The benches cleared in the fifth inning yesterday after Devil Rays pitcher Jeremi Gonzalez hit Nick Johnson then exchanged words with Jorge Posada after a brush back pitch. Posada grounded out to end the inning but said something to Gonzalez as he ran up the first base line. Gonzalez claimed that Posada yelled at him for throwing at his head in Spanish.

"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.

"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. Posada left the clubhouse without speaking to reporters.

Clemens answered with two outs in the seventh when he 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.

"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," Gonzalez commented after the game. His manager 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."

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.

Despite the fireworks, there was a game played yesterday. 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 RBIs 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.

The Yankees are now 97-58 on the year and have clinched a playoff berth.