For starters, it's Wakefield

By Gordon Edes, Globe Staff, 10/7/2003

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Having used his top two starters, Pedro Martinez and Derek Lowe, to close out the Oakland A's last night, Red Sox manager Grady Little won't have the same range of options to line up his rotation for the American League Championship Series as Yankees manager Joe Torre will have with his well-rested staff.

Knuckleballer Tim Wakefield, who pitched Saturday, is the logical choice to pitch tomorrow's opener for the Sox in Yankee Stadium, while Lowe dropped a broad hint about what the Sox are thinking for Game 2.

"I think I'm pitching Game 2," Lowe said. "It hasn't been publicly said, but that's what I was told before the game.

"This time of year it doesn't matter. This time of year, you pitch on adrenaline. It's not the way you feel. Everybody is sore, banged up."

With Game 3 scheduled for Saturday in Boston, signs point to a reprise of the Pedro Martinez-Roger Clemens matchup in the 1999 ALCS that at the time was billed as "The Game of the Century" but resulted in a 13-1 Sox rout.

"We'll have some things at the workout," Little said last night. "We'll be prepared -- we know a lot about that ball club."

Little said that at the moment, he's leaning toward taking 11 pitchers instead of the 10 he had available for the A's, though the injury to Johnny Damon could alter that plan.

If he adds an 11th pitcher, Jeff Suppan is a strong possibility; Todd Jones could be another, especially if Byung Hyun Kim continues to complain about tightness in his shoulder.

Kim threw in the outfield before Game 5 yesterday, and Little said he expected Kim to be available but after the game said he was told Kim still was experiencing discomfort.

Was there a chance he could leave Kim off the ALCS roster?

"We've got to try and get that kid back on the mound, feeling good," Little said. "Right now, if he's healthy, gol'dang he could do the same thing for us that Scott Williamson did."

If form holds for the Yankees, Torre will open with Mike Mussina tomorrow night, with lefthander Andy Pettitte going Thursday night in the Bronx.

All four starters -- Mussina, Pettitte, Clemens and David Wells -- pitched well in the Yankees' four-game dispatching of the Minnesota Twins in their Division Series. Each went at least seven innings.

The Yankees allowed only six runs and 26 hits in 36 innings for a 1.50 team ERA, and Minnesota managed just a .198 batting average.

"I'll put our pitchers up against anyone," Derek Jeter said.

It was a far cry from the 2002 playoffs, when New York's staff was roughed up for an 8.21 ERA in a first-round loss to Anaheim.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.