The Associated Press

NEW YORK - The "300" patch on Roger Clemens' glove turned out to be a little premature.

No celebration at Yankee Stadium on Monday. In fact, things started going badly for the Rocket even before his first fastball.

Clemens' initial bid at the milestone victory became a bust when the Boston Red Sox banged him around, beating the Yankees 8-4 and sending New York to its eighth straight home loss.

"I'm going to get there eventually - I hope," Clemens said.

"It was just great that I had the opportunity," he said. "It couldn't have worked out any better, except for the loss."

Bad omens surrounded Clemens from the beginning.

The start of the game was delayed 1 hour, 42 minutes by rain, and Clemens' routine was further disrupted right after his final warmup. That's when Red Sox manager Grady Little walked out to question Clemens' glove.

Clemens was wearing a new glove with a shiny "300" logo on the back of it, and plate umpire Bill Miller agreed with Little that it was not within regulations. Clemens had to toss aside that mitt while another one was brought from the dugout.

"It wasn't a big deal," Clemens said.

"Roger didn't argue or anything, he just said he'd get another glove, " crew chief Joe West. "He didn't want any more tension."

Said Red Sox ace Pedro Martinez: "That may have jinxed him."

The Red Sox tagged Clemens for eight runs and 10 hits in 5 2-3 innings. He slowly trudged off the mound, his head down the whole way, after Todd Walker's two-run single.

Now, he'll have to wait until next weekend in Detroit - or later at Cincinnati or Wrigley Field, if necessary - in road gray to try to join 20 other pitchers with 300 career victories. The exact date of his next start is uncertain because David Wells is healing from a calf injury.

Clemens (6-3) desperately wanted to win on this afternoon. Torre gave him plenty of opportunities, letting his ace throw 133 pitches - his highest total in more than two years. Still, Clemens remained winless in his last nine starts at Yankee Stadium.

"Everything was set up. It was a perfect atmosphere," Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter said. "But we didn't show up, that's the bottom line."

Clemens' mother, Bess, came from Texas to Yankee Stadium for the first time since her son clinched the 1999 World Series. She suffers from emphysema and has had a recent bout with pneumonia, and wore a breathing tube around her face.

His kids sat in the front row of the loge level, posting "K" cards to keep track of their dad's strikeouts, and Clemens fanned nine to raise his lifetime total to 3,985.

Former Red Sox teammates Al Nipper, Rich Gedman, Bruce Hurst and Marty Barrett were among the sellout crowd of 55,093 on Memorial Day. So was former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, just a few days after his wedding.

"Yeah, it's disappointing," Yankees manager Joe Torre said. "I'm sure he had everything in place with his family and everything, so that's tough. We all wanted him to do it here."

Yankees owner George Steinbrenner also was present, and he couldn't have been happy as his team lost its season-high fifth in a row.

The Yankees' skid at home is their longest since they dropped 10 straight in 1986 - Clemens won once during that streak for Boston. New York has also lost 12 of 13 at Yankee Stadium for the first time in club history.

Nomar Garciaparra extended his hitting streak to 26 games and Walker drove in three runs as Boston increased its AL East lead over the Yankees to 21/2 games.

Tim Wakefield (5-2) got the win, but no special satisfaction out of spoiling Clemens' bid.

"Roger was a teammate of mine for two years and I respect Roger more than anybody in the game," he said.

Nolan Ryan was the last pitcher to win 300, reaching the mark in 1990 on his second try. Tom Seaver was the only one to earn No. 300 at Yankee Stadium, in 1985 for the Chicago White Sox, and Phil Niekro made it to the milestone later that season for the Yankees at Toronto.

Blue Jays 11, White Sox 5

TORONTO - Carlos Delgado hit a two-run single in a five-run sixth inning and Toronto won its fifth straight.

Chris Woodward and Josh Phelps homered for the Blue Jays, who returned home from an 8-2 road trip and handed struggling lefty Mark Buehrle (2-8) his seventh consecutive loss.

The Blue Jays moved within 11/2 games of the New York Yankees for second place in the AL East. Toronto (28-24) is a season-high four games over .500.

Magglio Ordonez and D'Angelo Jimenez homered for the White Sox, who allowed four unearned runs and matched a season high with four errors.

Josh Towers (1-0) was the winner. Jeff Tam got four outs for his first save since June 13, 2001, for Oakland.

Tigers 6, Indians 5

DETROIT - Brandon Inge hit a tiebreaking homer off Jason Boyd (0-1) with two outs in the seventh inning, and Detroit beat Cleveland for only its fourth victory at home this season.

Dmitri Young homered and drove in four runs for the Tigers, who won for the fourth time in five games overall and improved to 4-17 at Comerica Park.

Steve Avery (2-0) got the win despite giving up a game-tying, three-run homer to Brandon Phillips with two outs in the top of the seventh.

Franklyn German worked a perfect ninth for his second save.