New York @ Boston preview

Last Meeting ( Apr 7, 2010 ) NY Yankees 3, Boston 1

The Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees get together again this weekend. Bring a pillow and blanket just in case.

The teams will reunite for the first time since umpire Joe West called them “embarrassing” for their inability to play a game in under 3 hours and 20 minutes. This weekend will likely be no different.

The Red Sox are just happy to be over .500 after its first losing April in 14 years. Boston’s bats finally came alive in a four-game sweep over the Los Angeles Angels this week, batting .366 as a team and scoring 36 runs in the series.

The season is only a month old, but Boston doesn’t want to fall much farther behind Tampa Bay and New York in the American League East. Even with the recent hot streak, the Red Sox are in fourth place in the division, five games behind New York and 6 ½ behind Tampa Bay.

A bad weekend series against the Yankees could leave the Sox buried all over again, putting added pressure on ace Josh Beckett to snap out of his current funk.

Beckett has allowed 13 runs, including seven homers, in his last two starts against the Yankees. His April numbers are just as bad. He allowed 15 runs in his final two starts of the month, but rebounded on Sunday with a quality start against Baltimore.

While Beckett scuffles, Phil Hughes is finally healthy and blossoming into the pitcher the Yankees always thought he could be. And he’s only getting better.

Hughes pitched a four-hit shutout for seven innings in a blowout victory against the White Sox last weekend. He has allowed just two earned runs over his last 20 innings (covering three starts) and hasn’t allowed more than two runs in any start this season. He has struck out 24 in 25 innings and carries a miniscule 1.44 ERA into Friday.

The Yankees have been playing short-handed of late and will still be without outfielder Curtis Granderson, who remains on the disabled list with a groin injury. But closer Mariano Rivera and catcher Jorge Posada are expected to return for the Boston series after nursing nagging injuries.

Both missed the series against the Orioles, although the Yankees didn’t seem to mind. Like Boston, they carry a four-game winning streak into the weekend series.