It's only April, and both teams may be struggling and banged up, but -- weather permitting -- there will undoubtedly be an extra buzz at Fenway Park on Friday night when the arch-rival Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees open a three-game set and their season series.
This rivalry dates back more than a century, but the fact that these high-payroll franchises have combined for six of the last 12 World Series titles has in recent years ensured highly charged, sellout crowds for each of the AL East rivals' 19 annual regular-season meetings.
"I think it will be just as hostile and enjoyable and intense," said Joe Girardi, who experienced the rivalry as the Yankees' catcher from 1996-99, and now will be managing New York against the Red Sox for the first time.
"Just the intensity of the game, the intensity of the fans. And the length of the games become quite incredible, too. Anytime you go into a ballpark and it's full, whether they are for you or against you, I think it's a good environment because it is loud and people are on the edge of their seats."
Towels may be needed for those seats, as heavy rains that doused the Midwest on Thursday are expected to arrive in the Boston area by game time.
Assuming the games can be played, they will pit two teams struggling with injuries and early-season inconsistency.
The Red Sox (5-5) returned to the .500 mark Thursday night with a 12-6 victory over Detroit, but placed starting third baseman Mike Lowell on the 15-day disabled list earlier in the day with a sprained left thumb. Veteran Sean Casey entered the lineup at first base in Lowell's absence, while Kevin Youkilis moved from first to third.
Casey, a .302 career hitter in his 12th major league season, went 2-for-5 with a double and three RBIs in his second start with his new club.
Right fielder J.D. Drew went 3-for-3 with two RBIs and two runs scored Thursday to raise his batting average to .440. Drew fared poorly in 2007 -- his first season in the AL -- against the Yankees, batting .161 (9-for-56) with 15 strikeouts.
Like Boston, the Yankees (5-5) also won Thursday to climb to .500. New York beat the Royals 6-1, avoiding a sweep at Kansas City and tripling its combined run production from the first two games of the series.
Although limited by a sore right shoulder to designated hitter duty, regular catcher Jorge Posada went 2-for-4 with a homer for the Yankees. Alex Rodriguez and Melky Cabrera also homered to power a lineup missing captain Derek Jeter, who sat out the series with a strained left quadriceps.
Girardi said he didn't expect Jeter to play Friday or Posada to be behind the plate. Jeter hasn't done much other than play catch since being sidelined.
"We have to know he can't re-injure it," Girardi said, according to the New York Post. "That's when we are looking at six weeks."
New York will send its ace Chien-Ming Wang (2-0, 1.38 ERA) to the mound for the series opener. The right-hander has been excellent in his first two starts, giving up only two runs over 13 innings. He yielded four hits with two walks and six strikeouts in six innings of Sunday's 2-0 victory over Tampa Bay.
Wang is 5-5 with a 4.56 ERA in 12 career appearances -- 11 starts -- versus the Red Sox, but has had some trouble at Fenway, compiling a 2-3 record and 6.17 ERA in six starts there.
Boston's top two sluggers have had great success against Wang. Manny Ramirez is 13-for-22 (.591), while David Ortiz is 15-for-30 (.500). Each player has two homers versus the right-hander.
Red Sox starter Clay Buchholz (0-1, 5.40) will be facing the Yankees for the first time in his six career appearances. The 23-year-old right-hander had a mediocre season debut at Toronto last Saturday, giving up four runs, six hits and two walks in a 10-2 loss at Toronto, although he did strike out seven.
New York won last season's series 10-8, winning eight of the final 10 meetings after Boston had taken six of the first eight.
The Yankees and Red Sox have made a habit of playing each other at a deliberate pace. In the 2006 and 2007 seasons, the nine-inning meetings between Boston and New York lasted an average of three hours, 30 minutes. All other nine-inning games in the major leagues over the same span averaged 2 hours, 49 minutes.
Information from STATS LLC was used in this report.