(Sox/Yankees) Game 1 to be culture clash (MLB.com/Singer article)

Yeah, I know this has absolutely no political content, but it's the Sox v Yanks....

Game 1 to be culture clash
10/11/2004 7:30 PM ET
By Tom Singer / MLB.com

NEW YORK -- Turns out there is a higher league.
There are only two members of this league, blood nemeses of each other. The season is short, whenever the schedule or excellence throws them together. The tenor is hysterical, the soundtrack the loud beating of the heart.

And the latest staging of this privileged drama begins Tuesday night with Game 1 of the American League Championship Series, between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees and their entourages of gore and glory.

Call the attraction at Yankee Stadium Game 46 of a two-year epic. The teams that will vie for the 2004 AL pennant have met 45 times since the start of the 2003 season. Boston leads, 23-22.

"Any time we play during the regular season, there's a postseason atmosphere," said pitcher Mike Mussina, who will open the next stage of the Yankees' quest for a 40th pennant. "In the postseason, it's a level above."

<more>

http://boston.redsox.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/content/printer_friendly/bos/y2004/m10/d11/c891032.jsp