Red Sox go down to heavy defeat

Sanders shown clobbering his homer in the fifth inning

Boston Red Sox, 2004's World Series winners, were thrashed 14-2 by Chicago White Sox in game one of their American League Division Series on Tuesday.

The White Sox made a dream start, scoring five runs in the first innings off Boston starter Matt Clement.

The hosts struck five homers - A.J. Pierzynski (twice), Paul Konerko, Juan Uribe and Scott Podsednik going deep.

Elsewhere, the St Louis Cardinals and the New York Yankees also made winning starts to their best-of-five series.

Reggie Sanders hit a grand slam and set a National League Division Series record with six RBIs as he led the Cardinals to an 8-5 victory over the San Diego Padres.

We have been playing important games for the past month - it doesn't matter if we are on the road or at home Derek Jeter New York Yankees

Cardinals starter Chris Carpenter pitched six scoreless innings before leaving the game with an 8-0 lead.

But the Padres scored once in the seventh, once in the eighth and three times in the ninth, when they loaded the bases with two outs before Jason Isringhausen struck out Ramon Hernandez.

Back in the American League, the Yankees saw off the LA Angels with a 4-2 scoreline.

Robinson Cano got the visitors going with a three-run double in the first, and Jason Giambi added an RBI double in the second. The Angels countered in the seventh with a Bengie Molina solo homer.

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"We have been playing important games for the past month now so it doesn't matter if we are playing on the road or at home," Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter said.

Jim Leyland has been hired as the new manager of the Detroit Tigers, just one day after former Tigers shortstop Alan Trammell was fired.

Texas Rangers pitcher Carlos Almanzar has been suspended for violating Major League Baseball's drug policy. He will be suspended for 10 days at the start of the 2006 season. And Rangers general manager John Hart has resigned, paving the way for 28-year-old Jon Daniels to become the youngest GM in major league history.