BOSTON (AP) – For the first time since April, the Boston Red Sox are playing like they’re headed for the playoffs.

The Red Sox swept the Toronto Blue Jays to wrap up a 7-3 homestand and move a season-high 15 games above .500 heading into Friday night’s game against the Chicago White Sox. That left Boston tied with the Texas Rangers and one game ahead of Anaheim in the AL wild-card race.

“This homestand was very important to us,” Red Sox pitcher Tim Wakefield said after picking up the win on Wednesday night. “You’re getting down to the wire … and you’ve got one (playoff) spot between four or five teams, you know, so it’s going to be a grind. I like our chances.”

The homestand also left the Red Sox just one game off their pace from last year, when they won the AL wild-card berth and beat Oakland in the first round of the AL playoffs. But with the additions of Curt Schilling and Keith Foulke, expectations were higher this year.

After getting within five outs of the World Series last year, the Red Sox added Schilling and Foulke and thought they would pick up where they left off before Aaron Boone homered in the 11th inning of the seventh game of the AL championship series.

Even after Nomar Garciaparra and Trot Nixon were injured in spring training, the Red Sox woke up on May 1 with a 15-6 record. But then they played .500 ball (43-43) for more than three months to fall out of the AL East race and see their wild-card hopes jeopardized as well.

So Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein traded Garciaparra, a two-time batting champ and five-time all-star who is due to become a free agent after the season, in a four-team deal that netted Boston Orlando Cabrera and Doug Mientkiewicz. The deal was supposed to shore up the defense that gave up unearned runs in bunches and also help out by subtracting a clearly unhappy player from the clubhouse.

That wasn’t all. Epstein got outfielder Dave Roberts from Los Angeles to give Boston some speed and cover the field until Nixon can return. A week later, Boston got left-hander Mike Myers from Seattle to help out in the bullpen; righty Terry Adams came from Toronto a week before the trading deadline.

“The new guys have fit in great,” outfielder Johnny Damon said. “This team is playing with a lot of confidence right now. We feel like we’re going to be the team to beat.”

Cabrera, a gold glove shortstop with Montreal in 2001, struggled at the plate to start but is 6-for-16 in his last four games. He had the game-winning hit on Tuesday night, a walk-off double off the Green Monster to score Damon from first.

“We’ve been playing good baseball the last two weeks,” said Kevin Millar, whose 10-game hitting streak (.436) is one reason why. “This is what it’s all about, the last six weeks of the season.”

The Red Sox hope to improve even more when they start getting some of their injured players back.

David McCarty and Kevin Youkilis went on the disabled list on Tuesday, bringing Boston’s total of injured players to 11. Sixteen Red Sox players have spent 19 stints on the DL this season for a total of more than 900 games.

Last year, only 10 players were injured for a total of 497 games, and Jeremy Giambi, who missed 74 games, was the only player to go on the DL.

Nixon has missed 84 games with back and leg problems and Garciaparra didn’t play until June because of a sore heel. Infielders Pokey Reese, Bill Mueller, Mark Bellhorn, Kevin Youkilis and David McCarty have also spent time out, meaning first baseman Mientkiewicz had to play second base this week.

The ranks of the disabled are expected to thin in the next few weeks, giving the Red Sox something close to a full complement for the stretch run.

“We kept getting guys hurt. … The good thing is we have depth on this team,” Damon said. “We have all the positions filled now. We can spell guys if we need to. We’re pretty happy right now.”

AP-ES-08-19-04 1749EDT