Tempers flare as Clemens blanks Rays
— -- ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) -- First, a fastball from Roger Clemens sailed over Javier Valentin's head to the backstop. Then, the Rocket's next pitch hit the Tampa Bay catcher in the arm. Consider the score settled between the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Well, sort of. The Yankees beat the Devil Rays 6-0 Sunday to give Clemens his 309th career victory and move closer to clinching their sixth straight division title. Plunking Valentin was Clemens' response to a near brawl that New York felt was precipitated by Tampa Bay manager Lou Piniella. "There's nothing to explain," Clemens said. "You just try and stay in control. I don't think there's anything wrong with playing good old fashion hardball. There's nothing wrong with pitching inside. I think (the umpires) did the proper thing. They warned both benches. You just have to go from there." The Yankees, who have won 13 of their last 15 games, are already assured of a ninth consecutive postseason berth. They reduced their magic number to claim another division crown to one. Clemens (16-9) allowed four hits, struck out three and walked one in seven innings. The victory moved him ahead of Hall of Famer Hoss Radbourn into 17th place on the all-time list, two behind Tom Seaver. Alfonso Soriano hit his 34th homer and Hideki Matsui drove in a run with his first major league triple. Aaron Boone drove in a third run off Jeremi Gonzalez (6-10), and Ruben Sierra added a bases-loaded triple off Travis Harper in the eighth. The benches cleared in the middle of the fifth, adding spice to the final game of the season between the teams. Tempers flared after Gonzalez hit Nick Johnson with a pitch, then exchanged words with Jorge Posada, who was brushed back before grounding out to end the inning. Posada said something to Gonzalez as he ran up the first base line, and the Devil Rays pitcher chased him. Players spilled out of both dugouts, but no punches were thrown before order was restored. "He threw under his chin. He went over there, got away from the plate and Lou started yelling at him. That's where the whole thing got going," Yankees manager Joe Torre said. "We all know Lou. We all love him because Lou is Lou. But sometimes it gets out of control. I think that's where Jorgie had a little response to it. ... I think Lou is really frustrated. He's had a long year. He's not used to losing a lot of games." Posada left the clubhouse without speaking to reporters. Gonzalez said the Yankees catcher shouted at him in Spanish, accusing him of throwing at Posada's head. "My life is pitching inside. I've pitched inside all year and I'm going to keep pitching inside. I'm not going to change," Gonzalez said, adding that New York pitchers do the same. "Nobody says anything to them, they say it to us. They want to play like that, we'll play like that. They think they're better than everyone, and I'm tired of them thinking like that." Piniella agreed. "The Yankees like to have things their own way," the Devil Rays manager said. "You've got to be able to pitch inside. When they do it's fine. But when somebody else does it to them, they don't like it." Clemens answered with two outs in the seventh when threw an 0-1 pitch over Valentin's head. He threw inside on his next delivery, hitting Valentin on the arm but not drawing any reaction from the Devil Rays. The Yankees took a 2-0 lead on Matsui's RBI triple and Boone's sacrifice fly in the second. Soriano's solo homer made it 3-0 in third, while Sierra tripled after New York loaded the bases with no outs in the eighth. Soriano is 14-for-31 with three doubles, five homers and 10 RBI on the Yankees' road trip. He homered in the opener of the three-game series against Tampa Bay and had a two-run double in Saturday's win. Devil Rays pitchers have hit an AL-high 91 batters this season, including Derek Jeter twice and Bernie Williams once before rookie Jon Switzer was ejected in the ninth inning Saturday night. Gonzalez allowed three runs on five hits in six innings. He struck out three and walked two.
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