TORONTO -- It has been more than a decade since a Yankees club occupied the cramped visiting locker room at Fenway Park with nothing on the line but pride. For a team accustomed to playing in October, this weekend's tilt at Boston will be odd indeed.
The Yankees will complete their regular-season schedule against the Red Sox, in a series they had circled, hoping it would have postseason implications. Instead, it can only affect Boston, still clinging to a slim hope of securing the American League East.
"It's strange thinking that we're not playing beyond Sept. 28th," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "But as I said, you see the last couple of days and there's a lot of pride out there and I expect the guys to play hard. That's what I expect our guys to do. I think our guys will still play the same way, no matter what."
With rain in the forecast for much of the weekend, the actual timing of games could be affected. But regardless of the place in the standings, the Yankees and the Red Sox always seem to present a hot ticket.
"I'm sure the crowd is going to be into it," Derek Jeter said. "You're not going to change the fans. The fans are always into it. We've gone there when they've been out of it and they've come to New York when they've been out of it. I don't think it's different."
That holds especially true in Boston, where the first game not to sell out at Fenway Park in their recent run of capacity entries will certainly not be against a team wearing gray New York uniforms.
"I was talking to someone about that earlier," Xavier Nady said. "I've only been to Fenway one day and it was crazy, but it'll be interesting. We'll see. It's unfortunate that we're not playing in October, but hopefully we'll end on a positive note."
Joba Chamberlain -- no friend of Fenway after repeated dustups with Kevin Youkilis -- expects his reception to be much the same as it has been over his brief big league career.
"I don't think it's going to be any different, because it is what it is," Chamberlain said. "Guys are still going to play hard and do the things that we've done all year.
"Those fans and our fans that travel from New York want to see a good game, and that's what we're going to give them. Just because we're out of it doesn't mean that we're going to go out and not play hard."
Since the Red Sox and Rays still have unfinished business in the division, Girardi said he plans to field a club capable of presenting a good challenge to the Red Sox.
Rookie Alfredo Aceves -- a Mexican League product who called Fenway Park "just another place to pitch" -- will start on Friday, followed by Sidney Ponson on Saturday and then Mike Mussina on Sunday.
That final game, above all others, is the one the Yankees really want to win, as Mussina will be vying for the first 20-victory season of his career.
"If they're still competing for something, our regulars will be in there," Girardi said. "There might be one younger guy, but I'm going to play the regulars in Boston, especially if it means something."
The Yankees fully expect to hear it from the Fenway faithful over their time in town, having no real argument for the fact that their 13-year postseason streak is history while the Red Sox are headed for the October dance.
"Of course we're going to hear it," Chamberlain said. "You take it with a grain of salt. It won't be the first time we hear it."
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