G140: Yankees 8, Red Sox 4

David Wells really wanted to stay in the game when he was pulled in the sixth inning. "You get the out and all of a sudden you get pulled out. I don't like it. The sixth inning, it's still early in the ballgame. It feels like I'm back in the National League. They do that a lot over there. ... I just told him I thought I was good, why you taking me out?"

"Good"? Wells had allowed single runs to the Yankees in the first, second, third and fourth innings, throwing away a 3-1 lead. After a perfect fifth, he gave up singles to the first two hitters in the sixth. After getting an out, he got what sure seemed to me like a well-deserved hook.

Francona's call to the pen did not work out, however. Chad Bradford walked Derek Jeter and allowed back-to-back singles to Bernie Williams and Alex Rodriguez. Then Mike Myers surrendered a single to Jason Giambi. New York led at that point 8-3. The Red Sox quickly rallied, scoring a run and loading the bases with one out in the seventh. But Jason Varitek grounded into a double play against Tom Gordon.

It was a frustrating game: the Sox did very little with Aaron Small, they made four errors in the field, and we were reminded that we have the worst base coach in major league baseball. Jorge Posada: I can't believe Dale Sveum sent him because the ball was in Jeter's hand when he was not even rounding third yet. There was nothing [Varitek] could do. I was right in front of the plate. There was nothing he could do but try to go through me."

And to any Yankee fans reading this, please note that on the home plate collision, Posada did not take his mask off. ... Oh, the horror!!

This series is also The Battle of the T-Shirts:

Red Sox (Millar): Front: "F Everyone"
Back: "2005 Sox -- All We Have Is Each Other"
[Bill Reynolds says (correctly) that the slogan is 100% wrong.]

Yankees (Posada/Yoda): Front: "Grind It"
Back: "There is no trying. There is only doing or not doing."

I had the ESPN feed last night. One nice thing about the opening: zero pictures of George H. Ruth.

Rick Sutcliffe did not disappoint. On Jeter, in the third: "He covers so much ground and does it so gracefully." ... On the Sox offense: "They are scoring just under seven runs a game for Wells" as on-screen graphic shows Wells leading AL with 8.07 runs per start. ... While Boston bats in the 6th inning: "Does anything change with Jeter? Has he ever felt pressure?"

I had to mute the game for whole innings at a time because of the nonsense, which included exaggerated and cliched praise for Boston players also. After awhile, I clicked on the sound with the Yankees batting and heard Sut in mid-sentence: "... know what it takes to win ..." Priceless.

Other Stuff: Wade Miller threw 60 pitches in the bullpen on Friday and may start for Portland (AA) in an Eastern League playoff game on Sunday. "I was letting it go. It was 100 percent. It was probably the best I've felt in a long time." After a session last Wednesday, Miller said: I can help out in a late run for us, and hopefully, in the playoffs. I don't see why not."

The Schillings are providing housing for a New Orleans family of nine (seven children between ages 5 and 12). ... David Ortiz pledged $50,000 to Hurricane Katrina victims.

Murray Chass -- still bitter knowing his Yankees choked away the 2004 pennant -- finds a part-time security supervisor who worked for the Red Sox last year and did not get a ring. That's worth 991 words to the New York Times.

Before the Yankees series, Boston pitchers pitched at least eight innings four times in five days: Clement (8, Saturday), Wells (9, Sunday), Schilling (6.1, Monday), Wakefield (9, Tuesday) and Arroyo (8, Wednesday). ... The last time that happened for the Sox? 1993. ... The Red Sox are the only AL team with four pitchers that have at least 12 victories: Tim Wakefield (15), Matt Clement (13), Bronson Arroyo (12) and David Wells (12). Only two teams -- Cleveland and the White Sox -- have as many as three 12-game winners.

New Yankee Mark Bellhorn is hitting .091 (1-for-11) with a homer and two RBI; Alan Embree has a 7.65 ERA in 16 appearances.

Boston leads the Yankees by three games with 22 to play. ... Schilling / Chacon at 1:20.