There’s No Relief in Sight for Red Sox in 9-1 Defeat : AL playoffs: Boston gets six shutout innings from Clemens, but the bullpen blows a 1-0 lead as Oakland wins Game 1.

Wearily, Joe Morgan surveyed the crowd of reporters before him. “What time is it, 3:30?” the Boston manager asked.

It was only 12:15 a.m. EDT, not as late as he thought, but probably later than he thinks.

In strafing Boston’s bullpen in the final three innings of their American League playoff opener Saturday night, the Oakland Athletics erased the emotional lift Roger Clemens’ six shutout innings had given the Red Sox and the 35,192 fans crammed into Fenway Park. Having kept Boston’s ace from winning and with 27-game winner Bob Welch pitching for them tonight, the A’s 9-1 victory put them into good position after one game of the best-of-seven series.

“From the things I read in the paper (Saturday) they placed more emphasis on winning tonight than I did,” said Oakland starter Dave Stewart, who improved his career playoff record to 4-0 by giving up four hits over eight innings.

“I wanted to give us the best possible chance to win. From what I read in the paper, it was make or break for them. They felt if they lost, their chances would be very slim.”

Morgan refused to acknowledge that the emotional harm of failing to get a victory from Clemens could sentence Boston to postseason failure yet again. “It’s only one game to nothing as far as I know,” he said.

But he couldn’t deny the ugliness of the performance turned in by his relief corps. Wade Boggs’ fourth-inning home run to left field--Boggs’ first homer in postseason play--gave Clemens a lead Morgan entrusted to Larry Andersen at the start of the seventh.

“He was dead. He probably would never have gotten out of the seventh,” Morgan said of Clemens, who threw 97 pitches in his second outing since shoulder soreness idled him for 25 days. “I had to make the move. It was my decision, but he knew it was the right time.”

A’s catcher Terry Steinbach considered the pitch to Boggs the right one at the right time, despite the result.

“It wasn’t a mistake,” Steinbach said of the 1-and-0 fastball Boggs launched into the warm night. “We got him out three times tonight on the same pitch, which makes him one for four, .250. I’ll take that, even if it’s a home run.”

Oakland tied the game in the seventh inning on a walk, a force play, a hit-and-run single by pinch-hitter Jamie Quirk and a sacrifice fly by Rickey Henderson. The A’s took a 2-1 lead in the eighth. Jose Canseco opened the inning with a single, moved to second on Harold Baines’ first sacrifice since 1984, stole third and scored on Carney Lansford’s single to right.

“I didn’t think he could bunt all those years I had him in Chicago or I’d have put it on sooner,” said A’s Manager Tony La Russa, who managed Baines while both were with the White Sox. “I thought if we got Jose to second base, Carney or Steiner (Steinbach) might get a hit. I just wanted a runner in scoring position.”

He quickly got a runner and a run.

“That was a key base,” La Russa said of Canseco’s easy steal. “He got the green light and he got a great jump.”

Proving that there’s no limit to the number of times the Red Sox will break their fans’ hearts, their pitchers allowed 11 A’s to bat in the ninth inning and produce seven runs, tying an AL playoff record for runs in an inning.

“Well, a beautiful game turned into a horrible evening for the home side, didn’t it?” Morgan said of his bullpen, which had a 4.62 earned-run average during the regular season.

“Tonight was an unfortunate night for us because neither Andersen nor (Jeff) Gray had their stuff,” Morgan said. “I figured Andersen would come in for a couple innings and baffle ‘em and (Jeff) Reardon would come in to finish and we’d win, 1-0.”

Buoyed by Clemens’ departure, the A’s destroyed Morgan’s fragile hopes by scoring two runs off Andersen, the losing pitcher, two off Gray, four off Dennis Lamp and one off Rob Murphy.

“Whenever a pitcher like (Clemens) leaves the game, naturally there’s a boost,” said Lansford, who was three for five with a double and two RBIs.

Clemens’ six-game losing streak in matchups against Stewart was not affected because he wasn’t a pitcher of record. Stewart has beaten the Red Sox in each of the five times he has faced them this season and is scheduled to face them again in Game 4 Wednesday at Oakland.

“I heard a lot of comments about how important the first game is,” La Russa said, “and we’re feeling very good tonight. But if (Dana) Kiecker throws a no-hitter (tonight), where’s the momentum?”

The A’s are determined to keep whatever momentum they built Saturday.

“Everybody says we’re such great favorites, but we have to push to do things right,” Lansford said. “It isn’t all that easy.”

They just make it look that way.