Game 1 in the books

Here in the middle of the day-night double header, the Sox just dropped the first half 8-1, and for the next few hours, the Jays are back to 6.5 games behind in the wild card race.

Don't think they don't recognize the possibilities.

"We're aware," said Jays manager Cito Gaston.

A.J. Burnett called last nights loss a "hiccup" and said his win (18-10, 4.19 ERA, 6 IPs today, one unearned run and six strikeouts) put them back on track.

But it was a kid nicknamed "The Franchise" in the minors that made all the difference.

Travis Snider, the youngest position player in the majors at 20 years old, tagged the Sox for a bomb to right field and a ground rule double into the sox bullpen, plating five runs in all.

He's been in the big leagues about two-and-a-half weeks, and he's taking it pretty well.

"I'm trying to take it one day at a time and enjoy it for what it is," he said. "You come out here and you try to win ball games and that's the bottom line when you come out on the field. You're competing to win."

Gaston said, "He's a real mature 20-year-old kid," Gaston said. "He has an idea too. when he walks up to that plate. He has a plan."

As for the Sox, Paul Byrd had probably his toughest start since coming to Boston, allowing five runs on 10 hits But the stat that had Sox manager Terry Francona amazed was Byrd's 47 strikes in 59 pitches. As hard as it is to imagine, Francona said Byrd threw too many strikes.

"You hate to say something like that," Francona said. "I love it when guys pound the zone. They were so aggressive and sometimes maybe you have to get guys to throw a couple pitches off the plate."

Byrd didn't disagree.

"I felt like they were really aggressive. I felt like they were swinging early. I felt like they were looking at the inside part of the plate, which is fine with me if I hit my spots. But in trying to go away and leaving the ball over the middle and they are looking at it and they are diving and they are swinging early. It's not a good combination."