The Associated Press

When the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox play today, it will be the first time the two teams have met at Yankee Stadium on July 4 since the Yanks' Dave Righetti's no-hitter July 4, 1983. (Associated Press photo) | ZOOM |

NEW YORK - Twenty years after pitching his no-hitter, Dave Righetti is reminded of the accomplishment all the time. Maybe that's because this wasn't any old no-hitter.

Righetti had the great good sense to pitch his gem on the Fourth of July in Yankee Stadium against the Boston Red Sox on a sunny, hot Sunday afternoon, the last day before the All-Star break.

When they play today, it will be the first time the Red Sox and Yankees have been together in Yankee Stadium on July 4 since Righetti's game in 1983.

"Twenty years later, obviously I can't believe how fast the time has gone," said Righetti, now the San Francisco Giants' pitching coach.

In 1983, Righetti was a 24-year-old left-hander, on his way to a 14-8 season in his third year with the Yankees. He remembers a tight game against the Red Sox, pitching carefully, protecting a 2-0 lead.

And he remembers glancing at the scoreboard and seeing "0" for Boston's hits - a no-hitter in progress.

"You know when you've got one," he said. "Don't believe them when they say you don't. You realize it looking at the scoreboard.

"It was 2-0 going into the eighth inning. My main concern was winning the game. I felt I had to get the first guy out each inning to get a shot at it. Then we got two runs in the bottom of the eighth and you really go after it."

Righetti started the ninth inning by walking Jeff Newman. Glenn Hoffman, who had broken up a his no-hit bid in Fenway Park a year earlier, grounded into a fielder's choice. Jerry Remy made the second out. That brought up Wade Boggs on his way to the first of his five batting championships.

"He was a tough hitter," Righetti said. "We'd faced each other quite a few times. You knew he was going to put his bat on the ball. I was not going to expend a lot of energy trying to strike him out. I didn't try, even with two strikes.

"I tried to get him to roll over on the ball. He was a guy who was a spray hitter to left field. I tried to get him to hit a ground ball. I knew what I was facing, a tough guy, a great hitter who wouldn't give in."

Boggs flailed at a third strike with a half-swing - his second strikeout that day in a season when he struck out just 36 times - and Righetti had his no-hitter.

"The two previous at-bats, I hit line drives to right center on fastballs in," Boggs recalled Thursday. "He's thinking he won't get away with that a third time. I saw a lot of sliders. The highlight everybody shows is that nasty slider low and away.

"You're looking for something to hit hard. Looking for it and hitting it are two different things. He had a nasty slider running in on my hands in the low to mid 90s. It was a slider with a sharp bite."

The pitcher threw his arms in the air, then remembered the buttoned-down reputation of the Yankees and muted his celebration. Years later, he regretted not reacting with more exuberance.

For Righetti, the no-hitter was a milestone moment. A year later, he was converted into the Yankees closer when Goose Gossage left as a free agent. He had 252 saves for his career, 224 with the Yankees. But he started only four more games after the year he pitched his no-hitter.

"I reconciled myself to that," he said. "I had second thoughts and doubts. I took it as a challenge, an honor, a compliment. But I felt I missed out as a full-fledged pitcher. Who knows? My arm could have blown out. The Yankees gave me an opportunity for a great job to close ballgames. I don't have any remorse. But you look back and wonder what it would have been like to start the next four or five years."