NEW YORK _ The stands were devoid of fans as the Red Sox and Yankees took batting practice late Thursday afternoon.
Before the anticipated waves of rain arrived at Yankee Stadium, the Yankees postponed a four-game series opener against their rivals, nearly three hours before the scheduled first pitch.
Thursday's game will be made up as the second game of a day-night doubleheader on Aug. 3.
And the washout eliminates the Yankees' need to stitch together a bullpen day, in what is now a three-game series against the third-place Sox.
J.A. Happ, Thursday's scheduled Yankees starter, will oppose Chris Sale on Friday, and manager Aaron Boone will send out Domingo German on Saturday and CC Sabathia on Sunday.
Sabathia will be activated from the 10-day injured list, having missed one start due to inflammation of his arthritic right knee; he received injections of cortisone and a lubricant last week.
Boston's remaining weekend rotation was unsettled as of Thursday evening.
The first-place Yankees (36-19) are 30-10 since their last meeting with the Red Sox (29-27) in mid-April, sweeping a two-game series against the defending world champs.
But with a chance to expand on a 7.5-game AL East lead over Boston, Yankees manager Aaron Boone mentioned the 100-plus games remaining on the schedule.
"(We're) feeling like we're in a really good place a third of the way through the season, and obviously our guys have played well," Boone said. "But there's a long way to go and we really _ just as much as we can _ try to focus on the day.'
