Sox 9, Tampa 1

Curt Schilling struck out 7 in six innings and Mike Lowell powered a 7-run third inning to lead the Sox to an easy win Wednesday.

Schilling (4-0) has started the season with four straight wins for the first time in his career. He yeilded only one run, lowering his ERA to 1.61.

The 7-run third inning, the highest-scoring inning the Sox have had all year, was aided by two Tampa errors. Besides Lowell's double, the inning saw RBIs from Trot Nixon, Jason Varitek and Kevin Youkilis.

Overall, Lowell had two hits, two RBI and scored twice. Youkilis led off the game with a home run en route to a 3-for-4 performance.

Much is being made about the fact that Manny Ramirez has yet to hit a home run this season. Don't worry about Manny. His numbers will be there at the end of the season, and I'd rather see him hot in August than April.

Schilling's return to form sets the bar high for Josh Beckett, who will try to answer Schilling's outstanding performance Friday in Toronto. In the meantime, Tim Wakefield will face Scott Kazmir, the subject of Schilling's latest radio appearance, tonight at Fenway.