ALCS NOTEBOOK From Fenway Park

Home turf: The New York Yankees have proven that homefield advantage doesn't mean much in the AL championship series. The Red Sox hope that continues. Boston must win two more games, both at Yankee Stadium, to come back from a 3-2 deficit and gain its first World Series berth since 1986. The teams split the first two games in New York before the Yankees won two of three in Fenway Park, capped by a 4-2 victory Tuesday night. It's the fourth straight ALCS in which New York owned home-field advantage that it won two of the three middle games on the road. "I'm glad we have" homefield advantage, New York manager Joe Torre said, "but I don't think it really makes it lopsided."
Nasty numbers: John Burkett playfully plugged his ears when the question came, because his career record against the New York Yankees isn't the kind of statistic that inspires confidence. "Are you going to throw some numbers at me that I don't want to hear?" he joked before Game 5. "Something negative about how I've done against the Yankees, right?" Burkett knows that he has never beaten New York in the regular season. In a 14-year major league career, much of it in the NL, he is 0-6 with an 8.49 ERA in 11 games. "I think you're totally capable of going 0-for-10 against a team and beating them the next time out," he said. "I think you're capable of being 10-0 against a team and losing the next time out or pitching badly." He proved that in the first round of the 1996 AL playoffs, beating the Yankees 6-2 with a complete game for Texas in the opener. The Red Sox need a strong game from Burkett in Game 6 today to force a decisive seventh game. Burkett, Boston's weakest starter, was supposed to pitch Sunday, but manager Grady Little pushed him back in the rotation because of the rainout.
More of Mo: Yankees closer Mariano Rivera pitched two innings Tuesday for the second time in three ALCS appearances. During the regular season, he did that just five times in 64 games. But he has no complaints. "I enjoy it," Rivera said. "Why? Because I'm in the game. I love to be in the game. I don't come here just to watch a game. I come here to participate." He did plenty more than that, finishing Tuesday's win for his second save of the series. Rivera did give up a run, ending his string of scoreless appearances at 19. In his five innings during the ALCS, he's allowed one run and three hits while striking out three. "I feel comfortable with him coming in the eighth," winning pitcher David Wells said. "He's the best there ever is, was and will be, till proven otherwise." The Red Sox scored off Rivera in the eighth when Todd Walker tripled and came in on Nomar Garciaparra's groundout. But Rivera pitched a perfect ninth, retiring the side on two grounders and a popup. "When Mariano comes in, it's like money in the bank for us," second baseman Alfonso Soriano said.
In the clutch: Boston had eight players with at least 85 RBIs this season but repeatedly has failed in the clutch in the ALCS. On Tuesday, the leadoff hitters reached base in four innings but only two of them scored. For the series, the Red Sox have gotten their leadoff hitter on base in 13 innings but only eight have scored. The Yankees have been less productive when getting their first hitter in an inning on base. Of the 10 players who have done that, only three have scored.
-- Associated Press