time to sit back and wait on the devilish knuckleball.

OK, so Perez was a nonfactor, going 0 for 5 (and making two outs in the sixth inning) and failing to get on base to show his speed, but Aybar more than proved his manager a shrewd leader. Aybar had a two-run home run in the third, three singles, and five RBIs, so obviously he enjoys games in which Wakefield starts.

Perez became the third different right fielder to start for the Rays this series. Gabe Gross did the honors in Games 1 and 2, Rocco Baldelli in Game 3.

Combined strength

Granted, the added layers of playoffs have made all records skewed, but Evan Longoria and B.J. Upton are moving up in the category of most combined home runs by teammates in a postseason. The Giants' Barry Bonds and Rich Aurilia hold the mark at 14 (set in 2002), but Longoria (four) and Upton (five) came into the game with nine. In no time that became 10 when Longoria took Wakefield into the Monster Seats in the first. With that blast he established a record for postseason home runs by a rookie, breaking a tie at four with Miguel Cabrera (Marlins, 2003), although it took Cabrera 17 games to set the mark and Longoria just eight to break it . . . Maddon on Upton: "When he hits the ball, well, it has a different sound. The sound has come back. I had not heard it all year until the last couple of weeks." . . . Every Tampa Bay starter had a hit in Game 3, the second time the Rays have done that this postseason. Only Perez and Akinori Iwamura went hitless last night, Iwamura ending his seven-game postseason hitting streak . . . The Rays became the first team in ALCS history to hit two first-inning home runs, by Longoria and Carlos Peña . . . Tampa Bay is the first team in LCS history to score at least nine runs in three consecutive games . . . . . . Tampa Bay batters have struck out 36 times in the four games, 16 times looking . . . Going back to September, Tampa Bay has a four-game winning streak at Fenway Park for the first time in franchise history . . . Trever Miller (two batters) and Edwin Jackson combined for 1 2/3 innings of shutout relief, so the Rays' bullpen has now given up just 15 hits and four runs in 24 2/3 innings of postseason work.

He's mistaken

When Longoria failed to handle Jason Bay's slow roller down the third base line in the second, then threw wildly to first, it resulted in the first two errors for the Rays in 65 1/3 innings of postseason play. Upton committed another error in the eighth, misplaying a ball in center that allowed Dustin Pedroia to take an extra base . . . In the aftermath of the Game 3 win, Baldelli was leaning against the bat he used to hit his first career postseason home run, presented to him by an authenticator from Major League Baseball. "It's a Louisville Slugger, maple," Baldelli said. "It's a pretty standard bat. It's the same bat that I was swinging in high school when I was trying to get drafted." Asked if he planned to put the bat on his mantel, Baldelli responded, "Now that's it been authenticated and being taken out of the game, I'll probably give it to my dad or someone. I don't know what I'm going to do, but it's out." . . . It's hot stuff back in the Tampa area. The weather? Well, yeah, but we're talking about the T-shirts paying tribute to the Peña. "Holla Pena" and "Jala Pena" is what they read and proceeds from the sales will benefit the Children's Cancer Center in Tampa Bay.

Michael Vega of the Globe Staff contributed to this report.