New York builds 8-0 lead, holds on for 10-7 win

NEW YORK -- Mariano Rivera showed up in time to save the New York Yankees, putting his grief aside just long enough to do what he does best.

Hours after jetting back from a funeral for relatives in Panama, baseball's greatest postseason closer stopped the surging Boston Red Sox, who had cut an eight-run deficit to one.

Rivera got Kevin Millar to pop out to strand the tying run at third base in the eighth inning, then finished out a 10-7 win for the Yankees in Tuesday night's opener of the AL Championship Series.

"It was tough, leaving my family there," the soft-spoken Rivera said. "My fans and my teammates helped me out big time. ... That was something special."

Hideki Matsui tied an ALCS record with five RBIs, four off Curt Schilling. Mike Mussina was perfect through six innings before Mark Bellhorn doubled on a drive that hit the left-field wall on a hop with one out in the seventh. Bernie Williams drove in three runs, including a two-run double in the eighth that gave Rivera some breathing room.

For much of the night it seemed like a laugher, with the Yankees ahead 6-0 by the third and 8-0 in the sixth.

"It was like it was too good to be true," New York manager Joe Torre said.

But after Bellhorn's hit on Mussina's 86th pitch, the pitcher's huge curveball quickly became hittable.

Millar hit a two-run double with two outs and scored on a single by Trot Nixon. Tanyon Sturtze relieved and Jason Varitek hit a two-run homer on his third pitch, pulling the Red Sox to 8-5.

David Ortiz made it 8-7 with a two-run triple in the eighth off Tom Gordon, who would have been the Yankees' closer had Rivera not been back and ready. Ortiz's drive to left-center bounced off the glove of Matsui near the top of the wall, and the crowd got up to welcome Rivera, perhaps the biggest factor in New York's six AL pennants and four World Series titles since 1996.

He had returned to his native country Sunday after two relatives were electrocuted in the swimming pool of his home and arrived back at the ballpark in the second inning after a private plane arranged by the Yankees took him to Teterboro Airport in New Jersey.

"My teammates needed me there," Rivera said. "When I went to the bullpen in the fifth inning, I was ready."

Given a huge ovation by the sellout crowd of 56,135, he fell behind 2-1 to Millar, who popped the next pitch to shortstop Derek Jeter, behind second base.

Williams doubled in two runs in the bottom half off Mike Timlin, a ball that soared over Manny Ramirez in left.

Schilling lasted just three innings, having thrown 58 pitches, in his shortest outing since July 18, 2001.

Varitek and Orlando Cabrera singled with one out in the ninth, bringing up Bill Mueller, whose two-run homer off Rivera beat the Yankees at Fenway Park on July 24. Rivera hit a comebacker that Rivera turned into a game-ending double play, and the Yankees came on the field, a few of them hugging the reliever who earned his 31st postseason save.

After this thriller, Pedro Martinez pitches for the Red Sox on Wednesday night against Jon Lieber. Martinez is sure to be reminded by fans of his remark last month that the Yankees are his "daddy."

"Each game is going to be an emotional roller-coaster," Torre said.

Mussina, assuming the ace role on a rotation that's struggled, had come within a strike of a perfect game at Fenway Park on Sept. 2, 2001, before pinch-hitter Carl Everett singled. Mussina ended New York's streak of losses in four straight playoff openers, striking out eight and allowing four runs and four hits in 6 2-3 innings. He struck out the top of the order -- all looking -- in the fourth inning, part of a streak of five straight strikeouts, tying the LCS record.

"You start thinking about how this guy might be going through something special here," Williams said.

Matsui's first-inning double drove in New York's first-run, and his three-run double in the third signaled Schilling was struggling. Matsui added a run-scoring single in the seventh off Tim Wakefield, who also allowed a solo homer to Kenny Lofton. It was Wakefield who gave up the 11th-inning homer to Aaron Boone that ended the epic Game 7 last year.

Right from the start, Schilling didn't look like the pitcher who led the major leagues with 21 wins, one who had been 6-0 in nine postseason starts since 1993, never allowing more than two earned runs. He said Monday he planned to have his right ankle injected with a painkiller before the start, and he had trouble hitting the targets set by Varitek, his catcher.

"I don't think he was hurting, he just wasn't right," Boston manager Terry Francona said.

Sheffield reached out and pulled a letter-high pitch down the left-field line for a double with two outs in the first. Matsui fell behind 0-2, then got his right elbow up and the bat head down to slap an opposite-field double into left-center and drive in the first run. Williams then hit the next pitch up the middle for a 2-0 lead.

Schilling retired the bottom of the order in the second inning, then gave up four more runs in the third.

Jeter singled leading off, Alex Rodriguez reached on an infield hit to deep shortstop and Gary Sheffield walked -- one pitch after driving a pitch about 5 feet foul to deep left.

Matsui lined the next pitch off the right-field wall to clear the bases. Sheffield was so pumped up after he slid across the plate that he smacked Rodriguez's back so hard that A-Rod's helmet was knocked off.

Right away, the fans started taunting the Red Sox with chants of "Who's your daddy?" and "1918," a reminder of the last year Boston won the World Series. Matsui scored on Jorge Posada's sacrifice fly for a 6-0 lead.

Schilling was taken out after the inning, having thrown 58 pitches. It was his shortest outing since July 18, 2001, when his start for Arizona at San Diego was cut short by a power failure after he pitched two innings.

Notes: Matsui tied a record for RBIs shared by Paul Blair, Don Baylor, John Valentin, Bret Boone and Adam Kennedy. ... Varitek set a Red Sox record for postseason homers with eight, one more than Nomar Garciaparra. ... Johnny Damon struck out four times.