Game Notes & Boxscore

FORT MYERS, Fla. - Mike Lansing hit a solo homer and Brian Daubach hit a grand slam in a five-run eighth inning against Domingo Jean as the Boston Red Sox beat a split squad of New York Yankees 8-7 Sunday.

With the Red Sox trailing 7-3, each player hit his second home run of the spring to give Boston the win against its biggest rival.

``It's always good to hit a home run against the Yankees, even in spring training,'' Daubach said.

Tim Wakefield, Boston's utility pitcher, allowed three runs, three hits in three walks in four innings as a starter.

``I felt good,'' he said. ``I got up to about 70 pitches. The ball had some good movement, and I threw a good curveball today.''

Wakefield will start the season in the bullpen, but he could be moved to the starting rotation soon. Rolando Arrojo has been sent to the bullpen after struggling this spring, and free-agent signing David Cone has experienced soreness in his right shoulder and his status is uncertain.

But Red Sox manager Jimy Williams said Wakefield would start the season as a reliever because of Hipolito Pichardo's injured right elbow.

``We have a situation with Pichardo and we can't rush him back,'' Williams said. ``We need to protect him as much as we can. With that in mind we need an experienced pitcher there, therefore we're going to put (Wakefield) in the bullpen.''

Pichardo, who had right elbow surgery in August 1998 that forced him to miss the entire 1999 season, is not expected to be ready for opening day.

``At this particular moment, we think this is the best way to go,'' Williams said.

Williams' decision would seem to indicate that Tomo Ohka and Paxton Crawford would be in the starting rotation along with Pedro Martinez, Frank Castillo and Hideo Nomo.

Wakefield gave up a leadoff home run to Erick Almonte, and a two-run double to Nick Johnson in the third inning after issuing two walks.

``That one inning killed me, I think the umpire missed a bunch of calls, but that's the way it goes sometimes,'' Wakefield said.


Notes:

• Red Sox SS Nomar Garciaparra had the cast on his right wrist removed Saturday and replaced by a brace that can be removed so he can work on wrist mobility. There is still no timetable for his return, Red Sox officials said. Garciaparra has a split tendon in the wrist.
• The crowd of 8,171 was the largest in the eight-year history of City of Palms Park. Fans started lining up at 6:30 a.m. for the 1:05 p.m. start.
• Almonte, who played at Double-A Norwich last season, hit his first two home runs of the spring. Felix Jose and Jorge Posada also homered for the Yankees.
• The Red Sox have hit 13 home runs in their last five games, all wins.

Boxscore:

Line Score
GPFT  FINAL
                      1  2  3   4  5  6   7  8  9    R  H  E
                      -  -  -   -  -  -   -  -  -    -  -  -
  NY YANKEES SS       1  0  2   0  1  1   2  0  0    7  6  1
  BOSTON              0  0  0   2  1  0   0  5  x    8 12  0   FINAL

                 WP - KENT MERCKER (1-0)
                 LP - DOMINGO JEAN (0-2)
               SAVE - ROD BECK (1)

    HOME RUNS:  NYY - ERICK ALMONTE (1) OFF WAKEFIELD IN THE 1ST
                      ERICK ALMONTE (2) OFF ARROJO IN THE 5TH
                      FELIX JOSE (2) OFF SCHOUREK IN THE 6TH
                      JORGE POSADA (1) OFF MILLER IN THE 7TH
                BOS - MIKE LANSING (2) OFF LOVINGER IN THE 8TH
                      BRIAN DAUBACH (2) OFF JEAN IN THE 8TH

         TIME:   2:41              ATT:  8,171



Box Score
NY YANKEES SS (7) AT BOSTON (8)

 NY YANKEES SS   AB  R  H BI  BOSTON          AB  R  H BI
 E ALMONTE SS     3  4  2  2  STYNES 3B        3  1  1  1
 POSADA C         3  2  1  2  MERLONI SS       1  0  0  0
 MOSQUERA C       0  0  0  0  OFFERMAN 2B      1  1  0  0
 C GARCIA PH      1  0  0  0  LANSING 2B       3  1  1  1
 BE WILLIAMS CF   4  0  0  0  HATTEBERG C      3  0  1  1
 N JOHNSON 1B     3  0  2  2  HILLENBRAND C    1  0  0  0
 G HILL DH        4  0  0  0  EVERETT CF       3  0  0  0
 MORALES 3B       3  0  0  0  NEILL RF         0  1  0  0
 SEABOL 3B        1  0  0  0  OLEARY LF        2  0  1  0
 JOSE LF          4  1  1  1  D LEWIS LF       1  1  1  0
 J RIVERA RF      3  0  0  0  BICHETTE DH      3  0  1  0
 SOJO 2B          4  0  0  0  BURKHART DH      1  1  1  0
                              DAUBACH 1B       4  1  2  4
                              C GREBECK SS     3  0  1  0
                              W VERAS 3B       1  0  0  0
                              T NIXON CF       4  1  2  0
 TOTALS          33  7  6  7  TOTALS          34  8 12  7
 NY YANKEES SS           102 011 200-- 7
 BOSTON                  000 210 05x-- 8
 E--MORALES. DP--NY YANKEES SS 2. LOB--NY YANKEES SS 4,
 BOSTON 6. 2B--T NIXON. HR--E ALMONTE 2 (OFF WAKEFIELD,
 ARROJO), JOSE (OFF SCHOUREK), POSADA (OFF MILLER), LANSING
 (OFF LOVINGER), DAUBACH (OFF JEAN).
                                   IP   H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR
  NY YANKEES SS
 LILLY                         3 2-3   3   2   0   1   2   0
 DA LEE                            2   3   1   1   1   2   0
 LOVINGER                      1 2-3   3   3   3   1   2   1
 JEAN (L)                        2-3   3   2   2   1   0   1
  BOSTON
 WAKEFIELD                         4   3   3   3   3   1   1
 ARROJO                            1   1   1   1   1   2   1
 SCHOUREK                          1   1   1   1   0   2   1
 MILLER                            1   1   2   2   1   2   1
 K MERCKER (W)                     1   0   0   0   0   1   0
 BECK (S)                          1   0   0   0   0   1   0
 WP--LILLY.
 SO--NYY: C GARCIA, BE WILLIAMS 2, N JOHNSON, G HILL 2,
 MORALES, SEABOL, J RIVERA. BOS: MERLONI, EVERETT 2,
 OLEARY, DAUBACH 2.
 BB--NYY: E ALMONTE 2, POSADA, N JOHNSON, J RIVERA. BOS:
 MERLONI, OFFERMAN, NEILL, OLEARY.
 T--2:41. A--8,171.