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Athletics-Red Sox Preview

Jul 8, 2009 - 4:35 AM By MIKE LIPKA STATS Writer

Oakland (35-46) at Boston (49-33), 7:10 p.m. EDT

Whatever happens Wednesday night, 42-year-old Tim Wakefield will make his first-ever All-Star appearance next week.

With another strong effort against the Oakland Athletics, however, he'll have a chance to head to St. Louis as the AL leader in wins.

Wakefield will try to help the Boston Red Sox to a victory in the deciding game of their three-game series with the A's, as Boston seeks to earn back-to-back wins for the first time in nearly two weeks and maintain its slim AL East lead.

In his 17th season and 15th with the Red Sox, Wakefield (10-3, 4.30 ERA) finally earned an All-Star nod Sunday after a strong first half that has included 10 quality starts.

One of those came on April 15, when he took a no-hitter into the eighth inning in Oakland, settling for a complete game in Boston's 8-2 win.

Josh Beckett tied him for the team lead in victories in Tuesday's 5-2 victory, but the knuckleballer will have a chance to become the AL's first 11-game winner, with Kansas City's Zack Greinke trying for the same feat at the same time.

"He's meant so much not only to the Red Sox but to the rest of baseball," Boston manager Terry Francona said of Wakefield. "He's going to be introduced in St. Louis next week and he's going to be one of the prouder guys."

Even after a 7-6, 11-inning loss to Seattle on Friday, the Red Sox are still 12-4 when Wakefield pitches. The right-hander allowed five runs in eight innings against the Mariners, but he's still 8-0 with a 3.34 ERA in his last 11 home starts dating back to September.

Boston (50-33) had the best home record in baseball before opening its homestand with three losses in four games, but the club rebounded Tuesday, keeping its one-game edge on the New York Yankees.

The Red Sox are still trying to get Kevin Youkilis out of his slump, as the All-Star went 0 for 4 Tuesday and is 1 for 21 on the homestand. Jason Bay had also been slumping, going 5 for 43 (.116) without a home run in his last 11 games, but he homered and doubled Tuesday.

"When guys are locked in," Bay said, "the ball looks like a beach ball and stuff. And then there's the exact opposite of that where it looks like an aspirin coming out of a shotgun and you're really battling up there.

"You know it's not going to last forever."

It may help Boston's offense that A's rookie Trevor Cahill (5-7, 4.55) will be trying to overcome some recent struggles in his first appearance against the Red Sox. The right-hander hasn't gotten out of the fourth inning in either of his last two starts, with his ERA rising from 3.68 before those outings.

After allowing four home runs against Colorado on June 27, he walked four and gave up eight runs - five earned - in 3 2-3 innings of a 15-3 loss to Cleveland on Friday.

"Last time, I was missing up," Cahill told the A's official Web site. "Biggest thing (Friday) was that I fell behind early."

Last-place Oakland (35-47) had dropped six straight at Fenway Park before this series, but it still has a chance at its first series victory in Boston since taking three of four from July 13-16, 2006.

The A's may try to do it without slugger Jason Giambi, who is hitting .195 after going 0 for 4 with three strikeouts Tuesday. Giambi is 15 for 92 (.163) against Wakefield and didn't play when the knuckleballer pitched against Oakland in April.