A POWERFUL CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM
Roger Clemens aces Curt Schilling

September 16, 2007 ... 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 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-all 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.

The Sox hung in as Mike Lowell ended Yankee phenom Joba Chamberlain's scoreless streak with his 19th home run in the bottom of the eighth, and one more Yankee graybeard, 37-year-old closer Mariano Rivera, was touched for a run in the ninth on a walk to Varitek and Julio Lugo's two-out RBI double. Rivera hit Ellsbury in the left kneecap with his next pitch, putting runners on first and second for Dustin Pedroia. The rookie fought Rivera through an eight-pitch at-bat before drawing a full-count walk, bringing David Ortiz to the plate and Yankees manager Joe Torre to the mound. Ortiz fouled back the first pitch, took two balls, then fouled another ball down the first base line. He swung at another cutter on the 2-and-2 delivery and lifted a soft fly to short center field, where Jeter ranged back to gather in the ball for the final out.

Chamberlain, who turns 22 next Sunday, replaced Clemens at the start of the seventh and immediately gave up a double to Eric Hinske, a moment that took on an ominous hue when a spectator leaped over the first base railing and sprinted to second mere yards behind Hinske. He was eventually hauled off by security officials, with criminal charges sure to follow. When play resumed, Coco Crisp bunted Hinske to third, but Chamberlain struck out Lugo on a pitch that registered 100 miles an hour on the ESPN gun.

That brought up Ellsbury, who had hit safely in his first 13 games since his call-up and scored the game's first run last night. Chamberlain started Ellsbury with a neck-high fastball that spun the slender rookie away. Ellsbury took a half-swing as he backed away from another pitch, fouling it off, then took a high slider for ball two. Chamberlain then shattered Ellsbury's bat with a 97-m.p.h. fastball, the result a harmless ground ball to first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz that ended the inning. Then Jeter struck, and though Lowell homered with two out in the bottom of the eighth, ending Chamberlain's string of scoreless innings to start his career at 17, the Yankees headed out of town 4 1/2 games behind the Sox in the AL East, 2 1/2 ahead of the Tigers in the wild-card race.

The circumstances of last night's Schilling-Clemens showdown bore some striking similarities to what took place on a Sunday night six years earlier in Phoenix. Clemens, just as he did in 2001, departed before Schilling. Clemens went six innings in which he allowed one unearned run, scored in the first inning when Johnny Damon appeared to lose Ellsbury's liner in the lights, for an error, Ellsbury stole second, and after a walk to Ortiz, Lowell singled him home.

Schilling soldiered on into the eighth, the score tied, 1-1, just as it had been in Game 7, when Alfonso Soriano, now with the Cubs, hit a home run, Schilling departing with his head bowed, believing he would go home a loser. The eighth inning once again would be a crucible for Schilling, who had allowed just Robinson Cano's home run to open the fifth to count against him. Mientkiewicz, whose diving grab of Varitek's scorching ground ball in the first deprived the Sox of a more damaging rally against the Rocket, lined a one-out single, and Torre sent up strongman Giambi to pinch hit for catcher Jose Molina.

Schilling shattered Giambi's bat with a 2-and-1 pitch that crowded the slugger, Giambi fouling the ball off in self-defense. Giambi gathered himself and launched the next pitch to left field, the ball hitting the top of the Wall and missing being a home run by about a foot. Mientkiewicz advanced to third, and when Ellsbury's throw went back to the middle of the infield, Giambi took second uncontested. Torre sent in a pinch runner, Bronson Sardinha, who only the day before had made his major league debut. With the infield in, Damon swung at Schilling's next delivery, and he, too, wound up holding splinters, the ball rolling to second baseman Pedroia, who flipped to first while the runners held. That brought up Jeter, and as he has done countless times over his decorated career, he came through, launching a sloppy Schilling splitter to the back of the Monster Seats.

Before going 0 for 4 last night, Drew had hit safely in seven straight games, batting .500 (11 for 22). He also has walked eight times over that seven-game span, giving him an on-base percentage of .633, and had shown some pop with three doubles (one a bad-hop ground ball) and a home run. In the first two games of the Yankee series, he went 3 for 8, after going 1 for his last 32 vs. the Bombers.

Ellsbury, meanwhile, is having one of the great September call-ups in club history. The 24-year-old rookie, who just celebrated his birthday last Tuesday, was leading off and playing left field in the absence of Manny Ramirez, who missed his 18th game since straining his left oblique Aug. 28. Ellsbury had hit safely in all 13 games since his call-up before going 0 for 4. He is batting .392 (20 for 51) with 3 doubles, a triple, 3 home runs, 13 RBIs, 12 runs, and 5 stolen bases.