Yankees catch Red Sox at a good time

The Yankees, who have won seven straight, haven’t had Alex Rodriguez since July 7, the third baseman having had surgery on his right knee. They also are relying on veterans Bartolo Colon and Freddy Garcia to bolster the rotation.

“They keep winning,’’ Ortiz said. “I give them a lot of credit. It’s not easy because when you’re the Yankees or the Red Sox, everybody wants to beat you.’’

The Red Sox are 8-1 against the Yankees this season, winning seven straight in the series, including all six games in New York.

The teams have not met since June 9. The Yankees have the best record in the AL since then, two games better than the Sox.

“Right now, our season is completely turned around and we’re playing some great baseball,’’ Yankees right fielder Nick Swisher told reporters in Chicago last night. “Right now would be the time that we would want to catch those guys.’’

Because they have beaten the Red Sox only once, this series seems a bit bigger for the Yankees.

“You look up and you’re 1-8 against a team, you wouldn’t think that you’d be one game out of first place,’’ said Yankees manager Joe Girardi, “but our guys have responded really well and we know that we have to play better against them.

“We have to hit better. We have to pitch better. We can’t make mistakes, because their lineup feasts on mistakes.

“I think it’s going to be a big weekend. I do. I think it’s important enough to make it a big weekend, because they’re no different from us.’’

The Red Sox and Yankees are the top teams in the American League, and they are seven games ahead of the team with the next-best record in league, the Rangers. That makes the division race also a race for home-field advantage in the first two rounds of the postseason.

That could be significant, particularly if the wild-card team has to deal with Texas, which leads the AL West by one game over the Angels. Since 2009, the Sox are 6-16 against the Rangers, 2-10 in Texas. The Yankees are 16-10 against Texas in that time, but lost to the Rangers in the ALCS last season.