The Texas Rangers are a legitimate World Series contender, fact

When you watch the AL East (baseball's best division) day in and day out, it's easy to overlook other AL divisions and especially the National League.

However, seeing quality teams like the New York Yankees, Tampa Bay Rays and Boston Red Sox allows you to know talent when you see it and this season, the Texas Rangers appear to have the right combination of pitching, great lineup and a closer to go deep into October.

The Rangers (67-49) took two out of three from the Sox (67-52) over the weekend, sealing it with yesterday afternoon's 7-3 win.

The temperature hovered around 100 degrees for each game and it was an easy metaphor to say that Boston's playoffs hopes continue to wilt as the summer quickly vanishes.

Daisuke Matsuzaka (8-4; 6.2 innings, 4 earned runs, 7 hits, 2 walks, 8 strikeouts), who has quietly become Boston's third best starting pitcher, deserved a better fate on this scorcher of a day.

Dice-K left down 2-0 (sacrifice fly in the second and bunt single in the seventh) with two outs in the seventh but Manny Delcarmen allowed a three-run homer to Michael Young (2 hits) on his first pitch of his outing.

Down 5-0, the Red Sox decided to make it somewhat interesting. Marco Scutaro had an RBI double and Darnell McDonald hit a two-run homer which cut it to 5-3.

It wasn't enough though as Texas added two more in the eighth to close it out.

C.J. Wilson (11-5) beat Boston for the third time this season. He went 7.2 innings, allowing one earned run on four hits with one walk and eight strikeouts.

The big 10-game road trip fittingly ended 5-5 for the Red Sox. They're six games behind New York in the AL East and five games behind the Rays for the wild card. Neither of those teams are playing particularly well at the moment either but Boston has been unable to gain any ground.

Dustin Pedroia is returning to the lineup tomorrow (out since June 25) as the Sox kick off a nine-game homestand vs. a favorable trio of teams (Angels, Blue Jays, Mariners). Boston will not go anywhere unless they catch fire in the next week or so, time is running out.

What about John Smoltz?

After losing 6-3 to the Texas Rangers last night at the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, the Boston Red Sox have to ask themselves, how much longer do they let the John Smoltz experiment play out?

He actually cruised through the first five innings last night and entered the bottom of the sixth with a 2-1 lead. As fast as you can say, deep in the heart of Texas, his outing was over as the Rangers (50-41) exploded for five runs in the inning, including three home runs.

Michael Young (3 hits, 2 runs; captain of the All-Underrated team) started it off with a solo bomb to left center. Hank Blalock (2 hits, 2 runs) singled home Josh Hamilton and then former Sox outfielder David Murphy (2 hits) golfed a fastball for a two-run homer. Finally, Jarrod Saltalamacchia (who the Sox desperately wanted over the winter) hit the first pitch he saw out of the park.

Smoltz's (1-3) final line was 5.2 innings, six earned runs on nine hits with five strikeouts. Terry Francona seemed to leave him in too long but then again his pitch count was still low and he had been great up until then.

With Clay Buchholz pitching great in Pawtucket (and good enough last Friday vs. Toronto), I have to think that Smoltz has a short leash. He's had a Hall of Fame career and from all reports, he's a nice veteran presence to have around but this isn't a Hollywood movie, it's a pennant race. The Red Sox can't afford to have Smoltz (and Brad Penny) being such liabilities as the season turns to August and September.

Boston (55-37) took a 1-0 lead in the first on David Ortiz's RBI double which scored Kevin Youkilis. Like Friday night in Toronto, Ortiz just missed a homer as his shot glanced off the top of the wall.

Jason Varitek made it 2-0 Sox in the fourth with an RBI double scoring J.D. Drew. Unfortunately, Mike Lowell was gunned down at the plate on the same play.

Kevin Millwood (9-7) prevailed in the battle of former Braves pitchers. He went six innings, allowing two runs on six hits with a walk and three strikeouts.

Youk knocked in Jacoby Ellsbury with an RBI single in the eighth but the Red Sox offense continued to sputter in the team's third straight loss. Ellsbury was moved back to the top of the lineup but Jason Bay, Varitek, Drew and Nick Green are all in big time slumps at the same time.

C.J. Wilson notched his eighth save for Texas as he got four outs including two strikeouts.

Texas native Josh Beckett looks to get his team back on track tonight.