BOSTON — The strategy was full of second-guess possibilities.

The result, though, was that manager Terry Francona and the Red Sox came out smelling like a bouquet of roses in the seventh inning yesterday.

This was the scene: The Sox were leading, 8-5. Manny Delcarmen walked the first two batters of the inning and then retired Ray Durham on a grounder to first.

That left the Giants with runners at second and third with one out and Barry Bonds striding to the plate, representing the tying run. One inning earlier, Bonds had lofted his 748th career homer, leaving him seven behind Hank Aaron, the all-time leader.

First base was open. So, with side-arming left-hander Javier Lopez ready in the bullpen, as was right-hander Joel Pineiro, what’s the move?

Intentionally walk Bonds, which the Sox had done twice earlier in the series, including the first inning of Saturday’s game with a runner at second and two out? Have Delcarmen issue that walk, so as not to waste Lopez, the team’s situational lefty, and then bring in Pineiro to face Bengie Molina? Bring in Lopez and have him pitch to Bonds?

Francona yanked Delcarmen and brought in Lopez, who was given the instructions to be careful with Bonds. Lopez walked Bonds on four pitches, filling the bases with one out.

That forced Francona to lift Lopez, leaving Hideki Okajima, who had worked the two previous days, as his only remaining lefty in the bullpen.

Having dismissed Lopez, Francona called for Pineiro.

And it all worked out great for the Sox. Molina grounded into an inning-ending, rally-killing double play to shortstop on Pineiro’s first pitch. Game over.

Francona’s reasoning:

“The plan was to pitch (Bonds) carefully and hope he got himself out (chasing a bad pitch), not that he does that often. If he walked him, we had Joel ready for the next guy,” said Francona in explaining why he called in Lopez and didn’t issue an intentional pass.

Lopez, meanwhile, did his job, which is an odd thing to say for someone who entered the game, issued a four-pitch walk and was replaced.

“My mindset was that, knowing (Francona) wanted me to see if we could get (Bonds) to get himself out, to challenge him away and keep the ball out of his power zone,” said Lopez. “If not, we were going to move on to the next guy because (Bonds) is a guy who can change a game with one swing, like we have with David (Ortiz) and Manny (Ramirez).

“You can’t be upset,” said Lopez of his walk to the only batter he faced. “Especially when Joel comes in and gets a first-pitch double play. We did what we wanted to do and it worked out for us.”

Do the hustle . . .

Despite his season-long struggles at the plate, J.D. Drew has hustled every moment he’s been on the field. He runs hard even on routine groundouts, forcing the defense to make its play quickly.

Yesterday, Drew’s hustle in the first inning led to two Boston runs and a 2-0 lead.

Drew, leading off for the Sox, dropped a base hit into right-center. He ran hard out of the box. As he rounded first base, Drew noticed that it had taken rookie right fielder Nate Schierholtz a while to get to the ball, so he kept on going for second base and slid in safely, easily turning the hit into a double when Schierholtz bobbled the ball a bit as he went to make a throw.

. . . or not

Ramirez’s lack of hustle cost himself a hit and the Sox at least another run in their five-run third inning.

With runners at second and third and none out, Ramirez smacked a hard grounder toward the middle. San Francisco second baseman Ray Durham smothered the ball with a dive. He rolled in the dirt for a second or two, got to one knee and finally was able to get in position to make a throw to first base, which beat Ramierz, who was not running hard.

Maybe Ramirez has tired legs, and that’s the reason he wasn’t running hard. But in general, his approach to getting down the line is the polar opposite of Drew’s.

When he smelled an extra-base hit in the fourth, though, Ramirez found a faster gear for an RBI double into the left-field corner. And he was able to take a more leisurely stroll around the bases after crushing his 10th homer of the year, and second in as many days, into the Monster seats in the seventh.

So that type of offensive production, apparently, is why no one seems to mind Ramirez’s typical meandering down the first-base line on most ground balls he hits.

Sometimes left is right

Switch-hitters don’t always go by the book when facing Tim Wakefield.

The Giants had three switch-hitters in their starting lineup yesterday. Randy Winn and Ray Durham each opted to bat left-handed. Omar Vizquel decided to bat right-handed. Vizquel and Winn apparently made the correct decision, at least in the third inning. They each doubled to left-center and drove in a run.

skrasner@projo.com