E-Mail This Article to a Friend Here come the Pinstripers BY CHRISTOPHER YOUNG

Once the hoopla in Detroit is dispensed with and the All-Stars have shown their wares and talents, the second half of the baseball season will commence. First up for your first-place and defending champion Boston Red Sox are their compadres from the south — the Yankees. Four games between the storied rivals will ignite the post-break festivities, and with the New Yorkers but two-and-a-half games back heading into the All-Star respite, the series could provide some early insight into how the two teams’ remaining seasons will play out.

Now let’s not make too much of this upcoming series, since a split of the four-gamer will leave the two squads exactly where they are now — plus it would be foolish to discount the second-place Orioles, who headed the division for a good part of the season thus far and are now just two back. Still, the two teams haven’t laid eyes on each other since Memorial Day weekend — a get-together "highlighted" by the Sox’ 17-1 thrashing of the Bombers in a nationally-televised contest. Through three head-to-heads, Boston leads the Empire Staters five games to four, with 10 more meetings on the docket in the season’s second half.

Despite Boston’s struggles in Baltimore over the weekend (where it scored but three measly runs in its three losses), the Sox have reason to be optimistic once they get back to playing games that count. For starters, no team in the majors has played as few home games — 38 —as has Boston thus far, and that means the second half will find Fenway packed for 43 of the season’s final 75 games on the ledger — including a remarkable 24 of the last 36 down the stretch. Even better for the Crimson Hose, they still have 13 games left with the last-place Devil Rays and six more each with the bottom-feeders of the AL Central (Detroit and KC).

The Yankees, meanwhile, have only nine left with Tampa (and maybe just as well, since the Rays are 7-3 against Sweet Lou’s former team), they’re done with Detroit, and have but three left with the Royals (who in mind-boggling fashion swept NY earlier this season). In fact, the Steinbrenner AC’s upcoming schedule after the break is downright brutal: a 10-game road trip right out of the box to Boston, Texas, and Anaheim, followed by home series against the Twins and Angels; then it’s right back out to Cleveland and Toronto, then home to the Bronx to host first-place Chicago and bat-happy Texas. Included in the Yanks’ schedule the rest of the way are two more West Coast trips, while Boston has but one four-gamer out in Anaheim (representing the team’s sole visit west of KC the rest of the season).

For the Yankees to be as close to first as they are — given their disappointing season and recent run of injuries to the pitching staff — is a testament to their resiliency and yes, depth, but given the upcoming schedule and the general inconsistency and/or ineffectiveness of Randy Johnson, Mike Mussina, Kevin Brown, and Carl Pavano, it’s tough to see the Yankees overtaking the Sox. New York has a questionable bullpen now that Paul Quantrill and Mike Stanton have been sent packing, and who knows how well Pavano, Brown, or fellow DL resident Jaret Wright will pitch upon their returns. In addition, only 33 of the Empire Staters’ remaining 75 games are in the unfriendly confines of Yankee Stadium, so travel will undoubtedly take a toll on this aging ball club. Like Terry Francona, NY manager Joe Torre must still feel pretty good about his team’s showing given the first-half calamities that each has endured injury-wise. But despite stretches of brilliance, the Yankees have consistently struggled, and that doesn’t bode well for the future. The starting pitchers that have remained healthy have run hot and cold on almost an alternate-start basis, and New York’s team ERA (4.55) is 22nd in the majors (imagine what it would be without closer Mariano Rivera’s minuscule 1.01 ERA).

That’s not to say that the Red Sox have been playing like barnburners, either. Facing a Baltimore team that was in a 3-12 skid and hadn’t won a series since mid June, Boston’s prolific bats went silent in three of the four contests over the weekend. Yet sitting atop a division is pretty damn dandy when one considers that Boston’s ace and closer have been injured and ineffective, respectively, for the bulk of the season — especially when the second-half ledger is comparatively favorable. Six of Boston’s first 14 games out of the gate will be against Tampa Bay, and 13 of the first 20 will be at Fenway Park. By the time Labor Day rolls around, perhaps the Orioles’ and Jays’ inherent weaknesses will have been exposed, and the Red Sox will have the opportunity to coast the rest of way toward their October defense.

But right now, it’s the All-Star break, and then the all-too-familiar striped ones come to town. Undeterred and unbowed, the Yanks will be out to make a statement that there’s gonna be a shootout the rest of the way, and that they have every intention of hanging around for another fall classic or two.

Sporting Eye runs Mondays and Fridays at BostonPhoenix.com, and Christopher Young can be reached at cyoung[a]phx.com