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Well, here we go again. The Red Sox and Yankees meet in a five-game series for the first time since the George Steinbrenner era was in its infancy in 1973.

These are meaningful games, and that comes as no surprise -- everyone figured they would be when the season commenced. It will take one team winning at least four of the five contests for this series to have a significant impact on the standings.

Otherwise, we'll basically be right back where we started, and counting the number of days until the next matchup between these two powerhouses: a four-game series in New York from Sept. 15-17 that includes a Saturday day-night doubleheader.

YANKEES AT RED SOX: WEEKEND PITCHING PREVIEW

Friday: Chien-Ming Wang (13-5) vs. Jason Johnson (3-11) Sidney Ponson (4-5) vs. Jon Lester (6-2) We open with a day-night doubleheader, and the pitching matchups promise to get better over the rest of the weekend. Wang hasn't looked like himself in his last two starts and doesn't have a history of pitching well in Boston. He's 0-2 there in three starts with a 6.62 ERA. Ponson, also scheduled to work, hasn't fared well at Fenway, either, going 3-10. Meanwhile, Johnson will try to snap his seven-game losing streak, and Lester will try to improve upon his 6.91 ERA in his last five starts.

Saturday: Randy Johnson (13-9) vs. Josh Beckett (13-7) You might see a lot of strikeouts from Johnson on Saturday, even if that isn't his modus operandi lately. Johnson has averaged 12.2 strikeouts per nine innings at Fenway Park in his career. He had eight in five innings in his one appearance in Boston earlier this season. Beckett is trying to work his way out of a funk (7.00 ERA in last three efforts), but he has the comfort of working in his home ballpark, where his ERA is a reasonable 4.13 and he's allowing less than a homer per nine innings.

Sunday: Mike Mussina (13-5) vs. Curt Schilling (14-5) This is about as good a matchup as you could ask for on "Sunday Night Baseball." Mussina once nearly tossed a perfect game against the Red Sox at Fenway Park (broken up by Carl Everett in the ninth inning). He is 10-8 with a 3.55 ERA against the Red Sox since joining the Yankees. Schilling is 6-3 with a 4.40 ERA against the Yankees since joining the Red Sox.

Monday: Cory Lidle (9-9) vs. David Wells (2-2) This should be a pretty emotional start for Wells, the former Yankee, who has beaten the pinstripes more than any active pitcher (19 times, one more than Roger Clemens). Elias tells us that the last pitcher to reach 20 career wins against the Yanks is Frank Tanana, who did so in 1992 with the Tigers (and the last before that was Jim Palmer in 1976). The Red Sox should feel comfortable with Wells, who is 14-5 in August/September/October over the last three seasons.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• This is the first five-game series between the Yankees and Red Sox since 1973, when Boston won four of five in Yankee Stadium.

• Including postseason, the Yankees and Red Sox have met 81 times since 2003 (Boston leads 41-40), more than any other matchup in the majors.

• Manny Ramirez is hitting .500 with five home runs and 14 RBI in 10 games against the Yankees this season. The only player with more RBI against New York this season is Troy Glaus (who also has five home runs) with 15.

• Cardinals pitcher Mark Mulder gave up five runs in four innings in a rehab start for Triple-A Memphis to test whether he was ready to return to the major leagues. The two-time All-Star walked five and yielded seven hits -- including a two-run homer by Joaquin Arias -- before leaving after the fourth inning. Only 50 of his 92 pitches were strikes, and he benefited from two runners being thrown out from the outfield.

• Reds outfielder Ken Griffey Jr. is struggling at the plate -- batting nearly 50 points below his career average (.246) -- as both of his parents battle serious illnesses. Griffey's mother was to undergo colon cancer surgery Thursday. His father, former major leaguer Ken Griffey Sr., is suffering from prostate cancer.

• Thursday marked the first day in major league history with two games in which each team led off its half of the first inning with a home run. That happened in both the Yankees-Orioles and White Sox-Royals games. There have been five such games this season, matching the total in the major leagues for the entire decade of the 1980s. There were six instances in the 1990s and seven from 2000-05.

• Scott Kazmir struck out 10 batters and did not allow a run in five innings against Toronto. It's been more than 40 years since a major leaguer produced 10 or more strikeouts and no runs allowed with five or fewer innings. The Angels' Dan Osinski (5-10-0, just like Kazmir) did that in relief on May 29, 1964, against the Orioles. Kazmir is the only starter who has done it since 1920, the beginning of the live-ball era.

• Kenny Rogers pitched five innings and got the win against Texas, ending a record streak. Rogers was winless in all six of his starts after having started the All-Star Game, tying the longest streak of that type. Jack Armstrong (1990 Reds) and Dave Stenhouse (1962 Senators) also went six consecutive starts without a win immediately after an All-Star start.

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