"Good to see my man swinging the bat, man, so I won't have to be walking all the time," Ortiz said of Ramírez, whose seventh home run was the 26th of his career at Yankee Stadium, the most by any opposing player in the last 51 years. "Everybody's been swinging the bat pretty well, and having No. 24 doing it is a plus. I was going crazy, too. I said, 'At least I'm going to see some pitches tonight.' "
Kevin Youkilis had two more hits, scoring twice and driving in a run, to extend his hitting streak to 15 games, and Mike Lowell hit his ninth home run as the Sox had their way with Mike Mussina, who at 38 has been either hurt (hamstring) or horrid for most of the spring. The Sox, who restored their lead over the Yanks to 10 1/2 games in the American League East, scored seven runs on 10 hits in 6 2/3 innings against Mussina, whose earned run average rocketed to 6.52 as his record fell to 2-3.
"This was a big win for us today, man," said closer Jonathan Papelbon, who walked the first two batters in the ninth before setting down Melky Cabrera, Johnny Damon, and Derek Jeter, Cabrera and Jeter on strikes. "We had to go at them with everything we got to bring it back to 10 1/2 games.
"We've got the big dog, Schill, going for us tomorrow. Hopefully, he's on his game. He loves pitching in big situations, and tomorrow is a big situation for us. Hopefully, he's got his 'A' game."
Roger Clemens will be pitching tonight when the Sox and Yanks meet in the rubber game of this three-game set, but the Rocket will be pitching in Trenton against Boston's Double A affiliate, Portland, and the Sea Dogs' ace, Clay Buchholz. Clemens's pal, Andy Pettitte, will face the Sox and Curt Schilling.
"That's pretty cool," manager Terry Francona said of Buchholz's date with the future Hall of Famer. "I'm sure that will be a very exciting night for him. Knowing Clay the little that I do, he'll be excited but very respectful of the whole idea. I hope he pitches better, too."
