This has been a very odd Red Sox season; they started off terrible, played like the best team in baseball for about 4 months, and then recently started to implode which led to tonight"s game against the surging Rays being the biggest game of the year. Thankfully, The Sox just pulled off the victory. Not only was it an actual victory in the standings, but there was an extra moral victory. Daniel Bard has had a terrible last 2 weeks and was starting to get hammered by fans and the media. Tonight, he bounced back and struck out the side in a key 8th inning appearance with the Sox up 4-3. This helped us solidify the Wild Card lead as we beat the Rays and the Angels lost; the Yankees lost too leaving open the division champion window.