By JOHN DELCOS
The (Westchester, N.Y.) Journal News

NEW YORK - The sport's most intense, albeit lopsided rivalry, resumes under the national spotlight Wednesday night when the American League Championship opens at Yankee Stadium.

It's a rivalry that runs deep and personal, and unmatched in tenseness on the field and lore off it.

Derek Jeter once lunched in Boston and spelled out in pepperoni on his pizza was the name "Pedro." When asked what aspect of the rivalry he enjoys most, Jeter, forever on the listening end of a running dialogue with Fenway fans when on the on-deck circle, simply said: "Beating them."

While this is just the third time the storied rivals will have played in the postseason - the Bucky Dent game in 1978 and the Yankees' ALCS victory in 1999 - the rivalry's roots run to 1918, the year the Red Sox last won a World Series.

A year later, they sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees, who have since won 26 World Series titles and to none for Boston as history's coin flip has always come up pinstripes.

In 1941, the last time a hitter reached .400 when Ted Williams hit .406, it was Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak that won him the Most Valuable Player Award.

Over drinks one night, the general managers of the Yankees and Red Sox swapped DiMaggio for Williams, but the natural order was preserved the next day over breakfast coffee.

The Yankees beat the Red Sox on the final day to win the 1949 pennant, and Dent's homer put the finishing touches on one of history's greatest comebacks - from 14 1/2 games down - and, of course, one of the great collapses.

Bernie Williams remembers the start of the 1999 ALCS, when Yogi Berra came into the Yankees' clubhouse.

"He said to us, 'They've been trying for 80 years, but they can't beat us,' " Williams said.

Berra recalled telling the story this spring and chuckled when asked if winning the 1949 pennant was that much sweeter because it came at the expense of the Red Sox.

The feelings have only intensified with age.

Boston so coveted Jose Contreras that in its meetings with the Cuban pitcher, it booked all the rooms on his hotel floor to keep the Yankees away from him. It didn't work and bitterness oozed in Red Sox CEO Larry Lucchino's "Evil Empire" quote.

Commissioner Bud Selig stepped in to silence the sparring in the newspapers, but he can't regulate the feelings, and it was no secret Yankees owner George Steinbrenner pulled for Oakland in the first round.

How else does one explain his concern for the umpiring?

The Yankees went 10-9 against the Red Sox this season; both teams are loaded with stars, including future Hall of Fame pitchers Roger Clemens and Pedro Martinez, the scheduled starters in Game 3; the rivalry is also highlighted by premier shortstops Jeter and Nomar Garciaparra.

"Every time we play, there's a buzz," said Yankees manager Joe Torre, explaining why there's nothing to be said in terms of motivation.

"The fact that we've played these guys 19 times and knowing how intense the last two series were, I don't sense that anything has to be said."

The keys, of course, are basic: Both teams need to pitch, and the Red Sox especially need big games from starters other than Martinez and Derek Lowe; the bullpens will be a factor, and while the Yankees' Mariano Rivera has regained his bat-cracking dominance, the Red Sox have been vulnerable; mistakes must be kept to a minimum, and whichever team most resembles Oakland on the bases is in trouble.

In the end, it will come down to history: Can the Yankees maintain it and is Boston capable of shaking it?

"Sympathy?" Jeter said when asked if he had any for the Red Sox's star-crossed past.

"I don't have any sympathy for them. They don't have any sympathy for us."

How much the Yankees are despised in what they call Red Sox Nation is evidenced not so much by what is heard in the Fenway bleachers as when the Patriots' Super Bowl rally was highlighted by an anti-Yankee chant.

"I would think you'd just enjoy your Super Bowl," Jeter said. "I guess, whatever makes you happy. How am I treated in Boston? They hate me in Boston. There's no way to sugarcoat it, I am not liked."

Projected Lineups

(regular-season statistics)

Red Sox

Pos.-Player	Avg., HR, RBI, Other
3B Bill Mueller	326, 19, 85
2B Todd Walker	.283, 13, 85
SS N. Garciaparra	.301, 28, 105, 120 runs
LF Manny Ramirez	.325, 37, 104
DH David Ortiz	.288, 31, 101
1B Kevin Millar	.276, 25, 96
RF Trot Nixon	.306, 28, 87
C Jason Varitek	.273, 25, 85
CF Gabe Kapler	.291, 4, 23

Yankees

Pos.-Player	Avg., HR, RBI, Other
2B Alfonso Soriano	.290, 38, 91, 114 runs, 35 steals, 130 Ks
1B Nick Johnson	.284, 14, 47, 70 BBs
SS Derek Jeter	.324, 10, 52
DH Jason Giambi	.250, 41, 107, 129 BBs, 140 Ks
C Jorge Posada	.281, 30, 101
CF Bernie Williams	.263, 15, 64
LF Hideki Matsui	.287, 16, 106, 42 doubles
3B Aaron Boone	.254, 6, 31
RF Juan Rivera	.266, 7, 26, 14 doubles

Projected Rotations

Red Sox

Pitcher	W-L, ERA, Other
RH Tim Wakefield	11-7, 4.09
RH Derek Lowe	17-7, 4.47
RH Pedro Martinez	14-4, 2.22, 206 Ks
RH John Burkett	12-9, 5.15

Yankees

Pitcher	W-L, ERA, Other
RH Mike Mussina	17-8, 3.40, 195 Ks
LH Andy Pettitte	21-8, 4.02
RH Roger Clemens	17-9, 3.91, 190 Ks
LH David Wells	15-7, 4.14, 20 BBs

Relievers

Red Sox: RH Scott Williamson (0-1, 6.20, acquired from Cincinnati), RH Byung-Hyun Kim (8-5, 3.18, 16 saves after Arizona traded him in late May), RH Jeff Suppan (3-4, 5.57, acquired from Pittsburgh), LH Alan Embree (4-1, 4.25, 1), RH Mike Timlin (6-4, 3.55, 2), LH Scott Sauerbeck (0-1, 6.48, acquired from Pittsburgh), RH Bronson Arroyo (0-0, 2.08, 1, 6 games) or RH Todd Jones (2-1, 5.52).

Yankees: RH Mariano Rivera (5-2, 1.66, 40 saves), RH Jeff Nelson (4-2, 3.74, 8, in 70 games with Seattle and New York), LH Felix Heredia (0-1, 1.20 in 12 games with Yankees; 5-2, 3.00, 1, in 57 games with Cincinnati), RH Jose Contreras (7-2, 3.30 in 18 games, 9 starts), LH Gabe White (2-1, 4.38 in 12 games with Yankees; 3-0, 3.93 in 34 games with Cincinnati), LH Chris Hammond (3-2, 2.86, 1).

Matchups

• From Babe Ruth to Bucky Dent to Clemens, this is baseball's most storied rivalry - though the Red Sox almost always have come up on the short end. The Yankees beat Boston 4-1 in the 1999 AL championship series.

• Posada hit .345 with five homers, 10 RBI and 16 walks against the Red Sox this season. Jeter batted .394 with eight walks and five doubles. Giambi hit .194 with three homers, 10 RBI, 14 walks and 21 strikeouts.

• New York pitchers had a 5.48 ERA against Boston's rugged lineup, compared with 4.02 overall.

• Clemens went 2-3 with an 8.67 ERA in five starts against his former team.

• Contreras, pursued by Boston last winter, was 0-2 in two appearances against the Red Sox, allowing 12 earned runs in 4 1-3 innings for a 24.92 ERA.

• Rivera went 3-0 with a 2.70 ERA and four saves in nine games against Boston.

• Mussina, still looking for his first World Series ring, came within one strike of a perfect game at Fenway Park on Sept. 2, 2001. He is 16-11 with a 3.09 ERA in 39 career starts against Boston.

• Pettitte is 13-5 lifetime with a 3.00 ERA against Boston. Wells is 14-20.

• Ortiz hit .327 with six homers and 14 RBI against the Yankees this season. Mueller batted .347 with four homers and 13 RBI. Garciaparra had four homers and 17 RBI. Millar hit only .197 but homered twice.

• Lowe went 2-0 with a 5.55 ERA in four starts. Wakefield was 2-2 with a 3.96 ERA in four starts.

• Martinez is 9-8 with a 2.88 ERA lifetime against New York.

• Boston lost the season series but often teed off against Yankees pitching, outscoring New York 109-94. This series becomes the only one that really matters, though.

Big Picture

Red Sox: The wild-card winners rallied from a 2-0 deficit to defeat Oakland in the division series, and the decisive fifth game was a thriller Monday night. However, center fielder and leadoff hitter Johnny Damon left the field in an ambulance after he was knocked unconscious and sustained a concussion in a head-to-head collision with second baseman Damian Jackson. Damon's status for the series was uncertain, and his absence could leave a hole at the top of the lineup. He hit .273 with 12 homers, 67 RBIs and 30 steals this season. Manager Grady Little said Tuesday that Kapler would probably start in center in Game 1 if Damon was unavailable, but Little did not say who would bat leadoff.

... The Red Sox have won four postseason series since their last World Series title in 1918. ... The Red Sox might be tired at the start of the series. They played tight first-round games and made cross-country trips in consecutive days before arriving at their New York hotel at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday. ... Martinez pitched seven-plus innings in the clincher against the Athletics, so he won't be ready until Game 3. ... Doug Mirabelli catches Wakefield, a knuckleballer. ... Despite all the additions, the bullpen is still a big problem. Williamson earned two wins against Oakland but faltered in Game 5. Little admits he still doesn't know if he has a closer. Lowe got the save in Game 5 and finished the division series with a 0.93 ERA in 9 2-3 innings. ... Boston relies on its powerful offense, though the Red Sox batted only .211 against Oakland.

Yankees: New York won its sixth straight AL East title by six games over Boston - the Red Sox finished second all six years. ... The Yankees are well-rested after finishing off Minnesota in four games, but the pressure from owner George Steinbrenner only increases now. ... Wells is 9-2 lifetime in the postseason and he pitched the biggest game of the regular season for New York, beating Boston 3-1 on Sept. 7 when the Yankees were only 1 1/2 games up. ... The Yankees are in the ALCS for the fifth time in six years.

... Jeter is off to another brilliant postseason, hitting .429 in the division series with a home run and four walks. Williams batted .400 with two doubles and three RBIs, and Soriano hit .368 with a team-leading four RBIs. ... Mussina, Pettitte, Clemens and Wells each went at least seven innings against the Twins. The Yankees allowed only six runs and 26 hits in 36 innings for a 1.50 team ERA, and Minnesota managed just a .198 batting average.

What to watch

•  Rocket vs. Pedro. What a matchup. Clemens and Martinez will face each other at Fenway Park in Game 3, and possibly Game 7 at Yankee Stadium. Martinez beat the Rocket 13-1 in Game 3 of the 1999 ALCS at Fenway.

•  Big Boston bats. Ramirez and Ortiz began to break out of postseason slumps late in the series against Oakland. Ortiz was just 2-for-21 (.095), while Ramirez went 4-for-20 (.200). They'll have to come through more often against the Yankees.

•  Gotta get to Mo. Mariano Rivera holds the postseason record with 27 career saves. He looked unhittable against the Twins - retiring all 12 batters he faced in a pair of two-inning saves. Yankees manager Joe Torre went straight from Pettitte and Clemens to Rivera, but sooner or later one of New York's shaky setup men will have to hold a lead, too.

•  Super sub. Believe it or not, Yankees backup infielder Enrique Wilson is 10-for-20 (.500) lifetime against Martinez. Rarely used as a utility man, Wilson will almost certainly be in the starting lineup against the Boston ace.

• Homer-oriented. The Yankees hit 230 HRs this season - second-most in franchise history behind the Mickey Mantle-Roger Maris team that hit 240 in 1961.

Season Series

New York won 10-9.