Though the hatred remains between the Yankees and Red Sox, there are subtle changes from season to season with the blood rivals.
Now, the difference is anything but delicate. Tonight in a sold-out Yankee Stadium the Red Sox and Yankees play the first of four games while looking up at the Rays in the AL East standings.
Not only do the upstart Rays have a 31/2-game lead on the Red Sox and are 7½ games in front of the third-place Yankees, their 52-32 ledger is the best in baseball. Adding to the intrigue is that after the Red Sox check out of The Bronx Sunday night, the Rays enter for games Tuesday and Wednesday.
It’s not entirely out of the question the Red Sox and Rays could combine to put the lifeless Yankees (45-40) to sleep before the All Star break.
“Normally, this division has been a two-team division for a long time. Now, we have Boston and Tampa Bay,” said Johnny Damon, a member of each side of the fiercest rivalry in baseball. “And Baltimore and Toronto aren’t too far behind, so were fighting with everybody right now. Every series we’re in is huge now because it’s not a two-team division.”
Though many believe the Rays will hit a wall later in the season, the AL East could remain a two-team race between the Red Sox and Rays.
Not only are the Yankees trying to hang around with a patchwork pitching staff that had Sidney Ponson getting spanked last night by the Rangers at the Stadium. Fortunately or the Yankees, their bats, that produced seven runs in the previous four games (1-3), exploded in an 18-7 victory that halted a three-game slide.
So, are the next six games critical?
“I think it’s important, I don’t think it’s critical yet,” said Mike Mussina, who opposes Justin Masterson Saturday. “It’s July, it’s the second half of the season. I would say it’s important because they are the teams in front of us. If you lose games you are guaranteed to lose ground.”
Darrell Rasner, who makes his rivalry debut tomorrow against Bosox ace Josh Beckett, hasn’t been around long. Nevertheless, Rasner said he understands being 7½ games out of first place in the opening week of July isn’t an ideal spot. “We need to start putting something together,” said Rasner, 1-5 after winning his first three starts.
Can that begin with the Red Sox? They are without David Ortiz, but J.D. Drew has supplied the production in Ortiz’s absence. “We have to play good baseball against the Red Sox and not worry about who we are chasing,” said Jason Giambi, who hit a grand slam and had a two-run double in last night’s hitting orgy.
Nevertheless, the offense needs strong production for more than one night. “It would have been tough going into this series having lost four in a row,” said Damon, who three of the Yankees’ 16 hits, scored three runs and drive in two. “Hopefully this lingers on for us.”
The Yankees are 2-3 against the Red Sox this year, and Damon said the meetings have lost some intensity.
“It hasn’t been the same since 2004,” Damon said. “Now the Yankees are the ones trying to win the World Series, and it’s been eight years.”
By midnight Sunday the Yankees could be well on their way to nine if they can’t handle a Red Sox team that arrives in The Bronx on a five-game losing streak.