Red Sox win slugfest with Yankees

Welcome to the rivalry, Alex Rodriguez. Like childbirth and marathon running, you can study the manuals and listen to those who have been there, but you have to experience it for yourself to know the true meaning of Red Sox vs. Yankees. Never mind those speakers at the FleetCenter podium this week. Sox-Yankees is a better, more passionate joust than Elephants vs. Donkeys. And you don't have to wait four years between bouts.

This was the day when the passive Red Sox finally fought back. And we mean fought. Jason Varitek shoved his catcher's mitt into the face of A-Rod in the third inning and before the day was over there was a bloodied Yankee, 5 ejections, 21 runs, 27 hits, and 4 errors in 3 hours 54 minutes of hard-nosed hardball. It marked the first time in 57 games that the Yankees lost after leading at the end of eight innings.

"I don't think you build on a fight, you build on a win," said Mueller, the humble homer hero. "We came back. It's a win against the Yankees, which is always nice to have. It's something to carry on over and see what happens."

Red Sox manager Terry Francona added, "I hope we look back a while from now and we're saying that this brought us together . . . I hope a long time from now we look back and say this did it."

Mercy. It never stops with these two franchises. Go back to drunken owners Jake Ruppert and Harry Frazee and the corrupt sale of greatest player who ever lived. Trace through the golden decades of Teddy Ballgame and the Great DiMaggio and come into a new century when Red Sox Nation continues to nip at the heels of the Evil Empire.

The Sox always seem to finish behind the Yankees, as they did last winter when they courted Rodriguez, the best and wealthiest player in baseball. New York wound up getting Rodriguez (naturally) and the Yankees needed less than 100 games in this 2004 season to establish the fact that they will finish first to Boston's second for the seventh consecutive year -- "campaign" if you will.