The goal must be to pass back the Rivalry Envy that plagued the Red Sox for some 86 years, only to switch over to The Bronx for most of the past 14-plus.
Yet if that Yankees quest commences with baby steps, then Tuesday night had to feel sweet. For as banged up as these Yankees are, they look nowhere as messed up as baseball’s defending champions.
Most notably, the Red Sox’s ace, a man on whom the Yankees memorably passed three years ago, sounded more despondent than Lori Loughlin at a college crew race.
“I’ve got to find a way to pitch better,” Chris Sale said Tuesday night, after the Yankees knocked around him and his relief help for an 8-0 win at Yankee Stadium, with Sale’s counterpart James Paxton throwing a gem.