Tossed Salads and Fire Hoses

The New York Times offers some perspective:

The Yankees and Boston Red Sox franchises have played each other for 103 years. Including the postseason, the Red Sox have won 877 times. In none of the first 876 did they beat the Yankees as badly as they did yesterday in the Bronx.

Yesterday's 17-1 win was Boston's largest margin of victory over the Yankees, surpassing a 15-1 win at Fenway Park on September 1, 1990.

The 17 runs were also the most the Red Sox have ever scored against New York, breaking the old mark of 16 (August 12, 1937, at Fenway). The Yankees allowed the most hits since giving up a franchise-record 28 on September 29, 1928, in a 19-10 loss at Detroit. Boston fell one hit shy of tying its record of 28 hits, set on June 8, 1950, against the St. Louis Browns, and on June 27, 2003, when Carl Pavano started for the Marlins.

The rout had some New York sportswriters writing some loopy leads. Here are two from today's Post:

George King: "There never has been a New York restaurant with a salad as expensive as the one tossed by the Yankees yesterday."

Jay Greenberg: "The Boston Fire Department can't possibly possess a hose as powerful as Matt Clement's right arm."

The Herald's Howard Bryant had his eye on the Yankee Stadium scoreboard:

Trot Nixon singled, his name appeared on the screen for two more batters. Jay Payton made it 14-0, and the scoreboard said 7-1. At 4:22, the clock said 8:22. Moments later, the big board said the score was 0-0. ... Even Bob Sheppard, one of the most legendary public address men in history, was fatigued by the onslaught, referring to Sox rookie catcher Kelly Shoppach as "Mike Shoppach."

From the Globe:

A reporter joked with Shoppach, saying Sheppard might have had a classmate 50 years ago named Mike Shoppach. "No," Shoppach said, "there's no other Shoppachs, only my family. I'm not kidding. There's like eight in the country, and they're all related to me." And none named Mike.

Hopefully, Sheppard will get it right tonight, when Shoppach makes his first start. ... Alex Rodriguez has not made an out in the series. He walked three times and was hit by a pitch on Friday and had a single, double and walk before leaving Saturday's game.

Kevin Millar, the only position player not to play yesterday, will likely start tonight. He's hit .429 (12-for-28) with a .500 OBP against Mike Mussina, while Olerud is at .321, .373. ... Edgar Renteria is 12-for-19 (.632) on the current road trip and has raised his batting average 42 points in less than a week.

We know that Jason Varitek has hit a home run on May 20 in five straight seasons. But Elias reports that Lou Gehrig hit a home run on June 8 for seven straight seasons, from 1932-38.

Wells / Mussina at 8:00.