01:00 AM EDT on Thursday, May 25, 2006

BY PAUL KENYON
Journal Sports Writer

BOSTON -- Suppose the Yankees and Red Sox played a game and Randy Johnson, Manny Ramirez and Melky Cabrera turned out to be the key characters. Which one would you guess would be the star who led his team to victory?

Last night, the right answer was mighty Melky.

Johnson and Ramirez both had reason to come away satisfied with their work. But it was a four-RBI night by rookie outfielder Cabrera that carried the Yanks to an 8-6 victory over the Red Sox on a wild night at Fenway Park.

Johnson, facing a pivotal start in a distinguished career that has suddenly become threatened, struggled but was able to right himself well enough to earn the victory.

Ramirez added another memorable chapter to his zany highlight film with two home runs, and another run scored when he ran through a stop sign from third-base coach DeMarlo Hale.

It was a weird night all around, one that also included the Red Sox' David Ortiz again coming up in the clutch with the bases loaded in the eighth -- and striking out.

Cabrera was the one who made the biggest difference, though, as he had two-run singles in both the second and fifth innings. Cabrera was playing only because Yankees manager Joe Torre opted to give Johnny Damon, who is battling a foot injury, the night off.

"It's like having a bruise and you keep putting your thumb in it," Torre said of Damon's injury. "The difference for me is that if it's someone that doesn't need speed as part of his game, you could probably go out there and get away with it. His speed is such a part of what he does, I'm sure it's taken more a toll on him."

That meant Bernie Williams (who had three hits) played center and Cabrera took over in right and as the New York leadoff man.

"I really didn't know (about) batting him leadoff. He doesn't say a whole lot, so you really don't know emotionally what it's going to do to him," Torre said. "But he looked very, very comfortable there."

Cabrera had only one RBI in his first 11 games. Now he has five.

He singled in two runs during a four-run second. Sox starter Matt Clement retired the first two batters he faced in that inning. But he walked Robinson Cano and was hit on the ankle by Williams' drive that went for a single. He walked Terrence Long and hit Kelly Stinnett to force in a run. Cabrera then singled home two runs and Derek Jeter doubled in another.

In the fifth, with Boston up, 5-4, the Yankees had another four-run inning, with the bottom of the order again setting it up. Alex Rodriguez, Cano, Williams and Long (his first hit in a New York uniform) all singled. That produced two runs since Clement also mixed in a wild pitch. Cabrera capped the inning with another two-run single to center.

His work helped make a winner of Johnson. He did not look anything like a winner early on. Coming off four straight subpar performances, he struggled mightily at the start.

Of the first 15 batters he faced, nine had hits, and he walked one. He allowed two runs in the first on a massive home run over everything in left by Ramirez. He gave up two more in the second when Kevin Youkilis took him into the Monster Seats after Alex Gonzalez had reached on a broken-bat single.

Boston scored only once in the third, on a ringing double up the gap by Ramirez and a single by Jason Varitek. Ramirez scored even though third-base coach Hale was tying to hold him up (there were no outs). Ramirez nearly ran into Hale, but was able to score easily. When Mike Lowell singled, Boston had nine hits, runners on first and second, a 5-4 lead and Johnson very much on the ropes. He threw 73 pitches in the first three innings alone.

The big lefty somehow turned it around. Did he ever. He got out of that inning by striking out Wily Mo Pena, Dunstan Mohr and Gonzalez. That started a stretch in which Johnson retired nine of the last 10 batters he faced. He finished with eight strikeouts. He went only five innings because he needed 105 pitches to get that far (71 strikes).

"He hung in there. He used up a lot early," Torre said. "Sometimes it looked like he was relaxed and just let the ball fly, and then at other times he looked like he was trying to make too good of a pitch."

As much as Johnson struggled, Boston starter Clement was worse. It was an awful night in every way for him.

He lasted 4 1/3 innings and was tagged for eight runs. He allowed nine hits, walked four, hit a batter and had two wild pitches. On top of that, he was drilled on the left ankle on a shot by Williams in the second inning and was limping after the game. He refused to use the injured ankle as an excuse.

"I never have before," he said. "I wouldn't have gone out there and pitched if I didn't think I could do it the right way."

Ramirez not only had his two-run blast in the first, he had another huge drive to left in the seventh. He is 8-for-11 with four home runs in the three games against the Yankees.

"I'll tell you what," Sox manager Terry Francona said, "it's nice to see him get in one of those streaks because (his hits) are not going to be singles." It gave him the 45th multi-homer game of his career.

There was late drama, too. The Sox loaded the bases with two outs in the eighth on hits by Pena and Gonzalez and a walk to Mark Loretta. That once again brought up Ortiz in the clutch. With the crowd up and roaring, reliever Kyle Farnsworth struck him out looking on a slider that broke over the heart of the plate. It was Ortiz's fourth strikeout of the game, and New York, as crippled as it is, had two wins in the three-game series.

pkenyon@projo.com / (401) 277-7340