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  Wednesday, Mar. 8 1:05pm ET
New York 10, Boston 4
 
  RECAP

FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) _ Watch out. The New York Yankees are winning again.

They won their first exhibition game Wednesday after an 0-6 start and some concerned comments from owner George Steinbrenner, with Andy Pettitte pitching four scoreless innings in a 10-4 win over the Boston Red Sox.

Tino Martinez and Luke Wilcox each hit three-run homers in the Yankees' 13-hit attack. The Red Sox had eight hits.

It was the first meeting between the long-time rivals since the final game of the AL championship series Oct. 18 and it drew 7,132 fans, a record for 8-year-old City of Palms Park.

The Yankees won that last meeting 6-1 at Fenway Park to win the series 4-1, then went on to their second straight World Series sweep.

Last year, New York also struggled in spring training, going 14-19.

In their first six exhibition games this year, they never led and were outscored 56-21.

``You don't like to see that,'' Steinbrenner said after New York fell to 0-3 with a 12-4 loss to Pittsburgh, ``It's still early.''

``I've told you guys that it's too early,'' Steinbrenner told reporters, having made an early exit from a 15-1 loss to Cleveland that dropped the Yankees to 0-5. ``But pretty soon, we'll be at a point where it won't be early anymore. We're not there, yet.''

The streak continued with a 7-5 loss to Minnesota on Tuesday.

It finally ended without the Yankees' best players. Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams and Paul O'Neill didn't make the trip from the team's camp in Tampa, two hours to the north.

Martinez hit a three-run homer as the Yankees took a 7-0 lead in a six-run fifth inning against Jin Ho Cho. Wilcox, who hit 29 homers in the minors last year, made it 10-2 with another three-run homer, in the eighth off Julio Santana.

Pettitte, making his second start, allowed singles by Troy O'Leary in the second and Jose Offerman in the third.

Mike Grace followed with two perfect innings before Brandon Knight allowed two runs on three hits in the seventh.

Boston's Brian Rose pitched well in his second start, allowing one hit in two innings. He was followed by Juan Pena, who gave up New York's first run in the third on Rafael Bournigal's double, a stolen base and Roberto Kelly's groundout.<

Notes: The Red Sox had two hits and one walk in the first six innings. Their first three hitters in the seventh _ Brian Daubach, Marty Cordova and Jason Varitek _ all singled. ... Tim Raines, Jorge Posada and Scott Brosius each singled in a run in the fifth when the Yankees sent 10 batters to the plate. ... The 30 fans watching the non-traveling Yankees workout in Tampa got a treat when Reggie Jackson homered on his last pitch of batting practice and then went into a home run trot around the bases. ... Yankees 2B Chuck Knoblauch (sore left middle finger) took batting practice and is scheduled to play Thursday against Philadelphia. ... New York bench coach Don Zimmer missed his second straight road trip to tend to his ailing knee.

 


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