Rays/MLB

Ortiz, Bosox delay Yankees' celebration

By TIMES WIRES
Published September 18, 2006

Red sox 6

Yankees 3 (GM. 1)

NEW YORK - The Yankees won't be celebrating in front of the Red Sox this year.

David Ortiz hit his league-leading 49th homer and Kevin Youkilis had a three-run double in the seventh to lead Boston.

The teams split a day-night doubleheader Saturday, and New York was in position to clinch its ninth straight division title with a sweep combined with a Blue Jays loss to the Devil Rays. But even before the Red Sox got the final out, Toronto won 5-3.

"Sooner or later, we are going to clinch this thing," Johnny Damon said.

New York, which leads the East by 10½ games over the second-place Red Sox, still has a magic number of four and hopes to wrap up the division during a seven-game trip to Toronto and Tampa Bay.

"Celebrating here, celebrating next week," Youkilis said before pausing. "It's definitely better that they're not celebrating in front of us."

Boston stayed eight games behind Minnesota, the wild-card leader.

Notable: "There's no glory here. It doesn't make us happy, at all. Our goal this year was to win the division and we didn't accomplish it, barring a miracle." - Youkilis

[Last modified September 18, 2006, 02:28:36]