MLB

THE CURSED ARE FIRST

TAMPA – Maybe it’s jarring for the fans who for so long reveled in the doctrine of Yankees Up and Boston Down to recognize the Red Sox, of all people, as baseball’s pre-eminent team, but not so much for Derek Jeter.

“I could care less who wins if it’s not us,” Jeter said before his team’s 8-4 victory over the Sox here yesterday afternoon. “Winning the World Series is our goal, so if we don’t achieve it, does it make it any better if the White Sox win? I don’t think so.

“As players, the thing with Boston and us got so big because we’ve been one-two in the division for so long. I understand it’s different for the fans. They don’t get to chant ‘1918’ anymore.

“But like I said, if we don’t win, it doesn’t make it better if the Red Sox don’t, either.”

The Rivalry has turned since Mariano Rivera failed to get the final three outs of Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS, and everyone knows it except Hank Steinbrenner. There is at least an equal amount of glamour and prestige packed into the Boston franchise as the one in The Bronx.

The Red Sox are the franchise that has found the way to create more revenue in their historic ballpark rather than abandoning it for a shiny new retro-stadium packed with suites. The newest Yankee Stadium will be state of the art, but if the price of a ticket equates to the price of a Picasso, who cares?

The Red Sox are defending champions for the second time in four years. They’re defending Eastern champions, too, for the first time since 1995, having ended the Yankees’ 10-year run of division titles. The cursed have become the blessed.

Scalpers were outside Legends Field yesterday for the teams’ only spring-training meeting. Each team presented varsity lineups, the Red Sox missing only Manny Ramirez and J.D. Drew from their projected Opening Day batting order, the Yankees resting only Alex Rodriguez.

This was Yankees-Red Sox, for the first time since last September and for the last time before they go at it 18 times this regular season. And when Andy Pettitte moved David Ortiz off the plate in the third after Julian Tavarez had hit Jeter on the left forearm in the second, everyone in the stands inched a little bit out of their seats.

There was no need. These weren’t the hated Rays, after all. No glares. No harm. No foul.

“No doubt I backed him off, but when you’re facing a great hitter like he is, you have to pitch inside and move him off,” said Pettitte, who threw 65 pitches in 31/3 innings in his second start of the spring. “You’ve got to get balls inside on great hitters.

“You’re not going to lay it in there for him to hit it.”

Could have fooled us, the way Ortiz has feasted on the Yankees by mashing meatballs down the middle into the stands since coming to Boston. But Pettitte yesterday wasn’t trying to deliver a message. Rather, he was trying to master a delivery that for the first time in his career includes a slide-step.

The Yankees, meanwhile, weren’t making anything out of Jeter getting hit by Tavarez, who entered with two out in the bottom of the first in relief of Bartolo Colon, who allowed four runs on three hits and walked three in his second start since signing a Triple-A contract with Pawtucket.

“I’ve caught Julian Tavarez enough to know that balls sometimes get away from him,” said Yankees manager Joe Girardi, a 2001 teammate of the pitcher with the Cubs. “The ball just got away from him. There was no intent.”

The Yankees and Red Sox will meet five times in seven days next month. Then, perhaps the manager won’t be so forgiving if Jeter is hit. Then, perhaps the Red Sox will take notice if Big Papi is made to dance.

Then, the chant then will be “2000,” and it will be sung by all those Red Sox fans Hank Steinbrenner cannot see, but surely will be able to hear.

larry.brooks@nypost.com