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BALTIMORE -- Takeaways on a night when the Red Sox could safely turn their attention to the postseason after Oakland's loss late Saturday afternoon assured them of the league's best record and home-field advantage throughout the postseason:

* John Farrell, on finishing ahead of the Athletics, and the Fenway Factor in October:

"It's a tribute to the guys in uniform, the way they've come in and competed every day to put ourselves in position to secure home-field advantage. We'd have liked this game to finish up differently, but to know going into the postseason that every series we go into we'll have home-field advantage and playing in front of Fenway fans and how comfortable and successful we've been at home, this is a good thing."

* Jon Lester stiffs media after final regular-season start:

Not what you think. The Sox left-hander had the best of reasons, flying back home to Boston after coming out of the game to be with his wife, Farrah, who's about to give birth to the couple's second child. Who says life can't take a turn for the better after what was easily the worst season of Lester's career in 2012, when he went 9-14 with a 4.82 ERA. The final line on his 2013 regular season: 33 starts, a career-high 213 1/3 innings, 15-8 record, 3.75 ERA, 177 strikeouts and 67 walks. Every significant statistical category was better than the year before: K's per 9 (7.47), walks per 9 (2.8), hits per nine (8.8), home runs per nine (0.8).

Saturday, he was not at his best -- nine hits, including a home run by Brian Roberts, and four runs in five innings -- but he threw 97 pitches and will be well-rested when he goes into next weekend.

"Not as sharp," Farrell said. "Given the way he's righted the ship from a year ago to this year, a very strong season overall."

Farrell continues to hold off on naming his rotation for the postseason. When Alex Speier of WEEI.com asked whether the Lesters planned to name their baby, "Game One Starter," Farrell cracked: "If they do, someone needs to be slapped."

* You can't be a Sox fan without something to worry about:

And the bridge between the starters and closer Koji Uehara remains the obvious choice. Lefty Matt Thornton, on the bubble for an October roster spot, went three up and three down in the sixth, striking out one. Junichi Tazawa then needed just eight pitches to breeze through the heart of the Orioles' order, retiring J.J. Hardy on a fly ball, slugger Chris Davis on a ground ball, and striking out cleanup man Adam Jones.

But then Tazawa came out for the eighth and yielded back-to-back singles to Matt Wieters and Danny Valencia. Maybe, Farrell said afterward, Tazawa is better in one-inning stints at this stage, but because he'd made such fast work of the Orioles in the seventh, the Sox sent him back out to start the eighth.

Franklin Morales came in and overpowered left-handed hitting Nick Markakis, just as he had Colorado's Todd Helton on Wednesday night, with the same result each time: The hitter went down swinging. But then the right-handed hitting DH, Steve Pearce, hit a ball into the corner, where Gomes had a little trouble picking it up, and the Orioles had the lead.

This was only the fifth time in 83 games that the Sox lost after leading through seven innings. That's not a habit you want to develop headed into October.

In the season's second half, setup man Craig Breslow has made 29 appearances, allowing just two earned runs in 26 2/3 innings for an 0.68 ERA.

The rest of the relievers expected to be in the mix for the playoff roster -- Tazawa, Morales, Thornton, Ryan Dempster, Brandon Workman, and Drake Britton -- have a 3.84 ERA in the second half. That's pretty good, but leaves some room to fret.

* Compared to what he did for Chico, he's in a slump:

Daniel Nava went 4-for-4 Saturday night, his sixth career four-hit game and fourth this season, to raise his average to .303 with a game to play, assuring himself of his first .300 season in the big leagues. Nava could go 0-for-5 Sunday and still finish at .300.

The safety zone to finish above .300 is almost as big for Dustin Pedroia, who went 3-for-5 Saturday, his second straight three-hit game, to raise his average to .301. He'd have to go 0-for-4 to drop below .300, to .299. It would be his third season of hitting .300 or better.

Nava, signed out of the independent Golden Baseball League, batted .371 in his last season (2007) for the Chico Outlaws, before his rights were sold for a buck.

What made Saturday's performance stand out was that all four hits came against lefties. Nava is hitting .322 versus right-handers, and his four hits Saturday raised his average against lefties 26 percentage points, from .226 to .252.

"I'm sure he's going to take from this some increased confidence when he faces left-handers," Farrell said. "He's done an outstanding job for us all year, and he's finishing on a high note."

* Overlook Stephen Drew at your own peril:

He doubled and singled and scored two runs Saturday. He tripled and singled and drove in three runs Friday. He is hitting .333 over his past 13 games with eight extra-base hits. He is batting .276 in the season's second half, after batting .233 in the first half, when he was coming back from a concussion and a hamstring issue. He's made eight errors at shortstop all season. He's been underappreciated.

BALTIMORE -- Rocky Mountain high or sittin' on the dock of the (Chesapeake) bay, it makes no difference these days to the Red Sox, who can do no worse than tie for the best record in the American League after their 12-3 demolition of the Baltimore Orioles on Friday night.

"I think it speaks volumes for the team that we have, the way they've performed as a group throughout the course of this year," manager John Farrell said. "We've still got two more games to play and because we've put ourselves in one position, it doesn't change our approach coming back here tomorrow."

The Red Sox's record is now 97-63, which leaves the Oakland Athletics in a position of having to sweep their season-ending series in Seattle while hoping the Sox lose their last two in Baltimore to force a tie. Should that happen, the Athletics would claim the best overall record in the league, based on a convoluted set of tiebreakers. (The first tiebreaker is head-to-head record, but Boston and Oakland split their season series at three wins each; the A's would have the advantage in the second tiebreaker, best intradivision record -- the A's could finish 45-31 in the West, versus Boston's 44-32 mark in the East.)

In that case, the Red Sox would open their AL division series at home next Friday against the Detroit Tigers, winners of the AL Central, while Oakland would host the wild-card winner.

The Athletics beat the Mariners and their ace, Felix Hernandez, 8-2, on Friday night, to remain one game behind the Sox with two to go.

The preferable scenario for the Sox is that they would get the wild-card winner -- the Rays and Indians are tied, with the Rangers one game behind -- and also be the home team for the ALCS, should they advance that far.

So, for another day at least, the Sox remain in a state of limbo, which is still far preferable to the state of shock that the Orioles left them in two years ago this weekend, when they knocked Boston out of the playoffs altogether on the last day of the regular season. The Orioles, who were eliminated from wild-card consideration earlier this week, could still play a limited spoiler role this weekend, but the Red Sox weren't about to give them that satisfaction Friday night.

The late-comers were still filing in when the Red Sox jumped on Orioles starter Ryan Feldman for five runs on five hits and a walk in the first inning, the big blow a three-run home run by Daniel Nava. By the third, when the Sox opened an 8-0 lead, every player in Boston's starting lineup except for Jacoby Ellsbury had at least one hit.

The Red Sox reached double figures in both runs and hits (16) at sea level in their first game since doing the same at altitude in Denver (15 runs on 16 hits Wednesday night). Jonny Gomes had four hits and a walk, hitting a first-pitch home run to lead off the ninth for Boston's final run.

"I just tell you, it echoes the comments and thoughts and conversations going on in the clubhouse here," Farrell said. "These guys are in a pretty good place. They're not looking to back off. They continue not to give away at-bats in the course of a night. Tonight was another example of that."

David Ortiz, who earlier this week reached 100 RBIs for the seventh time in his career, made it seven times to the 30-homer level, too, when he hit an opposite-field three-run home run off Orioles rookie Mike Belfiore, Ortiz the first batter the right-hander faced in his major league debut. Welcome to the big leagues, kid.

Jarrod Saltalamacchia thought he had a three-run home run, too, in the third until umpires reversed their call upon video review and ruled a ground-rule double. The reversal actually earned Saltalamacchia a line in the Sox record book, as the double was his 40th of the season, a club record for catchers.

It won't show up in anybody's record book, but it's still impressive: Closer Koji Uehara struck out the first batter he faced, Chris Snyder, in the ninth, for his 100th strikeout of the season, in just 73 1/3 innings. He is the eighth Sox reliever to strike out 100 batters, the first to do so in fewer than 100 innings.

The Sox, now 33-13 in games decided by five runs or more, made it an easy night for Clay Buchholz, who went seven innings and threw 113 pitches to run his record to 12-1. He did not walk a batter, struck out four and gave up seven hits, including home runs to Adam Jones, a two-run shot in the third, and Chris Davis, a bases-empty homer, his major league-best 53rd home run of the season.

Ellsbury went hitless in four trips in his second game back from his foot injury, giving way to Jackie Bradley Jr. in the seventh. Mike Napoli, who hadn't played since last Friday while resting his foot (plantar fasciitis), doubled and scored in his first plate appearance and also walked twice and whiffed twice.

Shane Victorino (thumb) sat this one out, though manager John Farrell said Victorino wanted to play and would be back in the lineup Saturday.

BALTIMORE -- Beyond determining if the Red Sox will hold on to claim the league's best record and home-field advantage, here are a few things to watch for in Boston's final series of the regular season, a three-game set against the Baltimore Orioles:

* Koji Uehara needs one strikeout to reach 100 for the season and become the eighth reliever in Sox history to strike out 100 or more.

Greg Harris is the last Sox reliever to record 100 strikeouts in a season, in 1993, and Dick Radatz did it four times, including a club record for relievers of 181 in 1964. But in all seven previous instances, the relievers with 100-plus K's threw more than 100 innings; Uehara has pitched 72 1/3 innings.

* More Koji: Uehara is averaging 12.32 strikeouts per nine innings, second in club history among Sox relievers to Jonathan Papelbon's 12.96 K's per 9 in 2007. Only three Sox relievers ever have averaged better than 12 K's per 9. Lee Smith was at 12.23 in 1989 and Papelbon was at 12.17 in 2011.

* David Ortiz, who drove in two runs Wednesday for his seventh 100-RBI season, needs one more home run to finish with his seventh 30-homer season. Mike Napoli, who hasn't played since last Friday, needs one more home run to match his season total of 24 last season.

Ortiz and Napoli are the only Sox players with 20 or more home runs this season, the fewest since 1997, when Mo Vaughn hit 35 and Nomar Garciaparra hit 30. In 2003, the Sox had six players who hit 20 or more.

* With a .307 batting average, Ortiz is the only .300 hitter in the Sox lineup at the moment. But there are five other Sox players within five percentage points of hitting .300 entering the final weekend: Jacoby Ellsbury is at .299, Shane Victorino .297, Daniel Nava and Dustin Pedroia .296, and Mike Carp is at .295. Only Carp among that group does not have enough at-bats to qualify for the batting title.

Ortiz would have to go hitless in his final 13 at-bats to fall below .300. Only three times since 2000 have the Sox had just one .300 hitter: Adrian Gonzalez (2012), Manny Ramirez (2006) and Ramirez (2001). Gonzalez, of course, was traded before the end of the season.

* With his next double, Jarrod Saltalamacchia will set a club record for catchers with 40. The Sox have five players with 30 or more doubles, and three players could join that number: Nava (29), Stephen Drew (28) and Victorino (26).

* Take a look at Saltalamacchia's slash line entering the weekend compared to 2012:

2012 -- .222/.288/.454/.742

2013 -- .272/.338/.465/.804

Saltalamacchia's batting average jump from .222 to .272 (50 percentage points) is the biggest improvement among catchers with at least 400 plate appearances over each of the past two seasons, and the sixth-biggest jump among any MLB players with the same qualifications. His OPS jump of .062 is the second-highest improvement among catchers with the same qualifiers from last season.

* Victorino, by the way, is the only player in Sox history with 15-plus home runs, 20-plus stolen bases and 10-plus sacrifice hits. It has been done 17 times by 15 different players since division play began in 1969, but Victorino had far fewer plate appearances (527) than most of the players on the list.

* And the Sox have been successful in their past 37 stolen base attempts, dating to Aug. 9. Orioles catcher Matt Wieters ranks fourth in the AL with a caught stealing percentage of 35.3 percent, throwing out 24 of 68 attempted base stealers.

BOSTON -- After John Lackey's gem Thursday night officially ushered the Red Sox into the postseason for the first time since 2009, many comparisons were made between his journey back from a pair of miserable years and the organization's own rise from the ashes.

And with good reason. Lackey's turnaround in many ways mirrors that of the team.

A similar comparison could be made with Daniel Nava, whose ability to navigate through the muck of 2011 and 2012 before breaking out in 2013 speaks to the resiliency that many in the organization have required to make a full transition from laughingstock to American League East champions.

Nava was a fresh-faced Independent League survivor whose first-pitch grand slam in 2010 came before the organization would begin a roller-coaster ride of epic proportions. That was before injuries sapped that talented 2010 team. It was before the front office reloaded with names that made someone like Nava even more of an afterthought than he already was, spending the entire 2011 season in the minors. It was before that uber-talented squad flushed its chances down the toilet with an inept September. And it was before the Bobby Valentine-led 2012 Red Sox, with Nava still a bit player, crumbled into pieces.

When it was time to forge ahead in the spring, the Sox brought in veteran free agents, two of whom played the outfield, and groomed a future star outfielder, in the eyes of many, in Jackie Bradley Jr. Nava? Well, he was there, but still just a depth piece, if he even made the team. He was far removed from that glorious grand slam moment, no longer in his 20s. Nary a soul saw him as a central figure in the club's biggest turnaround in 67 years.

Yet there he was Friday night after the Red Sox clinched the American League East, soaking up a moment that was difficult for him to comprehend.

"It's huge for me. It's too much for me," said Nava, who had two hits and scored two runs in the 6-3 triumph over the Toronto Blue Jays. "From Indy ball, to this? Are you kidding me?"

Nava uttered these words while standing near first base, holding his daughter of one month, Faith, and smiling ear to ear at the antics of his wild teammates, who sprayed one another with beer and champagne. The sight of an AL East champ holding such a precious gift amid a raucous scene was notable. Then again, so much of Nava's journey, which has been told many times, is notable.

While hard work has most definitely paid off, Nava has full recognition of how fortunate he has been.

"I said it from the get-go and I'll say it again: To have this opportunity, I thank the Red Sox," he said. "They gave me a chance and I'm so grateful."

Not only did they give him that chance by wresting him from the Chico Outlaws in 2008 and bringing him up in 2010, but they recognized the value a guy like Nava had on the current squad, even if on the surface it did not seem as if there was an immediate fit for him on the big league roster. Six months later, he is flirting with a .300 season, is ranked second on the team in on-base percentage and is an invaluable part of a flexible, deep roster that has seen him play plenty at three positions.

Nava admits that during those uncertain days in February and March, he did not envision an end result like that.

"I never did. Partly because I didn't know I was going to make the team out of spring training," he said. "I didn't know my exact role coming out of spring training, so just to have the opportunity to play left, right, first, I think that was something that I wanted, to play as much as I can and they've given me the opportunity to play a lot."

Another reason Nava is as good a candidate as any to serve as the symbol of the 2013 Red Sox is the manner in which he quickly thrust aside those uncertainties and made it obvious right off the bat that this was a different year. He started out on fire, and just 12 games into the season had four home runs, 14 RBIs and a .342 average. That helped fuel Boston's quick start, which in turn helped erase whatever sting remained from 2012.

And it was Nava who might have provided the biggest emotional boost of the young season when he hammered a go-ahead three-run homer in the bottom of the eighth to lift the Sox to a win over Kansas City on April 20, their first game following the Boston Marathon bombings. A man who had experienced the ups and downs of the organization as much as anyone over the previous three years and was thought to be on the outside looking in during spring training had given a city, much less his team, exactly what it needed in one of its most trying times.

That hit, as much as anything, speaks to the spirit of the 2013 Red Sox, who turned a seemingly random collection of players into a force that forged a new love affair with its city. And one of the unlikely central figures was a one-time cast-off with a daughter named Faith.

BOSTON -- What Red Sox manager John Farrell called “a story that is like no other in the game” added another chapter in Sunday’s 9-2 victory over the New York Yankees.

Outfielder Daniel Nava, whose unique journey to the majors has been often cited, went 4-for-5 with two doubles and an RBI, playing a key role in the Red Sox's final win in a three-game sweep of their division rival. Nava’s four hits tied a career high, a number he’s reached three times this season.

“I think anytime there’s a willingness to take constructive feedback and work as hard as he has to overcome maybe a deficiency in the moment, it’s a guy you root for,” Farrell said of Nava before Sunday’s game. “To perform at the level he is right now, this is something that no one could ever foresee.”

“That’s why you never give up on a guy that shows you some talent.”

Indeed, Nava has worked hard to earn the position he’s been in this season. From being turned down by multiple college and independent league teams to having his rights purchased by the Red Sox from the Chico Outlaws for $1 to hitting his way through each minor league level to his first-pitch grand slam in his first major league at-bat, Nava has proved anyone who has doubted him wrong.

However, the always-humble 30-year-old believes he’s just doing his part along with the rest of the team.

“I think I’m just trying to finish the season strong just as every guy in this clubhouse is,” Nava said. “We put up nine runs and there’s a lot of guys who contributed to those nine runs besides myself.”

Since returning from paternity leave on Aug. 8 after the birth of his daughter Faith, something he joked could be the reason for his recent hot streak, Nava has hit .400 while getting on base in nearly half of his at-bats. His torrid pace has vaulted him into the American League top 10 in both average and OBP (seventh in BA, fifth in OBP), behind only Los Angeles Angels phenom Mike Trout in those categories among outfielders.

“There’s never any panic, there’s never any expanding of the strike zone,” Farrell explained. “He’s very disciplined and a very consistent hitter.”

Nava believes having a consistent role has been the biggest reason for his success this season.

“Knowing when you’re going to play really allows any player in my position to get in a good rhythm, a good routine, and that goes a long way with the length of the season,” he said. “I don’t have to worry about anything else other than going out and having fun and playing ball.”

Having fun and playing ball is something the Red Sox have had no trouble doing this month, going 11-3 and riding a torrid offense that has scored 100 runs in the span of those 14 games. However, according to Nava, there are still ways for the team to get better.

“It’s baseball, you can always play better,” he said, before offering a reason how.

“How? We could never get out.”

SAN FRANCISCO -- Whatever zone that Jon Lester finds himself in right now, he’s not interested in dissecting how he got there.

Things are rolling along nicely for the Red Sox left-hander, and he continued a strong second-half stretch by silencing the San Francisco Giants in Monday’s 7-0 victory at AT&T Park.

Lester didn’t allow a runner as far as third base over 8⅓ innings. He scattered six hits, walked two and struck out three. And that was a welcome effort for a group of bleary-eyed players who woke up Monday morning in Boston, flew six hours to the West Coast, then took the field in one of the nuttiest travel days any major leaguer will experience.

Lester (11-7) had the benefit of flying ahead to San Francisco on Sunday, and he certainly looked refreshed when he took the hill.

“Jon was exactly what we needed,” Red Sox manager John Farrell said. “We needed a strong pitching performance. On a night when we could use a guy to go deep in the game, he gave us just that.”

It’s something Lester’s teammates have grown accustomed to. Since the start of July, the lefty has fashioned a 3.12 ERA over nine starts, walking just 14 over 57⅔ innings. Compare that to his eight starts before that stretch, when he walked 24 over 47⅔ innings and ran up a 6.99 ERA.

Left fielder Daniel Nava, who went 3-for-4 with an RBI as part of Boston’s 12-hit night, pointed to Lester’s pitching as the key for the Sox taking the opener of their six-game interleague trip.

“It’s easy to feel comfortable when you get a performance like we got from Jonny,” Nava said.

What accounts for Lester’s turnaround? He didn’t get specific, other than to say the four-day All-Star break in mid-July rejuvenated him.

“I think anytime you go through some struggles, having a break helps,” Lester said. “Pitch selection or mechanics or whatever it may be at that particular time, it felt like a good mental break for me, and I felt good when I came back.”

Lester was lights-out early in the season, winning his first six decisions and posting a 2.72 ERA over his first nine starts. Then, turbulence hit.

But over the past six weeks, with Boston’s rotation still dealing with the absence of injured All-Star Clay Buchholz, Lester is doing his part to keep the Red Sox on top of the American League East.

They maintained their one-game lead over the Tampa Bay Rays.

Lester, while allowing that he feels close to his early-season form, isn’t reading too much into his recent results.

“Some balls got squared up tonight and were hit right at guys,” he said. “When you’re not going so well, those balls find holes. Game plan, mindset -- nothing’s changed. I feel like some mistakes I’ve made have been hit at guys or whathever. When you go through those down periods, you feel like every time you make a mistake, it’s hit hard.”

It was a well-rounded night for the Red Sox, who jumped on two-time NL Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum (6-13) early. They scored three in the second, added single runs in the fifth and sixth, then built on their cushion with two more in the ninth.

Nava and Shane Victorino, the No. 2 hitter, each had three hits. Stephen Drew ripped a run-scoring double off the center-field wall. Leadoff man Jacoby Ellsbury singled and scored in the sixth.

“When the top of our order gets on, we have the ability to create some havoc,” Farrell said.

There wasn’t much havoc required Monday in the batter’s box, thanks to what Lester had going on the pitcher’s mound.

TORONTO -- There are no easy wins in major league baseball, but when you're the first-place Boston Red Sox, you have to be expect more than one win in three games with the last-place Toronto Blue Jays. The Sox had more than enough chances to leave Toronto with a sweep, yet just couldn't seem to deliver enough big hits.

Thursday's 2-1 loss was a perfect example, as the Red Sox stranded 12 baserunners and were 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position. It capped off a frustrating series at the plate for Boston as the club was a combined 6-for-34 with runners in scoring position and stranded 33 men over the three games.

"There's been some frustration on this trip," manager John Farrell said. "Any time you have a 4-6 road trip it's disappointing given how well we've played on the road over the year and particularly given the opportunities we created for ourselves."

After taking two of three games from the major league-worst Astros to begin their 10-game road swing, the Red Sox posted a 2-5 record over the Toronto series and four games in Kansas City. In total, Boston went 23-for-93 (.247) with runners in scoring position over the 10 games and left 92 men on base.

The tone was set from the very first inning on Thursday. Dustin Pedroia delivered a two-out single, advanced to second on a David Ortiz walk and then was thrown out at home plate trying to score on a Jonny Gomes single. Jays left fielder Kevin Pillar cleanly fielded Gomes' line drive and threw home, where Pedroia tried to score standing up and missed the plate entirely on his first pass. Catcher J.P. Arencibia didn't make the tag initially, leading to a brief, confused standoff between the two men beyond the plate, but Pedroia had nowhere to go.

"J.P. didn't move so I was trying to let the ball hit me," Pedroia explained about his approach to the plate. "Usually when you slide you go on the other side but he stayed on that side, so I thought the ball was tailing and it never hit it. ... It was kind of an awkward deal. I should've tried to slide or go through him or something."

Pedroia, who went 3-for-5, and Ryan Lavarnway were the only two Boston players who didn't leave at least one runner stranded in the game. Leadoff man Jacoby Ellsbury stranded five while Shane Victorino and Will Middlebrooks each left four men on base.

Toronto starter Mark Buehrle emerged with the win for his seven innings of one-run ball, and despite allowing 10 hits and two walks over that span, the veteran southpaw avoided any critical damage and left 10 Red Sox stranded.

"We had 10 opportunities to score and we couldn't get that one big hit," Pedroia said. "That was basically it. Our pitching staff did a great job. We've got to be better with guys on, simple as that."

Jake Peavy, however, pointed the finger at himself for the defeat. The starter allowed just two hits through his first six innings but then was chased from the game after allowing three consecutive singles to Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion and Brett Lawrie to start the seventh inning. While Peavy's final line was very strong (6+ IP, two earned runs, five hits, four strikeouts), he felt he should've shut the door during Toronto's lone big inning.

"[It was] just a bad pitch to Lawrie. I've got to execute better there with him, I know he's been hot," Peavy said. "I take full responsibility, it was the wrong pitch to throw and even at that, it wasn't executed as well. Just a tough one tonight. They made the most of that inning.

"I've got to make that one run stand up, sometimes that's got to be good enough. ... The score dictates everything. I felt like I had enough to make that one run stand."

One bright side for the Sox is that the Rays have also gone 4-6 over their past 10 games, so Boston's lead in the AL East remains at two games. The Red Sox begin a series against the Yankees at Fenway Park on Friday, then immediately fly to San Francisco for an interleague West Coast trip comprised of three games against the Giants and three against the red-hot Dodgers.

With so many important games coming up and the pennant race in full swing, Pedroia doesn't think he or his teammates will dwell on their shortcomings from this past road trip.

"We feel good about ourselves, we're in first place. This is a confident team. We'll forget about this one and get ready for tomorrow," Pedroia said.

TORONTO -- Mike Napoli finally broke out of his slump on Wednesday night, but even if the first baseman had contributed more than his game-tying two-run homer in the ninth inning, he still wouldn't have been in the lineup Thursday. Daniel Nava was penciled in at first base in the Red Sox lineup on Thursday as manager John Farrell said that he had already made the call to give Napoli a day off.

"The decision was made for this to be a down day for him. We're going to get in at 3 a.m. [Friday morning] and we've got another left-hander in [Andy Pettitte on the mound against us tomorrow night," Farrell said, speaking of Friday night's game against the Yankees. "We've got a challenging 10 days ahead of us and we're just trying to keep everyone involved as best we can and find the matchups that make the most sense."

Napoli has a pretty similar batting line against both right-handed and left-handed pitchers this year, though he naturally favors hitting against lefties as a right-handed batter. Against Blue Jays starter Mark Buehrle, however, Napoli is just 4-for-19 with one homer and two walks in his career, which could have factored into Farrell's decision.

While Napoli's homer came at a big time for the Sox, it was still his only hit in five at-bats during the 4-3 loss to Toronto. Napoli is hitting .136 (9-for-66) in 78 plate appearances since July 26.

Farrell said Wednesday that he would explore giving Nava and Mike Carp more time at first base, and it was Nava who drew the assignment on Thursday, his sixth start of the year at first. Nava, a career outfielder, hadn't played the position before this season but said he's "much more comfortable" with the new role than he was earlier in the season.

"I'm still learning on the job but fortunately I have Butters [third base coach Brian Butterfield] with the infield instruction and advanced understanding of where every ball is going to be hit," Nava said.

Of the three men involved in the first-base mix, the switch-hitting Nava actually has a lower career OPS (.609 in 200 ABs) against left-handed pitching than Napoli or the left-handed hitting Carp (.796 OPS). Nava is 2-for-6 against Buehrle, however, including a homer on May 1 during Boston's 10-1 win over Toronto.

* A day after Clay Buchholz threw a 50-pitch bullpen session, the right-hander still wasn't showing any ill effects. Farrell said Buchholz did some mild work on Thursday and is scheduled to throw another bullpen session on Saturday.

"It was just a light catch day for him today," Farrell said. "He came out of yesterday feeling good. ... It's supported further by how he feels today."

* The Red Sox were victorious on Aug. 15, 1997 but have lost their last 13 games on this date (with off-days in 2008 and 2011). This oddity of a losing streak has been dubbed "The Affleck Curse" in reference to the fact that Aug. 15 is the birthday of Ben Affleck. The actor/director/Red Sox superfan turns 41 years old today.

The losing streak began in 1998, less than five months after Affleck and Matt Damon won Academy Awards for co-writing "Good Will Hunting," so perhaps Affleck's latest brush with Oscar gold will end the so-called curse. Affleck won another Oscar for co-producing the Best Picture-winning "Argo" at the most recent Academy ceremony.

TORONTO -- Daniel Nava has twice been the center of controversial calls against the Red Sox this season, so it's no surprise that he welcomed the news that Major League Baseball is preparing to expand instant replay procedures. While Nava was pleased that the sport is taking steps to ensure that the correct calls are being made, he also had nothing but respect for the umpires' role.

"You never want to take the human element out of the game. That's what makes baseball baseball," Nava said. "[The human element] is what makes the game great, I don't like to see it tampered with too much. There's got to be a give. There's always going to be a gray area, we know that."

If the proposed replay system was in place for this season, then Red Sox manager John Farrell could have challenged the play July 29 when Nava was called out at the plate on what would've been the game-tying run in an eventual 2-1 loss to the Rays. Or, Farrell could've challenged the umpire's call on June 23 when Nava was ruled to have dropped a fly ball in a 7-5 loss to the Tigers.

Under the proposed 2014 replay rules, Farrell could've used one of his three challenges (one in the first six innings and two for the rest of the game) on those calls, and perhaps Nava would've been called safe, or it would've been judged that Nava made the catch and just fumbled the ball on the transfer to his hand.

Nava, for his part, held no grudges over those two missed calls even though they might have cost his team two wins.

"You just accept it, it's part of the game. Obviously you want the call to go your way but there's sometimes you're on the other side of the coin," Nava said. "The call goes your way and you're ecstatic, like, 'Hey, I got away with that one.'

"They [the umpires] do a good job and those calls get amplified by the fact that we have instant replay. If we didn't have that technology, those plays would go down as nothing more than close plays that were made on a quick decision."

Farrell was vocal about increasing the use of replays in the wake of the Tampa Bay loss, and he was pleased that two former managers (MLB vice president Joe Torre and advisor Tony La Russa) were heavily involved on the replay committee and instrumental in forming the new policies.

"I don't know if any manager wants to argue," Farrell said. "Everyone wants calls to be accurate and the human element is always going to be involved but now we have the potential for a system that not only challenges but hopefully gets a higher percentage [of calls] correct."

The expanded replay proposal will be formally voted on at the owners' meetings in November.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A cure-all he isn't, and never pretended to be.

But this was quite a comedown for Jake Peavy after his inspiring debut in a Boston Red Sox uniform last Saturday -- one witnessed by his family, including his parents -- a night that he called among the best of his career.

This, on the other hand?

"Just one of them nights that just wasn't our night," Peavy said after being barbecued for six runs and leaving before recording an out in the sixth inning, when the Kansas City Royals scored six times to wipe out a three-run deficit en route to a 9-6 win over the Red Sox.

"Obviously, I take the blame. Your offense can't score six runs and not win a game that you start. It's no excuse. [I] Didn't get it done."

The Sox gave Peavy a 1-0 lead on Daniel Nava's RBI single in the first, a departure from recent custom, in which opponents had scored first in 15 of the previous 19 games.

When the Royals touched Peavy for two runs in a 37-pitch second that included a Justin Maxwell home run to left, the Sox seized the lead back again when David Ortiz hit his 22nd home run and Jarrod Saltalamacchia doubled in the run that made it 3-2 in the third.

When the Royals tied it in the bottom of the third -- Alex Gordon cleared the fence in dead center -- the Sox responded yet again, with Mike Napoli emerging from a prolonged slump with what he does best: deliver a big hit with the bases loaded, this time a three-run double in the fourth.

For Sox manager John Farrell, after two relatively quick innings for Peavy in the fourth and the fifth, the plan was to let his starter go one more inning. That stratagem lasted just three batters, as Maxwell, Mike Moustakas and Alcides Escobar produced a run and left the tying runs on base.

Rookie Drake Britton entered and walked George Kottaras, the former Sox backup catcher who isn't hitting a lick (.176) but has been a walk machine -- 23 walks in 99 plate appearances, including two Friday, which gives him a legitimate claim to being the Greek god of walks, unlike that Romanian impostor, Kevin Youkilis.

Britton coaxed a popup out of pinch hitter Miguel Tejada for the inning's first out. Rookie David Lough flied out to right, and, even though he slipped, Shane Victorino nearly threw out the baserunner, Moustakas, at the plate. That would have ended the inning. Instead, Moustakas just beat the throw, and, worse, the other runners both moved up a base.

That proved critical when the next hitter, Eric Hosmer, stuck out his bat and directed a ground ball through the left side for a two-run single that gave the Royals a 7-6 lead. Pedro Beato entered, Billy Butler hit his first pitch for a double that made it 8-6 and Maxwell's second hit of the inning produced Kansas City's final run of the night.

"I didn't have good stuff," Peavy said. "I didn't feel very good stuff-wise and command-wise. You knew going in this bunch [the Royals] is scrappy. They don't strike out, they put the ball in play and good things happen. You saw it tonight. A lot of two-strike hits. My stuff just wasn't sharp at all."

Of the 10 hits allowed by Peavy, five came with two strikes. Hosmer threw his bat at a two-strike slider from Britton after swinging and missing at the same pitch moments earlier. Maxwell's RBI single off Beato also came with two strikes.

Peavy wasn't exaggerating when he said the Royals put the ball in play. They have the fewest strikeouts in baseball, 705, 235 fewer than the Sox (940), who rank 12th in the AL in whiffs.

Of the 105 pitches Peavy threw, the Royals swung and missed exactly two.

"I think the putaway pitch was a little elusive," Farrell said.

Even so, Farrell was hoping to coax one last inning out of Peavy because he wanted to stay away from Junichi Tazawa, who pitched two innings Wednesday. The seventh was set up for Britton, the eighth for Craig Breslow.

It all looked so tidy on paper, but the Royals, winners of 17 of 21 since the All-Star break, have been messing up a lot of plans these days. The Sox KO'd starter Ervin Santana in the fourth, but the Royals' lockdown bullpen delivered 5⅓ innings of two-hit, scoreless relief.

This is a different team, Peavy said, than the one he'd held to four hits and a run in his first start of 2013, back on April 3.

"Of course," he said, "you definitely can tell they've been playing well."

The Sox, not so much. They opened this trip by being shut out by Houston, the team with the worst record in baseball, and spotted the Astros big leads the next two nights before rallying for wins. Now, they've lost the first two to the Royals, who are craving legitimacy, with Jeremy Guthrie and James Shields primed to give Kansas City its biggest series win -- of how long? The season? This century? The past 20 seasons? Don't look now, but the Royals are in the wild-card hunt, one of six teams ahead of the Yankees.

The Sox, meanwhile, saw their lead in the AL East remain at two games after the Dodgers, down 6-0 in the seventh inning, rallied back to stun the Rays for a 7-6 walk-off win in Los Angeles on Friday night. The dog days are here, and it's going to take more than Peavy to pull Boston through.

Daniel Nava rejoined the Red Sox on Thursday as the team activated him from the paternity leave list.

In a corresponding roster move, the Sox sent rookie knuckleballer Steven Wright back to Triple-A Pawtucket.

Nava, who had been on paternity leave since Monday, hasn't played since Aug. 2. Entering Thursday's game at the Kansas City Royals, he's batting .282 with 10 home runs and 53 RBIs and 55 runs scored in 96 games.

He's batting seventh and playing first base Thursday night. David Ortiz gets the night off, with Mike Napoli at DH. Here's the lineup:

Jacoby Ellsbury CF
Shane Victorino RF
Dustin Pedroia 2B
Jonny Gomes LF
Stephen Drew SS
Mike Napoli DH
Daniel Nava 1B
Jarrod Saltalamacchia C
Brock Holt 3B

Jon Lester P

BOSTON -- After the Boston Red Sox mounted their 11th walk-off win of the 2013 season Thursday night at Fenway Park, manager John Farrell had a simple way to describe the team's improbable 8-7 triumph over the Seattle Mariners.

"In a word -- magical," Farrell said.

Trailing 7-2 in the bottom of the ninth inning, the Red Sox scored six runs on six hits and two walks while sending 10 batters to the plate. Daniel Nava provided the game-winning hit en route to the club's third straight win and second walk-off in less than 24 hours.

On Wednesday, the Red Sox also earned a walk-off win with a dramatic 5-4 victory in 15 innings over the Mariners. Thursday's victory gives Boston a league-leading 11 walk-off wins, which is the most for the franchise since 1978, when it also had 11. The Red Sox are only two shy of the club record of 13, which was set in 1940.

The Red Sox entered the eighth inning of Thursday's game down by six runs, and had a record of 2-35 this season when trailing in the eighth inning. The Sox pushed a run across in the eighth on a solo home run by Shane Victorino before the explosive ninth inning.

"That's what we're all about. We're going to play hard to the end," said Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia, who scored the game-winning run. "We had good at-bats and there were a lot of guys who did some special things. It's been fun."

As exciting as Boston's finish was, its start wasn't as thrilling.

The Red Sox were on hiatus offensively against Seattle ace Felix Hernandez. The right-hander worked seven solid innings and allowed only one run on six hits and two walks, with eight strikeouts. When he exited the game after 107 pitches (66 strikes), Seattle had a 7-1 lead.

Once Boston dethroned the King, it had to deal with only the court jesters, and the Red Sox took advantage of the situation.

"It kind of happened like a microwave -- everything pretty instant," said Red Sox outfielder Jonny Gomes, who provided the game-tying hit in the ninth inning. "It's not ideal having to come back from behind like that. What we wanted to do was knock out their starting pitcher. Felix is one of the best and it took us a long time to get his pitch count up, but he left us some outs and we took advantage of it."

Even with a five-run lead, Seattle brought in its closer Tom Wilhelmsen. But the Red Sox created quality at-bats in the ninth.

Nava led off with a walk. Ryan Lavarnway singled. Brock Holt provided an RBI double. Then Jacoby Ellsbury walked.

This is when the Mariners didn't help themselves, either. With manager Eric Wedge at home recovering from a mild stroke, Seattle bench coach Robby Thompson has been the club's acting manager. When he came out to make a pitching change, the Mariners had left-hander Oliver Perez and right-hander Yoervis Medina warming in the bullpen.

With the switch-hitting Victorino coming to the plate for the Red Sox, Thompson inadvertently signaled for the left-hander before realizing his mistake. He tried to call in the right-hander and Medina came running in from the bullpen, but he was sent back by umpire Gary Darling, forcing the Mariners to bring in Perez.

"Well, when you have two guys up at the same time, you've got to be clear on who you ask for first and Robbie's left arm went up first and he quickly tried to change it," explained Farrell. "But Gary Darling kept the first call in order and that was to ask for the left-hander. That's what I saw on the field."

The Red Sox took advantage of that mistake.

Victorino, batting from the right side, provided a two-run single to right-center field to cut Boston's deficit to 7-5.

"You've just got to keep playing, play 27 outs," Victorino said. "I don't want to use the word 'magical' myself and I'll let [Farrell] use it, but for me, it's just one of those things where you've got to keep on playing. These are all games you can look back on at the end of the season ... if we keep winning games like this we're going to be someplace we want to be."

After Victorino, Pedroia provided an RBI single before David Ortiz struck out. The Mariners finally were able to get Medina in the game to face Gomes, who had entered in the eighth inning as a pinch-hitter.

As Gomes explained, he normally doesn't face too many right-handers. So, with the game on the line and a pitcher he had never faced before, Gomes worked the count full and then provided an RBI single to drive in the game-tying run.

After Stephen Drew walked to load the bases, Nava, batting for the second time in the ninth inning, provided the walk-off win with a single blasted deep to center field to score Pedroia for the victory.

"It goes without saying that at-bat was set up a lot by everything that happened before that," Nava said.

When Pedroia crossed the plate, Fenway Park erupted in jubilation as the players emptied the dugout and mobbed Nava in the infield.

"Like we talked [Wednesday] night, the energy that we're somehow able to dig deep and get was once again there tonight," Farrell said.

After a disastrous 2012 season, general manager Ben Cherington wanted to completely rebuild this club. He started by hiring Farrell, the former pitching coach who already had credibility within the Red Sox clubhouse. Then management wanted to build the roster with character players. The Red Sox were able to accomplish that, and these players and this team have all the workings of a championship contender.

Sure, it's only August and there's plenty of baseball to be played in a tight AL East, but it's obvious how well this team works as a complete unit both on and off the field.

"There's a lot of personality on this team," Pedroia said. "Guys care about each other. Guys want to win. We're going to fight to the end."

Now it's only a matter of how long it lasts.

"We don't quit -- ever," Farrell said. "There's no quit in this bunch. They truly believe that there's a chance to do something special, whether it's on a given night or over the course of a given year. That one would be this year."

While the 11 walk-off wins may surprise a lot of people, these Red Sox players believe in what they have working this season.

"I don't think it's shocking, to tell you the truth," Gomes said. "We've done it a whole bunch."

***

What a first night in Boston for Red Sox newcomer Jake Peavy, who tweeted about it afterward:

What a first night in uniform!!! Thank u for all the welcomes & I can't tell you how excited I am to play for this city, team & great fans!!

— Jake Peavy (@JakePeavy_44) August 2, 2013

BOSTON -- A million and one things can occur between now and the end of September, but if the Tampa Bay Rays edge the Boston Red Sox in any kind of playoff race (remember, it happened just two seasons ago), some people may point to their game July 29 at Fenway Park and ask: What if?

What if Daniel Nava had scored from second base on a one-out double off the right-field wall by Stephen Drew in the eighth inning?

What if Nava had been called safe at home trying to score on a fly ball to left field moments later?

The full impact on the playoff race remains to be seen. For now, the fact that Nava did not score on either play -- despite having ample opportunity to do so on the first and actually doing so on the second despite plate umpire Jerry Meals' horrendous call -- means that Boston is back in second place behind the red-hot Rays.

If that’s the difference when game No. 162 is complete, Red Sox manager John Farrell’s words will echo once again, just as they did in the moments following a bizarre 2-1 loss Monday night.

“It was a missed call, terrible call,” said Farrell, who was ejected by Meals for arguing. “Clearly the angle, Jerry Meals was behind the plate when the throw came in. He did not see the view. Daniel Nava clearly was safe. It’s unfortunate. We should still be playing right now.”

On first glance, it did seem as if catcher Jose Molina got a knee on the plate as Nava’s foot came in. However, replays showed Nava’s left foot sliding across home plate before Molina's knee was able to stop it.

Meals fessed up, in a way, but it won’t do a thing for the standings.

“What I saw was, Molina blocked the plate and Nava’s foot lifted,” Meals told a pool reporter from the Associated Press. “But in the replays, you could clearly see Nava’s foot got under for a split second and then lifted, so I was wrong on my decision. From the angle I had, I did not see his foot get under Molina’s shin guard.”

The angle Meals took was what bothered Farrell the most.

“Seeing where Jerry was in relation to the plate to make that call, he was blocked out of the play,” Farrell said. “You see the reaction of the baserunner, they tell you everything.”

The reaction of which Farrell speaks is that of Nava, usually so calm and controlled, throwing a fit at home plate. Such a display led most to believe, at least anyone who knows Nava, that even without a replay the Sox had a beef.

“There was no doubt I was safe. I wouldn’t try to sell it,” Nava said. “I knew it was safe. Obviously [he] missed the call but at the same time I probably should have been there the at-bat before.”

We'll get to “the at-bat before.” But first, a little setup.

Rays lefty David Price took a 2-1 lead into the bottom of the eighth inning and was in cruise control. Then came the rains, and a 39-minute delay. Price somewhat surprisingly returned to the mound when the delay ended, but was yanked after just one batter.

Ryan Lavarnway then greeted reliever Joel Peralta with a double off the Green Monster, and Nava, who was involved in a questionable baserunning play against the New York Yankees two weekends ago, was sent in to run for Lavarnway.

Drew followed with a hard smash directly at right fielder Wil Myers. Nava made a brief break back toward second when he thought Myers might make the catch and was forced to scramble toward third when the ball landed over the rookie’s head and one-hopped the wall. Third-base coach Brian Butterfield had no choice but to hold Nava, keeping the tying run at third base.

Like Meals, Nava shouldered some blame for the run that just could not score.

“I should have scored. I mean, it’s my fault,” Nava said. “I should have scored. Bad read.

“You need to take more of an extended lead. I got halfway and as I saw the ball getting closer I thought, he’s about to catch this ball. I started to creep back to second. With one out, you’ve got to keep extending because you’re trying to score, not trying to get to third.”

Farrell did not mince words when describing Nava’s need to wait as long as possible before making any break back toward second.

“You’re schooled to, if the ball is not caught, to score, to be in a position to be able to score,” Farrell said. “And unfortunately at that point his momentum had him going back to second base once he read that the ball wasn’t caught.”

Farrell called it a misread.

The inhabitants of the other clubhouse were satisfied with the call at home, obviously. Rays manager Joe Maddon chose to view it as a perfect example of how to play defense behind the plate.

“Sammy Fuld great play, J-Mo on the backside of that thing, that was textbook,” Maddon said. “That’s just stuff you try to teach catchers to do. Not everyone can do that. Regardless of if you play safe beyond that point, the way J-Mo did that is textbook. Spalding guide to blocking the plate. That was outstanding.”

Maddon is right. Molina played it well. Still, Nava was safe, and everything that took place leading up to the botched call made for a wild ending on an odd July night that could have a major impact come September.

BOSTON -- Home plate umpire Jerry Meals admitted he missed the call in eighth inning Monday on a play that would have tied the Red Sox-Rays game at 2-2.

Instead, the Sox lost, 2-1.

On the play in question, Daniel Nava tagged up from third on a fly to left by Brandon Snyder. Sam Fuld caught the ball and came up firing with a solid throw home. Nava’s foot was clearly on the plate before Jose Molina’s tag, but Meals ruled otherwise.

Asked by pool reporter Ken Powtak of the Associated Press what he saw on the play, Meals responded, "What I saw was: Molina blocked the plate and Nava's foot lifted. But in the replays, you could clearly see Nava's foot got under for a split second and then lifted, so I was wrong on my decision. From the angle I had, I did not see his foot get under Molina's shin guard."

The mild-mannered Nava was in disbelief after the call, and Red Sox manager John Farrell was ejected for arguing with Meals.

Earlier in the inning, Nava advanced only from second to third on a double as he stayed near the bag to possibly tag up if Stephen Drew’s drive to right was caught.

BOSTON -- Outside of the Red Sox clubhouse, no one would have known.

Daniel Nava voluntarily revealed what was the worst part of his decision to try to take second when Yankees catcher Chris Stewart fell into the stands catching Dustin Pedroia's foul popup during the Yankees' 5-2 win Saturday afternoon at the Fens.

No, it wasn't that Nava took the bat out of David Ortiz's hands at a time when the Sox DH represented the potential tying run, Ortiz clearly unhappy as he made his way back to the dugout at the end of the eighth inning.

This trumped that. One pitch before Pedroia popped up, first-base coach Arnie Beyeler delivered a message to Nava.

"I was told, 'Don't go anywhere,'" Nava said. "I just stopped [thinking] when the ball was popped up. It was one of those times I wasn't on top of what I should have been.

"The coaches did their job. I reacted. I would go back and change it if I could."

No mystery, then, that manager John Farrell would declare that Nava was "overaggressive" on the play.

Let's not overlook, however, that Stewart, the Yankees catcher, made a terrific play, boomeranging out of the stands after he toppled in while gloving Pedroia's pop, then turning and throwing a strike to second base. What baserunner doesn't instinctively think about advancing when a fielder falls into the seats?

"A catch in the stands? That's tough," said Red Sox catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia. "Not only do you have to make the play, you have to have the smarts and awareness to get out of the stands and know you can throw to second. That's not an easy throw, especially to put it on the money like that."

And to do so as the visiting catcher, unimpeded by what is supposed to be a rabid fan base?

"Our fans didn't do a good enough job, I guess," Saltalamacchia said. "I guess we'll have to start yelling at them like they yell at us."

Opportunities to score were few for the Sox against Yankee starter Hiroki Kuroda -- who limited them to five hits in seven innings -- and two relievers, including The Great Mariano Rivera, which made it all the more painful that three Sox runners were cut down on the basepaths, the other two at home plate.

"Cost us the game," said Mike Carp, who had three hits and scored a run on a wild pitch in the seventh, but also was erased at the plate trying to advance two innings earlier on a ball that skipped away from Stewart, who recovered in time to throw to Kuroda, covering the plate.

Nava also was nailed at the plate by Yankees left fielder Vernon Wells while trying to score from second on Ortiz's two-out single in the first inning. Third-base coach Brian Butterfield was waving him home, but with the play in front of him and two out, Nava already had made up his mind to try to score. What he didn't anticipate was stumbling as he rounded third. He might still have been out, but not by a couple of strides.

"Today was just a rough one on the bases for me," Nava said. "I'll learn from it."

Funny thing is, Ortiz scored Boston's first run by running through Butterfield's stop sign on Jonny Gomes' fly ball to center.

"It's a fine line," Farrell said of the separation between aggressive and foolhardy on the basepaths. "The game situation is going to dictate most of it, if not all of it. It worked against us a couple times today."