This time, Delcarmen, pen did the trick

NEW YORK - It wasn't as if Manny Delcarmen was coming out of the third gate at Belmont with blinders on. He knew Alex Rodriguez was waiting at the plate, the bases loaded with Yankees.

"Believe me, when I'm coming in there, I know I'm facing A-Rod," Delcarmen said.

And Delcarmen didn't blink, inducing Rodriguez to roll over on a curveball that he grounded to third for an inning-ending force in the seventh yesterday as the Red Sox downed the Yankees, 6-4.

"Coming in there with the bases loaded is always a tough time," Delcarmen said. "I'm just glad I got him out. We started out on a first-pitch curveball that kind of slipped out of my hand. We normally pound him inside with fastballs. I don't think he was expecting a changeup inside. I threw him another curveball, swing and a miss. The ground ball he hit - I wanted to bury the curveball - I left it up a little bit. But it was enough to have him hit it on the ground."

Javier Lopez got a similar result in the eighth, when Robinson Cano hit his first pitch for an inning-ending double play.

More and more, especially with Hideki Okajima struggling, manager Terry Francona is turning to Lopez in late-inning situations, and he has responded. He has allowed three earned runs in his last 27 outings, and one run in 14 2/3 innings over his last 14 appearances. Of the 31 runners he has inherited, just seven have scored.

"I've been attacking the zone," he said. "I think Jon Lester set the tone yesterday, Josh [ Beckett] pitched well today, and as they've been going to me in situations that are obviously more pressurized, I'm trying to get ground balls and get outs, and so far, it's going well."

Double (play) trouble

Good news, bad news on Julio Lugo: The Sox shortstop has made just four errors in his last 33 games, including a two-error game against the Cardinals June 20, and he hasn't made an error in the last 10 games. He went into the hole yesterday and turned a potential base hit by Brett Gardner into a force in the seventh.

But Lugo, 0 for 4 yesterday and caught stealing, is batting just .216 (21 for 97) in the 33 games, with nearly as many strikeouts (19) as hits. He also has grounded into five double plays in that time, including one in each of the first two games of this series. Lugo has grounded into 13 double plays, a startling number for someone with his speed. By contrast, Jacoby Ellsbury had hit into just one double play in 282 at-bats entering yesterday, the third-best ratio in the league (Ellsbury was not charged with a GIDP when Lugo interfered with Tampa Bay's Jason Bartlett earlier this week).

Entering yesterday, only two American League players, Lyle Overbay of the Jays and Vladimir Guerrero of the Angels, had hit into more double plays than Lugo. Lugo is on pace to ground into 24 double plays this season, a total exceeded by only 13 shortstops in big league history. Rick Burleson hit into 24 in 1980, then hit into a total of 22 over the last six seasons of his career. The only Sox shortstop to ground into more double plays was Vern Stephens, who had 25 in 1948. Stephens also hit 29 home runs and knocked in 137 runs that season.

Lugo is batting just .155 (11 for 71) with runners in scoring position, with one extra-base hit and 17 RBIs. Those numbers are way off what he put up for the Sox last season (.277, 18 extra-base hits), and for his career, he is batting .265 with RISP.

Lugo was replaced at short in the eighth by Alex Cora.

Lefty complements

Clarification: Before Lester shut out the Yankees, 7-0, Thursday night, the last time a Sox lefthander shut out the Bombers in Yankee Stadium was July 4, 1973, when Rogelio Moret outdueled Doc Medich, 1-0, in the second game of a doubleheader. Ray Culp won the opener, 2-1, when the Sox scored twice in the ninth, Sparky Lyle taking the loss. But in 1975, when Yankee Stadium was undergoing renovations, Moret and Bill Lee threw shutouts at the Yankees in both ends of a doubleheader July 27 in Shea Stadium. Sox lefthanders since 1956 have thrown just nine shutouts against the Bombers, including home starts. Lester's was the first since the Shea doubleheader. Moret has three and Lee two; the others were by Billy Rohr, Gary Peters, and John Curtis. Rohr's may be the best remembered; on April 14, 1967, the rookie came within an out of a no-hitter, Elston Howard breaking it up with a base hit.

Shove, but no push

The Sox still have not said whether they've taken disciplinary action against Manny Ramírez for last week's incident in Houston in which he shoved traveling secretary Jack McCormick to the clubhouse floor in a dispute over game tickets. The Sox are saying it's an internal matter, and McCormick said Ramírez apologized. The club's approach is similar to the way an earlier administration handled a 1981 incident involving slugger Jim Rice and team publicist Bill Crowley in a dispute over a parking spot during spring training in Winter Haven, Fla. Rice, apparently rushing to catch a bus to Lakeland, had taken Crowley's spot, and when the 61-year-old publicist subsequently began to berate him behind the batting cage in Lakeland, Rice grabbed his arm - to prevent a fight - according to published reports. Crowley, who suffered from a skin condition, began to bleed. The two later met, Rice apologized, and the club took no further action. Rice was suspended three games in 1988 when he shoved manager Joe Morgan after being lifted for a pinch hitter.

Hitting machines

Dustin Pedroia has had eight multihit games during his 12-game hitting streak, including two four-hit games, and is one behind the Rangers' Ian Kinsler in multihit games (33). Kinsler is Pedroia's chief rival to start at second for the American League in the All-Star Game . . . It took some doing for Okajima to walk Jose Molina yesterday. In 52 previous games (159 plate appearances), Molina had drawn five walks . . . Ellsbury had two bunt singles and is tied with Lugo for bunt hits this season (6) . . . Pawtucket righthander Devern Hansack's scoreless streak ended at 25 innings last night in a 7-6 victory over Lehigh Valley.