By Nicole Auerbach, Globe Correspondent

Yankees mananger Joe Girardi has an interesting take on the two teams entering tonight's game with identical 68-42 records tied atop the American League East.

"It's funny that you can play 110 games and be at the same spot as you were on Day 1," Girardi said. "It's always amazing how baseball is."

The Yankees enter the series riding a seven-game winning streak, during which they've outscored opponents, 63-19, and are batting .354.

Girardi said he thinks it's the best he's seen the offense all season.

"I don't remember a time that we've hit as well as we have the last seven or 10 days," he said. "I believe the confidence is high. I think our guys feel good about the way they're swinging their bats."

Of course, the Sox will counter the hot Yankees lineup with Jon Lester, who's won five straight decisions over the Yankees. Something's gotta give.

Other notes:

** Brett Gardner has been playing well lately, but he's just 1 for 6 against Lester, so he didn't get the start. Instead, Andruw Jones is playing left field and Jorge Posada is the designated hitter.

Girardi said he wanted to give Gardner a day off during this stretch of games, and Posada had good at-bats against Lester the last time these two teams met, so the decision was easy.

** Ivan Nova is still around just in case the Yankees need to use Phil Hughes in Sunday's game (in an emergency situation -- i.e. extra innings, depleted bullpen). Hughes is still scheduled to start Tuesday.

The Yankees have six starters for five spots. Girardi fielded a lot of questions about how he plans to organize his rotation moving forward, and he didn't have many answers.