It’s tough to know whether or not Red Sox pitcher Julian Tavarez threw at Yankees’ captain Derek Jeter intentionally on Monday afternoon. After all, in a 1-2 count the timing seemed odd, however Tavarez is a nut case, and the Sox have never been shy about hitting Bronx batters in the past.

There is considerably less doubt surrounding the intentions of Andy Pettitte’s up-and-in pitch to David Ortiz in the next half-inning.

“We’re just pitching,” Yankee skipper Joe Girardi said, via the Boston Herald. “We had some guys whose feet we needed to move – it’s just pitching, just playing the game.”

Girardi also indicated that, having caught Tavarez in the past, he was confident that the pitch to Jeter simply got away from the right-hander and that Pettite’s pitch to Ortiz was in no way retaliatory.

Rather, the pitch was a message to Big Papi and the entire Red Sox dugout that these aren’t Joe Torre’s Yankees. Message received, I’d say, based on the glare toward the mound that Ortiz delivered after the pitch caused him to jump back out of the batter’s box.

I know it’s a bit premature, but let me be the first to say it: The rivalry is back. Even Sox fans, despite two World Championships in the last four seasons, have to admit that their contests with the Bombers have lost some of their juice since the 2003 and 2004 seasons when games between the rivals seemed to routinely see the dugouts and bullpens spill out onto the field.

This is going to be a great, great baseball season.