Ask Eck - Part III, Red Sox vs. Yankees

                                                            Ask Eck: 9/23                                                     As told to Mark Spoor, Turner Sports New Media

Dennis Eckersley is a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame and one of only two players in Major League History to record both a 20-win season and a 50-save season.

And now he's your personal baseball guru.

Visit the MLB on TBS pages on Facebook or Twitter and "Ask Eck," anything you want about Major League Baseball's past or present.

And now, this week's batch - all about this Friday's TBS Baseball special, which pits the Yankees against the Red Sox.

Q: Ask by @sqrlmom from Twitter -  When did the Yankees/Red Sox rivalry get so ugly?
Eck: Well, it started to get ugly back in the 70s, with Billy Martin and Yaz and Lou Pinella and Bucky Dent, then it kind of went away for a while because the Yankees just weren't that good. It came back in the late 90s and early 2000s when the Yankees were winning World Series, then there was the whole A-Rod thing and the Pedro Martinez thing with Don Zimmer and Aaron Boone winning the pennant for the Yankees and on up through today.

Q: Asked by @subwaysquawkers from Twitter - Who is more intense - Joba Chamberlain or Kevin Youkilis?
Eck: Well, I would have to say Youkilis, because with him it's every day. Plus, with Joba I think that's more of a show and that Youkilis' intensity is more legitimate.

Q: Do the Red Sox have a reasonable chance to catch the Yankees and win the AL East?
Eck: No, mostly because they have a lot of games to make up and not enough time to make them up. The Red Sox would have to play lights out and the Yankees would have to help them out. I just don't see that Yankee team losing enough here in the last two weeks to give them that kind of opportunity. Plus, I think while the Red Sox will say that they'd love to win the division, I think they're in the mindset of getting ready for the playoffs.