At times, it seems as if the Red Sox and Yankees have been going at it longer than the Hatfields and McCoys. There's a classicism to their rivalry, a purity that is unmatched.

	“	I want to win to make my city happy. I play for the New York Yankees, and it makes everyone feel better when you beat Boston. ”
		— Alfonso Soriano, Yankees second baseman

The Giants and Dodgers picked up stakes, moved 3,000 miles and picked up right where they left off, hating each other on the West Coast as much as they did across New York City boroughs. But the Sox and Yanks are less transient, more tradition-bound and, sure, more than a little one-sided.

But as ancient and historic as the rivalry is, it frequently gets renewed by the infusion of new players. Where Fisk and Munson once stood, now stand Posada and Varitek. The tradition continues.

The influx of younger players at once invigorates the rivalry and extends it. Older players retire, newer ones come along. Some new arrivals come without much knowledge of the history of the two teams; others are keenly aware and steeped in the background.

Either way, always, the torch is passed.

"I grew up in LA and I knew nothing about this," says third baseman Shea Hillenbrand, now in his second season with the Sox. "I don't think there's anything else in sports that compares to this. It was a culture shock for me. It seems like there's so much hatred."

Hillenbrand experienced the transplanted Dodgers-Giants feud, but the California-style intensity is no match for the East Coast confrontations. Whereas Giants vs. Dodgers is high spirited and competitive, Yankees vs. Red Sox can get out of hand.

"There's a lot of trash-talking from the fans to the players," Hillenbrand says. "I think it's a horrible atmosphere for kids to be around, with the language that's used and everything else."

If there's a change in the last 20 years or so, it's that the players have become more respectful of one another while the fans have become more belligerent. It's hard to imagine a bench-clearing brawl like the ones the Sox and Yanks engaged in in the mid-to-late '70s.

To some, the notion of all-out hatred for the opposition is almost quaint.

"We don't hate anybody over there," agrees Red Sox lefty Casey Fossum, who got his introduction to the rivalry late last summer. "It's just good baseball."

"Look at Nomar (Garciaparra) and (Derek) Jeter -- they're great friends," said Hillenbrand.

The same could never be said of, say, Graig Nettles and Bill Lee.

But then, much has changed in the game. Players share agents, are part of the same Players Association and socialize at offseason charity events and golf outings. After so much mingling, it's hard to well up a pathological emnity for someone just because he's wearing pinstripes.

"For us as players," Hillenbrand said, "nothing changes when we play the Yankees."

For others, the rivalry is akin to two college arch-enemies meeting. Fossum pitched for Texas A&M and recalls the different feeling that arrived when the Aggies met the Texas Longhorns.

"There were always fights in the stands," said Fossum. "It was a little distracting. It seems like every time you looked up, they were taking someone out."

Ah, the ol' college atmosphere.

Indeed, it seems that lately the rivalry is generated more in the media and in the stands than on the field.

	“	It seems like every time we play, it's a big game because the teams are usually good and we're fighting for the same thing. ”
		— Casey Fossum, Red Sox pitcher

"It's fun for the fans," observed rookie Yankee slugger Nick Johnson. "Everybody gets into it. You hear stuff on the on-deck circle everywhere, but when you're at Fenway, they're on you pretty good."

Some players feel beating the opposition is part of some bigger civic duty.

"I want to win to make my city happy," says super second-year talent Alfonso Soriano. "I play for the New York Yankees, and it makes everyone feel better when you beat Boston. In Boston, I know it's the same thing, because when we were there, everyone kept saying "Yankees suck," and that makes you want to beat them even more.'"

Still others are more keenly aware of the history involved and don't mind embracing it. Moreover, they don't deny there's a unqiue atmosphere when the Yanks and Sox meet.

"I know it's been a rivalry since the beginning," says Yankee starter Ted Lilly. "I hadn't thought about it or studied it, but you don't have to when you're in this (clubhouse). There is a different energy around when you play Boston.

"Against Boston, you can feel more energy from the guys in here, too, and it is different even though we've had tough games against Seattle and Oakland. I didn't come up through the Yankee system, but you definitely feel the energy of it."

Even Soriano, who arrived in the Bronx by way of the Dominican Republic and Japan, is familiar with the history. And he can differentiate between the intensity felt against other quality opponents and the ones from 200 miles to the north.

"It definitely has more intensity than Seattle or Oakland, because it's Boston," he says. "Those games are great, too, (but) you can definitely feel more pressure when you play against Boston."

Most of the younger players questioned believe the unbalanced schedule will add, rather than subtract, from the passion. The more games, the more meetings between the two, the more familiar the teams become and the better the chances of passions stirring.

"It seems like every time we play, it's a big game because the teams are usually good and we're fighting for the same thing," Fossum said.

The rivalry seemed to go on hiatus in the 1980s and early 1990s. For a time, the Sox were dueling more with Toronto in the AL East while the Yankees ran through a succession of manager and roster changes.

But when both teams reached the postseason in 1995, a rebirth took place, heightened by their meeting in the 1999 ALCS, a postseason matchup that would have been impossible under the old playoff format.

Now, with 11 head-to-head games remaining in the regular season and the prospect of a wire-to-wire chase for the division title in the offing, expectations are up, and so are the emotions.

Even if the only ejections are taking place in the stands.

Sean McAdam of the Providence Journal covers baseball for ESPN.com.