A good old time, but Yankees beat Sox

The show of respect was richly deserved on a night that should have been cast in sepia tones, the 40-year-old Schilling and 45-year-old Clemens doing a reasonable impression of their duel in the desert six years ago. The stakes were higher then - it was Game 7 of the 2001 World Series between the Rocket's Yankees and Schill's Arizona Diamondbacks - and the arms stronger, but last night there was no dilution of the heart and will that drove both men to embrace the game's biggest stage.

This time, the Yankees prevailed, Derek Jeter breaking Schilling's heart, 4-3, with a three-run home run in the eighth inning, when Schilling was one strike away from preserving a 1-1 tie. Instead, the Yankees took the rubber game of this three-game set to keep Boston's magic number for clinching its first divisional title since 1995 at 9.

"Tonight boiled down to two mistakes," a subdued Schilling said. "I started the inning off in the eighth by striking out [Melky] Cabrera on a 3-and-2 split, a great one, and then I overthrow one to [Jason] Giambi, and overthrow one to Derek . . . I miss horribly in the most crucial situation of the game."

There was little chance of the Sox clubhouse dissolving in melancholy, however, not on a night in which an abashed Daisuke Matsuzaka donned a lime-green Teletubby outfit to wear to Toronto as part of the annual rookie hazing ritual. His translator, Masa Hoshino, got to be a purple Teletubby, and there was no telling what Hideki Okajima would be wearing, though his translator, Jeff Yamaguchi, was the choice to wear an Evel Knievel jumpsuit and Jacoby Ellsbury had a fluffy dress hanging in his locker.

"We keep playing like this," said catcher Jason Varitek, mindful of Boston's 4 1/2-game lead with 12 games left, "we'll be OK.

"Curt was phenomenal. He did a great job. He was a pitch away from staying at 1-1."