08:49 AM EDT on Friday, July 23, 2004

BOSTON -- It's the middle of the summer, the middle of the season, and the Yankees are coming to town.

And here's the funny thing: nobody seems to care.

After all, it's hard to get too worked up about a series between two teams separated by 8 1/2 games in the standings. It's hard to place too much emphasis on three games that aren't likely to change the familiar seeding -- Yankees first, Red Sox second -- in the American League East, at least not immediately.

Red Sox-Yankees? Their first Grapefruit League meeting last March had more excitement and anticipation than this weekend.

Over the winter, of course, this series was as in demand as any on the schedule. The two rivals clashing on a warm summer weekend represented a baseball holiday of sorts.

But that was before the Red Sox stumbled after a 15-6 start -- capped by a sweep in Yankee Stadium -- and spent the next three months neatly alternating wins and losses.

By salavaging a split of their doubleheader with the Baltimore Orioles last night and averting a series sweep, the Sox enter tonight 8 1/2 games in back of the Yankees, nine in the loss column.

Is this any way for the Great Race to go?

Even if the Sox could sweep the Yankees -- an unlikely proposition to be sure since the Sox have just two three-game sweeps since May -- they would still be a full six games out in the loss column on Sunday night.

That wouldn't be insurmountable with two full months left in the season and two series remaining against the Yankees. But maybe it's not such a bad thing that no one is portraying this as Armageddon.

"This team needs to focus on us, not somebody else," said Johnny Damon yesterday. "It's a tough road. We keep thinking the good Red Sox team will come out and perform every day. You might see it one day and it disappears the next day. We have to keep battling."

Last night was -- finally -- a step in the right direction. The Sox got a strong start from Tim Wakefield, early run support and two clean innings from the bullpen.

The trick is to do this series after series, opponent after opponent. And never mind the Yankees.

"The energy gets more contagious when you win," Damon said. "Right now, it's not there."

The Yankees will supply plenty of electricity. They always do. And if their presence accomplishes anything, it will be to get the Sox pushed in the right direction.

But the Sox need to begin playing more consistent and better baseball -- regardless of the opposition.

"I don't think it's just that we're playing the Yankees," said David McCarty, who delivered two runs last night and cut down another with a throw to the plate. "It's just that we need to play good ball like we're supposed to play."

"We need to take of ourselves," echoed manager Terry Francona. "We need to play the way we can play. If we do that, we'll be OK regardless of who we're playing. If we don't, we've proven we can get beat by anyone, too."

The Sox know what to expect. They've swept the Yankees and been swept by them, sort of a microcosm of their own season -- good and bad, back and forth, up and down.

If they entertain any hopes of the division title, the time is now. As it is, the Sox find themselves looking up at the biggest deficit in the standings this season. Not since the end of the 2002 season have the Sox been farther behind the Yanks.

But in a larger sense, the Sox need to start stringing wins together -- this weekend and beyond, when they'll embark on their longest road trip of the season that will take them to four cities.

"People out there expect us to win," Damon said. "Before the season began, people were expecting us to win. We expect to win. When we don't, it's frustrating."

A growing sense of impatience surrounds the Sox. They were supposed to be better than this, and they were supposed to be more competitive in the standings.

This weekend would be a good time to get turned around. Not because the Yankees are in town, but because time is running out.