There were more rain delays than hits for the Yankees in their attempt to end a hitting slump that has lasted nearly two weeks.

On a night which featured a 45-minute rain delay before a pitch was thrown, a 37-minute rain delay with one out in the top of the fifth and another delay of 45 minutes, the Yankees had just two hits in a 3-0 loss to the Red Sox that was called at 12:10 a.m.

The forecast called for rain through portions of the night and the game was delayed because of the threat of thunderstorms. However, nothing happened and the game started at 8:50 p.m.

In between the first and second delays, the Yankee hitting woes continued as their only hits against Clay Buchholz were a two-out infield single by Ichiro in the second and a leadoff base hit by Austin Romine in the third.

The Yankees lost for the ninth time in 12 games. They are batting just .219 since a 6-4 win at Baltimore on May 20. The Baltimore win gave them a 28-16 record, which was surprising considering who was missing, but since then a regression to the expectations of many has occurred.

The last three games have seen the Yankees get a little healthier as they added Kevin Youkilis off a 30-game stint on the disabled list following a back injury and Mark Teixeira from a nearly three-month absence following a torn tendon in his wrist.

So far neither has helped reverse course for an offense that has a team average of .245, a .308 on-base percentage and a .705 OPS.

“It’s kind of a team-wide thing that we’re going through but we ran into a pretty good pitcher tonight, that’s the bottom line,” manager Joe Girardi said. “He threw the ball very well against us and we’re not the first team he’s done that against this year.”

The Yankees have scored four runs or less in eight straight games, have gone 20 innings without an extra-base hit and were shut out for the fifth time.

“I think that’s part of baseball,” designated hitter Travis Hafner said. “You’ll have ups and down throughout the year but there’s too much talent here and it’s only a matter of things before things get rolling again.”

Teixeira struck out twice as he started the night as a left-handed hitter for the first time this season. He was called out looking on a fastball and swung through a split-fingered fastball.

Kevin Youkilis grounded out twice and has not gotten the ball out of the infield since getting an RBI single in Friday’s win. He started at third base for the first time since returning.

While the Yankees wait for the offensive slump to vanish, they will count on their pitching. But Hiroki Kuroda did not have his sharpest stuff Sunday night.

He allowed three runs and tied a season high by allowing eight hits in 5 1/3 innings during an outing that ended following a 37-minute rain delay. Before heavy rains he gave up a first-pitch home run to Jose Iglesias and a long home run to David Ortiz to start the sixth.

Play resumed for Boone Logan to get a pair of outs on a Mike Napoli caught stealing an a strikeout of Stephen Drew and then the rain returned just as Andrew Miller was about to enter for Buchholz.

“It’s in their hands,” Girardi said. “They called it. [Crew chief) Gary [Cederstrom] tried to get us back out there but he said it was building up behind and we were trying to go as quick as we could. That’s why we went out and played those two outs.”

About the only highlight from that point was a widely circulated video of players in both dugouts reacting to the loud claps of thunder.

“That was the loudest thing we’ve ever seen,” Romine said. “It was daytime for a second. Right after that we took off. We’re out of there, we don’t need to see that.”

“I heard it,” Girardi said. “The guys kind of buckled a little bit. I was inside and I didn’t hear it. All I know was that my TV went out and that was the clue that the weather was pretty bad. I guess it was kind of funny after they got through it but people almost went down.”

Follow Yankees beat writer Larry Fleisher on Twitter @LarryFleisher.

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Andy Pettitte acknowledged a few weeks ago he might have to alter his routine between starts and when he did so, he often used the phrase “creature of habit” to describe the difficulty of doing so.

Manager Joe Girardi used the same phrase as he discussed Pettitte before last night’s game.

“He’s talked about backing off maybe a little in between starts but it’s hard when you’re a creature of habit,” Girardi said. “When you’ve had as much success as he’s had over time, it’s hard to change what you do. But I think it’s important that he does maybe a little bit. He’s a real worker in between starts and it’s not just the day after or the second day, it’s every day and I think he has to deal with it.”

Pettitte will return to the mound Monday against Cleveland for the first time since his backed locked up two batters into the fifth inning on May 14 against Seattle. After getting hurt, he rested for seven days before resuming throwing.

To prepare for his return start, Pettitte said he threw only one bullpen session. He also said that doing so in the future will be based more on feel after he consults with pitching coach Larry Rothchild and the training staff.

“I feel like I haven’t had any work really,” Pettitte said. “I’m not a power guy. I’m kind of touch and feel, so I just feel like [two bullpens] really helps me. We’ll see. I’m not really sure.

“I’m going to want to throw my bullpens because I enjoy getting on the mound and I enjoy working. I’ll just have to see. We’ll see how it feels. It’ll be something that I kind of talk through with Larry and the trainers and stuff like that.

Pettitte is 4-3 with a 3.83 ERA in eight starts and will be looking for his 250th career victory. Before injuring himself, he allowed two runs and five hits over seven innings at Kansas City, following a three-start stretch where he felt he had little command of his cut fastball.

“I want to go out there and get going again, get on a good roll,” Pettitte said. “I want to go out there and be consistent. You saw that I’ve been doing that when I’ve been pitching over the last few years.”

Two-strike results

The fortunes of the Yankees this weekend have mostly been dictated by how their pitchers perform with two strikes.

On Friday night, CC Sabathia struck out 10 in 7 1/3 innings and Yankee pitchers held the Red Sox to two hits in 21 at-bats after getting to strike two.

A night later, the story was vastly different. Phil Hughes, who often struggles to put away hitters, threw 36 of his 100 pitches after getting two strikes on a batter. The most notable instance occurred in the third inning when he gave up three two-strike hits, leading to an intentional walk of David Ortiz.

Hughes got ahead of Mike Napoli 0-2, but couldn’t finish him and on the sixth pitch Napoli clubbed a grand slam.

“It was in a spot he could handle and he saw a lot of fastballs,” Hughes said. “Just one of those things, it got a little bit more of the plate than I wanted.”

111-year-old fan attends game

The most interesting thing from Saturday’s 11-1 loss was actually in the stands as 111-year-old Bernando LaPallo attended the game and sat behind home plate.

LaPallo was born Aug. 17, 1901, which is two years before the Yankees played their first game as the Highlanders at Hilltop Park, located on the current site of Columbia Presbyterian Hospital at 168th and Broadway.

Asked what he remembered about the first of four home ballparks for the Yankees, he said, “It was nothing like this,”

LaPallo was a guest of the team and watched the Yankees take fielding and batting practice on the field. He chatted with Derek Jeter after the Yankee captain finished playing catch and also said Mariano Rivera is his favorite player.

LaPallo also spoke of first meeting Babe Ruth when he was still pitching for the Red Sox and again when the Yankees acquired him in 1920.

“I shook his hand and he said, ‘My greatest admirer, my youngest admirer,’” LaPallo said. “I remember that like yesterday.”

He was also shown on the FOX broadcast and Joe Buck told the viewers to guess his age while discussing him.

Follow Yankees beat writer Larry Fleisher on Twitter @LarryFleisher.

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Red Sox 4, Royals 3: Daniel Nava belted a go-ahead, three-run home run in the bottom of the eighth inning to cap an emotional day at Fenway Park and lift host Boston to its seventh straight victory.

Nava’s two-out shot off Kelvin Herrera (1-2) punctuated the Red Sox’s first home game since Monday and came less than 24 hours after the second suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings was apprehended, ending a massive manhunt that had the city on lockdown.

Clay Buchholz (4-0) allowed two runs and eight hits in eight innings before Andrew Bailey escaped his own jam in the ninth to secure his third save. The dramatic victory came on the heels of a stirring pregame ceremony in which the team honored the victims of the bombing and paid tribute to law enforcement officials, first responders, volunteers and marathon competitors.

Lorenzo Cain went 4-for-4 with a home run, two doubles and scored all three runs for Kansas City, which wasted a strong start by James Shields. The right-hander yielded only one runs on four hits and struck out eight in six innings.

Salvador Perez tripled home Cain – who has 11 hits in his last 16 at-bats – with two outs in the seventh, but Boston rallied in the eighth with a pinch-hit leadoff double by Jonny Gomes and a walk to Mike Napoli before Nava launched a blast into the bullpen in right.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Red Sox DH David Ortiz (Achilles) went 2-for-4 with an RBI single in his season debut and drew thunderous applause when he told the Fenway Park faithful: “This is our (expletive) city! Ain’t nobody going to dictate our freedom!” … In addition to his RBI triple, Royals C Perez threw out Nava on a pickoff at second base with two on and no out in the seventh to quell a huge scoring threat. … The teams will play a split-doubleheader Sunday to make up Friday’s postponed series opener. The first game will start at 1:35 p.m. with the nightcap scheduled for 7 p.m. … Singer Neil Diamond appeared at Fenway for a live version of his hit “Sweet Caroline,” the anthem adopted by Boston fans during the eighth inning.

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Events throughout the Boston area were postponed or cancelled as law enforcement officers searched for a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings.

“Tonight’s Boston Red Sox game at Fenway Park has been postponed to support the efforts of law enforcement officers,” a team statement said Friday afternoon. The Red Sox were scheduled to begin at three-game series with the Kansas City Royals Friday night. A new date wasn’t immediately announced.

The Boston Bruins and Pittsburgh Penguins tentatively rescheduled their Friday night game to 12:30 p.m. Saturday, a Bruins statement said. A final decision will be made Saturday morning by the Bruins, Penguins, and NHL.

“Tickets for the originally scheduled game between the Bruins and Penguins will be honored for [the] rescheduled game,” the Bruins said.

The Big Apple Circus, performing at Boston’s City Hall Plaza, cancelled its shows Friday afternoon and evening. Ticketholders were told they could request exchanges or refunds on the circus’s website. No decision had been made about Saturday’s performances.

The organizers of Boston Comic Con, scheduled for this weekend at Hynes Convention Center, was also being postponed.

“Please, we ask for your patience, understanding, and cooperation,” a press statement from the event’s organizers said. “Unfortunately, this situation is beyond our control. We stand with all Bostonians and hope that current events are resolved quickly and a degree of normalcy can be returned to our city.”

All MBTA service was suspended until further notice Friday. All taxi service was suspended for a time, but that order was later lifted.

Logan Airport was open Friday, with heightened security. Amtrak trains in and out of Boston were cancelled.

Most local colleges, universities, and other schools cancelled all classes and events Friday.

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For a night, the most famed rivalry in sports was put on hold.

The Yankees honored the Red Sox and the city of Boston following Monday’s bombings at the Boston Marathon by playing Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline” after the third inning of their Tuesday night game against the Diamondbacks. The Red Sox have a tradition of playing the song, written about President John F. Kennedy’s daughter, Caroline, in the middle of the eighth inning of each home game at Fenway Park.

The gesture by the Yankees was reminiscent of the Red Sox playing Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York” during September 2001 home games following the 9/11 attacks on New York City.

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Nearly seven months after bowing out quietly in the playoffs, the names have changed but the results remained the same.

An injury to Hiroki Kuroda put an early damper on things and the negativity persisted for most of a frigid night as the Yankees fell to 0-2 with an ugly, 7-4 loss to the Red Sox before an announced crowd of mostly 40,216 annoyed customers.

The Yankees have dropped their first two games for the third time in five years and lost their first two games of the season when starting the year at home for the first time since 1982 when they were a 79-win team.

Still, even as they wait for the likes of Derek Jeter, Mark Teixeira, Curtis Granderson and Alex Rodriguez to return from injuries, the last thing they want to be doing is concerning themselves with holding down the fort.

“I hope people aren’t thinking that way,” manager Joe Girardi said. “Our goal is to win every series because you can’t count on when someone’s coming back. You got to go out and play well. That’s our goal to go out and play well.”

The Yankees haven’t looked good in getting outscored by a 15-6 margin. They are hitting .221 and have posted a 7.50 earned run average while allowing the Red Sox to start the season hitting .329.

“I’m pretty sure we’re going to lose two games in a row,” catcher Chris Stewart said. “Last year we lost three in a row [to start] and we were all right.”

“It’s not unusual to lose two games in a row,” manager Joe Girardi said. “I think it becomes somewhat glaring when it’s the first two of the year but we didn’t start off too good last year either. If I remember the thing turned out OK.”

Kuroda’s night ended at 41 pitches with a contusion on his right middle finger. His night ended after he hit Daniel Nava in the right foot with a fastball with one out in the second.

The Yankees said Kuroda has a bruise and they will determine if he can make his next scheduled start based on how he gets through his bullpen session Friday in Detroit. X-rays were negative.

“It is tough to tell,” Kuroda said through a translator when asked about making his next start. “But, for me, I’m going to try [my hardest] to get ready.”

Kuroda was initially injured four batters earlier when on instinct he put his right hand up in an attempt to grab Shane Victorino’s line drive. After taking a few warm-up tosses, he stayed in the game but he hit rookie Jackie Bradley Jr. and issued a walk to Jacoby Ellsbury.

The score was 2-0 when Kuroda’s night ended but it got a lot worse in the third when the Red Sox scored four more runs all with two out in the third.

Since the Yankees had a lineup that featured just two starters from the last playoff game at Yankee Stadium (Ichiro and Robinson Cano) the deficit seemed a lot worse.

The Yankees avoided getting shut out when Travis Hafner hit his first home run in pinstripes but that qualified for their lone offensive highlight. They wasted first and third with two outs in the opening inning and then went quietly for the remainder of the night.

After knocking out Jon Lester after five innings Monday, the Yankees could not use that as a silver lining last night. Clay Buchholz barely broke a sweat and the Yankees hardly worked the pitch count in seven innings.

The Yankees saw 94 pitches – two fewer than what they saw from Lester. Those fans which remained expressed their disgust with loud boos when Hafner took a called strike three to end the sixth.

The only other highlight for the Yankees was a three-run home run by Vernon Wells with two outs in the eighth off reliever Alfredo Aceves.

“It’s hard no matter what,” Wells said. “You never want to lose games. Obviously they’re going to come, but we haven’t played good enough baseball to win. That’s the bottom line. We haven’t clicked in all three phases of the game. It’s just a matter of time before we do, but it would be nice for it to happen sooner rather than later.”

Follow Yankees beat writer Larry Fleisher on Twitter @LarryFleisher.

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Opening Day of the Major League Baseball season is supposed to be one of the cherished sporting days on the calendar and no MLB team is supposedly more cherished than the 27-time World Series champion Yankees.

However, if you are a San Diego Padres fan or Kansas City Royals fan or Seattle Mariners fan and have heard time and time again about the perceived love affair with baseball in the northeast and how it’s “just different there,” you can rest easy today. Boston, Philly, New York – we all can have our Mickey Mouse sports moments. But yesterday’s Opening Day “celebration” at Yankee Stadium took the cake as one of the more JV operations we’ve seen in quite a while.

- The not-so-memorable day opened with something called a “Constantine Maroulis” singing the National Anthem, which would have been a good get for the Yankees, maybe, in say, 2005. That’s the best the most revered organization in sports can do on Opening freakin’ Day?!

- The visiting and supposedly HATED Red Sox were introduced to the humdrum crowd while the Star Wars “evil theme,” the “Imperial Death March” blared over the loud-speakers. Every other day out of the year, I’d be fine with this. But it’s Opening Day. A little decorum, please. The Red Sox, for all their faults, introduce the opposing team on Opening Day with old school organ noises (ya, know something that screams ‘this is baseball … we’re different. We’re special. Embrace the history!).

Instead, the Yankees show here that they’re no different than a small market NBA team. “Let’s show our fans how much we HATE the opponent by playing this sinister music when they come out!!!”

The Orlando Magic play this song when the Milwaukee Bucks make visits. The Yankees should be a step above this.

- Even Red Sox brass wouldn’t have had the balls to call Monday’s game a “sell-out.” Yes, Yankee Stadium is a 50,000 –seat canyon of a ballpark. And yes, it is ridiculously expensive to watch any game there. But last time I checked, there were a lot of people in New York  and there are more than a few Yankees fans in this country that make decent livings. To have an empty ballpark in the late innings on Opening Day is an embarrassment. The Yankees were down 8-2 to the Red Sox late in the game. Six runs against the Red Sox, a team that won 69 games last season? Not impossible.

Plus the folks that were at the game probably had already taken the entire day off from work. What’s the rush? Enjoy yourself. Oh and one more thing … It’s Opening Day!!!!

- To sum up the day, a stream of trash was flying all over the field in the late innings of Monday’s game. Now, there’s not much the Yankees can do about that. New York streets are, after all, filled with trash and it just happened to be a windy day. But the image on TV of a dark sky, trash whipping all over the field and thousands and thousands of empty, dark blue seats painted quite the picture. And no, that picture had nothing to do with “fresh starts,” “new beginnings,” “peanuts,” “Cracker Jacks”  and/or “spring.”

I suppose we should expect this from the Yankees and their fans at this point. They failed to sell out THREE PLAYOFF GAMES last year. Still, the New York Yankees are supposed to be a beacon in sports. Here’s guessing the Tampa Bay Rays will do it up right in their home opener Tuesday afternoon.

Matt Burke is sports editor and a columnist at Metro Boston. Follow him on Twitter @BurkeMetroBOS

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Over the past eight years, Kevin Youkilis had hundreds of significant at-bats for the Red Sox. His first real important at-bat with the Yankees ended with him holding his bat in frustration and lightly slamming his helmet to the ground.

The intense reaction was caused by a fruitless at-bat with two on and two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning.

During the at-bat against Andrew Bailey, Youkilis fell behind 0-2 and on the fifth pitch he ended up chasing a high fastball. And thus a season of lowered expectations began with a thud.

Youkilis’s strikeout was one of 10 accumulated by the Yankees during a season-opening 8-2 loss to the Red Sox Monday afternoon at Yankee Stadium that had many heading for the exits before the conclusion.

The pivotal strikeout was one of three by the Yankees after the inning opened with consecutive walks. It also came after left-handed reliever Andrew Miller showed a willingness to pitch to third-place hitter Robinson Cano and struck out the most potent bat in the Yankee lineup with a 98 mph fastball.

“After two walks that inning where it looked like we might get something going, it ended up with three strikeouts in a row and that probably was the other difference in the game,” manager Joe Girardi said.

Youkilis’s day began with a decent hand in pregame introductions and a few of the “Youk” calls previously heard at Fenway Park. It continued with him leading off the fourth inning by doubling to center to cap an eight-pitch at-bat against Jon Lester.

“It was cool,” Youkilis said. “It was great. Yankee Stadium is a place where people dream to come play at. It was very enjoyable to go out there and it stunk in the end to come up short but this a great place to play. We just didn’t play the best ball possible today to win the game.”

While his first day in a meaningful game against the Red Sox may have been a big deal to fans, it hardly seemed that way to Youkilis.

“I’ve been playing Yankee baseball for over a month now so I think we need to move on past that,” Youkilis said. “I play for the Yankees now. I’ve had the uniform on for six weeks.

“I think we’re making it more than it is. I go out there and play. I don’t sit down and stare at my uniform all game. I don’t look and I don’t say, ‘Oh wow, it’s pinstripes, that’s pretty cool.’ I just go out and play baseball. That’s part of the business.”

Youkilis scored on Francisco Cervelli’s two-run double but that was the primary highlight on a day when the Yankees had six hits, stranded nine and went 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position.

Those not with the Yankees in their season opener a year ago (Youkilis, Vernon Wells, Ben Francisco, Travis Hafner, Ichiro, Jayson Nix, Lyle Overbay and Cervelli) were a combined 4-for-21.

“It’s one game, that’s the conclusion that I draw,” Girardi said. “You don’t make too much of it. Everyone wants to get off to a great start. Everybody wants to go 3-for-4 and drive in a couple of runs but it just doesn’t happen that way.”

Offense was not the only problem as the Yankees lost their first season opener at home since 1982, ending an 11-game winning streak.

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The lack of offense by Youkilis and the lineup could not compensate for a laborious start by CC Sabathia. Sabathia allowed four runs — all in the second on his fastball — while laboring through five innings.

Poor starts in season openers are not a new thing for Sabathia, who lasted 4 2/3 innings in his Yankee debut four years ago in Baltimore. It just seemed more noticeable because of what a Yankee lineup missing Derek Jeter, Curtis Granderson, Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez could not do.

“It was not one thing in particular,” Sabathia said. “I just got two outs and couldn’t make any pitch just to get them to hit a ball and hit at somebody. They put some good at-bats together and got some pitches to hit and put some good swings on it.”

Many fans in the crowd did not stick around for the conclusion of an ugly loss in rainy conditions.

“At the end it was ugly on the field and off the field and I don’t blame them for going home,” Wells said.

Follow Yankees beat writer Larry Fleisher on Twitter @LarryFleisher.

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For parts of the previous of seven seasons, Jon Lester, Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis teamed up on the Boston side of the rivalry with the Yankees.

On Monday, all three will be present at Yankee Stadium but now the former Red Sox third baseman is clean-shaven and playing third and first base for the Yankees.

“That’s going to be different, especially [that he’s] clean-shaven,” Pedroia said. “It’ll be different. Youk’s been family for a long time.”

At least Pedroia won’t have to pitch to Youkilis. That goes to Lester, who will be making his third Opening Day start and looking to rebound from the worst season in his career.

Lester faced his former teammate twice after the June 24 trade to the White Sox but instead of issuing the standard, “just another game” cliché, he conceded it is a strange sight.

“It would be weird,” Lester said. “I wouldn’t have ever thought that would happen, but he made that choice for him and his family and got a chance to play third base here. I’m sure he’s excited about it, but now he’s one of the bad guys. We got to worry about him tomorrow.”

A clean-shaven Youkilis in Yankee pinstripes may not even be the most bizarre aspect of Monday’s season opener.

Most preseason forecasts don’t expect much from either team. The Red Sox are coming off their worst season since 1966 while the Yankees will be missing Alex Rodriguez, Curtis Granderson, Mark Teixeira and Derek Jeter to various injuries of varying lengths.

The last time the Yankees and Red Sox had a losing season in the same year was 1992 — a year they also faced each other in the season opener at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees wound up with 76 wins while the Red Sox finished with 73.

Since then they faced each other in season opening games in 2005 and 2010 when both teams were coming off respective world championships.

“It might exist out there and certainly many have written about it but I don’t know if we spend too much time consuming ourselves with what people on the outside are saying or writing,” Red Sox manager John Farrell said. “It’s the belief of that group inside that clubhouse that matters most and our standard or expectation can’t be compromised by what’s taken place in the past.”

“As far as expectations, I think our division is obviously one of the toughest in baseball and I think it’s up to who stays [the] healthiest, who has the most consistent starting pitching,” Lester said. “I think that’s what it’s going to come down to. You could flip a coin and point to any team at the top and any team at the bottom. It’s going to be a rat race and we’re going to have to play 162 to figure it out.”

Follow Yankees beat writer Larry Fleisher on Twitter @LarryFleisher.

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It’s official: The Red Sox have completed their transformation from the gold standard in the cutthroat sports business to gold standard in bush-league promotional machines.

Perhaps it’s a last-ditch effort to save the fraudulent sell-out streak at Fenway Park or, perhaps, it’s actually (maybe? possibly?) a show of goodwill to a fan base it has bankrupted both literally and figuratively over the past decade. Yup, for the better, the Red Sox are going all San Diego Padres on us. They are slashing food and, most importantly, beer prices at Fenway Park.

That $5 Fenway Frank? Consider it $2.50 because they’re now buy one, get one free. Have a kid who lives on nothing but corn syrup and processed meats? Fenway is the place for you and your boy because he’ll eat free if he’s under 14 (just good luck fitting mini Mo Vaughn into one of those hard red plastic seats).

It’s plain to see that the Red Sox best move of the past year was not bringing in nice-guy Mickeys and Goofys named Victorino and Dempster in order to change the clubhouse atmosphere at the amusement park on Yawkey Way. It wasn’t dumping all that salary and headache last August in the Beckett-Gonzalez-Crawford trade. Nope, their smartest move in quite a while came when they decided to win back the hearts of their fan base with cheap food and booze. That type of strategy is more American than baseball itself.

Grappling with life

Without question, X-Pac’s Bronco Buster was the most crowd-pleasing wrestling move this side of Goldust’s Shattered Dreams production. But as we all know, you can’t keep pulling off the Bronco Buster for two decades and expect to have your anus come away unscathed.

X-Pac, aka Sean Waltman, who is apparently still wrestling in armories and bingo halls across this great land, tore his anus over the weekend while attempting the move on his opponent. His girlfriend tweeted after the injury, “We don’t know if there is a medical term for it…but he did a bronco buster last night that literally ripped his ass apart! :-/ Lost a lot of blood! Had surgery this morning and is on the road to recovery! Believe it or not..this has happened to him once before! #wrestling #seanwaltman #xpac @therealxpac #getwellsoonxpac.”

Awww, man. What I would have done for a nice anus hashtag.

Hopefully Vince McMahon will show some sympathy for his former star and throw X-Pac and his anus into some throwaway three-man tag at WrestleMania coming up in a couple of weeks. One can dream.

In the meantime, let’s refresh everyone’s memory on X-Pac’s personal life. He dated Chyna, who once dated his best friend Triple-H (who is now married to McMahon’s daughter, Stephanie). While dating Chyna, the two made a sex tape together. X-Pac now bad-mouths Chyna like nobody’s business, and Chyna is involved in full-fledged porn. Who says the wrestling business is sleazy?

Matt Burke is sports editor and a columnist at Metro Boston. Follow him on Twitter @BurkeMetroBOS

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As for the actual participant, the response to Bobby Valentine’s comment that the play was lucky was met with indifference by Jeter.

“I could care less,” Jeter said to reporters in Tampa Wednesday morning. “I don’t know why he would bring it up.”

Jeter addressed his indifference toward Valentine’s attempts at tweaking by also defending the play and reiterating that the Yankees in fact practice those type of infield plays.

“I’m indifferent,” Jeter said to reporters in Tampa. “I mean think about it, we don’t practice it. We do. You guys have seen it. So what else can I say? I was out of position? No, I was where I was supposed to be.”

The flip play that threw Jeremy Giambi out at the plate during Game 3 of the 2001 ALDS in Oakland was deemed a lucky play by Valentine during a press conference on Tuesday.

“We’ll never practice that,” Valentine said. “And I think he’s out of position. And I think the ball gets him out if [Jeter] doesn’t touch it, personally. The Jeter-like simulation today is that idea of what the first baseman and third baseman [are doing] as the ball is coming in because they have to read and maybe change the position where the shortstop is when the ball is coming in from right.

“He does have to react to the ball. When you see the ball in flight, you have a chance at those positions to adjust. He was out. … It was amazing that he was there. I bet it was more amazing to say they practiced it. I don’t believe it, personally.”

Valentine also referenced Alex Rodriguez Tuesday. He praised retiring catcher Jason Varitek for beating up Rodriguez during a July 2004 brawl in Fenway Park, but Rodriguez seemed more interested in ignoring the topic than commenting on it.

“I’m not going to win many battles when it comes to words, especially against Bobby,” Rodriguez said. “But I will tell you this, I’ve got my new press secretary that should be landing in the next couple of days — Reggie Jackson — so I’ll let him handle that.”

Jackson participated in the rivalry during the late-1970s and the response to those comments might be handled differently on the field. But for now, indifference is the theme among Jeter and Rodriguez to the newest manager in the rivalry.

Follow Yankees beat writer Larry Fleisher on Twitter @LarryFleisher.

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The former Red Sox slugger was suspended for violating MLB’s drug policy for the second time last April and, in response, Ramirez promptly retired from the game.

But Manny is now officially back and in 2012 he will return to the field in an Oakland Athletics uniform, ESPN reported yesterday.

Due to the suspension that he did not serve last season, Ramirez will be docked 50 games to start the season for Oakland. Barring rainouts, Ramirez’ first game back will be on his 40th birthday on May 30 in Minnesota.

ESPN reported the deal to be worth $500,000.

Ramirez has 555 career homers and 1,831 RBI.

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Or is that good news?

Red Sox fans’ worst nightmare in the starting rotation was 12-12 with a 6.41 ERA this past season.
He was even worse in September as Boston collapsed down the stretch, going 0-2 with a 9.13 ERA?in five starts.

Lackey was also mentioned in reporting after the season which mentioned pitchers drinking beer in the clubhouse.

“John Lackey pitched through circumstances this year that not everyone in this room could understand,” Boston’s new general manager Ben Cherington said yesterday. 

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There is no guarantee the ALCS meeting happens even if the Red Sox manage to survive their horrific slump. However, they survived for one more night.

After nearly five hours, the Red Sox left Yankee Stadium with a 7-4 victory on Jacoby Ellsbury’s three-run home run off Scott Proctor with two outs in the top of the 14th inning in the nightcap of yesterday’s day-night doubleheader.

“Nobody gave in,” Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. “It was hard for us to score, but we just competed. Obviously, it’s a huge win for us.”

“We played hard,” Boston second baseman Dustin Pedroia said. “We’re going to play hard. A lot of people are writing us off, so we’re playing our butts off.”

For the seventh straight time, the Yankees played a game impacting the AL Wild Card chase. After helping the Red Sox with three wins over Tampa Bay last week, the Yankees were not in a generous mood against their rivals even with the AL East and home-field advantage through the AL playoffs wrapped up — at least not in the first two games of this series.

Had the Yankees won, it would have meant little on their side, but as soon as Ellsbury’s bat made contact with Scott Proctor’s 1-0 fastball, it was a tremendous relief for the Red Sox. They will head into Baltimore having avoided an 18th loss in 23 games, but more importantly will travel there with a one-game lead and in control of their destiny.

“This is grinding season,” Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon said. “But if you don’t like this, you ain’t got blood going through your veins. If you want to shine, you’ve got to grind. I hope we’re back here in a couple of weeks.”

“This is a huge win,” Ellsbury said. “It allows us to control our own destiny. We know if we win out, we’re in.”

Papelbon was one of the Red Sox who shined the most before Ellsbury’s biggest home run of the year. He struck out four in 2 1/3 innings for his longest outing without allowing a base runner. His outing saw him escape a bases-loaded jam in the ninth by striking out Austin Romine and then finish the 10th inning with strikeouts of MVP candidates Curtis Granderson and Robinson Cano.

“It was a game that you can was going to have a big moment,” Papelbon said. “It was kind of foreshadowing.”

The marathon game had a bit of everything. John Lackey stormed off the mound in a cursing rage after being pulled in the seventh. Yankees manager Joe Girardi spoke in those same tones to first base umpire Tim McClelland after Dustin Pedroia was called safe on a close play at first base. Replays showed he appeared to be out.

Romine made a second strong defensive play, throwing out Carl Crawford trying to steal second for the first out of the eighth. Two innings earlier, Romine made a lunging tag on Pedroia, who raced home and tried to score by jumping over the rookie catcher after Ivan Nova’s fastball bounced in the dirt.

“You could see they wanted it a little bit more; they started swinging a little bit more,” Romine said. “We had to change up the way we pitched them, but they definitely started jumping out there a little bit more to try to get that run.”

The Yankees were 1-for-23 after Eric Chavez’s leadoff single in the seventh that ultimately led to the tying run. They were hitless in 13 at-bats until Jesus Montero’s single in the 12th. That was one of two hits over the final 45 plate appearances.

The Red Sox were not much better, going 6-for-24 against Yankee pitching after taking a short-lived 4-3 lead on Jason Varitek’s single off Nova in the seventh.

All of that finally ended when Ellsbury hit the most significant home run of 2011 for the Red Sox.

“I don’t care who hits it,” Francona said. “But it seems fitting.”

Follow Yankees beat writer Larry Fleisher on Twitter @LarryFleisher.

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They do not know who will start Game Three or if A.J. Burnett will appear on the postseason roster.

That is what Burnett was auditioning for in the opener of a day-night doubleheader and his 7 2/3 innings during a 6-2 win over the Red Sox may have earned him some consideration.

“We’re going to continue to look at it and talk about it,” manager Joe Girardi said. “Our opponent has something to do with who we’re going to pitch and how we’re going to go about this, but we still don’t know that opponent.”

“It’s up to him,” Burnett said. “It’s up to him. I just want to come out and give him headaches. I’ve been giving him headaches all year why not give him a good headache?”

Before the game, Girardi described Burnett’s last two starts against Seattle and Minnesota as really good for three-inning bursts. He cited the final three innings in Seattle, the first three frames Monday against the Twins and was hoping to see Burnett put it all together.

For the most part, Burnett put it together.

In his longest outing since July 29, Burnett allowed two long solo home runs to Jacoby Ellsbury, who hit bombs into the right field seats on his fastball. The other hits were a leadoff single by Ellsbury that opened the game, a seventh-inning leadoff single to David Ortiz and an eight-inning leadoff double to Marco Scutaro.

Perhaps more important than Burnett’s second win in three starts — and fourth instance of pitching into the eighth — was that he did not let problems compound themselves.

“Maybe today I went out with a little more focus and made sure it doesn’t get out of hand and make sure it doesn’t get away,” Burnett said. “I just made it a point [to do that].”

Example one was in the top of the second with a 2-0 lead.

Burnett walked David Ortiz on four pitches. Then he retired Adrian Gonzalez with a changeup that turned into a double play and then struck out Conor Jackson on a knuckle curve.

Example two occurred in the fourth with a 4-0 lead. Burnett gave up a home run to Ellsbury and walked Ortiz on four pitches with two outs. One pitch later, he retired Gonzalez on a fastball.

The third example occurred in the sixth this time with a 5-1 lead. Burnett gave up Ellsbury’s second home run, but six pitches later the inning was over as he retired Carl Crawford and Dustin Pedroia on easy outs.

If that was enough to get him into the postseason nobody is ready to say just yet. The Yankees will hold meetings to weigh having a hard thrower such as Burnett going after two other hard throwers or another discussion to counter the hard throwers with a soft-tossing, wily veteran such as Freddy Garcia.

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“It’s a pass the baton,” Burnett said. “We don’t root for anybody to go out [and pitch poorly]. I want Freddy to go out and pitch like he did and he wants the same for me.” 

Garcia entered into that discussion a day earlier during a 9-1 win. Like Burnett, but not to as drastic of an extent, Garcia had struggled against the Red Sox. Saturday he put it together, allowing six hits in six scoreless innings.

“Whoever Joe wants, Freddy and Bartolo [Colon] have been outstanding for us the whole year,” Burnett said. “I want everybody to pitch. I want everybody to do well. That’s the main goal with our starters to do the best we can no matter what the situation is.”

Follow Larry Fleisher on Twitter @LarryFleisher for Yankees coverage right through the playoffs.
 

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“Anything to get the Red Sox out [of the playoffs] would be awesome for me,” Martin said less than 24 hours after the Yankees secured the AL East and on the eve of their three-game series with Boston this weekend.

It was not an extremely hateful answer such as would be expected from Carlton Fisk and Thurman Munson in the 1970s, yet it was a change from the normal bland comments players often give, especially when Martin was asked why he felt so strongly.

“Because I hate the Red Sox,” Martin said. “They are fun to play against because they have a quality team and they are gritty and they play hard and stuff. But I would love to see them lose.”

When asked, manager Joe Girardi said that was the first he’d heard of the comments.

“I haven’t heard anyone say anything about it,” Girardi said. “Obviously we know there’s a lot at stake whenever we play these guys and there’s a lot of pride on the line. There are a lot of expectations when these two teams play, but I have not heard anything.

“I don’t ever like to fuel anything, that’s the bottom line. But boys will be boys.” 

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This is one of those times.

Tampa Bay will face the Yankees seven times over the final week — and go a long way in determining the fate of the Red Sox making the playoffs.

While it has not happened this late in a season, there is a small precedent for it.

Three years ago, the Red Sox were one game out of first place after the Yankees took two-of-three from the Rays with 15 to play in mid-September. Tampa Bay took two-of-three in Fenway, never lost its divisional lead and wound up beating the Red Sox in Game Seven of the ALCS.

“It’s not too often that you see that,” Johnny Damon said before Tuesday night’s game at Yankee Stadium. “But they’re going to have to root for the Yankees — whether they like it or not, whether they admit it.”

Damon was able to say that because of the recent damage the Rays inflicted on the Red Sox. On Aug. 7, the Rays were 10 games out of the AL Wild Card. Since, they have gone 26-13 over their last 39 games.

That includes seven games against the Red Sox on consecutive weekends. Tampa Bay swept three at home and then took three-of-four in Fenway Park, knocking the deficit from seven games to two games.

“You just can tell with their fans and how quiet the place was,” Damon said. “Even when they were scoring runs this past weekend. It was like we need to score more, we need to do that kind of stuff.”

If the Rays can pull this off, they would be the first team to be nine out on Sept. 2 to reach the postseason. They also would be the first AL team to overcome a four-game deficit with 12 games to play to reach the postseason and the fifth to overcome a deficit of more than six games with 20 games or fewer remaining to reach the postseason.

“We sure hope so but we know New York wants to clinch this thing as quick as they can, so they can start setting up their postseason rosters and rotation,” Damon said. “So the Red Sox are finally going to root for the Yankees after all these years. It’s pretty funny when you think about it.”

Follow Yankees beat writer Larry Fleisher on Twitter @LarryFleisher.

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“Joe told me today that he’s going to put the best team on the field, and I’m not in the lineup as the DH,” Posada told reporters. “I’m not happy about it, but I put myself in this situation, and all I can do is keep working and trying.”

That means for the remaining 49 games, Posada is reduced to a spectator and occasional pinch hitter.
It was the second time this year that a subtle reminder of Posada’s decline was delivered before a nationally televised game against the Red Sox.

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The first came May 14, a Saturday night FOX game, when Posada refused to bat ninth for the first time in 12 years and took himself out of the lineup. Posada was hitting .165 and was hitless against lefties. A .382 average in June lifted him to .240 on the season and kept him in the lineup.

But over his last 26 games Posada is batting .205 (16-for-78) with four RBIs and three extra-base hits. Sunday the Yankees finally determined they had seen enough unproductive at-bats.

“We’re going to see how this works,” Girardi told reporters in Boston. “We’re going to try some different things. We’ll see how this works, and I told Jorge, ‘You’re still going to be a big part of this, and we’re going to need you. We’re just going to do some different things.’”

Until Alex Rodriguez returns from the DL, Eric Chavez will fill the role against right-handed pitching and Andruw Jones will be used against left-handed pitching. After Rodriguez returns, the spot could be used to give regulars a half day.

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1. Can the Yankees stop Jacoby Ellsbury?

The Yankees have dropped eight of nine for a number of reasons. Most starkly, they haven’t contained Ellsbury.

Ellsbury’s bounce-back year includes a .371 average (13-for-35) and a .992 OPS against the Yankees. The last time he faced the Yankees, his average went from .299 to .310.

Prior to last night’s game he had a .318 average (second among AL outfielders), a .373 OPS (fifth), 18 home runs (fourth) and 31 stolen bases (third).

He’s not only showing speed, but a surprising amount of power too.

2. How will Colon and Garcia fare?

Based on the fact A.J. Burnett never beats the Red Sox in pinstripes and could not even win Wednesday, it is a good thing he is not pitching this series.

CC Sabathia starts Saturday and his turn is sandwiched around starts by Bartolo Colon and Freddy Garcia, who have continued pitching well.

Neither pitcher has won against the Red Sox, though Colon is 0-2 with a respectable 2.61 ERA. Garcia is 0-2 with a 10.13 ERA.

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But did they only add to their depth of injury-prone starters?

Bedard, who was 4-7 with a 3.45 ERA in 16 starts for the Mariners this season, is expected to make his Red Sox debut against the Indians either Wednesday or Thursday.

When he does — provided he can navigate the unfamiliar streets of Boston en route to Fenway Park — he will be making his first post-July start since 2007. Such has been the fate of the oft-injured 32-year-old since winning 28 games between 2006-07. You name it, Bedard has hurt it: Elbow. Shoulder. Hip.

With Clay Buchholz’s back still not right after six weeks on the disabled list, the Red Sox felt compelled to act. They originally tried acquiring the equally brittle Rich Harden from the Oakland Athletics on Saturday, but even the desperate Sox balked at placing postseason hopes on Harden’s tattered shoulder.

But will Bedard be the answer? He missed four weeks with a sprained left knee before returning to the Mariners’ rotation Friday. In his return, Bedard — a free agent after this season — was pounded for five runs against AL East rival Tampa Bay.

For the Red Sox, the move was low-risk, giving up four prospects: Catcher Tim Federowicz, pitcher Stephen Fife and outfielders Juan Rodriguez and Chih-Hsien Chaing.

Perhaps the most intriguing name in the deal is the other player the Red Sox received: right-hander Josh Fields, a 2008 first-round pick of the Mariners. Fields could find a career revival with the Red Sox, just like Andrew Miller.

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The Yankees are still flirting with first place in the AL East despite struggles in the clutch, highlighted by a 2-for-16 performance with runners in scoring position in Wednesday’s loss to the Royals. That display, however, was one of the few the Yankees weren’t able to overcome. Their rival and weekend opponent, Boston, has not been so lucky.

The Sox are still hovering below .500 and enter the weekend set ranked 25th with a .225 average with runners in scoring position.

“Guys are going to figure it out, I know that,” Boston’s Dustin Pedroia told reporters following Wednesday’s loss to Toronto. “I ain’t going to hit .2-f—ing-40. [Kevin Youkilis is] not going to hit .240. [Carl Crawford is] not going to hit .210.”

The Yankees probably aren’t going to keep hitting .178, but that’s the average they held since April 23 entering Thursday’s late game with Kansas City. The lineup has masked that poor production, though, with  77 walks and 20 home runs.

“Our guys have been patient and always looked for their pitch to hit,” manager Joe Girardi said. “I definitely don’t want guys looking for the first pitch they see because that’s not the type of club we are. And that’s one of the reasons we’re having opportunities to score runs because we’re taking those walks. It’s just we’ve struggled lately with runners in scoring position.”

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