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Yankees Editorial: The Yankees/Red Sox Rivalry Isn’t The Same

By Jason Evans

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There are some games that are more than games. They are events. They cause you to get your friends together and gather at one place with beverages and food in hand and invest three hours of either cheering or yelling at the television. The Super Bowl is that. March Madness is that. Pacquiao/Mayweather will certainly be that next month. In terms of baseball, New York Yankees vs Boston Red Sox used to be that. Now? It just isn’t the same.

Maybe it’s because they haven’t had a pennant race type of game in a few years now. Maybe it’s the fact that since 2001, the Red Sox have won four rings, while the Yankees have just won one. Maybe it’s because the Yankees haven’t made the playoffs in a couple of years, while the Red Sox and Giants have alternated championships of late.

Back in the 2000’s you had Roger Clemens and Pedro Martinez hitting batters. You had the Red Sox making Mariano Rivera look like a mere mortal closer. You had bench clearing brawls and general hatred toward one another. Now you just get that in the upper parts of the teams respective stadiums.

You don’t really that fire between the two times. The last time there really was was when Ryan Dempster hit Alex Rodriguez on purpose. Last year you had pinetargate with Michael Pineda, but even then, it hasn’t been the same.

David Ortiz agrees with me, though his thoughts apparently are just giving him another reason to complain about pace of play.

"In David Ortiz’s mind, the rivalry between the Yankees and Red Sox just isn’t the same, largely because of Major League Baseball’s strict rules on hit batsmen.“Back when I first got here, it was kind of a little wild the way things went. That was a big part of what this rivalry used to be,” Ortiz said before Friday’s series opener. “Because that isn’t happening anymore, it seems like the rivalry’s not the same.“We want to beat up each other, but in a professional way. The beast mode is kind of down low.”Ortiz clarified that he doesn’t miss getting hit himself when standing in the box.“I don’t need to be getting hit,” he said. “I’m just saying because people are getting the wrong idea about the rivalry. The rivalry is still there. The Yankees want to beat us, and we want to beat them.”In David Ortiz’s mind, the rivalry between the Yankees and Red Sox just isn’t the same, largely because of Major League Baseball’s strict rules on hit batsmen.“Back when I first got here, it was kind of a little wild the way things went. That was a big part of what this rivalry used to be,” Ortiz said before Friday’s series opener. “Because that isn’t happening anymore, it seems like the rivalry’s not the same.“We want to beat up each other, but in a professional way. The beast mode is kind of down low.”Ortiz clarified that he doesn’t miss getting hit himself when standing in the box.“I don’t need to be getting hit,” he said. “I’m just saying because people are getting the wrong idea about the rivalry. The rivalry is still there. The Yankees want to beat us, and we want to beat them.”"

Ortiz is right. It has lost a little bit. Now we’ll see if this year brings about some new drama.

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