08:42 AM EDT on Tuesday, September 28, 2004

BY SEAN McADAM
Journal Sports Writer

AP photo Johnny Damon, right, gets a spirited welcome at home plate after connecting for a three-run homer in the fifth inning last night that erased Tampa's 2-0 lead.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- This time, there was no victory lap to the Baseball Tavern, no sprint though a mob of fans crowding Yawkey Way.

But then, by the time the Red Sox clinched an appearance in the postseason last night with a 7-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, they had already come a long way.

In late July, the Red Sox were mired in a three-month funk when they changed their infield, their chemistry and their approach, resulting in a six-week hot streak that launched them into the wild-card lead.

"We were comatose for three months,' said general manager Theo Epstein in a jubilant clubhouse. "But the effort of these players, pulling themselves out of it, makes this really meaningful. We had our share of adversity . . . and things were in doubt. We were 56-46 and a couple of games out of the wild card. But these guys pulled themselves up by their bootstraps and persevered."

Boston's win was its 94th -- one shy of their total a year ago -- and while the Anaheim Angels could still finish with that victory total by winning the remainder of their games, in doing so they would vault over the Oakland A's and enter the playoffs as the A.L. West champ and not as the wild card.

The A.L. East title, meanwhile, remains officially in play. Last night's victory, backed by four homers, moved the Sox to within three games of the New York Yankees. Each team has six games remaining.

"We've clinched a postseason spot," said Curt Schilling as he was drenched in champagne. "We don't know were we are (in seeding), but we're there. We're part of it."

As the final out was recorded in the bottom of the ninth, players jogged out onto the field rather routinely, and mixed in some embraces with their usual post-game handshakes. Not until they reached the sanctity of the visitor's clubhouse in Tropicana Field did

they start the party.

Despite the pulsing music, flowing beer and champagne and lit cigars, the revelry was toned down from last year, which some thought excessive.

"It's still something you enjoy," said Jason Varitek above the din. "But we still know what's in front of us. We still have chance to win the division, but our ultimate goal was to get in. And now we are."

As his players whooped it up in the clubhouse, Terry Francona sat in his office around the corner and said the pride he felt for his team was "about as much as it could be. This is the beginning; I think they feel that way, too. But they're having fun, as they should."

AP photo Manny Ramirez, right, gets a champagne bath from teammate David Ortiz after the Red Sox clinched a playoff berth last night.

In one corner of the clubhouse, shortstop Orlando Cabrera, in many ways the symbol of the midseason makeover when he was acquired in the four-team trade that saw the Sox deal off Nomar Garciaparra, soaked in the atmosphere -- along with the flowing beer and champagne.

"This is unbelievable," he said. "I just talked to my wife (back home in Colombia, recovering from recent surgery) and she was almost crying. This is a good present for her."

For the first few innings, it appeared as though the Devil Rays, would succeed in putting the clincher off for at least another 24 hours. Rookie lefty Scott Kazmir, who blanked the Sox at Fenway two weeks ago while outdueling Pedro Martinez, struck out six of the first 11 Boston hitters and held them hitless over the first 3 1/3 innings.

But in apparent retribution for two hit batsman by Bronson Arroyo, Kazmir drilled Manny Ramirez above the left knee, earning a warning to both benches by home plate umpire Bruce Dreckman.

Undeterred, Kazmir then plunked cleanup hitter Kevin Millar in the back, emptying the benches and earning an ejection for himself and manager Lou Piniella.

"That woke us up a little bit," said Francona, whose team trailed, 2-0, at the time. "And having him leave the game didn't hurt our chances a bit."

Indeed, the Sox began teeing off on the Tampa bullpen in the next inning. Jorge Sosa first surrendered a three-run homer to Johnny Damon, and two batters later, a mammoth clout to Ramirez, who hammered a pitch to dead center, where it landed on the roof of the Batter's Eye Restaurant, some 458 feet away.

In the span of three hitters, the Sox had gone from trailing by two to leading by three.

They peppered Tampa's relief corps some more in the eighth when Varitek and Dave McCarty belted solo shots.

Arroyo, nicked for single runs in the second and third, settled in after the Sox offense snapped to life and pitched into the seventh, snapping a two-game personal winless streak and earning his 10th win, giving each member of the rotation double-figures in victories for the season.

Said Arroyo: "Everything is much more calm compared to last year at Fenway. We have business to finish."

Indeed, amid the celebration, the talk turned to next week's start of the postseason -- and beyond.

"This is a great team," said Cabrera. "But we know we can go farther. We're after big things."

"We haven't done nothing yet," said Ramirez. "So we're going to take it to another level."