Tim Wakefield has been around here long enough now that there's no mystery, no question about how much he benefits the Red Sox.

And when the knuckleballer left the field last night two outs into the eighth inning with the score tied at 3, the Fenway crowd didn't need much of a hint.

They stood up and gave the right-hander a lengthy standing ovation while Wakefield offered up a modest wave.

Though Alan Embree came in, and for the price of retiring Jay Gibbons on a groundout was awarded his fourth win of the season in the Red Sox' eventual 6-4 victory, there was little doubt about who also had a right to that `W.'

``Wake has been very consistent for us,'' said manager Grady Little. ``He was not out there when we scored the runs to win the game, but without him out there, I don't know where we'd be.''

Indeed, the crowd wanted to see more.

Before Wakefield hit Luis Matos with an errant knuckleball - the pitch that finally brought Embree in from the bullpen - Little had gone out to the mound after Wakefield gave up a two-out single to Deivi Cruz.

The crowd cheered in appreciation when Little gave Wakefield a pat on the back and returned to the dugout.

``Yeah, it shows a lot of appreciation for the job that I have done,'' Wakefield said of his fans. ``Not only tonight but over the past nine years.

``It is a pretty special place to play, here in Boston,'' he said. ``I can't thank them enough for all of the support over the past nine years. For them to give me a standing ovation when I walked off the field tonight, it shows how classy a people they are.''

Last night, their appreciation was particularly well-rooted.

Beyond a rough fourth inning, when he gave up three runs on three hits, including a two-run Tony Batista homer and a Matos triple, Wakefield surrendered just two hits and two walks.

``I would of (liked to stay in longer), but you can't put the team in jeopardy that way,'' he said. ``He had Embree ready, and Embree did a great job of finishing off that inning for us.''

The result - a season-high 7 innings appearance - was one of his classic innings-churning performances. It pushed Wakefield past George Winter (1901-08) into seventh place on the all-time Red Sox innings list with 1,605.

``I just tried to keep us in the game for as long as I could,'' said Wakefield. ``I gave up three runs there in the fourth. Damian Moss threw a great game for them, so it was just a matter of battling inning to inning, just trying to keep us in the game.

``I appreciate the comments from Grady, because our offense did a great job today late in the game,'' he said. ``Kevin Millar hit that two-run shot, Manny (Ramirez) got that base hit to lead off the eighth, Damian (Jackson) going to third later that inning on the hit from (David) Ortiz. (Byung-Hyun Kim) did a great job closing the game out. So it's a total team effort from here on out. Everyone's personal numbers are thrown out at this point in the season.''