If we didn't acknowledge the truth here, I suppose we'd be just as ungracious as we accuse Yankees fans of being. So here comes the obvious, straight and down the middle like a Manny Delcarmen fastball on a 3-1 count:

The 2009 New York Yankees are one hell of a baseball team. And while the thought is hardly appealing, it's very easy to envision them enjoying a booze-spraying celebration in late October, just as they did yesterday.

Forget parochialism and all we've been raised to believe. You simply must tip your cap to a ball club that wins 100 games -- something the Sox franchise has not done since, believe it or not, 1946 -- and particularly one that accomplishes the milestone with six more dates on the schedule.

(Quick digression: Is it me, or was Joe Castiglione's call of Edgar Renteria's one-hopper to Keith Foulke in '04 more subdued than Jon Miller's extremely enthusiastic call yesterday of Jacoby Ellsbury's game-ending squibber to Mariano Rivera? I'm not exactly sure of which announcer I'm critiquing here. Both, I guess.)

Having watched them punch and counter-punch the Red Sox for 18 games this season (in the aftermath the final 9-9 draw, that 8-0 start for the good guys sure feels like a couple of summers ago), we require no lengthy rehash of their strengths and standouts, of Phil Hughes's crucial emergence, Derek Jeter's unusual age-35 resurgence, or Mark Teixeira's all-around importance. The Yankees and their plot twists are always familiar around here.

OK . . . now that I've filled my annual quota for sincere niceties regarding the Yankees -- we generally for three paragraphs per season, give or take a sentence -- here comes the caveat, the real reason I wanted to write about this today, and I could not mean this more:

I like this Red Sox team a lot -- Theo's midseason tweaks greatly enhanced the offense (V-Mart is exactly what they required) and defense (Gonzo brought stability along with his uncommon grace and flash) -- and I love their chances in October.

Yes, even against the team that just partied on in front of them.

I'm not foolish enough to suggest it's a forgone conclusion or predetermined by destiny (or Fox network executives) that the Sox and Yankees shall meet again. Clinching the wild card is a formality, one which will become a reality in the next day or two unless Terry Francona inexplicably begins channeling Gene Mauch. Getting past the tough and talented Angels in the first round is a different matter entirely, no matter what the teams' postseason history might suggest. The Angels are not to be overlooked.