How the Yankees Became the Red Sox

The Red Sox' championship turn over the last few seasons has caused some unforeseen side effects.

The formerly loveable loser Boston Red Sox have become the new Evil Empire. Their fans, who used to be looked upon with pity, are now looked upon with annoyance as they fill every ballpark the Red Sox visit.

The "pink hat" Red Sox fans are another phenomenon altogether. I'm not sure what to think of this group, but I'm pretty sure they didn't exist before 2004 (at least in large numbers).

Red Sox fans, a group that I am relatively proud to have spent my entire life a part of, are completely out of control — and deservedly so, considering everything we went through prior to 2004.

But those side effects can be expected. What started happening in New York the day the Red Sox came back from 0-3 in 2004 was completely unexpected.

When Sox Were Sox and Yankees Were Yankees

As Peter Gammons loves to remind us, the Red Sox "curse" wasn't a curse at all.

It was bad management, bad player development, bad talent evaluating, and bad ownership.

It was ignoring pitching for the sake of hitting.

It was going after the wrong free agents and paying them way too much money.

It was resigning their old guys who couldn't play anymore and letting the guys go who could still play.

It was wasting all of their money on position players and ignoring the pitching staff.

You can win in the regular season with hitting. Anyone can bash their way into the playoffs.

But once you make the playoffs, the cold October weather is not conducive to big hitting teams, especially in Boston. It's pitching weather.

The Yankees (for the most part) have always seemed to understand this. When the Red Sox were signing Manny Ramirez, the Yankees were signing Mike Mussina. The Yankees of the late '90s were tremendous pitching teams. They won championships even though they weren't nearly the nightmarish lineup the Yankees feature today.

Because the Yankees always had the better pitching, they were always better built for the long haul. When the Red Sox would jump out to division leads in April and May, the Yankees, their owner, and their fans would confidently point to October ... reminding the world that World Series rings weren't awarded in April or May.

George Steinbrenner once called the Red Sox the champions of April, while his Yankees were champions in October. That pretty much summed up the two teams prior to 2004 in a nutshell.

In 1978, the Red Sox lost because they had a lesser manager and a much lesser pitching staff.

In 1986, the Red Sox lost because the back of their bullpen featured an 80 year old Bob Stanley and Calvin Schiraldi.

In 2003, the Red Sox lost because their starting pitching wasn't deep enough and their manager didn't trust the back-end of their bullpen.

The Red Sox weren't cursed, they were never good enough when it counted.

Trading Spaces

In 2004, the Red Sox figured it out (partially by mistake).

The Yankees went out and got A-Rod (after the Red Sox famously failed in their pursuit). The Red Sox went out and got Curt Schilling and Keith Foulke.

The Red Sox won a World Series, and the Yankees had a meltdown as bad or worse than any the "cursed" Red Sox had ever experienced. The Red Sox went on to win the World Series. Everything changed, for both the Red Sox and the Yankees.

To counter the Red Sox finally winning the World Series, the Yankees decided to become the pre-2004 Red Sox.

They signed Johnny Damon instead of addressing their lacking bullpen and aging starting rotation. They traded for Bobby Abreu instead of getting themselves more pitching. They refused to part with young players to get Johan Santana, claiming the money was prohibitive, then gave a 36-year-old catcher $52 million.

The Yankees have become the Red Sox.

Transformation Complete

The change happened so quickly it almost went unnoticed. The Yankees, after all, still make the playoffs every season. Up until last year, they still won the AL East every year.

Something was different, but it was hard to place. Most just assumed the Red Sox had gotten better, but it was more than that.

It all came to a head last month, when an overzealous Red Sox fan tried to "curse" the Yankees by burying a David Ortiz jersey under the concrete of the new Yankee Stadium.

George Steinbrenner would have laughed this off, fired Billy Martin, claimed he only believed in curses that effected Boston, and he would have re-hired Billy Martin.

Hank Steinbrenner panicked, spent $50,000 digging it up, called it a terrible, terrible thing, and then complained about Joba being in the bullpen.

The new Yankees have bad management, bad starting pitching, and an overpaid, over-the-hill starting nine.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the world of the Boston Yankees and the New York Red Sox.

It's nice to finally be on the other side...

I'm SeanMC.

SeanMC is a senior writer for Bleacher Report and writes a column for Sports Central every other Thursday. You can read more articles by SeanMC on his blog.