Actually, it's always personal, isn't it? Red Sox-Yankees.
Athens-Sparta. Betty-Veronica. Tastes Great-Less Filling.
Red Sox-Yankees is what starts fights in college dormitories in Boston
and New York. Locally, it's what gives us a reason to live when there are
no more Celtics, Bruins, or Patriots to follow.
The reeling Yankees (losers of three straight series and six of seven
games) come to town tonight for the first of three Fenway jousts between
the top teams in the American League East. After seven weeks and 43 games
against assorted Devil Rays, Orioles, Blue Jays, and Royals, the Sox
finally play the team New Englanders love to hate.
[Click here for American League Standings on
May 26, 2003] This is the 100th anniversary of the New York Yankees, a fact that
prompts most Boston fans to ask, ''Only 100? It feels like these guys have
been killing us for 500 years.''
Through the rape of the Red Sox in the 1920s (beginning with the sale
of you-know-who), the DiMaggio-Williams years, the Fisk-Munson wars, and
the Jeter-Garciaparra era, the Yankees always have gotten the better of
us. It plays to our local inferiority complex, like the Times Co. buying
the Globe and Macy's swallowing Jordan Marsh.
In the past five seasons, the Red Sox have finished second to the
Yankees. This never has happened in the history of baseball -- one team
finishing second to the same team for five consecutive seasons. In the
spring of 2003 the Sox were almost unanimously favored to finish second to
New York again.
Happily for Sox fans, the Yankees have stumbled lately. They were just
swept at home by Texas and have lost three consecutive series for the
first time in four years. When Casey Fossum throws the first pitch
tonight, the Red Sox will be tied with the Yankees for first place for the
first time since both teams were 0-0 March 31.
Making things even more intense is the offseason hissing match between
Red Sox CEO Larry Lucchino and Yankees boss George Steinbrenner. In the
hours after the Yankees signed Cuban star Jose Contreras (foiling the
box-out plans of Theo Epstein, who may have broken hotel furniture in the
aftermath), the Sox CEO and the Yankees owner engaged in verbal sparring
that ultimately provoked commissioner Bud Selig to tell them to knock it
off.
Lucchino, who picked up an honorary doctorate from Suffolk law
yesterday, said, ''I made a reference to them as the `Evil Empire,' but my
`Star Wars' motif didn't strike a humorous response.''
Steinbrenner erupted after hearing of the remark, calling Lucchino a
''chameleon,'' saying that Lucchino speaks out of both sides of his mouth
and that he knows nothing about baseball. It was shortly after this that
Selig issued his gag order.
There's an odd history between Lucchino and Steinbrenner. Lucchino's
mentor was Edward Bennett Williams, perhaps the greatest trial attorney of
the last century. In the 1970s, when Steinbrenner faced a felony rap for
illegal campaign contributions to then-president Richard Nixon, he turned
to Williams to keep him out of jail. At that time, Lucchino was a young
law grad working (with Hillary Clinton) on the Nixon impeachment inquiry.
Williams kept Steinbrenner out of jail, eventually hired Lucchino, and
the two became Steinbrenner's enemies when Williams bought the Baltimore
Orioles in 1979. The Orioles and Yankees battled viciously in the first
years of Williams's ownership. There was considerable bitterness when the
Yankees went to the playoffs in the strike-shortened '81 season, even
though the Orioles had a better winning percentage. That came one year
after the Orioles won 100, but finished second to the Yankees, who won
103.
''[Steinbrenner] still sees me as Ed's bag-carrier,'' said Lucchino.
''And that's fine.''
The Sox will play the Yankees 19 times this season, including six times
in the next 10 days (old pal Roger Clemens has a chance to win No. 299
here Wednesday and No. 300 next Monday against the Sox at the Stadium).
The Sons of Grady Little went 9-10 vs. New York last year, but finished 10
1/2 games behind the Bombers. The Sox won five of the first six meetings
against the Torre Men, but that was in April and May. Starting July 19,
the Red Sox lost six of their last eight against the Yanks. Those tend to
be the ones that count most and Lucchino is mindful of early-season
overkill.
''This buzz is definitely here,'' said Lucchino. ''The place will be
jammed to the rafters. Personally, I'm trying to play it down in my mind
-- lower the engine a bit. It is a long season. I don't want to get caught
up in the notion that the season ends in May. This series should be fairly
dramatic, but I don't expect it to be decisive of the season.''
Lucchino said he has not spoken with Steinbrenner since sparks flew
over the winter. He went to the owners meetings in New York last week, but
Steinbrenner did not attend. He said he does not know if the Boss is
coming to Boston -- ''I didn't have the opportunity to ask him, not that
he would feel compelled to tell me his travel plans,'' said Lucchino.
Folks in New York yesterday said Steinbrenner isn't coming to Boston.
He spends almost all his time in Florida these days and rarely calls the
press box mid-inning anymore. Of course, a couple of bad games at Fenway
might change things. How long before George pledges that ''heads will
roll'' if the Yankees keep losing?
Sox-Yankees, 7 p.m. Tied for first place. Summer's finally here.
If you are a Red Sox fan, it doesn't get any better than this.
This story ran on page D1 of the Boston Globe on 5/19/2003.
Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company.