More buzz in the bleachers. More vulgar chants and T-shirts. More celebrity sightings in $200-Henrytown. More frauds with phony stories at the will-call window. More patrons for last call at Daisy Buchanan's.

The Yankees are in town tonight for the first of four games at Fenway against the Red Sox. It is May 23 and the teams are separated by one game and went into last night's action with the two best records in baseball.

Pedro Martinez, tonight's starter, yesterday tried to downplay the event. Just another series. Just another brick in The Wall. Blah, blah, blah.

Derek Lowe, Saturday's Sox starter and the hottest pitcher in the majors, made no attempt to curb his enthusiasm.

''It starts on the way to the ballpark,'' acknowledged Lowe. ''It starts when you get out of your car. It's hard to tell anyone who hasn't played. It's magical in the air, the electricity of people on the street. Then once you come out and go through the tunnel and it's your day to pitch ... You can say it's only one game, but it's not. It's like your archrival back in high school.''

There. High school. Something that brings it home for most of us. Boston English-Boston Latin. Newton North-Newton South. Catholic Memorial-BC High hockey. St John's Prep-Xaverian football.

Now, Sox-Yanks. Thursday Night Lights. At Fenway.

''It's totally different than any other game and the hard thing is to not get too excited,'' added Lowe. ''In the bullpen, it takes me 10 or 15 pitches less to get ready because your adrenaline is going 100 miles an hour.''

Gotta love Lowe. He tells us his adrenaline is going 100 m.p.h. and it makes perfect sense. Like when Jeff Stone told us he was on Cloud 10.

Gone are the drones who tried to suck all the joy from baseball in this town. Dan Duquette would have spoken of this series as a ''major spike in the marketplace.'' John Harrington would have opted for something more important, like a BC cocktail party. Jimy Williams would have gone into obtuse overdrive, telling us that he's ''just playing the schedule.''

No more of that junk. Larry Lucchino admits he hates the Yankees and that winning these games is paramount. Manager Grady Little acknowledged the importance by resting Nomar Garciaparra last night (although he pinch hit, flying to left in the ninth) and adjusting his rotation to get lefty Yankee-killer Darren Oliver into Sunday night's nationally televised game. And owner John Henry might actually don a Sox uniform and sit in the dugout.

''We'll be as fully-staffed as we can be for these games,'' said Little.

Like Lowe, Grady hears about the Yankees from folks he meets in the streets of Boston.

''Everywhere,'' said the manager. ''You just walk out to the store at the corner to get a cup of coffee and they're saying, `Go get those Yankees.' It could be three or four days before you're going to play them. They don't talk about who you are playing at the time, it's `Beat them Yankees.' That's what it's all about up here. Everybody understands that and understands how important it is for everyone, not just for us.''

The Yankees lost to the Blue Jays yesterday, but rolled into Boston winners of 13 of their last 15. They've got two starters on the shelf (Andy Pettitte and Orlando Hernandez) and David Wells has been bothered by back pain. But they've hit 39 homers in their last 19 games and lead the majors with 74 bombs. Alfonso Soriano is playing like an MVP and Jason Giambi's got 10 homers.

''They're an extremely tough team to pitch against,'' said Lowe. ''It's just a great honor to play in a series like this and play them 19 times a year.''

The Sox beat the Yanks three times in four tries when the two met here in April. Boston won three one-run games. Mike Mussina, who almost pitched a perfect game in Fenway last year, prevented the sweep. New York has Ted Lilly scheduled for tonight, followed by Roger Clemens (heard of him?), Wells, and Mussina.

''We like the way our pitching matches up against them,'' said Little. ''It's going to be exciting. We're just hoping for this situation in September where we're this close and have a chance to win.''

Martinez experienced some hard times when he called out Babe Ruth for a curse-breaking summit after beating the Yankees last May 30. He prefers not to make a big deal about this game, or any other single contest.

''What I'm focusing on is being healthy and taking the outing,'' Martinez said. ''Let things happen on the field. I don't want to focus on just beating somebody. That's my main concern. I know I can adjust to the rest. I know it [tonight] is different and they are going to expect it from me, especially the way I have been going. I think I can beat them. I think they're equally as capable of beating me. I just hope I can do what I did to Seattle, maintain my game level and make pitches and I'll see what happens.''

Much has been made of the fact the Red Sox are off to the second-best start in franchise history, yet lead the Yanks by only one game.

''I'm not surprised because they're equally as good as we are and they're capable of winning ballgames just like we are,'' said Pedro. ''We just have to continue to play and forget about how well they're doing.''

Little said, ''I like to look at it from their point of view. They've been playing awfully well and they haven't been able to catch this team in Boston. What's going on here? It's two good teams and both of 'em are playing good.''

''We know their depth and their pitching,'' said Sox catcher Jason Varitek. ''It should be a dogfight all year. It generates more excitement. There's more fights in the stands, more enthusiasm. It's a very dated rivalry.''

The Yankees are coming. And the popular two-word chant does not apply.

By Dan Shaughnessy of The Boston Globe Staff

This story ran on page E1 of the Boston Globe on 5/23/2002.

Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company.