"Greatest rivalry in all of sport!"

Please.

Used to be the Red Sox (and the Mets for that matter) were obsessed with trying to beat the Yankees. Those days are over. Now the Yankees are obsessed with beating the Red Sox.

The Yankees continue to have no answer for David Ortiz and Manny Ramírez, who have combined for 4 homers, 19 runs batted in and a .447 average against the Yankees this season. Wang had a 1-0 lead before they faced him in the fourth.

Wang created a jam by walking Kevin Youkilis after getting ahead, 0-2, with one out. Mark Loretta then singled, and the runners advanced on a wild pitch. Wang then went to 3-0 on Ortiz. Asked if he should have just had Ortiz walked, Yankees Manager Joe Torre hedged.

"I did that once, and I paid the price," Torre said. "It certainly isn't a comfortable position to be in. But I certainly understand why you would ask that question."

Wang pitched to Ortiz, who lined a two-run single to left. The Red Sox led, 2-1, and after Wang got two strikes on Ramírez, he threw a high fastball, 93 miles an hour. Wang said he was trying to get Ramírez to chase a pitch up in the strike zone, a decision with disastrous results.

Ramírez crushed the ball into the center-field bleachers for his 43rd career home run against the Yankees, the most of any active player. The Red Sox led by 4-1.

"He looked like he tried to do something with Manny, something up, which is not his neighborhood," Torre said. "It's Manny's neighborhood, but not his neighborhood, and he killed that ball."

If Billy Wagner, the Mets' closer, had not imploded in the ninth on Saturday, allowing the Yankees to score four, tie the game, and eventually win in the 11th, the Yankees would have now lost five in a row.

When will Mr. Steinbrenner issue a statement?