Ron Borges

It's now or never for the New York Yankees.

The Yankees open a five-game series at Fenway Park on Friday with their alter egos in the American League East, the Boston Red Sox. Just 1 1/2 games will separate the two teams when that series begins.

Since the All-Star break, the Sox have slipped considerably, going 16-17 with problems surfacing with their starting pitching, relief corps and hitting (with the exception of David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez). The Yankees, meanwhile, seem to have righted themselves after a long year of struggles with injuries and under-producing pitchers such as Randy Johnson. New York has gone 20-12 since the break to move past Boston into first place, a five-game reversal in 31 games.

Yet even with the additions of Bobby Abreu and Cory Lidle and the improved pitching of Johnson, the Yankees won't separate themselves from the Red Sox if they don't make a move during this series, because Boston may be the most resilient team in the American League, if not in all of baseball. Even as the makeup of their team has begun to change from the one that won the World Series in most improbable fashion in 2004, that has remained a constant and continues to this day.

For all the Red Sox difficulties of late, especially with their pitching, they could be tied for the division lead by Saturday morning if everything goes right and if they continue to play at home the way they have thus far.

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That would give the Red Sox the advantage in the series and for the rest of the season. They would have their top three pitchers — Josh Beckett, Curt Schilling and David Wells — going in the final three games against the Yankees, with a chance to turn the tables on them just when much of the world felt New York was ready to assert itself and pull away.

That's why this five-game series is so important to both teams. When it's over the Sox, not the Yankees, have the scheduling advantage because they play the majority of their games at Fenway Park after one last swing to the West Coast. New York has been tough on the road but would play more games down the stretch away from Yankee Stadium than in it and that is an advantage for the Red Sox.

What has been worrisome about the Sox recently is that they have lost five of their past seven series, swept even by the lowly Kansas City Royals. Worse, they have won only one of those series since the mid-July break, another sign that something is amiss. Yet even through all that, their fast start kept them within hailing distance of the Yankees, never falling more than three back. As the most pivotal series of the season approaches, the Red Sox avoided being swept by the best team in baseball, the Detroit Tigers, getting a gutsy performance from Wells and timely hitting. That's the kind of team they've been for four or five years, which is why the Yankees know not to count their chickens before they hatch.

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