The Yankees-Red Sox rivalry ain't what it used to be, and there's a very simple reason.

In order for a matchup of two teams to truly be called a rivalry, the teams don't necessarily have to be good. But they must be competitive, at least against each other.

Right now, the Boston Red Sox are neither good nor competitive.

For the moment at least, the Yankees aren't very good either, having lost five of seven games on their just-concluded West Coast trip, but with nearly 100 games of the regular season already in the books, we can draw one conclusion rather safely: They are better than the Red Sox. A lot better.

The Bronx Bombers have rolled all over the Red Sox so far this season. Mark L. Baer/US Presswire

It was 20 days ago, just before the All-Star break, when I wrote a column raising the very real possibility the Yankees could sweep the Red Sox at Fenway and put an end to the charade that Boston could still be a force in the AL East this season.

And they came pretty darned close, winning three out of four and heading into the break 9 1/2 games ahead of their erstwhile rivals.

The only thing that has changed over those three weeks is that now, even though the Yankees have played poorly the past week, the Red Sox are 10 1/2 games back.

There was a time was when you could disregard numbers like those in July -- remember back to 2009, when the Yankees started out 0-8 against the Red Sox and wound up winning the World Series? -- but not this year.

Waiting for the Red Sox to hit that hot streak is like waiting for Alex Rodriguez to start hitting like it's 2007 again. Fanciful, unrealistic notions rooted in notstalgia, not reality.

The truth is, the Red Sox are doormats this year, and their only function this weekend at Yankee Stadium is to serve as slump-busters for the home team.

The difference between what the 2009 Yankees were able to do and what the Red Sox are unlikely to do is this: The 2009 Yankees were bad against Boston and good against virtually everyone else, and even after having lost those eight in a row, they were still just two games behind, waiting to strike like Forego stalking a leisurely pace.