Baseball’s hottest rivalry gets a new provocateur this year.
“The intensity will be interesting. Looking forward to it? Who knows?” he said.
Valentine stood in the third base dugout at Steinbrenner Field before his Boston Red Sox beat the New York Yankees 1-0 Tuesday night in the first of two meaningless spring training meetings that serve as an appetizer for the 18 bitter, tense and often lengthy games during the regular season.
The lone run came in the ninth inning when Pedro Ciriaco ripped a single off reliever David Phelps. The ball skipped past outfielder Zoilo Almonte, and second baseman David Adams threw wildly to third base, allowing Ciriaco to score.
Red Sox pitcher Felix Doubront tossed four shutout innings, and Vicente Padilla got the win with three hitless frames. Doubront and Padilla are among several Boston hurlers battling for the fifth starting spot in the rotation.
Yankees starter Ivan Nova pitched four scoreless innings.
In his second spring training appearance, Mariano Rivera threw 13 pitches and broke two bats in a scoreless inning. He has thrown seven straight scoreless innings in spring training dating to last year.
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