And so the party moved from the house that Ruth built to the house that Ruth left this past weekend. The Red Sox sport the second best home record in Major League Baseball behind who else, but the Yankees. Their on-base and slugging percentages are far superior in Beantown than on the road. You may remember last year when the Sox returned to Oakland down two games to nothing, with their next three games all being elimination games.

That did not stop the cowboys of Massachusetts from taking care of business at Fenway by bashing the ball around and heading back to Oakland for a Game Five.

With chants of "Who's Your Daddy" reigning down from thousands of arrogant Yankee fans, it's no wonder that the Sox numbers are down in the Bronx this year in comparison to Fenway.

The Yankees completely owned the Red Sox through the first three games of the ALCS, culminating in their 19-8 spanking of the Red Sox in game three at Fenway.

Curt Schilling was shelled, Mariano Rivera was perfect and the Red Sox bats looked outright scared. Late innings saw Manny Ramirez wathcing pitches sail right down the middle.

Here are some numbers that keep Red Sox fans up at night. During the course of the first six innings of games one and two, Red Sox batters were a combined 1 for 37.

The Yankees have led every inning of the series for the first two battles in the Bronx, and did not find themselves behind until Game four.

In Game two, for the first five and a third innings, the Yankees didn't appear to be Pedro's daddy. Pedro was more than solid, allowing a meager one earned run on three hits before giving up a home run to the ageless John Olerud in the sixth inning.

Most Sox fans would be more than content to hear a pitching line like that from Pedro Martinez.

But it was the suddenly dominant John Leiber who was that much better on this night, giving up only one earned run and three hits over seven strong innings.

The sad thing is that the Sox fared better against Leiber that night than they did the previous night when Mike Mussina was perfect for six plus innings before the Sox bats woke up a little.

Two post season veterans Kevin Brown and Orlando Hernandez awaited the Red Sox on Saturday and Sunday, but both fell victim to the Red Sox Nation's finest at the Fens. My knowledgeable baseball friend pointed out to me that the acclaimed Boston Herald even put up a headline saying "Go Yanks."

Keep in mind that this was before the Red Sox got past the not exactly weak Anaheim Angels squad. Either way, Minnesota or New York would have been much more challenging on the road. The sight of Brown pitching at Fenway amidst the ever present phrase "Yankees Suck" is a sight for sore eyes as he struggled immensely here this year (8 earned runs in 6 1/3 innings). Hernandez hasn't pitched at Fenway since 2002.

Mussina is simply a different pitcher at Fenway Park than at Yankee Stadium. While he pitched very well last night, it was not good enough to get the win.

This series will be decided by who takes advantage of having home turf and who can capitalize the most on those advantages. The Sox took advantage of their surroundings pretty quickly and salvage the series to send it back to New York.

We're not giving up on the olde towne team by any means. I know that the Yankees have not lost a series that they've been up 2-0 since the 1981 World Series against the L.A. Dodgers. I also know that in two of the last three series in which the Red Sox have been down 2-0, they've been the ones busting out the champagne at the end.

It's time for some Kevin Millar line drives and some Manny Ramirez home runs. Another key also is Damon, who had an impressive season batting .304 and helped this club get through tough stretches. It starts with him at the top of the order.

What we just can't grasp is how this team went on a run of winning 21 out of 24 games in the last six weeks of the season and then breezed by the Anaheim Angels en route to a Division series sweep.

If the Red Sox lose this series, its rough for fans but it's also "been there, done that" if you're a Sox fan.

Remember 1999 and 2003. But wouldn't it be nice to beat these New Yorkers in October games and not just on cold April nights?