''He's one of the best pitchers in the game," Jason Varitek said. ''He changed the tilt on his fastball, dropped down a little on his sinker."
That helped Johnson to 10 strikeouts -- only his second 10-K game of the season after 13 last year -- but there is a maddening reality to Johnson's unblemished record against the Sox: He hasn't been all that good.
He allowed eight hits and three walks over 6 1/3 innings yesterday, was taken out of the park twice (by Mark Bellhorn and Manny Ramirez), and has surrendered six homers and 27 hits in just 25 1/3 innings against the Sox.
But that was all footnote material yesterday, because Matt Clement's outing lasted just 2 2/3 innings, his briefest start all season. Terry Francona had no choice but to remove Clement, who threw 17 pitches in the first inning, 26 in the second, and 40 in the third, his 83d and final pitch a two-run Wall double by No. 9 hitter John Flaherty that vaulted the Yankees to a 5-0 lead.
''I couldn't get Flaherty in the end when my manager stuck with me with his confidence," Clement lamented.
The Yankees sent 11 men to the plate in the inning, which began innocuously with Clement retiring Derek Jeter and Robinson Cano. But the next seven Yankees reached against Clement, who seemed to come unglued after he lost control of a 90-mile-per-hour cut fastball that breezed behind Gary Sheffield.
''We didn't try to do that," Varitek said. ''I don't care how well you're swinging, and he's swinging the bat well."
Sheffield (four doubles and a homer in this series) blistered Clement's next offering, a 91-m.p.h. fastball, high off the Wall. Alex Rodriguez turned on Clement's next pitch -- same type, same velocity -- and hammered it into the fourth row of the Monster seats. Rodriguez and Sheffield shared a boisterous high-five at home plate.
''We hadn't been able to do a lot with him up until Sheff hit a rocket and Alex did, when things seemed to open up," said Yankees manager Joe Torre. ''He seemed to be rushing a little bit after that."
