No quit in colorful bunch

"We see him more than anybody," Sox manager Terry Francona said of the great Rivera, one of several future Hall of Famers on display this weekend. "The only other thing to do is quit and go home, and we're not gonna do that. We didn't quit playing, thankfully."

They certainly did not quit and go home. And it would have been easy to put this one in the "L" column and rely on Josh Beckett vs. Jeff Karstens today and Daisuke Matsuzaka vs. Chase Wright tomorrow. The Sox did not have Jonathan Papelbon available. They'd watched the scalding Alex Rodriguez torch them for two homers, four RBIs, and a double. They'd succumbed to the soft serves of Andy Pettitte. Jason Varitek and Coco Crisp were still living significantly south of the Mendoza Line.

They were going to lose.

And then there was all this . . . magic. On a night when the Red Sox honored the greatest team ever to represent this region (the 1957-86 Celtics), the Red Sox demonstrated some of the effort, teamwork, grit, and clutch play that made the Green famous.

"You know what?" said Curt Schilling. "This was a win and you win championships with a full roster of players . . . every guy on your roster has to help you win a ballgame."

"I enjoyed it," owner John W. Henry said in the clubhouse after lefthander Hideki Okajima nailed down the save. "I was as nervous in that game as I can ever remember. And I wanted so badly for Okajima-san to come out and get a save like that. That was fun."

There were ghosts of Yankees past rattling around the yard in the first eight innings. Schilling, who needs an editor more than he needs a pitching coach, coughed up a couple of gopher balls to Rodriguez (12 homers and 30 RBIs already, folks) and Boston hitters weren't able to do much with Pettitte, who last started a game against the Red Sox during the (gulp) 2003 American League Championship Series.

The Sox had lost seven consecutive Fenway games to the Yankees, including the fatal five-game set here last August. That fabled flop triggered the most expensive offseason in franchise history and put the Sox in position to overtake the nemesis from New York.