A Broken Record

All this talk of Boston’s fraternity house-like locker room, of dreadlocks, cornrows and long, flowing locks, of beards and goatees, makes for great copy, but unless the Red Sox start backing it up with some substance, they’re going to be remembered as baseball’s Hair Club for Men, and nothing else.

New York Yankee right-hander Jon Lieber buzzed through a supposedly lethal Red Sox lineup like an Army barber through a room of plebes, giving up one run and three hits in seven-plus innings Wednesday night to lead the Yankees to a 3-1 victory in Game 2 of the American League championship series.

A jacked-up Yankee Stadium crowd of 56,136, many of whom did not seem to know who Red Sox starter Pedro Martinez’s father was, saw Gary Sheffield nick Martinez for a run-scoring single in the first inning and Seattle Mariner castoff John Olerud torch him for a two-run home run in the sixth.

As he did in Game 1, Yankee closer Mariano Rivera recorded the last four outs, leaving a trail of broken bats, striking out David Ortiz and Kevin Millar to end it, for his 32nd postseason save, helping the Yankees take a commanding 2-0 lead in a best-of-seven series that many favored the Red Sox to win.

Of the 15 teams to take a 2-0 lead since the league championship series expanded to seven games in 1985, only two have failed to advance to the World Series, the 1985 Toronto Blue Jays, who lost to the Kansas City Royals, and the 1985 Dodgers, who lost to the St. Louis Cardinals.

As if the Red Sox weren’t in a big enough hole, losing the first two games with their top two pitchers, Curt Schilling and Martinez, they will start Bronson Arroyo and knuckleballer Tim Wakefield -- not exactly the second coming of Warren Spahn and Johnny Sain -- in Games 3 and 4 at Fenway Park.

Oh, and one more thing: Schilling, who was supposed to shift the balance of power to Boston in this highly charged rivalry, is doubtful for Game 5 because of an ankle injury. In fact, this whole Red Sox team is looking doubtful for Game 5.

“It’s the best-case scenario -- we beat their two best pitchers, and we go to Boston with a lot more confidence,” Yankee center fielder Bernie Williams said. “But we also know we can’t let our guard down.”

Yankee pitchers have hit on what seems to be a simple solution to Boston’s patient approach: Throw first-pitch strikes, stay ahead in the count and then expand the strike zone with pitches just off the plate, inducing weakly hit balls or strikeouts.

Mike Mussina worked it to near perfection in Game 1, and Lieber did it again in Game 2, giving up only three singles, striking out three and walking one to stifle a team that led the major leagues this season in runs, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and extra-base hits.

“We had some poor at-bats early,” Boston catcher Jason Varitek said. “Not to take anything away from Lieber, but we got ourselves out early on his pitches. Maybe we were being a little overaggressive. We just didn’t get it done offensively.”

Especially at the top of the order. Leadoff hitter Johnny Damon, who was seven for 12 with four runs in the division series sweep of the Angels, and No. 2 hitter Mark Bellhorn have come to the plate 16 times in this series. They’ve reached base once. Damon had a .380 on-base percentage this season; Bellhorn’s mark was .373.

“I’ve got to get my game going,” said Damon, who struck out four times in Game 1, the first four-strikeout game of his career. “Going 0 for 8 with five strikeouts ... I’m better than that. They know the best way to beat our team is to stop me. They’re throwing tough pitches, and I haven’t had good at-bats.”

He had one epic at-bat in the sixth inning Wednesday, a 16-pitch battle with Lieber in which Damon fouled off 10 two-strike pitches before lining out to center. That hardly wore down Lieber, though. The right-hander needed only 44 pitches to get through the first four innings and finished with 82 pitches.

“It starts with me -- I’ll take full responsibility for these two games,” Damon said. “I’m very disappointed with how I’ve played. I’m the one who needs to break out and give ourselves a better chance.”

Martinez gave the Red Sox a chance, recovering from a shaky start -- his first six pitches were balls, and Derek Jeter scored after leading off the first with a walk -- to go six innings, giving up the three runs and four hits and striking out seven. Afterward, he volunteered to start Game 5 on short rest in place of Schilling.

From the time he walked from the bullpen to the dugout before the game to his departure after six, Yankee fans predictably pelted Martinez with chants of “Who’s your daddy? Who’s your daddy?”

But afterward, Martinez had no regrets about uttering his now-infamous “The Yankees are my daddy” quote after an 11-1 loss in Yankee Stadium on Sept. 19, when Martinez gave up eight runs in five innings.

Did the crowd affect Martinez?

“You know what, it actually made me feel really, really good,” Martinez, a native of the Dominican Republic, said, as many in the interview room broke out in laughter. Martinez, though, had a straight face.

“I actually realized that I was somebody important because I caught the attention of 60,000 people, plus you guys, plus the whole world, watching a guy that, if you reverse time back 15 years ago, was sitting under a mango tree without 50 cents to actually pay for a bus ride,” Martinez said.

“And today, I was the center of attention in the whole city of New York. I thank God for that, and you know what? I don’t regret one bit what they did out there. I respect them, and I actually kind of like it because ... they make me feel important.”