Red Sox handle Yanks in opener

NEW YORK -- The New York Yankees sent Mike Mussina to the mound hoping he would give them a lead in the AL championship series.

He couldn't even keep them close.

Mussina served up three home run balls to Boston, and the Red Sox beat New York 5-2 in Game 1 of the ALCS on Wednesday night.

Not only is Mussina the lone Yankees starter without a win this postseason, he's got both losses. Now, New York will try to bounce back and bail him out again.

The right-hander actually pitched pretty well in a 3-1 defeat against Minnesota in Game 1 of the first round -- he just didn't get any help from his teammates on defense or at the plate.

But Mussina was roughed up by the Red Sox in this one, giving up home runs to David Ortiz, Todd Walker and Manny Ramirez as Boston broke out to a 5-0 lead.

The Yankees tried to rally against Tim Wakefield and the shaky Boston bullpen, scoring twice in the seventh inning. Mussina, however, had left his team too far behind.

Mussina earned the Game 1 assignments by going 17-8 with a 3.40 ERA this year.

Ortiz strikes first

Ortiz, who hit six homers against the Yankees during the regular season, was 0-for-20 lifetime against Mussina before sending a 3-2 pitch into the front row of the upper deck in right field at Yankee Stadium in the fourth inning.

Ramirez was aboard after an infield single, and the two-run shot snapped a scoreless tie.

Mussina struck out three of his next four batters, but faltered again in the fifth.

Walker led off with a drive down the right-field line that right field umpire Angel Hernandez called foul. But he was quickly overruled by plate umpire and crew chief Tim McClelland.

Three batters later, Ramirez hit a high drive just over the right-field fence for his 15th career postseason homer.

Mussina was lifted with two outs in the sixth after allowing four runs and eight hits. He trudged off the mound with his head down to a mix of cheers and boos from the disappointed crowd of 56,281.

Boston added a run against Jeff Nelson on Kevin Millar's RBI single in the seventh.

Boston, which finished second to New York in the AL East for the sixth straight season, had dropped 12 of its previous 13 games in the ALCS since its last World Series appearance in 1986, including a 4-1 loss to the Yankees in the 1999 LCS.

But the Red Sox struck back on the 47th anniversary of one of the most famous games in baseball and Yankee Stadium history -- Don Larsen's perfect game against Brooklyn in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series.

Mussina, pitching on seven days' rest since losing the first-round opener against Minnesota, wasn't sharp at all, allowing three homers in a game for only the second time this year -- and for the first time in 13 postseason starts. He dropped to 4-4 in postseason play.

Boston broke through in the fourth. Ramirez reached on a one-hopper to right side that Mussina just managed to deflect -- similar to the Cristian Guzman infield hit that led to Minnesota's key rally in his previous start.

Ortiz, who had been 0-for-20 against Mussina, fell behind 0-2, worked the count full and then homered into the front of the right-field upper deck.

Walker made it 3-0 when he led off the fifth with a drive high off the foul pole in right field. While right-field umpire Angel Hernandez signaled it was foul, he was immediately overruled by plate umpire Tim McClelland -- also behind the plate 20 years ago when he took a home run away from George Brett, a call later reversed by AL president Lee MacPhail.

Two batters later, Ramirez hit homered on a drive that just cleared the right-field wall and a leaping Juan Rivera. Kevin Millar added an RBI single off reliever Jeff Nelson in the seventh for a 5-0 lead.

Wakefield, who improved to 3-0 in LCS play, took a two-hit shutout into the seventh..