NEW YORK – Grady Little learned a few lessons from Boston’s closer-by-committee approach early this season. The Red Sox manager doesn’t want a repeat course next year.

“It’s taught me that when I go through a winter and go into spring training, I want to have a closer,” Little said before Game 2 against the New York Yankees on Thursday night. “We tried the system earlier in the season and that was not successful for us.”

The Red Sox opened the season without a designated closer, relying on a number of pitchers to close out games such as Brandon Lyon, Chad Fox – and anyone else who could get outs in the ninth inning. A number of blown saves and losses later, Boston acquired Byung-Hyun Kim from Arizona in May.

“When we placed Kim into that bullpen in June, our season started clicking along a little bit better,” Little said. “I think that ideally, you need to have a closer.”

Kim, who had 16 saves for Boston during the regular season, has tightness in his shoulder and isn’t on the roster for the ALCS. But Scott Williamson, acquired July 29 from Cincinnati, has become the team’s stopper.

The hard-throwing right-hander earned his first career postseason save in Game 1 against the Yankees, and won Games 3 and 4 against Oakland in the AL division series.

Red Sox relievers hadn’t allowed a run in 14 2-3 innings over the last five postseason games going into Game 2. They had allowed just two runs in 19 1-3 innings for a 0.93 ERA, with two wins and two saves in the postseason.

Damon takes BP

Boston still hopes to have center fielder Johnny Damon back in the lineup by Saturday when the AL championship series moves to Boston for Game 3.

Damon took batting practice a few hours before Game 2, and hit a few balls over the wall at Yankee Stadium.

“If I’m a little better than I am today, then I’ll definitely be on the field,” Damon said. “I’m going to see how I do today.”

Damon was injured Monday night in a head-to-head collision with second baseman Damian Jackson during Game 5 of the AL division series at Oakland. Damon sustained a Grade 2 concussion, and a nasty shiner on the side of his right eye.

“At times, my eye closes up,” Damon said. “I don’t think it’s going to affect my vision.”

Gabe Kapler started for Damon in center field for the second straight night, and hit leadoff.

Feeling left out

Left-handed reliever Chris Hammond can’t understand why the Yankees left him off the ALCS roster, and he’s extremely disappointed about it.

“Yeah, anybody would be. To me, I’m a guy that can get righties and lefties out – I think that’s more important than having a righty out there. I don’t understand what they’re thinking,” Hammond said. “It’s hard to swallow.”

Hammond wasn’t at Yankee Stadium for the series opener because he was sick. He was back with the team Thursday.

, but said he hadn’t spoken to manager Joe Torre since he was informed of the decision.

“The more I think about it, the last two guys in the bullpen probably won’t pitch any innings anyway. I keep telling myself this,” Hammond said.

Hammond was 3-2 with a 2.86 ERA in 62 appearances this season. But he allowed three runs and six hits in 4 1-3 innings against Boston.

“It’s just frustrating right now to go out on the field and see everybody in the clubhouse knowing I’m not going to pitch,” Hammond said. “It was hard watching the game on TV last night.”

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LINEUP SHUFFLE: Despite hitting a team-leading four postseason homers for Boston, second baseman Todd Walker was on the bench to start Game 2.

With groundball pitcher Derek Lowe on the mound, Red Sox manager Grady Little started slick-fielding Damian Jackson at second base.

“Whenever Derek Lowe is on the mound, we know there’s going to be a lot of activity on that infield,” Little said. “With Damian Jackson in the game, it gives us much more range out there.”

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FIRST-TIMER: Karim Garcia was in right field for the Yankees in Game 2 – his first postseason start.

Juan Rivera started the Yankees’ previous five playoff games and hit .286, but Yankees manager Joe Torre wanted to give Garcia a chance against Derek Lowe. Garcia was 1-for-5 with a homer against Lowe this season.

“Right now, it’s splitting hairs – there isn’t a whole lot of difference,” Torre said of the two outfielders. “This is just getting him in a game and seeing if we can catch lightning.”

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HISTORY’S MYSTERIES: Red Sox owner John Henry isn’t buying into the idea that given the teams’ history, the Yankees should prevail in the ALCS.

The Yankees, who edged the Red Sox in their regular-season series 10-9, won the teams’ only other postseason meeting – the 1999 ALCS.

“History also shows that the British empire was invulnerable. Napoleon was also unbeatable,” Henry said. “Remember the Celtics? I was a Lakers fan when I lived in L.A. – the 60s, 70s and 80s. They couldn’t beat the Celtics, but once they broke through, they were a dominant team.”

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AROUND THE HORN: The ceremonial first pitch was thrown out by Yankees Hall of Fame shortstop Phil Rizzuto. … When the Red Sox came out to stretch before batting practice, there wasn’t much room along the third-base line because of all the reporters and camera crews on the field. Trying to clear some space, Boston pitcher John Burkett called out: “Come down here – free hot dogs and nachos!” … Yankees LHP Andy Pettitte made his 27th career postseason start on Thursday night, third most in major league history. Only Tom Glavine (32) and Greg Maddux (29) have more.

AP-ES-10-09-03 2053EDT