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NEW YORK (AP) -- Rafael Palmeiro couldn't wait to get out of Boston so he could do what he does best -- hit the longball.

	Palmeiro

Palmeiro hit two of Texas' four homers off Mike Mussina, leading Chan Ho Park and the Rangers over the New York Yankees 6-2 Friday night.

Palmeiro hit leadoff shots in the second and fourth innings, giving him 483 career homers.

"I'm swinging the bat OK,'' Palmeiro said. "You have to scratch Boston. I don't feel comfortable hitting in Boston.''

Palmeiro went 3-for-5 Friday after going 1-for-10 without a home run in a three-game series at Fenway Park. He had homered in three of his four games before facing the Red Sox.

Herbert Perry hit a solo shot in the fourth and Carl Everett added a two-run drive in the sixth as the Rangers handed the AL East leaders their third loss in five games. Texas has 177 homers this season, second in the majors to the Yankees' 188.

Park (5-6), activated from the disabled list earlier in the day, scattered seven hits in six innings. He gave up an RBI double to Jason Giambi and Jeter's 15th homer of the season.

The right-hander left his start on Aug. 6 after just three innings with a blister and was put on the DL the next day. "Chan Ho did a nice job of pitching backwards, and keeping us off balance,'' Giambi said of Park, who threw fastballs in breaking pitch situations, and fastballs when Yankees' hitters were looking for curveballs.

Park, pitching like the No. 1 starter the Rangers had hoped he would be when they signed the former Los Angeles Dodgers ace to a $65 million, five-year free agent contract in the offseason, struck out six while walking only one.

"That's the idea. To be able to go up against a good team and pitch like that,'' acting manager Terry Francona said. "There were a lot of positives. He had some pop on his fastball -- a crispness to it. He battled. He gave us six good innings.

Ruben Rivera was heartily booed by the Yankee Stadium crowd of 50,871 when he came in as a pinch-hitter in the seventh. Rivera was dismissed from the Yankees during spring training after he admitted stealing Derek Jeter's glove.

Mussina (15-7) gave up five runs -- all on homers -- and eight hits in six innings. "I think I threw the ball pretty good, but their guys hit some home runs,'' Mussina said. "It wasn't like there were runners all over the place. If you get A-Rod out three times you think everything's going to be all right.''

Alex Rodriguez went 0-for-4, three times to end an inning. Palmeiro followed two of the outs with leadoff homers. He singled the third time.

"Both the pitches (homers) I hit, I think were not where he wanted them,'' Palmeiro said.

In his start at Texas on July 31, Mussina gave up 11 hits and seven runs in just three innings. He has allowed at least four runs in five of his last six starts.

After Giambi drove in Alfonso Soriano with his double in the first, Palmeiro led off the second with a drive over the 408-foot sign in center field to tie it at 1.

Jeter homered leading off the third to put the Yankees up, but Palmeiro tied it again in the fourth.

The homer was Palmeiro's 36th of the season. It also gave him his 30th career multihomer game, and first this year.

Mike Lamb's RBI double off Sterling Hitchcock in the eighth made it 6-2.

Game notes

Jeter needs to score only one more run to become the third player since 1900 to score at least 100 in his first seven seasons. The Yankees' Earle Combs (1925-32) and Ted Williams (1939-49) each did it in their first eight years. ... Bernie Williams extended his hitting streak to 14 games with a third-inning single. ... Rangers manager Jerry Narron missed his second straight game to attend the funeral of his father in Goldsboro, N.C. He'll be back with the team Saturday. ... Mussina gave up five homers while with Baltimore on July 1, 1994, against the California Angels.