As we enter another season of baseball, the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees battle it out in The Bronx for what looks to be another intense season for both squads.

These two teams have always shared heated moments during the regular season and especially during the playoffs.

Here we take a look back at some of the most memorable moments between these two teams from two awesome cities.

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As fantasy baseball drafts get into full swing, we can’t be afraid to splurge for the guys we want. Last year, Andrew McCutchen was a buzz guy who was thrown out by some as being “overdrafted.” Big mistake. This year, these are the guys worth circling with a green highlighter and reaching for.

The Natural
Bryce Harper was never a sleeper. He was the best 19-year-old in the history of baseball and will likely be the best 20-year-old ever as well. At this point, it’s just a contest to see how high we’re willing to take him. Considering Harper projects to see his homers and steals rise toward the 30/30 level as he matures, the end of the first round is not crazy. He’ll be batting third, between Jayson Werth and Ryan Zimmerman.

Chapped up
When guys have dominant talent, we take them and let the chips fall where they may. Aroldis Chapman is a perfect example of this. He might start; he might close; he might be capped at 200 innings. But no matter what, we know he’s going to be an asset in fantasy.

Golden Boy
Paul Goldschmidt burst onto the scene last year with 20 homers in 136 starts. That’s child’s play. In 2011, Goldy smashed 30 jacks in just 457 plate appearances while playing in Double-A. Now settling into an everyday role, the power upside is huge.

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Charlie Manuel would tell anyone within earshot how much the Phils missed Ryan Howard.

Well, the Big Piece appears to have recovered nicely from his Achillies tendon surgery. Howard beat up Atlanta’s pitching Thursday to help the Phillies coast to a 10-5 win over their division rival.

After slugging an RBI double down the right-field line off starting left-hander Paul Maholm, Howard blasted a fastball off Craig Kimbrel over the left center-field fence.

“I’m just taking everything in stride,” Howard said. “I’m not trying to analyze anything. I’m just working hard on what I’m doing. I’m getting good swings right now. I’m feeling good. I have no complaints.”

Manuel smiled when waxing about his cleanup hitter.

“He was totally relaxed and stayed on the ball,” Manuel said. “The ball was out from him and he stayed with it.”

Howard, Chase Utley, Ben Revere and Darin Ruf each had a pair of hits.

“You know this team can do a lot of damage,” Howard said. “We know what we’re capable of.”

Cole Hamels, who allowed one run, pitched three solid innings. He struck out five and worked his way out of a one-out, bases-loaded jam.

“I felt good,” Hamels said. “I’m just trying to get the pitch count up. It’s all going to come. But this was good.”

Revere executed a perfect bunt single.

“That’s something that I’ve worked very hard on,” Revere said. “I wasn’t the best bunter, but I’ve gotten better at it. It’s my job to get on base, score and play solid defense.”

Meanwhile, Ruf is still having a rough time in left field. He misplayed his second grounder there in three games.

“Darin is going to make some mistakes,” Manuel said. “Hopefully, he can keep working and we’ll see how much he improves by the end of spring.”

Adams throws scoreless frame in Phils victory
If this is a sign of things to come, the Phils won’t have anything to worry about in the eighth inning.

Mike Adams made his spring training debut Thursday and tossed a scoreless fourth inning against Atlanta. Adams, who inked a two-year, $12 million deal in the offseason, allowed one hit and struck out one. He retired three of the four batters he faced.

Howard hit a solo shot off Craig Kimbrel in the fifth inning of the Phillies’ 10-5 win over Atlanta Thursday afternoon.

Adams was signed to be Jonathan Papelbon’s setup man, so he’ll normally work the eighth. He is coming back from offseason surgery to correct a condition called Thoracic Outlet Syndrome. Adams wasn’t slated to debut until the first week of March, but the Phils say he is ahead of schedule.

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While Hernandez was in control over seven innings, Hughes allowed two runs and nine hits in six innings as the Mariners snapped their much-publicized 17-game losing streak with a 9-2 rout.

As the nonwaiver trade deadline approaches Sunday, Yankee fans are left to dream about Hernandez, who is 5-0 with a 1.29 ERA in his last five starts against the Bombers.

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“He’s always been one of their best guys,” Curtis Granderson said. “That’s why he’s their ace. It seems like every time we face him, both here and their stadium, he pitches really well.”

Left unsaid was that he won’t become one of the Yankees’ best guys anytime soon, not unless the first name on the return package is a major league talent. For all the phone calls and talking heads insisting that Hernandez must become a Yankee, it will have to remain just talk.

Hughes is four starts into his return, and the results have been mixed. He pitched well in Toronto, but couldn’t win when the Yankees scored 17 runs against Oakland.

“I’m trying to find myself,” Hughes said. I may be trying too hard in some spots and I’m trying to give a little extra when I need it.”

Regardless of whether he finds himself, the object of Yankee fans affection is headed back to Seattle and reality is remaining in New York. 

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Since returning from the DL, not only has Jeter been hitting the ball well, but those hits are reaching the outfield. It was evident when his 3,000th hit was a home run and again Monday when he drove the ball to right-center field against Jason Vargas.

“For me, it’s more how I take pitches,” Jeter said. “I can tell if I’m staying back, taking pitches and swinging at good pitches and I felt as though I’ve been doing that for the last few weeks. I’m happy with where I’m at right now.”

The average amount of pitches seen per game is the same as before and after the injury at 17.5, but there have been six instances above that average, including Sunday when Jeter saw 30 pitches.
Not only does manager Joe Girardi notice it, but he’s noticed it’s coming on all pitches.

“We have seen that,” Girardi said. “I thought that started in Texas, but since he’s come back we’ve seen it even more.”

Since returning July 4 in Cleveland, Jeter is batting .324. Nine of his 23 hits have been for extra bases.
Before injuring his calf running out a ground ball against Cleveland on June 13, Jeter was a .260 hitter facing questions about how long he should be a leadoff hitter.

“I’ve been asked those questions a lot [this season],” Girardi said. “A month ago, I would have said don’t bet against Derek Jeter.”

Teammates say sometimes a DL stint isn’t so bad.

“Sometimes, a little DL stint is good for you,” Mark Teixeira said “It’s a grind and we work all the time to prepare for a long season so when you do get two weeks off, you come back refreshed.”

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The doctor brought out the defibrillator Tuesday night.

The barely-hanging-on-to-the-periphery-of-the-playoffs Mets had Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran return to the lineup for the start of a three-game series against the St. Louis Cardinals.

They made their impact right away. Beltran had a double in his first at-bat and finished 3-for-3 with a run scored. Reyes was 2-for-5.

And most importantly, they won 4-2.

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The free agents to be are in the midst of remarkable seasons. Reyes is authoring perhaps the finest year by a shortstop in franchise history. His .354 batting average leads the National League and he’s scored 65 runs and stolen 30 bases. Beltran, after missing 179 of 324 games in the last two seasons with leg injuries, leads the team with 14 home runs and 59 RBI while playing in 90 games.

“I think that’s going to be huge,” Jason Bay said about the return to the lineup of both. 

Reyes returned from a left hamstring strain suffered while Beltran missed the last two games of the Phillies series and Monday night’s loss to Florida due to the flu. The Mets were 6-6 in the 12 games without Reyes, and lost two-of-three without both.

“Any team that loses guys like that [is] going to have a tough time getting their offense generated,” manager Terry Collins said.

Collins acknowledged that he will have to be especially mindful of the heat and the schedule as it pertains to Reyes’ health. The Mets are in a stretch of 20 games in 20 days.

ESPN?reported yesterday the Mets would “100 percent” not trade Reyes. Beltran is another story. His spark may not last long.

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1. A proven track record

Ubaldo Jimenez won 50 games over the previous three years and has finished near or over 200 innings.

He also had a relatively low WHIP during his breakout 2010 campaign
(1.15). He also showed he is a tremendous strikeout pitcher with 214
last year — third in the National League.

Maybe more importantly than the impressive statistics is the fact that
he has made at least 33 starts in each of his three full seasons.

The downside though is he was 15-1 at the All-Star break last year and
10-15 since, though he is 6-3 with a 2.61 ERA in his last 10 starts.

2. All about the money

Though money may be no object to the Yankees, Jimenez has favorable contract terms.

Jimenez is making $2.8 million this year, $4.2 next year and has an
option of $5.75 million for 2013 and $8 million in 2014 — which he can
void if he is traded (to the Yankees or any team).

With Burnett locked up for $33 million over two more years  and Sabathia
having the ability to opt out this year, he’d be a cheap addition that
isn’t a veteran from the scrap heap.

3.  Youth and a lack of injuries

Jimenez is just 27 and has pitched 845 innings without a hint of breaking down.

By comparison, Seattle’s Felix Hernandez is two years younger and has
thrown over 1,300 innings, which might make people wonder who breaks
down sooner.

Jimenez has only been on the DL once in his career — earlier this season
— and it was for a cracked fingernail. Not exactly a worrisome shoulder
or arm injury.

 3 reasons against making trade

1. Too many prospects

The Rockies are going to ask for the moon.

That means Jesus Montero, Dellin Betances and Manny Banuelos — three of the four top prospects in their system.

2. Look now, but buy later

Even if the Yankees can’t get him now, assuming Jimenez pitches more
like the man who was 15-1, they can always overwhelm him with     money
when he becomes a free agent.

That’s exactly what the Yankees did with CC?Sabathia, who they didn’t
trade for midseason in 2008, but signed as a free agent after he pitched
the Brewers into the playoffs. And they didn’t have to part with Phil
Hughes.

3. Starting rotation is already solid

CC?Sabathia could win the Cy Young first of all.

Even though A.J. Burnett’s inconsitent, Phil Hughes is back and Bartolo Colon and Freddy Garcia are pitching well.  metro/lf

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Perhaps it is not coincidental that Colon will reach 15 starts right before the trade deadline or that his last two starts have been disastrous.

The Yankees are left to wonder if it is a blip or if reality is setting in on a pitcher who had not pitched in two years and who had not pitched consistently well since winning the Cy Young Award six years ago.

If it is not a blip, then the question is where do the Yankees go from here.

“He didn’t have his good fastball. He didn’t have the command he usually has,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said after Colon’s first bad start. “He just wasn’t sharp tonight and you’re going to run through starts like that.”

While the Yankees were awful defensively as Toronto scored eight runs — five unearned — in the first inning, Colon would be best served to deliver something similar to what most of his first 11 starts looked like.

Colon frequently pumped in 95 mph fastballs, even in the late innings, during the first half.
In his second start off the DL, his 16 four-seam fastballs averaged 92 mph and his 16 two-seam fastballs averaged 90.3 mph.

Manager Joe Girardi said he didn’t want to play the what-if game with reporters asking about a trade for starting pitching.

Instead of the what-ifs, the Yankees would like to say they can count on the good Colon.

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It just seems that whenever he makes contact, the ball has this funny tendency to sail over fences.

Entering last night’s game in the Bronx, Toronto’s Bautista was pounding one homer in every 9.7 at-bats since 2010. Quite a jump from 29.7, which was his  rate from 2004 to 2009.

“It’s more of the timing of everything,” the major-league leader in homers said before crushing his 19th jack in a 7-3 win over the Yankees. “I start way earlier and I’ve been talking about that for the last two years. It has created a night and day difference because I can get myself to that good hitting position consistently – see the ball better and attack the ball before it gets too deep in the strike zone and those good hitting counts, it’s no joke.

“You can look up historically when people are hitting 2-0, 3-1 counts batting average and power production is way better than 0-2 or behind in the count."

The numbers certainly tell the story. After facing those counts, Bautista is hitting .435 with 17 home runs and 37 RBIs since the start of last season.

Also telling the story is the difference in Bautista’s on-base percentage from last year. It currently sits at .500 after being .378 and that is the by-product of improved patience.

“I haven’t really changed much,” said Bautista, who also leads the majors with 45 walks “It’s just that I’m more patient and that’s allowing me to get more walks and also get into more hitting counts, and that has led to a higher batting average.”

And a higher OPS. His whopping 1,316 OPS is .214 points higher than the next best figure belonging to ex-Yankee and current Cardinal Lance Berkman.  Bautista also leads the majors in runs scored (39), total bases (115) and extra-base hits (88).

He’s not the only surging slugger in this series.

The Yankees’ Curtis Granderson has hit 30 home runs since August 14, six fewer than Bautista in that span. He is the third Yankee to reach 16 home runs in the first 45 games (Tino Martinez 1997 and Alex Rodriguez 2005 and 2007), leading to the chatter about being a power hitter.

“I’m not that type of guy, if it happens – great,” said Granderson, who is on pace for 54 long balls after never having more than 30 in a season. “It’s not something I try to do. I don’t put myself in a category like Bautista or a Ryan Howard or an Alex Rodriguez, except for the fact we’re all baseball players.”

Manager Joe Girardi, though, clearly sees the similarities.

“Bautista you saw a whole year of the same thing and now you’ve seen two months of it,” Girardi said. “Curtis, it’s been the past four months, but it was two months one year and maybe people forget. It’s not glaring how many home runs he hit last year, but then you look at his two months this year and you say, wow, he’s got a lot at this point. It’s two guys that have made adjustments and have become big power hitters.”

So now the AL home run race presently comes down to two well-adjusted outfielders in the AL East.

“After you hit a certain amount of home runs, you can’t help it and people are going to give you all that treatment,” Bautista said. “Whether that means they’re going to change the way they pitch to you or not, then that’s different but he is a power hitter and he might as well embrace it as soon as possible.”

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David Wright is not a superstar. He is essentially baseball’s version of Chris Bosh, which might be a slight disservice to Bosh. And come to think of it, Jose Reyes does come across as self-entitled and more than a little delusional.

If anything Wilpon should be getting props for recognizing the true nature of his team, of his mess.

The Mets are paying superstar money for several players who aren’t close to superstars. That’s how franchises become hot messes. What, Fred Wilpon isn’t allowed to be honest?

If George Steinbrenner made similar observations in his prime, he’d be lauded for trying to motivate his troops. But because Wilpon could turn out to be business evil in a different way than the baseball-banned, soon-to-be Hall of Famer Steinbrenner, it’s not OK for him?

Wilpon’s not telling Wright anything that his six-home-run-hitting self shouldn’t already know. Wright isn’t taking “the high road” by not firing back his indignation. He’s honoring his $14 million salary and respecting the fact that Wilpon’s hand-picked baseball people were dumb enough to overpay him.

Casual New York baseball fans have already been calling one un-superstar player a superstar for years (Derek Jeter). Wilpon deserves praise, not scorn, if he prevents another false legend.

At least Wilpon isn’t fooling himself. It’d be much more damaging if he  dwelled in self-denial, said the Mets were close and raved about Wright and Reyes like they were Ted Williams and Rickey Henderson.

How can a Mets fan not be encouraged by Wilpon’s realization of just how pathetic his team is? That’s usually half the battle. More so, in the zany world of Flushing, where up is often down and a reporter is to blame for a VP’s inability to keep his shirt on around a bunch of minor leaguers.

Wilpon may not come across as brilliant in The New Yorker. (It’s no stretch to imagine him blowing the sure cash cow that owning a MLB team provides). But he’s not living in a fantasy land. And with these Mets, that’s a huge win. Their first real one of 2011.

– Chris Baldwin covers the sports media for Metro.
Metro does not endorse the opinions of the author, or any opinions expressed on its pages. Opposing viewpoints are welcome. Send submissions to letters@metro.us.

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New York’s “other” baseball team has experienced a long list of controversies over the last four years. For the most part, Fred Wilpon has kept his mouth shut.

Until now.

Wilpon blasts his underachieving team in the latest issue of The New Yorker. The Mets principal owner, who is still breathing — albeit fire — just fine at the ripe age of 74, says he commanded pitching coach Dan Warthen to implore an unnamed pitcher to “throw the f—g ball,” predicted that Jose Reyes won’t “get Carl Crawford money” because “he’s had everything wrong with him,” and called himself a “schmuck” for giving a seven-year, $119 million contract to Carlos Beltran before gauging  the right fielder as “65 to 70 percent of what he was” in  2004 when he belted eight home runs and scored 21 runs in 12 postseason games for Houston.

Perhaps the most venom, though, was spewed at a guy who just played a month with a broken back. Wilpon described the face of the franchise, David Wright, as “a really good kid” but “not a superstar.” The five-time All-Star rose above the criticism, releasing a simple statement through is agent: “Fred is a good man and is obviously going through some difficult times. There is nothing more productive that I can say at this time.”

Wilpon still had plenty,  assessing the team as “s—y” and “snake bitten.”

The Mets (22-24) will try to disprove their owner today against the Cubs after dropping two of three to the Yankees.

Wilpon burns bridges to future free-agent stars

WILPON (PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES)

Only the Mets could make the Yankees look like a safe haven for aging veteran sluggers.

Brian Cashman’s treatment of a declining Jorge Posada and Derek Jeter looks angelic compared to Fred Wilpon’s slams on his supposed core players. It’s now clearly obvious Carlos Beltran and Jose Reyes are goners either before the trade deadline or after the season. But to crucify Wright, a guy who even Jeter describes as a “player who everyone respects” won’t do the Mets any favors when they go digging for free agents, no matter how much money they have to spend. METRO

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1 Throughout the major and minor leagues, every game-used ball gets rubbed with mud to reduce the slickness and glare. The mud comes from a top-secret location off a tributary of the Delaware River in southern New Jersey. It then gets mixed with special ingredients and sells for $33 a pound.

2 Several players have attempted to catch baseballs dropped from great heights. In 1926 Babe Ruth snagged one that was tossed from an airplane flying 250 feet above an army aviation field. The record belongs to Cubs Hall of Fame catcher Gabby Hartnett, who in 1930 grabbed a ball that was dropped from a blimp 800 feet high.

3 Baseballs used to be so scarce that one ball had to last for the entire game, and the winning team got to keep it. Fans who caught foul balls were expected to return them, and until 1886, if a ball went missing, the game was delayed while the players went looking for it.

4 Charlie Sheen really likes baseballs. In 1992, he paid $93,500 for the famous ball that trickled through Bill Buckner’s legs in the 1986 World Series. (At the time, that was the most that anyone had ever spent on a baseball.) Four years later, Sheen purchased the entire left field pavilion at an Angels game — 2,615 seats in all — to increase his odds of snagging a home run ball. It didn’t work, and he went home empty-handed.

5 Every major league baseball gets stamped with invisible ink at the Rawlings factory in Turrialba, Costa Rica. It’s part of an extensive quality control system, and some of the stamps survive the cleaning solvent that gets applied at the end of the manufacturing process. Check out some baseballs under a black light and see for yourself.

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Corey Maciel, appearing on the “Mason and Ireland” show on 710 ESPN Radio in Los Angeles, said entering Dodger Stadium in Giants clothing was uncomfortable from the start.

“It was pretty hostile just walking up to the stadium — it was intimidating, to say the least,” he said. “There were a lot of Dodgers fans angry that we were there. We got things thrown at us the whole time we were there.”

It got much worse after the game. Maciel said it started with rowdy fans yelling profanities. Then the suspects initiated contact.

“Bryan and I were walking, side by side, and talking, not even about the game, about work, I think,” Maciel said. “Somebody pushed Bryan. This guy came out from behind the car and pushed Bryan into me. I grabbed Bryan and rolled away. We kept walking. At that point my older brother Matt intercepted a punch on the cheek that was meant for Bryan.”

Maciel said his group still tried to avoid a confrontation that was inevitable. “About five minutes later, they came up from behind us, and they caught us when we were all a little bit spread out. I never saw it coming. My other friend Jeff got hit in the mouth and Bryan got hit from behind. He got hit in the side of the head and never saw it coming.”

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Corey Maciel, appearing on the "Mason and Ireland" show Monday on 710 ESPN Radio in Los Angeles, said entering Dodger Stadium in Giants clothing was uncomfortable from the start.

"It was pretty hostile just walking up to the stadium — it was intimidating, to say the least," he said. "There were a lot of Dodgers fans angry that we were there. We got things thrown at us the whole time we were there — peanuts, hot dogs, wrappers — which we also expected."

It got much worse after the game. Maciel said it started with rowdy fans yelling profanities, as Stow’s party was trying to leave. Then the suspects initiated contact.

"Bryan and I were walking, side-by-side, and talking, not even about the game, about work, I think," Maciel said. "Somebody pushed Bryan. This guy came out from behind the car and pushed Bryan into me. I grabbed Bryan and rolled away. We kept walking. At that point my older brother Matt intercepted a punch on the cheek that was meant for Bryan, by the same guy that had pushed Bryan."

Maciel said his group still tried to avoid a confrontation that was inevitable.

"About five minutes later, they came up from behind us, and they caught us when we were all a little bit spread out. I never saw it coming. My other friend Jeff got hit in the mouth and Bryan got hit from behind. He got hit in the side of the head and never saw it coming."

Stow hasn’t regained consciousness. He remains in a medically induced coma and has had part of his skull removed to take pressure off his brain.

San Francisco played the Dodgers on Monday night, kicking off a three-game series. The Giants hosted family members of the 42-year old paramedic from Santa Cruz to watch the game from a team suite, as well as more than 80 members of the paramedics company AMR.

An AMR spokesman said about $58,800 was collected during the game in and around the park that will go toward helping with Stow’s medical costs.

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