ARLINGTON, Tex. - The pennant race officially begins Monday night in Boston.

After dispatching their personal pigeons, the Texas Rangers, by a 7-2 score Sunday at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, the Boston Red Sox find themselves only 1 ½ games (2 in the loss column) behind the division-leading Tampa Bay Rays in the American League East.

And guess who visits Fenway Park for a vital three-game series, beginning Monday?

That's right, the Rays. And best of all for the surging Red Sox, the Rays, who have been the season's biggest surprise, have been floundering.

Tampa Bay, which has been in first place since July 18, has lost five of six heading into the series, the first of six between the teams over the next week and a half. The Rays, who will play host to Boston from Sept. 15 to 17, were swept in a three-game series in Toronto after winning only one of three from the New York Yankees at home.

Everyone has been predicting that the youthful Rays would come to earth eventually. After all, Tampa Bay hadn't had so much as one winning year in its previous 10 seasons of existence, nevermind finding itself in contention for a pennant. The Rays, though, hadn't lost a series after the All-Star break -- until their last two.

The Red Sox, meanwhile, have been putting on a charge despite injuries to important run-producers in the lineup. Sunday's victory for Boston, which went 9-1 in its season series with the Rangers, was the team's 20th in its last 29 games.

When the Red Sox woke up on Sept. 1, they were 5 ½ games behind the Rays. In only a week, the defending World Series champions have sliced four games off their deficit, and they'll go Ray-hunting buoyed by their recent winning ways and their been-there, done-that attitude and confidence borne of championship experience.

The pitching matchups will feature nothing but double-digit winners.

Monday it will be Boston's most consistently effective pitcher all year, Jon Lester (13-5, 3.57 earned-run average) facing Edwin Jackson (11-9, 4.07). Wednesday night Daisuke Matsuzaka (16-2, 2.88) will oppose Scott Kazmir (11-6, 2.99), and in the finale on Wednesday night, Josh Beckett (12-9, 4.20) will start against Tampa's Andy Sonnanstine (13-7, 4.66).

So far, the home team has held serve in each game this year. Boston swept a pair of three-game sets at Fenway, and the Rays have done likewise at Tropicana Field.

The Red Sox, who lead the wild-card race by 6 ½ games over Minnesota, are looking forward to the showdown.

"Now we get to go home, where we can play hopefully some of the most exciting baseball of the year. We're really looking forward to it," said manager Terry Francona.

"We're real excited to play them," he added. "We've played ourselves into a position where these games are really important. That's exciting. We feel good about ourselves and how we're playing. Now we get to play them. It should be fun."

Paul Byrd, who shut out Texas for 6 2/3 innings yesterday in improving to 4-1 since joining the Red Sox from the Indians, won't be pitching in the series. But that doesn't mean he won't be feeling an adrenaline rush.

"I'm fired up," said Byrd. "Coming from Cleveland, where the games didn't mean anything for a while, to get to play the team you're chasing is great. It's going to be a playoff atmosphere. I'm excited to be part of it and cheering my teammates on."

There is one secret to success for the Sox. For any team, actually. It all starts on the mound.

"Everything builds on our pitching," said captain and catcher Jason Varitek. "We just have to focus on what we have to do."

"Pitching makes the difference," added David Ortiz. "We're going to hit regardless."

One other thing that may make a difference against the Rays, who have been bolstered by the return of Cumberland native and former Hendricken High School star Rocco Baldelli, is experience. The Red Sox have won two of the last four World Series and several of the players on the roster have either been on one or both of those title teams, or have been in the playoffs with other teams.

The same cannot be said for Tampa Bay. Not that the Sox have the attitude that they can just throw their gloves on the field and the Rays will fold under the pressure and glare of pennant-chasing September baseball.

"I think experience means something," said Byrd. "It's a factor."

He has been impressed with his teammates' demeanor.

"They could have the attitude that they won last year and could be relaxed," said Byrd. "But these guys are hungry. You'd think they hadn't won a World Series last year."

Dustin Pedroia doesn't think they should get overly amped up for the showdown series.

"We just have to keep playing good baseball," said Pedroia, the league's leading hitter at .330. "We've been fighting for so long to get back in the East race. We have to keep it going and hopefully play good baseball against them. If we continue to play good baseball, keep winning series, we can get back to the playoffs."