Running Low

As the long-running Yankees - Red Sox rivalry nears the end of its 104th season, the popular feud once provided fans with emotionally charged drama, larger-than-life heroes and villains, and compelling subplots woven throughout its story.

The Red Sox - Yankees rivalry seems to be running really really low on some good storylines. The last series could only offer those who tuned in, a series of five baseball contests between two American League East teams vying for first place.

The first 100 seasons of the rivalry were carefully crafted to build toward one defining moment, which occurred in the 2004 AL finale when the luckless but lovable Red Sox finally defeated the rich, cocky but undeniably talented Yankees in the ALCS before winning the World Series and ending the "Curse Of The Bambino" story thread that was written into the series in back in the early years.

Experts, however, suggest that since that moment, the rivalry has struggled to regain the dramatic tension and conflict that was once inevitable to meetings between the two teams.

Sensing that things needed to be shaken up, the Yankees brought veteran Bobby Abreu onto the cast as a midseason replacement for right-fielder Gary Sheffield. However, while Sheffield was a central figure in many conflicts—including the 2004 episode in which he took a swing at a Red Sox fan in the right-field bleachers—the most noteworthy thing Abreu has done in his stint with the Yankees is double home the go-ahead run in last Monday's victory.

Fans have called for increased production of serviceable storylines, saying they don't want their last memory of the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry to be the May 2006 incident in which Doug Mirabelli was escorted to Fenway Park by a Boston police car 14 minutes before game time so that the newly acquired backup catcher could make his Red Sox return and prevent passed balls during the first seven innings of a Tim Wakefield start.

I'm not a fan of either ball club but I do, like most genuine red blooded Americans love a good rivalry. I feel like I've been waiting for some sort of disputed play at the plate, a fistfight maybe, bench-clearing brawl, some pot head causing a scene on the field, overturned home-run ruling, bad managerial decision, heroic walk-off hit by a virtually unknown role player, blood, just anything.

"The Boomer"