Tim Wakefield leads the Red Sox in wins, starts, and innings pitched. Five days after his 39th birthday, pitching in Minnesota's Metrodome nearly five weeks ago, he set a career high in strikeouts by whiffing 11 Twins. He did that one better yesterday in the Bronx, striking out a dozen Yankees in a 1-0 loss to Randy Johnson and the Bombers. At a time of year when younger, stronger men are breaking down or wearing out, Wakefield has gone the distance in each of his last two starts.

For a knuckleball pitcher, this is not without precedent. The older, the seemingly better. Hall of Famer Phil Niekro was a 21-game winner at age 40 and 121 of his 318 wins came after he turned 40. He pitched until he was 48. Hoyt Wilhelm, another Hall of Famer, had 54 wins and 129 saves after he turned 40. He pitched until he was 49.

Of the 10 pitchers who have won the most games from the age of 40 on, three are knuckleballers: Niekro, Charlie Hough (67), and Wilhelm. Could Wakefield's best pitching still be ahead of him?

"I hope so," he said yesterday after losing for only the second time since July 27, beaten by a first-inning home run by Jason Giambi that landed in the first row of seats at the foul line, the Bronx equivalent of a Pesky Pole homer. "Honestly, I really hope so. I'm taking a lot of pride in staying healthy and working out more. I've always worked out, but the older you get, the harder it is to stay in shape. You look at guys like Randy [Johnson] and David Wells and Roger Clemens, they're over 40 now.

"Things look bright for me in the future, hopefully, if I can just stay healthy and keep doing the work I'm doing now."

Even in defeat, Wakefield's work yesterday continued a remarkable run by the Sox starters, who in the last nine games have gone at least eight innings six times. Wakefield has done it twice, while the other members of the rotation Wells, Matt Clement, Curt Schilling, and Bronson Arroyo have done it once apiece.

"The bullpen having gone through what's it gone through, boy, this has been a godsend, really," pitching coach Dave Wallace said. "Those guys down there held us together for a long time, they really did."

In those nine games, the bullpen has worked just a total of 10 1/3 innings. Mike Timlin, who will carry the closer's duties down the stretch, didn't pitch here at all this weekend. Jonathan Papelbon, the rookie who will inherit much of Timlin's eighth-inning responsibilities, threw only an inning, and that was in Saturday's 9-2 blowout win.

"It's awesome," Timlin said. "Our bullpen was a little bit taxed at the beginning of September. The starters were like, 'OK, let's take it up a notch.' Probably not on purpose, but they're all throwing the ball really well and going deeper, so now we can mix and match better later in the game."

During two separate stretches yesterday, Wakefield struck out six of seven batters he faced. He struck out Jorge Posada and Bernie Williams to end the second, then whiffed John Flaherty to open the third. Bubba Crosby tripled to right, but Wakefield whiffed Derek Jeter and Robinson Cano to strand the runner on third, then struck out Giambi to open the fourth.

After a leadoff walk to Posada to open the fifth, Wakefield struck out Williams, Flaherty, and Crosby, and whiffed Jeter to open the sixth. Cano doubled, the last of the Yankees' three hits off Wakefield, but Giambi became strikeout victim No. 11 and Alex Rodriguez went down swinging to make it an even dozen.

"The movement, obviously, is the key," Doug Mirabelli, Wakefield's personal catcher, said of all the strikeouts, "and keeping guys in the swing mode. By throwing a lot of strikes, that puts guys in a hitting mentality. They're not taking a lot of pitches and when the ball is moving like it [was], it's hard to square it up."

Mirabelli and Wakefield did not expect the outcome they got from Giambi's first at-bat, the home run that broke an 0-for-18 string the Yankee slugger had against the knuckleballer.

"It was a good pitch, down and away," Mirabelli said. "He just went out and hooked it to right. I call that pitch a lot. I said to Wakie, 'I have him rolling that ball to second 95 times out of 100. But when you've got a guy as confident and as hot as he is, that's what happens. He stays through the ball and hits a home run instead of a ground ball to second."

The paucity of Yankee base runners three in eight innings made Mirabelli's job easier. All the strikeouts, however, ratcheted up the catcher's anxiety level, and not just when Crosby was dancing off third.

"The ball was darting in, it was darting away," Mirabelli said. "He was effectively wild in the strike zone, which made it a tough time for me. I haven't had a game like that where I felt I was going to have a hard time catching the ball.

"Luckily there weren't a lot of base runners, but there were a lot of strikeouts, so there was a lot of stress when [the count] was 0 and 2, 1 and 2. I felt like it was 50-50 I was going to catch it, it was moving so much."

Wakefield said he couldn't recall another game in the last few years in which he pitched better than he did yesterday. Mirabelli, however, wasn't buying it.

"It seems like every outing he's had in the last three or four weeks, I've gotten the same question," Mirabelli said. "It was a great game he pitched, but I don't think any better than the others in the last three or four weeks."

With Schilling absent from the rotation for much of the season, it should be no surprise that Wallace said Wakefield has been a "tower of strength" this season. The pitching coach said Mirabelli, who is often overshadowed by the enormous role Jason Varitek plays on this team, deserves considerable credit.

"I think Doug helps him as much as anybody," Wallace said. "There's a confidence factor."

The relationship, Mirabelli said, has evolved over the last couple of years.

"This year he has been as consistent as I've seen him," Mirabelli said. "He really has not gone through a stretch where he couldn't find it. There have been stretches the last couple of years where there was a four- or five- or six-game period where he really had to battle to get outs. This year, if he loses it in an inning, he's been able to get right back.

"Success breeds success. We both have a lot of confidence in each other. I feel like every time he goes out there, he's going to win and I think he feels like I'm in charge of his game plan. The confidence and trust level are as strong as it's been."

Far from nearing its end, this could be a story that may just keep getting better, regardless of what the calendar might say. Timlin is five months older than Wakefield.

"He's getting more resilient no, resilient may not be the right word he's getting more consistent," Timlin said. "It comes down to the point where he's an older guy, and there's no panic."