02:51 PM EDT on Monday, April 26, 2004

BY STEVEN KRASNER
Journal Sports Writer

AP photo Red Sox' Manny Ramirez watches the flight of the two-run homer he hit in the fourth inning yesterday at Yankee Stadium.

NEW YORK -- The New York Yankees? The Bronx Bombers?

This is the team that is supposedly the biggest roadblock between the Boston Red Sox and their first World Series appearance since 1986?

That hardly seemed to be the case after seven head-to-head matchups between the American League East rivals, including Boston's 2-0 victory over New York yesterday that gave the Red Sox a three-game sweep of the series in Yankee Stadium.

Boston now is 6-1 this season against the six-time defending American League East champions. There are 12 games remaining between the teams, but if the Red Sox win only four of them, they'll capture the season series.

"Plain and simple, they kicked our butts for six games," said New York third baseman Alex Rodriguez.

Thanks to Manny Ramirez' two-run, fourth-inning homer off Javier Vazquez, a superb four-hit, seven-strikeout gem by Pedro Martinez over seven innings and Scott Williamson's airtight two-inning save, the Red Sox polished off the struggling Yanks yesterday.

Boston limited New York to only 4 runs in 30 innings in the series, and only 8 hits over the final 2 games, totaling 21 innings. The Sox blanked the Yanks for the final 14 innings.

Not that the Brooming of the Bronx makes up for the agonizing Game 7 loss in last

fall's A.L. Championship Series. But the Red Sox achieved exactly what they were seeking yesterday.

"A bunch of us rode over here on the bus and we said we wouldn't be happy unless we swept them," said center fielder Johnny Damon. "We're happy to come in here and sweep. I wish we could go back to Game 7 and make these wins count, but we can't. We'll never forget Game 7, but we knew we had to come in here and take care of business."

That's what the Ramirez-Martinez-Williamson trio did yesterday on a cold, soggy day. They did what they had to, as did the Red Sox on the road trip, which concluded with a 5-1 mark through Toronto and New York.

Ramirez was down in the count at 0-and-2 against Vazquez, who was thrust into yesterday's start on only three days' rest, no doubt because of the importance Yankee manager Joe Torre placed on the game and the series.

Ramirez fouled off a high fastball. Then the Sox left fielder's eyes lit up when he saw a hanging breaking ball from Vazquez. He hammered a two-run home run that traveled about 450 feet, landing on a short hop against the back wall of Boston's bullpen.

The blast, the fifth of the year for Ramirez, knocked in Mark Bellhorn, who had walked leading off the inning.

"He made a mistake," said Ramirez.

Martinez, meanwhile, made few mistakes. And even when he did, such as badly missing his location on a 1-and-2 breaking ball in a key spot to Derek Jeter in the fifth, Martinez still was masterful.

AP photo Pedro Martinez blanked the Yankees over seven innings, allowing only four hits.

Jeter's legs buckled, and the pitch, which was supposed to hit catcher Jason Varitek's target on the outside corner, slipped across the inside corner for a called strike three.

The Yankees threatened only once. In the fifth, a walk and a one-out double by Ruben Sierra put runners at second and third. But Martinez retired his long-time tormentor Enrique Wilson (10-for-20 in his career against Martinez) on a first-pitch popup, and then froze Jeter with that misguided, but immensely effective, breaking ball.

Martinez also easily worked around a one-out double by A-Rod in the sixth. The win improved Martinez' record to 3-1, while lowering his earned-run average from 3.86 to 3.03.

"I laugh when people say he's losing it," said Kevin Millar. "He's got three Cy Youngs. He knows how to pitch."

"That's the Pedro we like to see," added Damon. "They were off-balance and they couldn't catch up to his fastball."

Not that the Red Sox were clubbing the baseball all around Yankee Stadium every game. Boston did rout New York, 11-2, on Friday night, but the Sox eked out a 3-2, 12-inning win on Saturday before making the most of only four hits yesterday.

"We won three ballgames and we had to play really good baseball to win three games," said Boston manager Terry Francona.

It all started and ended, though, on the mound. While Yankee pitchers had their moments, the Red Sox had more of those special moments and outstanding performances. Derek Lowe, Bronson Arroyo and Martinez gave the Sox outstanding starting pitching, and the bullpen quartet of Mike Timlin, Alan Embree, Keith Foulke and Williamson was even better.

"We haven't broken out yet (offensively). We've pitched well," said Varitek.

"The Yankees just ran into three great pitching performances," said Damon. "That's the best we've pitched in a long time. You can't blame their hitters."

But don't think three games in New York, even as satisfying as these past three have been, qualify the Red Sox for anything more than first place in their division on April 26, 4 1/2 games ahead of the Yankees.

"When you go into Yankee Stadium and sweep, you've done something," said Williamson, who notched his first save of the year. "But we've got a long way to go. You can't get too high."

Ramirez also cautioned against getting too excited.

"We haven't won the World Series," said Ramirez.

Still, it was a sweet three days in the Bronx, and a heady 10 days in which Boston proved superior to the Yankees six times in seven games.