Monday night would have seemed the logical time for the Sox to finally wrap it up with Josh Beckett on the mound and the Cleveland Indians counting down the days until the end of their season -- but the hurler lost command of the zone at some inopportune times and a misfiring Sox offense stranded 12 runners on the bases.

With that in mind, a potential celebration moves on to Tuesday night in a match-up with Cleveland's likely Cy Young Award winner, Cliff Lee. Though it's likely that some champagne bottles will be popped open and backslapping will abound in one of the next few games at Fenway Park, the Sox would probably now have to both win out during the rest of their six-game regular season schedule and get a lot of help from the Rays to win the division.

In other words, it's not likely to happen.

And so the Sox will likely keep that in mind when celebrating a Wild Card entry, and there's a pretty good chance fans won't see closer Jonathan Papelbon invoking the "Riverdance" on the Fenway grass or a wild celebration similar to last year's AL East division title celebration.

Manager Terry Francona isn't going to legislate how the players celebrate one way or the other, though,

"What I don't think we need to do is ever script anything," said manager Terry Francona. "If we're fortunate enough tonight to win a game that clinches a playoff spot, guys should act just like they want to act. I don't think scripting something is the right way to do it.

"Getting to the playoffs is no small feat," added Francona. "Very difficult to do, so I wouldn't ever go in there and say, 'Let's cool it.' Things need to be put in perspective, but it's a big deal trying to get to the playoffs. Knowing that you're going to keep playing is a huge deal."

INDIANS 4, RED SOX 3: RHP Josh Beckett struggled with command and plunked a career-high three batters while giving up four runs in six erratic innings of work, and the Sox offense stranded 12 runners on the basepaths in defeat. 1B Kevin Youkilis collected three hits and DH David Ortiz launched his fifth home run in his last seven games, but the Sox remain one win away from clinching a playoff berth outright.