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

BOSTON - They have fought for decades, the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, and Saturday the two combatants added another chapter to their combustible lore.

The rivalry born out of the desperation of the cash-strapped Red Sox's sale of Babe Ruth to New York after the 1919 season, hasn't been much considering the Yankees' 26-0 edge in World Series titles since, but there's no mistaking the intensity and passion.

"It's a game of emotion," said Yankees manager Joe Torre after an 11-10 loss to the Red Sox that was marred by a third-inning, bench-clearing brawl precipitated by a verbal-turned-physical confrontation between Boston's Jason Varitek and Alex Rodriguez.

"Our rivalry is probably, not probably, is, like no other rivalry. You want to win a ballgame and you're out there defending your space."

It has been that way for memorable pennant races in 1941 and 1978, and the 1999 and last year's AL Championship Series.

It was that way for the classic comparisons between first Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio, and then Mickey Mantle.

It was that way in the trenches in the 1970s, when the personal feud rivalry between Carlton Fisk and Thurman Munson bubbled over into brawls.

And, it was that way last fall in Game 3 when Pedro Martinez went headhunting and settled for tossing Don Zimmer to the turf.

Saturday, passion met temper in the third inning, when after Bronson Arroyo hit Rodriguez, the aggravated Yankee third baseman jawed with Varitek and the Red Sox catcher responded with a hard shove.

Both players were ejected and face suspensions.

Rodriguez has put a face on the rivalry's competitive nature when after a trade with Boston fell through last winter, arguably the game's best player ended up with the Yankees.

The trade led to an exchange between the organization's two owners, this after the intensity of the emotionally charged AL Championship Series and Red Sox CEO Larry Lucchino's "Evil Empire" quote after the Yankees signed Jose Contreras prior to last season.

"Would you throw at Alex Rodriguez because you couldn't work a deal?" Torre asked.

Arroyo said it wasn't on purpose; Rodriguez believes otherwise.

There's also a difference of opinion as to how Rodriguez ended up in the Bronx and not Boston.

The Red Sox were close to obtaining Rodriguez from Texas last winter and would have had a deal had the Players Association not objected to the structure of it because it lessened the contract's value.

When Boston wouldn't come up with the $15 million needed to close the void, Rodriguez stayed with the Rangers. The Yankees, however, had no problem completing a deal just before spring training - and even got the Rangers to kick in $67 million - which embarrassed the Red Sox to the point where owner John Henry said Major League Baseball needed to adopt a salary cap to "to deal with a team that has gone so insanely far beyond the resources of all the other teams."

Within hours, Yankees owner George Steinbrenner issued a statement that read, in part, "we understand that John Henry must be embarrassed, frustrated and disappointed by his failure in this transaction. ... Unlike the Yankees, he chose not to go the extra distance for his fans in Boston."

Does Rodriguez think his presence has impacted the rivalry?

"I won't say it has escalated it," he said, "but it hasn't gone the other way."

Given the tension, and considering the rivalry's history reached an emotional flashpoint with Aaron Boone's dramatic Game 7 ALCS homer, it was inevitable there would be conflict.

It was a matter of when.

"There was a lot of residual passion," said Rodriguez, who sensed the brawl was charged with lingering feelings from fights past.

"This wasn't like a New York-Kansas City or a New York-Minnesota fight. I haven't been involved with it before, but I'm a part of it now."

Do these teams genuinely dislike each other?

Rodriguez wouldn't say yes or no, but simply, "it's not love."