BOSTON – The topic of discussion at Chase Wright’s locker was Sunday night’s prime-time steel cage match – Yankees-Red Sox in front of a sold-out, hostile Fenway crowd, featuring Daisuke Matsuzaka, the global star who’s about to start earning his $100 million by (the Sox hope) sweeping the Bombers into oblivion.

Talk about a rookie’s dooms day scenario: Wright isn’t being asked to simply win a game, but to stop a tidal wave from crashing down on the entire Yankee franchise.

They’re hurt, they were again outpitched in Saturday’s 7-5 loss, no one can figure out what’s wrong with Mariano Rivera, and his Red Sox counterpart, Jonathan Papelbon, is redefining the limits of his power fastball. The Sox’ closer hit 97 mph on the radar gun while striking out Derek Jeter in the ninth inning, making the Yankee captain look creaky, if not altogether helpless.

It was a disturbing sight for anyone in the Yankee family. But it could get worse Sunday night unless Wright finds some secret voodoo that’ll keep him at least competitive with Matsuzaka.

Wright tried to sound like he wasn’t panicking, but fooled absolutely no one. The more the kid spoke about his match-up with the international community’s most famous pitcher, the softer his words became until all you saw were moving lips with no sound.

Will you be nervous, someone asked Wright?

“Well, maybe a little,” he whispered, although he pointed out that making his major league debut at Yankee Stadium last week “helped a lot.”

Wright was then reminded, somewhat cruelly, that hardly anyone thinks he has a chance tonight. Tens of millions will be watching on TV, there’ll be unlimited hostility in the stands, there are too many holes in the Yankees’ roster. And then there’s the element of surprise Matsuzaka will enjoy over the Yankees’ lineup.

To that, Wright smiled and said, simply, “awesome.”

It wasn’t exactly the Gettysburg address, but what choice do the Yankees have except to hope Wright’s shyness will somehow turn to strength in a few hours? He’s the best option until Chien-Ming Wang, Mike Mussina and Carl Pavano all heal, which is why general manager Brian Cashman says, “All we’re trying to do right now is hold our own.”

The bigger problem, of course, is that the Yankees don’t have the surprise weapon of years past; there’s no Aaron Small to rescue the back of the rotation, and there’s no obvious candidate to replace Randy Johnson’s 17 wins.

Even those deficits wouldn’t be so damning, except that Rivera looks so mortal. The postmortem conclusion among Yankee elders is that Rivera is merely rusty, and his depressed gun readings on Friday night – he was clocked as low as 88 mph in the 7-6 loss – can be fixed with more regular work.

“We’re going to have to make Mo understand that he has to take the ball even when it’s 10-0, because it’s not helping him to sit around and not pitch,” said one Yankee official. “He doesn’t like those (non-save situation) games, but if he’s a professional he’ll understand it’s in his best interests to get out there.”

No one thinks Rivera is hurt or that he’s lost his stuff. The closer was too effective in spring training for anyone to believe the cutter suddenly has lost its blow-away magic. But Rivera’s collapse on Friday cost the Yankees the most critical game of this series, the one they had to have in order to avoid being swept.

Certainly, Jeff Karstens was no match for Josh Beckett, even on a day when the Sox’ right-hander nearly melted down in the first two innings. He was trailing, 4-2, and might’ve been history if any other Yankee starter had been able to hold the Sox down.

But Karstens was crushed by David Ortiz, who blasted a two-run double in the first, nearly ripped the glove off Bobby Abreu’s hand with a line drive in the second, then added a two-run homer in the fourth inning.

For one day, Alex Rodriguez wasn’t the game’s most dominant hitter, even with two more hits and an RBI. In fact, Rodriguez wasn’t able to come up with one last miracle in the ninth inning, as the Yankees’ mini-rally died with him in the on-deck circle.

There was no getting to Papelbon, even though he teased everyone into thinking so. With one out he walked Melky Cabrera, bringing Jeter to the plate. These two were hardly strangers to each other. Remember, Jeter beat Papelbon with a two-out, two-strike double to right last August, the key blow in what turned into the Bombers’ five-game sweep of the Red Sox.

The difference this year, however, is that Papelbon’s stuff seems even more unhittable now. After making the first out of the inning, Johnny Damon brought back the following scouting report to his teammates:

“(Papelbon’s) fastball looks even harder than it says on the scoreboard,” he said. “To me, his 97 looks like 100 or 102.”

Jeter had no chance, really. His swing and miss on strike three was almost a prophecy. And so was Abreu’s game-ending fly ball to center – well-hit, but nevertheless doomed.

It’s hard not to think of Wright the same way Sunday night. Cashman says, “I promise you the kid isn’t going to be afraid,” although you get the feeling the Yankees would like to hurry up, get the sweep over with and pretend the weekend never happened.