AL EAST Series win has Red Sox on fire, Yankees calm

Boston defeated New York, 9-6, to win the Fenway Park series.
BOSTON (AP) -- There's nothing like a series with the New York Yankees to fire up the Boston Red Sox.
With their season slipping away as the losses and lethargy grew, the Red Sox regained their intensity with a brawl, a winning homer against the AL's best closer and a power-packed show that had Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry cheering and high-fiving his hometown team.
"As quickly as you can feel bad about yourself, you can turn it around and feel good," Boston manager Terry Francona said.
Even with Sunday night's 9-6 win over their longtime rivals, the Red Sox trail the Yankees by 7 1/2 games in the AL East.
That's a lot better than the other possibilities after they tumbled 9 1/2 games back when they blew a 4-1 lead Friday night and lost 8-7, their third loss in four games.
Perseverance
But they won 11-10 Saturday night on Bill Mueller's ninth-inning homer off Mariano Rivera, then persevered Sunday after Hideki Matsui's grand slam cut their lead to 9-6 in the seventh.
"These last two games were huge," said Johnny Damon, who had three hits Sunday, including a three-run homer. "It was a World Series atmosphere."
The Red Sox nearly got there last year before losing to the Yankees 6-5 in the 11th inning of the seventh game of the AL championship series. That ended Boston's season in which the team was known for its intensity and its "Cowboy Up" mentality that helped them to rebound from adversity.
"We got the feeling back [Saturday] night," Kevin Millar said. "We had to get that swagger back that we had last year."
That energy had been missing recently. It was back during Saturday's third-inning brawl after Alex Rodriguez was hit by a pitch and stared at pitcher Bronson Arroyo. Rodriguez and Boston catcher Jason Varitek exchanged words, and Varitek pushed him in the face. Both were ejected.
"Maybe that's something we needed," Damon said. "We do have a little more fire in us."
Kerry saw that Sunday night from his seat next to the Boston dugout. He threw out the ceremonial first pitch then high-fived Millar after the first baseman's fourth homer of the series.
High fives
"He was fired up," Millar said. "I was just high-fiving the fans and his hand was the last one."
The Yankees, maintaining their usual even keel, weren't overly concerned about the Red Sox, who lead the season series 8-5 with six games left.
"You're never out of the race," New York manager Joe Torre said, but "I'm not worried about them. We don't play them anymore now for a while."
Like their team, Millar and pitchers Derek Lowe and Keith Foulke reversed their recent fortunes in the series.
Millar went 3-for-4 with four RBIs Sunday and 10-for-13 in the series with four homers and eight RBIs. He had just seven homers before that. Lowe (9-9) had one of his best outings Sunday night, when Foulke, who gave up Rodriguez's winning single Friday, recorded his 16th save in 21 chances.
Jose Contreras (8-4) was staked to a 2-0 lead in the first but struggled again against the Red Sox, allowing eight runs in 5 1-3 innings. Contreras is 0-4 in five career appearances against Boston since the Yankees outbid the Red Sox for him before last season.
"He wasn't good right from the get-go," Torre said. "We had a two-run lead, and he just wasn't aggressive enough."