This rivalry just keeps getting better

At about 2 o'clock Friday morning, David Ortiz meticulously got dressed and put on his jewelry. Then he turned to the pack of reporters waiting for him in the Red Sox clubhouse at Yankee Stadium.

"No questions," he declared. "Just Papi talking."

And then, the statement:

"I just want to thank you guys, not all of you, most of you, for the stat today ... I finally got hit.

" ... I hope you -- -- are happy."

He added, as he walked away: "Most unprofessional -- -- I've ever seen. You guys always criticize us when we -- -- up? You should criticize yourselves. Have a good night."

Yup, it was an eventful, three-game series.

CC Sabathia did drill Ortiz in the right hip with a fourth-inning pitch, and yes -- amazingly -- it marked the first time a Yankees pitcher had registered an HBP against Big Papi in his eight-plus years with the Red Sox. The appreciative Stadium crowd, having waited out a rain delay of 3 hours, 27 minutes and then seen Boston's Josh Beckett hit Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez with pitches, rewarded their ace with a standing ovation.

Sabathia fell apart in a stunning, seven-run seventh, however, so the Yankees wound up 8-3 losers, suffering the second home sweep at the hands of the Red Sox this season.

"I still think we're a very good team," manager Joe Girardi said. "We've had some adversity we have to get through, and we'll get through that. Teams go through streaks during the course of the season. They outhit us, they outpitched us, and that's why they won."

Yet in a rivalry defined by its tensions as much as its high level of play, this three-game set stood out for the threats, trash talk and drillings.

It sets the stage for a fun, Fenway Park rematch Aug. 5-7. That is, assuming that the Yankees rebound from this. They should.

Girardi called out Ortiz for flipping his bat after a Tuesday home run against Hector Noesi, and Ortiz responded Wednesday by homering, gently laying down his bat and then ripping into Girardi after the game.

If Sabathia wasn't inclined to hit a Red Sox batter at the game's outset, and if he was willing to let Beckett's first-inning nailing of Jeter slide, then the third-inning HBP of A-Rod crossed the line. Sabathia struck out Adrian Gonzalez, walked Kevin Youkilis and then hit Ortiz with his first pitch. Plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt responded by warning both sides.

"I'm still trying to figure out whether David got hit for something I did, or for something that ESPN stirred up," Beckett said afterward.

Yes, for all of the acrimony the two sides hold against one another -- Boston manager Terry Francona essentially mocked Girardi's initial comments about the bat flip -- they gladly share the notion that their tensions get magnified by the media.

"I respect David Ortiz and what he's done for the game," Girardi said. "I was shocked what he did when he hit the home run. When you say things like that here, it's going to kind of take a life of its own. When you're playing Boston."

When Ortiz slammed a two-run double in the seventh, his second hit of the inning, he seemed to make the "Claw" sign that the Texas Rangers popularized last year. Girardi, surely figuring he had nothing to gain at this point, said he wasn't bothered by it.

"There's a lot of baseball to be played until we see them again," Girardi said. A lot of time for the Yankees to contemplate their 1-8 record against Boston. A lot of time to acquire upgrades in the starting rotation, bullpen (now that Joba Chamberlain likely needs Tommy John surgery) and perhaps at designated hitter, too.

The two sides can blame the media all they want, and look: Sure, we like a story like this. But the actions on the field and words off it showed that this is no imaginary rivalry. It's so real, we can't wait for the next chapter.