Even when the Red Sox manage to beat the Yankees, they make things pretty interesting. Boston closer Scott Williamson survived a dicey ninth inning, in which he gave up a solo home run to Ruben Sierra, to secure a 3-2 win that evens this action-packed American League Championship Series at two games apiece. Red Sox knuckleballer Tim Wakefield duplicated his dominant Game One performance, pitching seven innings of one-run baseball (he struck out eight and walked four), lowering his post-season earned run average to a superb 2.61. "Tim has come through very big for us," Boston manager Grady Little said at a post-game news conference, "and it couldn't happen to a better fellow. This guy has pitched well for us and has been very consistent throughout the season."

The Sox opened the scoring in the bottom of the fourth on a Todd Walker long-ball and Trot Nixon broke a 1-1 deadlock with a solo shot of his own in the bottom of the fifth. Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek, sitting out as Doug Mirabelli caught Wakefield, delivered a game-winning pinch-hit single in the bottom of the seventh.

Asked about his team's comeback performance after Saturday's 4-3 defeat,

Little talked about his team's business-like attitude. "These are professional players," he said, "and they're good at turning the page and getting back to business. There's no time to look back."

The series continues this afternoon at Fenway, as Yankee left-hander David Wells opposes Boston's Derek Lowe at 4:15 p.m.

In the Oct. 13 issue of Sports Illustrated previewing the long-anticipated Yankees-Red Sox American League Championship Series, SI baseball writer Tom Verducci talked to a Major League Baseball scout about what it would take for Boston to topple the organization that Sox General Manager Theo Epstein affectionately calls the "Evil Empire."

"The Red Sox have to get two wins out of Pedro," the scout said, "they have to steal one game out of their bullpen, and they have to get a win out of Tim Wakefield or Derek Lowe."

After Game 1 in the Bronx on Thursday, all was going according to plan. Wakefield's knuckler baffled Yankee bats all night and Boston's offense came to life with home runs from David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez and Todd Walker.

Instead of the Red Sox showing fatigue after flying cross-country to
meet up with their hated rivals, it was New York that looked dazed and
confused.

Yankee starter Mike Mussina dropped to 4-4 in postseason play, yielding
eight hits and four earned runs (he walked two) in five and two-third
innings pitched.

But as the Red Sox soon discovered, the Yankees - with a core group of
poised and savvy veterans - don't fold like the Oakland Athletics.

For all the talk of Billy Beane's genius and the trio of Hudson, Mulder
(who was injured throughout the Boston series) and Zito, the A's are an
embarrassing 0-9 in games where they could possibly clinch a postseason
series. Aside from Oakland's severe choke job, the A's-Red Sox series
seemed to come down to which team could prove less incompetent. During
Game Three at Fenway, A's rookie outfielder Eric Byrnes was tagged out
at home after he tripped over Jason Varitek and proceeded to shove the
Boston catcher instead of touching home with a decisive run.

"In that same game," writes SI's Verducci, "four Sox bench-warmers
pulled an unthinkably bush-league stunt. To incite the crowd to
mockingly chant the last name of A's lefthander Ted Lilly, they spelled
his name with white athletic tape on the back of their red warm-up
jackets and stood on the top step of the dugout."

After the Yankees took Game Two 6-2 behind a sterling effort from
20-game winner Andy Pettite (the lefty surrendered just two earned runs
while striking out five in six and two-thirds innings), the stage was
set for a Saturday Fenway classic.

The buzz leading up to the weekend's showdown of Roger Clemens and Pedro
Martinez, who own a combined nine Cy Young awards, was palpable. It was
a day Red Sox Nation had been longing for since Epstein took charge of
the front office promising to dethrone those bothersome Yanks.

Pedro, unbeaten in six postseason appearances (4-0 with a 2.13 ERA),
took the mound against Clemens, the man who established his greatness in
Beantown before bad blood with management forced him out of the
franchise that drafted and groomed him.

Boston got off to an auspicious start, as Sox leadoff hitter Johnny
Damon (back from a vicious head-to-head collision in Oakland with second
baseman Damian Jackson) reached base on a squibbler that handcuffed
defensively-challenged Yankee third baseman Enrique Wilson (starting for
his shocking track record of success versus Pedro).

After a Todd Walker double off the Green Monster that advanced Damon to
third, Manny Ramirez singled up the middle to plate the first two runs
of the game.

With Martinez on the hill, it seemed a healthy cushion, but the lead
quickly dwindled. The Yankees cut Boston's lead in half in the top of
the second before a mammoth Derek Jeter blast over the Monster in the
third knotted the score at two.

Fireworks began to fly in the top of the fourth when Martinez threw over

Yankee right fielder Karim Garcia's head (the pitch actually deflected
off his bat and into the stands) with Hideki Matsui on second after
delivering an RBI double. Garcia had driven in the Yankees first run of
the afternoon, and it was clear that Martinez was delivering some chin
music to take back lost momentum.

Garcia soon retaliated, however, by taking out Todd Walker with a late
slide into second when Alfonso Soriano hit into a 6-4-3 double play to
end the inning.

In the bottom of the fourth frame, temperamental Sox slugger Manny
Ramirez reacted to a high Clemens fastball by taking off his helmet,
pointing at Roger and screaming at the Yankee pitcher. The benches
immediately cleared, and 72-year-old Yankee bench coach Don Zimmer -
visibly upset by gestures Martinez had made towards the Yankee dugout
suggesting he would bean another batter in the head - came running after
Pedro.

In a moment straight out of the twilight zone, Martinez grabbed the
sprinting senior citizen by the head and discarded him to the ground. As
members of the Yankee bullpen and manager Joe Torre attended to the
fallen coach, Martinez quietly strolled back into the Boston dugout,
escaping any disciplinary action.

After the dust cleared, Clemens proved to be unspectacular but solid,
escaping a few minor jams to finish his six innings of work with seven
strikeouts and one walk. It was, says Jack Curry of The New York Times,
a fitting final day for Clemens on the Fenway dirt.

"Clemens outpitched, not outboxed, Martinez," Curry said. "He finished
with a lot more dignity than the man who has replaced him as a pitching
icon in Boston. Clemens did not drill any of the Red Sox, he did not
grapple with any senior citizens and he prevailed in a game that pushed
the momentum toward the Yankees."

Perhaps flustered by the front-row presence of Red Sox bandwagon-hopper
Ben Affleck and lady pal Jennifer Lopez, Garcia and Yankee reliever Jeff
Nelson started pummeling Boston grounds crew employee Paul Williams in
the ninth inning. According to Boston police spokeswoman Mariellen
Burns, Garcia - who had to leave the game with a bruised hand - could
have assault charges filed against him.

Reached at his office in Milwaukee after the fracas, Major League
Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig was far from thrilled. "I am very
disappointed in the behavior of some of the participants in last night's
game between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees," he said.

Zimmer, who was carried off on a stretcher to a nearby hospital after
the game, apologized for his role in the melee. "I'm embarrassed for
what happened last night," he said. "I'm embarrassed for the Yankees,
the Red Sox, the fans, the umpires and my family."

Martinez received the most severe punishment, as Bob Watson, baseball's
vice president in charge of discipline, handed him a $50,000 fine. No
word yet on whether Pedro will donate the cash to Affleck and J. Lo to
help recoup some of the losses from "Gigli."

On Tuesday, the Cubs get a chance to win the National League pennant in
front of their home fans at Wrigley Field. If the Red Sox want to
delight their faithful with a similarly exciting experience, they better
cowboy up, harness their emotions and play the type of baseball that has
allowed them to get this far.