RKMBs Forums .::Robegories::. Sports and Wrestling hows bout those yankees for 2007 - cuz no other team matters

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Boston 11, NY Yankees 6

Preview - Box Score - Recap

By JIMMY GOLEN, AP Sports Writer
June 2, 2007

BOSTON (AP) -- Mike Lowell dished out the big hits -- with his body and his bat.

Lowell homered to start a Red Sox comeback and also flattened two Yankees in a pair of basepath collisions on Saturday as Boston beat New York 11-6. First baseman Doug Mientkiewicz was taken from the field on a cart after banging his head on Lowell's hip while trying to one-hop a bad throw from shortstop Derek Jeter.

"That was like a football game," Boston manager Terry Francona said. "I think everybody leaves these games just mentally and physically exhausted. Just a lot of hard baseball."

The Yankees scored four in the sixth inning to take a 5-3 lead, but Boston tied it in the bottom half on back-to-back homers by Lowell and Jason Varitek. Jeter homered in the seventh to give New York the lead before committing errors on consecutive plays during Boston's five-run seventh.

The Red Sox loaded the bases with nobody out against Scott Proctor (0-3) before Lowell hit a grounder to second. Robinson Cano flipped to second for the force, but Jeter spun around and threw an 85-footer that Mientkiewicz tried to backhand on the outfield side of the bag.

As his momentum pulled him into the baseline, Lowell ran through the base and sent Mientkiewicz sprawling. The ball bounced off his glove and into foul territory as Manny Ramirez scampered home with the second -- and go-ahead -- run.

"It seemed like every time we scored, they scored some runs," Jeter said. "And I didn't help them."

Mientkiewicz remained on the ground for several minutes while the Yankees' medical staff attended to him, testing his vision and his reaction; Lowell stood nearby in obvious concern. Mientkiewicz, a defensive replacement who gloved the final out in Boston's 2004 World Series victory, was helped into a golf cart and taken to Massachusetts General Hospital.

Tests on Saturday night revealed a mild concussion, cervical sprain and a fractured bone in his right wrist. He will be kept overnight for observation and will be placed on the 15-day disabled list prior to Sunday's game, the team said.

"I feel bad for Doug. You don't want anything like that to happen," said Lowell, who played against Mientkiewicz in high school and worked out with him in the offseason. "He knows me well enough. ... I wanted to say something, but they were being so careful."

Dustin Pedroia had three hits for Boston for the second consecutive game, and Hideki Okajima (1-0) retired all four batters he faced for his first major league victory. Kevin Youkilis, who came in with a 23-game hitting streak, was the only Red Sox starter who didn't get a hit; he drew a walk in the eighth to end the streak.

Melky Cabrera went 3-for-4 with a homer, and Jorge Posada hit a three-run shot for the Yankees, who fell back to 13 1/2 games behind Boston in the AL East race.

"Our ballclub is in great spirits right now. We wish we had a seventh inning we could do over again," Torre said. "We're fighting now. We haven't been through this in a while."

Help isn't coming any time soon: Pitcher-for-hire Roger Clemens was scratched from Monday's start against Chicago because of groin fatigue.

It's not clear when the 44-year-old, seven-time Cy Young winner, who signed for a prorated $28 million, will make his 2007 debut. Red Sox fans taunted the Yankees in the ninth with a chant of "Where is Roger?"

A night after Lowell took a pitch off his left wrist -- one of five hit batsman in the game -- he had three hits and four RBIs. He was also involved in a little basepath payback in the fourth when he slammed his right shoulder -- and a little bit of his elbow -- into Cano in an attempt to break up a double play.

Cano bounced the ball to first as he fell to the dirt, just getting Varitek at first.

"I never had a problem with him before," Cano said. "Today he threw his elbow."

But Torre said it was a clean play. Lowell, who spent his first four professional seasons in the Yankees organization, insisted he meant no harm.

"They taught me how to do it," he said.

Proctor allowed five runs -- two of them earned -- on three hits and three walks, two of them intentional. He also coughed up the lead in Mike Mussina's previous start.

Both Mussina and Red Sox starter Curt Schilling struggled after a 29-minute rain delay in the fourth inning. Neither made it out of the sixth.

"The rain delay didn't help," Francona said. "Didn't help Schilling; didn't help Mussina."

Notes

Posada has 205 career homers, tying Dave Winfield for ninth on the Yankees all-time list. ... The Red Sox reached 1 million in attendance in their 28th home game, tying last season's franchise record for quickest to the mark. ... Mussina is winless in four starts. ... J.D. Drew was out of the lineup with a right hamstring strain.

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