Yankees 8, Red Sox 6. A ho-hum night in Tampa. Box.

Boston    100 300 101 -  6 10  0  

New York  011 220 20x -  8 12  1

Gerry Callahan writes that resigning Pedro is an easy call: "Only one of the Sox' free-agents-to-be has said he is ready and willing to take a pay cut. After all of the aforementioned accomplishments, Pedro knows his years of earning $17.5 million are over. He's ready to settle for a scant $13 million or $14 million. So the Sox can actually re-sign the greatest pitcher they've ever had (who is only 32) and cut their payroll in the process."

Alex Rodriguez suffered a bruised left cheekbone last night after being struck by a thrown ball that ricocheted off Brian Daubach's leg. Boston third base coach Dale Sveum: "It got him good. It wasn't a grazing blow at all. You could hear it." Joe Torre: "He thought he got hit by a knee. That's how hard it was." Rodriguez was taken to the hospital as a precaution, and a CT scan was negative.

Notes: Nomar Garciaparra hopes to get some at-bats in a minor-league game early next week. ... Trot Nixon is at Stage three of a five-stage rehab program, which includes swimming and cariovascular work; he said that yesterday was by far the worst day he's had in terms of pain. ... Boston's starters had a 2.27 ERA before last night. ... Howard Bryant Q&A Part 2. ... Matthew Namee: "Is Mariano Rivera a Hall of Famer?"