Red Sox Give Ruthian Effort to Rout Clemens

Not even when Babe Ruth played for the Boston Red Sox had they romped this way.

Nomar Garciaparra, Kevin Millar and Todd Walker homered, and the Red Sox posted their biggest shutout victory in New York, routing Roger Clemens and the Yankees, 11-0, Saturday afternoon.

“Our offense is scary,” said Johnny Damon, who had two hits and drove in two runs. “It’s someone different every day.”

On Saturday, everyone seemed to take part to help the Red Sox win their fifth in a row and hand New York its third consecutive loss.

Knuckleballer Tim Wakefield (10-6) did his part, too, giving up four hits and winning for the first time in six starts.

With chants of “Let’s go, Red Sox!” reverberating through the crowd of 55,237, Boston cut the Yankees’ edge in the American League East to 1 1/2 games, their slimmest margin since July 29.

“When they get a hittable ball, they’re hitting it, that’s for sure,” Clemens said. “They’re hotter than a pistol right now.”

Boston chased Clemens (13-9) with six runs in the fourth inning, sending him to his earliest exit not related to an injury since June 6, 1999, against the New York Mets.

A day after Yankee owner George Steinbrenner besieged his players and staff during a 9-3 loss, Steinbrenner was not seen as the Red Sox romped to a 7-0 lead. After it was over, he was virtually silent -- as were the Yankee hitters.

The Red Sox eclipsed their previous most-lopsided shutout victory at New York, 10-0 on April 23, 1919. That was the season Ruth led the Red Sox in home runs and runs batted in, and before the Yankees were known as the Bronx Bombers. That loss came at the Polo Grounds, across the Harlem River in Manhattan.

“You ride through the tough times and, hopefully, you make them end as quickly as possible,” Yankee Manager Joe Torre said. “We really have to look at the big picture. People still have to come and get us.”