BOSTON — If you’re of the opinion that there can indeed be too much of a good thing, you’re not alone.

Terry Francona feels your pain.

Last night marked the last meeting between the Red Sox and Yankees until the final week of August and the last series in Fenway until —can it be? — the second full week of September.

And Francona wasnt exactly unhappy about the impending layoff.

“I’m really, really glad,” said Francona before last night’s matchup, the 12th in the first 55 games of the season. “It’s a lot. It takes a lot out of everybody.”

Francona wasn’t imagining things. Red Sox-Yankee games are draining affairs, four-hour-long events that try everyone’s endurance and patience.

Major League Baseball scheduled four of the six series between the two teams in the first nine weeks, meaning the clubs have met, on average, once every two weeks this season.

That sort of familiarity may have bred some contempt, as evidenced by the events of the last two weeks. First, there was the Alex Rodriguez-Dustin Pedroia dustup in Yankee Stadium last month. Then there was the exchange of purpose pitches late in Friday’s game and some fierce basepath collisions Saturday.

Beyond the frayed tempers and emotions, this many games in such a short span has a debilitating effect.

“The umpires look tired,” said Francona. “Same for the coaches and the players. It’s a bit much.”

Each season, the debates rages on, not over how many times they should play, but rather, when.

Baseball prefers some early-season meetings to help stoke fan interest and provide attention-grabbing matchups for national television broadcasts. But there’s a price to be paid for such front-loading. By June, as the two teams suck up all the available oxygen in the sport, a sort of Boston-New York fatigue sets in. Enough already.

When the clubs next play, another 75 or so games will have been played, give or take a rainout or two. Barring an injury plague that decimates their roster, the Red Sox will be fine-tuning and readying for October.

The Yankees? Even a wild-card spot looks like a long shot from here, but enough teams have rebounded in recent seasons (’05 Astros; ’06 Twins) that the possibility can’t be totally discounted.

Assuming he gets and remains healthy, Roger Clemens could impact the Yankees and bring them a degree of respectability. A more likely scenario, however, might find both the team and the pitcher expressing private regret over their $28-million compact. Clemens is arriving too late to have the kind of impact New York hoped for, and the Yankees have consigned themselves to a very expensive deal as also-rans.

Either way, the Yankees will spend the next 10 weeks evaluating their own issues and determining the futures of general manager Brian Cashman and manager Joe Torre, while casting an eye toward bigger personnel moves than can be executed in the offseason.

The Red Sox’ chief competition the rest of the way will come from outside the division, since none of the other three A.L. East teams seems positioned to fill the void left by the Yankees.

The Blue Jays may be doing better than expected in the face of their loss of manpower, but without closer B.J. Ryan, they can’t be seen as viable playoff contenders. The Orioles’ starting rotation has been set back by injuries, and the lineup features too many interchangeable parts to be legitimate threats.

Tampa Bay, meanwhile, features a talent-laden everyday lineup, but lacks experience, or, for that matter, sufficient pitching.

Since the A.L. West is thin beyond the front-running Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, the Sox will have to be content to test themselves with better competition from the A.L. Central, a division fast emerging as baseball’s best and deepest collection of teams.

The Yankees are no longer the measuring stick. They’re off the radar, and until late August, off the schedule, which is probably just as well.

“It’s a bit much,” concluded a relieved Francona before bidding the rivals goodbye until the end of summer.

smcadam@projo.com