You have to give starting pitcher Beckett a save

When the game started, both pitchers were 18-6 with ERAs below 4.00. Yet it was Beckett who shook off a shaky first inning (a home run to Derek Jeter on a 2-and-2 count) and proceeded to seize momentum of the game and, perhaps, the series.

It was a much needed salve to cool the scorching wounds from Friday night's debacle. Beckett became the major's first 19-game winner, and, aside from serving up that first-inning shot to Jeter into the blacked-out portion of the bleachers, he was dominant. During one stretch from the tail end of the second inning to the fourth, when he struck out the side, he punched out six of the eight batters he faced. The only other hits he allowed were a single to Bobby Abreu in the third and a bloop single to Robinson Cano in the seventh.

"He's really got it together this year," noted Yankees slugger Jason Giambi. "You got to get to him early, force him into a mistake, otherwise, he gets command of the strike zone and starts working both sides of the plate.

"When he first came over, I thought he had a little of that National League mentality. At 3 and 1 he'd say, 'I'm going to challenge you [with my fastball].'

"Now it's changeups and breaking balls."

Beckett is 9-1 following a Sox loss. None of those wins was more significant than this one. Unlike last season, when a poor inning early in the game often caused him to unravel, Beckett exhibited the kind of poise that earns him the moniker as the top pitcher in the American League.

"He pitched like an ace of a staff today," said Boston manager Terry Francona.

It was a lift this Red Sox team sorely needed. In rational terms, Friday night's bleak result was merely one blown opportunity - albeit a particularly egregious one - but really now, when have the Red Sox and the Yankees ever been viewed in rational terms? The loss was magnified by the misadventures of relievers Hideki Okajima and Jonathan Papelbon, particularly the latter, who is known in these precincts as about as sure a bet as Tom Menino in the next race for mayor.