After a few weeks of Interleague rivalries, none stronger than last Sunday night’s Cubs – White Sox clash, we move back to the norm. It’s A.L. vs. A.L. and N.L. vs. N.L. Speaking of rivalries, we have the strongest in baseball and possibly all of sport when the Red Sox travel to the Bronx to face the Yankees in what is a “must-see” Sunday Night ESPN Game of the Week.

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In what is normally a battle for supremacy in the A.L. East, these two teams are both looking up in the standings at the shocking Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Entering play on Saturday, the Sox have the third best record in the American League at 52-37, but sit three games behind the Rays who have the top record in Major League Baseball. The Yankees stand in third place just three games above .500 in the midst of a fairly disappointing season.

Strikeout machine, Joba Chamberlain, takes the hill for the Yankees. Chamberlain has whiffed 62 batters in just 52.2 innings this season. When a starter is clipping batters at a rate of almost 1.2 per inning, you’ve got yourself quite a strikeout pitcher. The problem with Chamberlain is, he has also walked 28 batters in just 52.2 innings which is more than one every other inning.

After spending the first two months coming out of the bullpen, Chamberlain has now made six starts with his first being back on June 3rd. He has allowed two earned runs or less in each of those six starts and has been favored by minus 155 or more in five of those six outings. The Yanks have won four of his six starts this season. His most recent start at home vs. Texas was probably his worst. He was a minus 225 chalk in that game and New York lost 3-2. He threw a whopping 91 pitches and allowed nine base runners in just four innings of work. He’s been lights out on the road with an ERA of just 1.11.

Tim Wakefield is just 2-3 in his last seven starts, despite owning a 1.98 ERA.. (AP Images)

Problem is, this one is being played in Yankee Stadium where is ERA this year is 3.18 which is obviously still very solid. Chamberlain’s career ERA, mainly out of the bullpen, is a stellar 1.64. He has never started against the Red Sox. After being called up last year to help out of the bullpen, the Yankees are now an incredible 36-9 in games in which Chamberlain pitches.

His counterpart on Sunday night will be the veteran knuckle baller Tim Wakefield. He has been absolutely lights out over his last seven starts with an ERA of just 1.98. Despite pitching as well as humanly possible during that seven game stretch, Wakefield has a record of just 2-3 in those starts. The BoSox have lost two of his last three starts but not due to any fault of the knuckle baller who has allowed just four earned runs over those outings.

That’s surprising as the Boston lineup generally provides a ton of run support. The Sox are hitting .280 as a team which is tops in the A.L. and they’ve scored the second most runs in the league only behind Texas. New York has worked Wakefield pretty well over his career. The righty is just 9-16 lifetime vs. the Bronx Bombers with an ERA of 5.03. He has faired well at Yankee Stadium, however where his ERA is just 3.66.

Despite being a big hitting club, the Red Sox have been an under play this season. They are 42-39-8 favoring the under. The Yankees have one of the best under the total marks in all of baseball at 52-32-2 (62% under). With two hot starters on the mound on Sunday, the under might be a consideration. Umpire Lazaro Diaz is scheduled to be behind the plate on Sunday night. That lends even more toward an under play as teams have averaged just nine total runs per game when he has been calling balls and strikes this season. Diaz strikeout to walk ratio is 2.61 and the home team is 9-9 when he is behind the dish.

The “Curse of the Bambino” definitely looks like it is starting to fade. While Boston has picked up a few World Series Titles as of late, including one in 2007, the Yanks have simply had their number. New York was 32-22 vs. Boston from 2005 through 2007. This year, however, Boston has already taken five of the seven games played after Friday’s series opening win. Can Boston continue their 2008 winning ways vs. the Yanks or does Chamberlain baffle them in his first ever start against the Sox. Either way, it’s worth tuning in on Sunday Night.