FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) – Jay Payton’s first role in a rivalry with the New York Yankees came in the 2000 World Series when he played for the New York Mets. Now he’s part of a bigger one against the same team.

Payton hit leadoff for the Red Sox on Monday night – and singled in his first at-bat – when they played the Yankees for the first time since Boston won the AL championship series after losing the first three games to New York. “There was a lot of buildup, there was a lot of hype in the Subway Series in 2000. That was a lot of fun,” Payton said before the exhibition game. “I’m sure it probably didn’t compare to the rivalry here, but for it to be the World Series and the Mets vs. the Yankees, it was pretty big.”

He hit .333 with a three-run homer in that series and finished third in the NL rookie of the year voting that season. He was traded to Colorado during the 2002 season and signed as a free agent with San Diego before last season.

Payton joined the rivalry last Dec. 20 when Boston obtained him and infielder Ramon Vazquez for outfielder Dave Roberts. He’s not surprised about its intensity, which grew in last year’s ALCS. Now the Red Sox are World Series champions for the first time since 1918. The Yankees won 26 titles in that span, the last in the five-game Subway Series against the Mets.

The Mets’ addition of free agents Pedro Martinez and Carlos Beltran in the offseason grabbed back-page headlines in New York usually dominated by the Yankees.

“It’ll definitely make the rivalry a little more intense,” Payton said, “but, still, I don’t think it compares to the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry.”

The Red Sox and Yankees play 19 regular-season games against each other. This year, they open the season with three games in New York and face each other in Boston’s first home series, They’ll also meet in the last series of the season, at Fenway Park.

“The Red Sox, in a sense, played second fiddle for a long time, and now they’re the ones sitting on top,” Payton said. “So they’re going to stick their chests out a little bit until somebody knocks them off. I’m going to reap the benefits of last season this year so, hopefully, we can come back and do the same thing again.” He’ll have to get used to a backup role behind starting outfielders Manny Ramirez, Johnny Damon and Trot Nixon, although he should start for Nixon against most left-handers.

Payton has been a starter in each of his five full seasons and had 458 at-bats last year, when he hit .260.

“I’ve never had an ego, really, so it’s just a situation I’ll have to deal with,” he said.

“I still want to play every day but, obviously, that’s not going to be the case right now.”

With Gabe Kapler leaving to play in Japan and Roberts in San Diego, Payton is the primary backup outfielder and can play all three positions.

That’s comforting to Red Sox manager Terry Francona.

“He’s played successfully every day. We’re not asking him to do that here,” Francona said. “He’s a guy that we think can really help us against lefties but he can play against righties.

“We think we’ve got a pretty good player.”

A player who has been part of two rivalries with the New York Yankees.

“Hopefully, in the end, you’re playing each other once again to try to get back in the Series,” Payton said. “It’s kind of nice, the old David and Goliath thing with the Mets-Yankees and, right now, the Red Sox are sitting on top.”

AP-ES-03-07-05 2019EST