Dave Wallace shrugged his shoulders. Tim Wakefield was stone-faced, disappointed, but unconcerned. He lost yesterday to the Orioles, 4-1, but he pitched well. There was only one explanation for the loss: He was outpitched by Rodrigo Lopez.

That didn't mean that Wakefield was happy with the loss. He competed and got beat by an Orioles team that plays with real confidence against the Red Sox. The Sox just came up on the losing end of a well-pitched game. It was over in a smooth 2 hours, 5 minutes.

"I felt great out there," Wakefield said after seven innings of four-run ball. "I felt I could have gone the extra inning, but I wasn't allowed to. We're at the break. We're in first place. It's a lot better than this time last year."

Sox manager Terry Francona backed the knuckler.

"He gave up single runs in four innings,'' he said. ``A lot of nights, that's enough for us to win."