rest of his postseason play in doubt. New York Yankees The 2004 Yankees began the season in Tokyo with a split against the Rays. Playing a much-anticipated game against the Red Sox, the team lost the game 6–2 and 6 out of the first 7 games to their rivals. After falling as many as games behind the Red Sox on April 25, the team would make up the deficit in less than 2 weeks, including an 8-game win streak. By the end of June, they had a commanding game lead in the AL East over the Sox after sweeping them with a dramatic 5–4 walk-off 13-inning victory. After the All-Star break, the Yankees traded José Contreras to the White Sox for Esteban Loaiza. Contreras was signed away from the Red Sox before the 2003 season, but he failed to live up to expectations. With a game lead in the second week of August, the team struggled and watched their lead dwindle to only games on September 3. The team held off the Red Sox to claim the division and set up a playoff rematch with the Twins. The results were pretty much the same, as the Yankees took the Division Series in 4 games, setting up the rematch. Series build-up The Red Sox and Yankees had met 45 times in the previous two years, with Boston holding a 23–22 lead. The Red Sox held an 11–8 advantage over New York in 2004, but eight of the games were decided in one of the teams' final at-bats. Boston outscored New York, 106–105. and this was the fifth time that the two teams were on the doorstep of a World Series, with the Yankees winning the previous four, in 1949, 1978, 1999, and 2003. The Series was widely anticipated, especially given the outcome of the previous October, when the Yankees beat the Red Sox in seven games when Aaron Boone hit the home run off of Tim Wakefield in the bottom of the 11th inning to send the Yankees to the World Series. Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman said that "the two teams in the American League facing each other in this series are the two best teams, period." Fox commentator Joe Buck said as the series began: "What's hard to believe, it was almost exactly one year ago tonight that Aaron Boone hit that 11th inning home run to beat the