For bullpens, it was a relief

NEW YORK -- So, after 9 hours and 51 minutes, 26 innings, and a total of 903 pitches thrown by both teams in Games 4 and 5 -- the vast majority of those pitches thrown by the respective bullpens -- what could possibly have been left for Game 6 last night?

"No time like now," said Sox reliever Mike Timlin before the game. "Gotta go. They're just as tired as we are. If I could take a catnap now, I probably would."

Game 6, won by the Red Sox, 4-2, proved to be a quiet night -- by comparison -- for the bullpens as starters Curt Schilling and Jon Lieber each lasted at least seven innings. The Red Sox used Bronson Arroyo in the eighth and Keith Foulke in the ninth to force Game 7 tonight.

The Yankees used Felix Heredia, Paul Quantrill, and Tanyon Sturtze to cover the final 1 2/3 innings, allowing setup man Tom Gordon and closer Mariano Rivera to get a night's rest.

It wasn't easy for either Sox reliever. Arroyo allowed one run and got out of further trouble when the umpires reversed themselves and ruled Alex Rodriguez had interfered with Arroyo on a grounder down the first-base line.

In the ninth Foulke put the tying runs on base with a pair of walks but fanned Tony Clark to end it, earning his first save of the series.

"I actually felt better out there today than I have all series," said Foulke, while conceding he has never been asked to throw as much as he has in the previous three days -- 28 pitches in one scoreless inning last night, 50 pitches in 2 2/3 innings of scoreless work in Game 4, and 22 pitches in another 1 1/3 scoreless innings in Game 5 Monday night.

"Sometimes when you are tired, you take a look at what you are doing. I made a few adjustments to my mechanics. We've all been doing pretty well. We've been working on throwing strikes. It's pretty simple really.

He doesn't envision anyone not being ready for Game 7.

"Like Game 5 and Game 6, we just have to go out there and throw strikes," he said. Outside of Tim Wakefield, winner in relief of Game 5, all hands were on deck in the Sox pen last night, with the possible exception of Curtis Leskanic, whose surgically repaired arm, kept together by baling wire and packing tape, is hanging by a thread. Mike Myers, who got a big strikeout of Hideki Matsui in Game 5, talked about the toll these marathons have taken on the pitching staffs. "For some guys it's physical, for some guys it's mental, and for some guys it's just time," he said. "That's a lot of time to just sit there and watch a game. When you're in the bullpen, you're out in the cold, trying to stay loose. And when 500 and something pitches are being thrown, that's mentally grinding as far as that goes. At home, the weather is a little worse. The winds seem to come off the Monster and swirl through the park.

"And with no days off and stuff, no days in between the games, that wears on everybody."

On this, most everyone was in agreement: Wakefield's effort in Game 5, in which he worked three scoreless innings and stranded Yankee runners on second and third in the 13th despite three passed balls, was extraordinary.

"He's the heart and soul of this team, of this pitching staff," said Myers, a relative newcomer. "All the battles he's fought through here . . . he never turns down the ball. He asked for the ball in Game 3, when he volunteered to come down to the pen. He's just a great, great player on this team."

Said general manager Theo Epstein on Wakefield's game-saving performance: "Wake and Jason Varitek willed each other through it. They are two guys who have been here a long time. This is very important to them. They didn't want to let each other down, and they didn't want to let their teammates down."

Foulke pointed toward the other clubhouse when asked about how grinding this series has been.

"I said it [Monday] night, I firmly believe the pressure is on them," Foulke said before last night's win. "They put us down, 3-0, they're supposed to put us away. We keep talking about making history. We want to be the first team in history to come from three games down. No one expects us to win. There's no pressure on us. It's all on them."