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Red Sox Lead Yankees 4-1 in ALCS Game 7

Posted on: Thursday, 16 October 2003, 06:00 CDT

Trot Nixon and Kevin Millar homered off Roger Clemens on Thursday night as the Boston Red Sox took a 4-1 lead over the New York Yankees through six innings of Game 7 of the AL championship series.

The anticipation of the matchup between Clemens and Pedro Martinez - with nine Cy Young Awards between them - was exceeded only by the importance of the game itself: The winner will play in the World Series against the NL champion Florida Marlins.

The Red Sox scored four runs against Clemens and put two runners on with nobody out in the fourth to chase him in what could be the final game of his Hall of Fame career. The crowd gave him a standing ovation as he walked off the mound. He never looked up before heading into the dugout tunnel to the clubhouse.

Mike Mussina, making his first career relief appearance after 400 regular season and playoff starts, struck out Jason Varitek and got Johnny Damon to hit into an inning-ending double play to escape further damage.

Martinez, who lost to Clemens in the tumultuous third game of the series, cruised into the fifth inning before he gave up a solo homer to Jason Giambi that made it 4-1. Martinez allowed just three hits in the first six innings, striking out seven and walking one.

Clemens pitched a scoreless first, but Millar singled with one out in the second and Nixon followed with his ALCS-leading third homer. After Bill Mueller struck out, Varitek doubled and then Damon hit a ground ball that third baseman Enrique Wilson threw past first base for an error, allowing Varitek to score and make it 3-0.

Millar homered to lead off the fourth, Nixon walked and Mueller delivered a perfect hit-and-run single. And that was it for Clemens.

Clemens allowed four runs - three earned - and six hits. He walked one and struck out three in three-plus innings. But the numbers that will be remembered for a long time are: 310 regular season wins, 4,099 strikeouts and six 20-win seasons.

Clemens won three Cy Young Awards in Boston and a franchise-record 192 games with the Red Sox - as many as Young himself - before leaving as a free agent for Toronto. He won two more Cy Young Awards for the Blue Jays and one with the Yankees, but what they really remember in Boston are his two World Series championships since coming to New York.

The Red Sox have not won it all since 1918 - about 15 months before they sold Babe Ruth to New York. The Yankees have been baseball's most successful team since, with 38 AL titles and 26 World Series victories.

The archrivals met for a record 26th time on Tuesday night. It was the first Game 7 of the ALCS since Clemens pitched Boston to their last World Series appearance in 1986 by beating the California Angels.

The rematch of the Game 3 starters only intensified the interest in the game.

On Saturday, Martinez threw a pitch behind Karim Garcia, and then when Manny Ramirez took exception to a pitch from Clemens, the benches and bullpens cleared. Yankees coach Don Zimmer lunged at Martinez, who threw the 72-year-old to the ground.

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