Red Sox: A changing rivalry with Yankees

AL East rivals have seen intensity ebb and flow over the seasons.

BOSTON — Roger Clemens, Wade Boggs, Johnny Damon and Jacoby Ellsbury are some of the more notable among the multiple players who’ve traded in their red socks for pinstripes.

But there haven’t been as many players to make the move from the Bronx to Boston, though this year’s Red Sox team has three: Eduardo Nunez, Steve Pearce and Nathan Eovaldi.

Among those three, Nunez has dealt with the rivalry the most, playing in the Yankees organization from 2006 to 2013, spending parts of four seasons at the big league level. Having come up with the old Yankee guard, he knows more than any player in today’s rivalry these games more than just a spot in the standings.

“When I was with the Yankees it was a different situation because it was (with) the old school, with (Derek) Jeter, A-Rod (Alex Rodriguez), (Jorge) Posada, (Mark) Teixeira (and) Mariano (Rivera),” Nunez said. “All those guys really wanted to beat the Red Sox. So I grew up with that mind (that) we really want to beat the Red Sox so bad. Now it’s a different situation because now it’s much younger players, we’re having more fun, but at the same time it’s serious. The rivalry is real and we want to beat them for sure, so bad.”

Nunez could not pinpoint who among the old Yankee greats wanted to beat the Red Sox most, but that’s in part because they were all told from day one that beating Boston was a top priority. He even remembers being told as a Yankee minor leaguer about the rivalry’s importance.

“We grew up with that mentality,” he said. “They put a chip in our mind with that mentality.”

When Nunez left New York for Minnesota the rivalry was changing. With the Red Sox winning in 2004 and again in 2007, there was a new dynamic. So by the time Steve Pearce joined New York in 2012 for a brief stint things had changed, at least for those not on the diamond because Pearce still felt the Red Sox–Yankees games were unique from the rest of the season schedule.

“We’re not ignorant,” Pearce said. “You know it’s Red Sox–Yankees, we know what’s at stake. There’s a little bit more that goes into these games.”

Though after watching Pearce’s three-homer performance in Thursday’s series opener, it’d seem like he thought these games were like any other.

Which is how it felt for Eovaldi back in his days with New York in 2015 and 2016.

“I don’t feel like it was as intense as I would say it’s been in the past,” he said. “Looking back it always seemed like it was real intense. Someone didn’t even necessarily need to get hit, especially with how the rules changed with the collisions at the plate and the safety slide or whatever at second base. I feel like that’s taken a lot of it out of the game. Also, the umpires nowadays, even the other day when Rick (Porcello) hit (Brett) Gardner it was an 0-2 count, there was not intention behind it. And whether (Luis) Severino had intention behind his or not, first pitch of the game they instantly warned both sides. The umpires took control of the game and kept it safe for both sides.”

But between the standings, the hit batsmen and close shaves – like Eovaldi's breaking ball up and in on Giancarlo Stanton in Saturday’s win, which he expressed there was no intention behind and that he felt Stanton knew that, too – the rivalry has felt similar to the days of old. Or at least the closest it’s been to the good ol’ days since 2004.

“It’s definitely been tense,” Eovaldi said. “I think it has to a lot with certain teams. Right now we’ve been playing really good baseball, they’ve been playing catch-up the whole time. For us to be able to do what we did the first game of the series (15-7 win) kind of set the tone. And we’ve kind of been able to keep our foot on the throat, so to speak.”