It was only April, but Millar and his boys of spring last night played like it was a pennant race as they brushed off the ravages of their early-season attrition and inflicted a horrible hurting on the Yankees in the House That Ruth Built. Millar, Bellhorn, and Mueller led the way as they homered in the fourth inning to knock in five runs and break open a 1-0 lead in an 11-2 whupping in the opener of a three-game showdown before 55,001 at Yankee Stadium.
"We're never going to forget Game 7, but we weren't scared to come in here," Johnny Damon said. "And we did what we needed to do. It was a great way to take a victory here."
Millar and Bellhorn struck back-to-back solo shots to help chase beleaguered Yankees starter Jose Contreras before Mueller unleashed a three-run blast off reliever Donovan Osborne to gift-wrap a 6-0 lead for Derek Lowe. Before it was over, the Sox piled on with a run-scoring double by David Ortiz, a two-run double by Pokey Reese, an RBI single by Damon, and a solo homer by Manny Ramirez.
It was only April, but the Sox improved to 4-1 against the Yankees and eased the pain of their fall-from-ahead loss to the Blue Jays behind Curt Schilling in Toronto the night before. And they were competing without Garciaparra and Nixon.
"That's why it's important for us to hold our ground," Millar said. "Once we get to full strength, this team is going to be so much more dangerous. But right now our pitching is carrying us through and we're playing well enough to get some wins and get that good feeling going."
Lowe did his part, shutting out the Yankees through six innings before he surrendered a two-run shot to Hideki Matsui in the seventh. Bouncing back from a woeful outing on 10 days of rest against the Yankees, Lowe scattered six hits and two walks to improve to 2-1.
"It's good to win these games in your division," Lowe said, "but no one's going to remember this if you don't play well all year."
