BOSTON - It doesn't seem to matter much who the opponent is. For the Red Sox, it's all about location, location, location. And when the location is Fenway, the result is almost always a win.

The Sox held back the Tampa Bay Rays last night, 5-1, for their 12th consecutive win at home. The last winning streak longer than this one at home, for any team, was the summer of 2006, when the Minnesota Twins won 13 in a row at home. Not since 2005, when the Sox ripped off 14 straight, have the Sox been hotter at home.

The upstart Rays, who came into the series with the best record in the American League, haven't figured out how to win in Boston, dropping their second straight and are 0-5 at Fenway this season.

"We have not done well here this year,'' acknowledged Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon, "and we have to do well here to end up in first place. You just can't do it any other way. We have to play better here.''

But they shouldn't feel badly: the Sox haven't lost to anyone at home since May 1, some five weeks ago. The Sox have now won eight of their last nine home series. For the season, the Sox are 23-5.

The Sox' win last night enabled them to leapfrog the Rays in the A.L. East standings by a half-game, though the Rays still have one fewer loss.

How to explain this run the Sox are on at home?

"I don't know that we can, actually,'' said manager Terry Francona. "Obviously, we like playing here. We're used to playing here. We like playing here; we'd be crazy not to. We have the (greatest) fans. Certainly, having the last at-bat means a lot because you can handle your pitching differently. But other than that, I don't have a good reason. I'd like to find out.''

It helps, of course, to have a balanced attack, as the Sox did last night, banging out 11 hits, with contributions from all but two starters. Offensively, the Sox have mashed on this streak, hitting .318 as a team while averaging 7.3 runs.

A three-run third was all Josh Beckett (6-4) needed. Jacoby Ellsbury singled home Coco Crisp. Ellsbury, in turn, was knocked in on a double by J.D. Drew and Manny Ramirez, extending his hitting streak to 10 straight games, singled home Drew.

Singles by Kevin Youkilis, Jason Varitek and a sacrifice fly by Crisp produced another run in the fourth and the Sox closed out the scoring in the seventh when Youkilis singled home Drew.

The rest was up to Beckett, who, though not at the top of his age, was good enough.

"I threw some good pitches and some not-so-good ones,'' said Beckett. "All in all, it was a pretty good outing.''

Beckett allowed seven hits and a solo run in six innings, fanning five and issuing no walks. Of special significance was that Beckett didn't allow a home run for the first time since May 5. In his previous four starts before last night, Beckett had surrendered seven homers.

At 92 pitches, Beckett could have gone another inning or two, but the wet and slippery conditions provided the Sox with a scare in the sixth. Following through, Beckett, with too much mud in his cleats, nearly rolled his right foot, bringing a trainer and Francona to the mound.

"When we saw that slip,'' recounted Francona, after the inning I said, 'That's enough.' I thought he had given us enough. I just wasn't comfortable sending him back out. I think that will help with the next start and the start after that.''

With nine outs still to go, the Sox got stellar relief for the final three innings. Contributing an inning apiece, Manny Delcarmen, Hideki Okajima and Craig Hansen retired nine of the 11 hitters they faced while combining to strike out five and allowing just one hit.

When you start getting consistency out of them,'' said Francona, you know what you're going to get, which is important. I think the more success they have, the more their confidence will grow.''

"Obviously,'' added Beckett of the bullpen's efforts, "they've been doing a really good job, coming in and getting outs quick, so that even on those days when maybe the starter doesn't go as deep as he or the team would've liked him to, guys are coming in, getting three- and four-pitch outs.