BOSTON (AP) — Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon is looking ahead to the last week of the season and thinking about the way 2011 ended, with baseball’s pennant races coming down to the final games — and the Rays coming out of it with a spot in the playoffs.

“I want it to be exactly like last year,” Maddon said on Wednesday night after the Rays beat Boston 4-2 for their seventh consecutive victory. “It’s starting to look a lot like Christmas.”

Carlos Pena and Ben Francisco hit back-to-back, tape-measure homers in the fifth inning to help Tampa Bay remain 3.5 games behind Baltimore for second place in the AL East. The Rays also kept pace with Oakland, which beat Texas 9-3 and remains three games in front for the second wild-card spot.

The Red Sox, who went 34-47 at Fenway, matched their worst home record since 1965 and still have a chance for their worst overall mark since they lost 100 games that season.

They haven’t lost since manager Maddon challenged them to run the table like Minnesota Fats. Now he’s thinking of another pool-themed bonding experience: “The Hustler,” a 1961 movie starring Jackie Gleason and Paul Newman as pool players.

Across the diamond, several Red Sox players had already emptied their lockers after the final home game of the season for the Red Sox, and perhaps the last at Fenway Park for Boston manager Bobby Valentine. Hired to inspire a fractious clubhouse after the team went 7-20 last September under Terry Francona, Valentine instead presided over what could be the worst Red Sox team since 1965.

“(It’s) disappointing,” he said. “We didn’t walk off many and didn’t score enough runs. We’ve got a lot saved up for next year.”

Jon Lester (9-14) gave up three runs on four hits and a walk, striking out five in six innings.