01:00 AM EDT on Monday, July 18, 2005

BY SEAN McADAM and STEVEN KRASNER
Journal Sports Writer

BOSTON -- As the July 31 trading deadline draws near, rumors are bound to spread. Two recent ones involving the Red Sox, however, were particularly unfounded.

One had the Red Sox involved in a blockbuster deal with the San Diego Padres, with the Sox sending David Wells, Kevin Millar and Trot Nixon off for Sean Burroughs, Adam Eaton and Ryan Klesko. Just one problem: the two teams hadn't even talked.

Meanwhile, published reports in New York and Baltimore had the Sox closing in on a trade for Florida Marlins pitcher A.J. Burnett , with one citing a major league source that said Burnett would join the Sox within the week. But while the Sox have a definite interest in Burnett, they're nowhere close to completing a trade for him.

The Marlins are ready to move Burnett, who is eligible for free agency after the season. But they're looking for a starting pitcher, a reliever and a young lefthanded-hitting outfielder.

The Sox could part with Bronson Arroyo and prospect Brandon Moss , but are themselves looking for bullpen help and don't have anything to offer.

Making the match really difficult, however, is the Marlins' insistence on including third baseman Mike Lowell in the deal. The slumping Lowell (.227-4-36 with a .350 slugging percentage) has two full years remaining after this season at nearly $18 million, a deal-breaker from the Red Sox' viewpoint.

Were a deal to be made, it's almost certain that the Red Sox -- or any other club -- would request a 48- or 72-hour window to negotiate an extention for Burnett, 28.

Burnett is a talented power pitcher with dominant stuff, but his injury history includes having already undergone Tommy John surgery on his right elbow. He's also suffered from occasional shoulder problems.

The Baltimore Orioles (offering Jorge Julio, Hayden Penn and either Larry Bigbie or Jay Gibbons ) and Chicago White Sox (Jose Contreras, Damaso Marte, Brian Anderson ) are thought to be the front-runners for Burnett.

Damon stays alive

Johnny Damon waited until the eighth inning, but he was able to extend his hitting streak to 29 games with a double off the bottom of the Sox' bullpen fence.

The drive, off Tanyon Sturtze, eluded right fielder Gary Sheffield , who nearly impaled himself on the point of the bullpen that sticks out toward the triangle.

Damon, who had fanned twice and popped out to second in his previous at-bats, now boasts the fourth-longest streak in Red Sox history, behind only Dom DiMaggio (34, in 1949), Tris Speaker (30, 1912) and Nomar Garciaparra (30, 1997).

It's the longest in the big leagues since St. Louis' Albert Pujols enjoyed a 30-gamer in 2003. Bellhorn jammed up Second baseman Mark Bellhorn , playing shallow right field in the shift on Jason Giambi , robbed the Yankee designated hitter of a hit.

He made a diving play to his right, got up and threw out the slow-footed Giambi in a close call the Yanks disputed.

But it was a play that could send Bellhorn to the disabled list. He had to be taken out of the game before the top of the eighth because of a jammed left thumb.

Francona said the team would know more about the severity of the injury today.

"It started tightening up in the top of the seventh," said Bellhorn of his thumb. "We didn't want to take a chance. It was sore."

Bellhorn admitted he's worried it could be an injury that keeps him out of action for a while.

"When I put my glove on it hurt," he said.

Whatever it takes

Kevin Millar executed an impromptu yet successful takeout slide -- halfway between first and second -- unwittingly keeping Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano from turning a double play in the second.

With Millar at first, Trot Nixon chopped a grounder to Cano, who charged the ball and grabbed it in the baseline. Cano tried to turn a tag-him-out, throw-him-out double play. But when Cano went to tag Millar, the Sox' first baseman went down into a slide. Cano tagged him on the face, but Millar's legs took Cano's legs out from under him, and Cano was unable to make the throw to first to complete the double play.

The extra out, though, didn't help Boston, which failed to score in the inning.

The numbers pile up

Alex Rodriguez 's solo shot over the Green Monster in the eighth was his 26th homer of the year and the 407th of his career, tying him with Duke Snider for 39th on the all-time list.

Sheffield's long, over-everything two-run home run in the third was the 434th homer of his career, tying him with Juan Gonzalez for 32nd place on the all-time list.

Each slugger had a monster series. Sheffield went 8 for 16 with 5 doubles, 2 homers and 5 RBI. Rodriguez went 4 for 15 with 3 homers and 5 RBI. A-Rod cranked out a homer in three of the four games, including Thursday night's ninth-inning game-winner off Curt Schilling. Manny stops, then goes deep

Manny Ramirez moved only a couple of steps out of the batter's box on his popup to first baseman Tino Martinez , not even making a half-hearted attempt to run down the baseline on the inning-ending out.

He was able to trot around the bases in the ninth, though, when he clubbed a long leadoff homer to left-center. It was his 24th homer of the year and his 178th for the Sox, tying him with Garciaparra for ninth on the team's all-time list. It was the 414th of his career, tying him with Darrell Evans for 37th all time.

The homer came off Tom Gordon , who had held the opposition hitless in the last 28 at-bats.

On the defensive

Martinez made an outstanding sliding catch of Bill Mueller 's foul popup, banging into the low fence next to the dugout but managing to hang onto the ball on the backhanded grab in the fifth. . . . Mueller, though, got even with the Yanks, robbing Rodriguez of a leadoff double in the sixth inning with a diving backhanded grab of his hard grounder just inside the bag. . . . There were two other stellar defensive plays. Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter used every inch of his vertical leap to rob Alex Cora of a line-drive single in the eighth, and Boston starter Tim Wakefield sprinted off the mound and caught Giambi's foul popup in front of the New York dugout.

Little satisfaction

Wakefield had his first complete game since Aug. 19, 1998, against Kansas City, a span 154 starts.

Unfortunately for Wakefield, he was the losing pitcher. He gave up five hits, but all were for extra bases, and accounted for the Yanks' scoring. Hideki Matsui doubled and scored on Jorge Posada's homer inside Pesky's Pole in the second; Cano doubled and romped home on Sheffield's long two-run homer well over the Monster seats in the third, and Rodriguez crushed a homer over the wall in the eighth.

He took little satisfaction in the complete game.

"I'm thankful Terry gave me the opportunity to finish the game, but it's still a loss. It's no feather in my cap," said Wakefield.

Around the horn

Keith Foulke is expected to be in Boston today to have his surgically repaired left knee checked out by the team's medical staff. Francona thought the stitches would be taken out today. . . . Gabe Kapler , re-signed by the Sox over the weekend, had a good workout in Fort Myers, Fla., on Saturday. He will be checked out by Boston's medical staff at some point this week. . . . Hall of Famer Paul Molitor was at Fenway Park as part of the national Strike Out Cancer program. . . . Katie Bell of Portsmouth got to pinch-hit for public address anouncer Carl Beane as part of a regular Sunday night promotion, announcing Ramirez as he stepped to the plate in the sixth.