Boys Keep Swinging. The Red Sox scored four times in the opening frame for the second straight night -- Damon beat out an infield single, Bellhorn doubled him home, Ramirez walked on 4 pitches and Ortiz singled Bellhorn home; after hard fly balls to left from Varitek and Millar (sac fly), Cabrera tripled into the triangle to bring Ortiz around. 4-0. ... In New York, Cleveland scored a run in the top of the 1st. ... The evening ended well -- though it was not a completely smooth ride and the Yankees did rally to win.

Bronson Arroyo gave two runs back in the second and after Boston went up 5-2, he allowed Anaheim to tie the game in the 3rd before departing after 19 batters and 68 pitches. Mike Myers, fresh off his grand slam debacle of the night before, got Ersatd on a little dribbler in front of the plate to end the rally. As a LOOGY (Lefty, One-Out GuY), Myers is here for one reason -- to get LH batters out. So Tito tempted fate by bringing him back out to face some RH hitters in the 4th inning. Myers retired Guerrero on a tapper back to the mound (whew!) and got Anderson to pop to short. After he walked Guillen on four pitches, Francona went to Terry Adams. (It turns out Mendoza had a groin problem and was unavailable.)

Adams got the last out in the 4th and put zeroes on the board for the 5th and 6th. He allowed only a hit and a walk in 2.1 innings and was helped by Varitek throwing out Kennedy at 3rd and Figgins at 2nd -- both in the 5th inning. ... During that time, Boston pounded Aaron Sele and Scot Shields.

4th: With one out, Damon doubled, Bellhorn doubled, Manny singled and Ortiz hit a sac fly. Boston 7-5.

5th: Millar opened with a single, Cabrera doubled, Mueller singled and Roberts hit a sac fly. Boston 9-5.

6th: Manny walked, Ortiz struck out, Varitek singled, Millar hit a long 3-run homer to left. Boston 12-5.

Mike Timlin stumbled in the 7th, allowing a single and a double. I guess he needs the pressure to do his job. He got the next three outs in the infield, but did allow a run. He allowed a second run in the 8th on a walk to Eckstein and Guerrero's double, but Alan Embree got the final out of the inning with his one pitch of the night. Curtis Leskanic worked the ninth.

In the Bronx, home runs by Posada and Olerud gave New York 3 runs in the 4th, and although Mariano Rivera allowed a leadoff double in the top of the 9th (bringing the tying run to the plate), the Yankees held on to win 5-3. The White Sox beat Oakland 5-4 with a run in the last of the 9th, and Minnesota beat Texas 4-2. ... So Boston still trails New York by 3.5 and the wild card chase looks like this:

Boston   78  53 .595   --

Anaheim  75  57 .568  3.5

Texas    73  58 .557  5.0

Nice. Lowe/Colon at 7:00 pm.