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Schilling faces Pettitte in rubber game of series

May 23, 2007 - 2:22 PM illing faces Pettitte in rubber game of series* ===================================================

Boston (31-14) at NY Yankees (20-24) 7:05 pm EDT

BRONX, New York (Ticker) -- Curt Schilling opposes Andy Pettitte in the rubber game of the series between the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees.

Schilling (4-1, 3.57 ERA) has a 7-5 career record against the Yankees. The righthander is 2-0 with a 3.60 ERA in his last four starts vs. New York.

Pettitte (2-3, 2.83) will be making his third start against the Red Sox this season. The lefthander is 0-1 with a 4.84 ERA in those starts, including a scoreless inning of relief at Fenway Park on April 22.

Pettitte has a career record of 13-6 against Boston, including 8-4 at Yankee Stadium.

The Red Sox have won six of the eight meetings this season, including a 7-3 victory on Tuesday.

Manny Ramirez hit a three-run homer off Mike Mussina in the first inning. The blast was Ramirez's only hit in four at-bats, dropping his average to an uncharacteristic .244.

Mike Lowell started the fourth with his ninth homer, hooking a line drive around the left field foul pole for a 4-0 advantage.

Yankees manager Joe Torre spoke before the game of how pivotal it was for his team to build on Sunday's victory over the New York Mets and Monday's series-opening 6-2 win - both the result of strong starts by rookie Tyler Clippard and Chien-Ming Wang, respectively.

But Mussina was reached for seven runs and 10 hits with a walk and two strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings, suffering his second straight loss as New York failed to match its season-high three-game winning streak from May 1-3 and fell 10 1/2 games behind Boston.