Red Sox, Yankees Ready to Start Beanball War or Call Truce?

The Yankee-Red Sox rivalry has had its violent moment. Punches have been thrown. Bullpens have been cleared. And portly former managers have been thrown to the turf by their head. Apparently, Wednesday's double beaning of Kevin Youkilis and Derek Jeter deserves no place in that discussion.

According to ESPN.com, after Youkilis got hit in the head by an Andy Pettitte pitch in the fifth inning, Youk was less than pleased.

"When he got hit in the head, he said they were going to hit me," Jeter told ESPN.com.

Sure enough, when Jeter stepped to the dish to lead off the sixth, the Yankees' captain took one in the upper back from John Lackey.

Sounds like the same old cutthroat Yankees-Red Sox game. Not so much.

Pettitte claimed his pitch slipped, and Lackey knew it wasn't the time or place for retaliation — he just let one get away.

"You think I'm trying to hit a guy in a one-run game to lead off the inning?," Lackey told ESPN.com. "I've been around a little bit longer than that."

Jeter even admitted that Youkilis was just "joking around" when he said that they were coming for him.

With any other teams, this would be over. Everyone said the right thing, and it all made logical, baseball sense. But with the Red Sox and Yankees, there are no guarantees.