"The game was like so many others between the Red Sox and the Yankees, these scattered pockets of great drama spread out across the kind of slogfest that so often defines what we still insist on calling the greatest rivalry in sports. When this one was over, and the Yankees had gotten their third game of this season off Boston - mostly because CC Sabathia's heart was as big as his fastball on this night, as big as he is - you started to wonder if it was John Lackey and Francisco Cervelli who nearly started a brawl at Fenway, or Don Zimmer and Pedro Martinez. Or maybe Bill (Spaceman) Lee.

Time of game, for a nine-inning game? One minute short of four hours. The Yankees won, 5-2. The Red Sox got 13 hits and lost. Here is a pretty good rule of thumb, by the way: When a non-blowout game between these two teams has people leaving Fenway Park, one of the fine capitals of American sports, before the thing is over, then another one of these games has dragged on stupidly long.

So it was another slogfest. Cervelli, truly one of the most annoying Yankees of recent times, hit a home run, got hit, seemed so giddy that somebody bothered to hit him with a pitch that he took a couple of steps toward Lackey. Eric Chavez got a couple of big hits. And the Yankees gave themselves a chance to pass the Red Sox Wednesday night, probably around 11 o'clock on Yawkey Way, if form holds."