The Red Sox and Yankees continue their set in New York, the Cardinals meet the Pirates, and the Braves take on the Dodgers.

Colliding in the Junior Circuit . . .

Josh Beckett (13-4, 3.27 ERA) will be matched up against A.J. Burnett (10-5, 3.89 ERA) on Friday night as the Red Sox and Yankees continue their series at Yankee Stadium. Righthander Beckett has managed to pick up the win in seven of his past 10 trips to the mound, with Boston 8-2 in those contests. Righthander Burnett has wins in five of his past seven starts, but he was pounded for seven earned runs on 10 hits over 4 2-3 innings in his last outing against the White Sox.

Elsewhere around the American League on Friday it’ll be Minnesota at Detroit, Baltimore at Toronto, Oakland at Kansas City, Texas at the Angels, Tampa Bay at Seattle, and Cleveland at the White Sox. The Tribe will turn to lefthander Jeremy Sowers (3-7, 4.97 ERA); Cleveland is 3-7 in his last 10 outings. Mark Buehrle (11-5, 3.79 ERA) gets the ball for the ChiSox; the lefthander has lost his last two outings since his perfect game, allowing 12 runs over his 10 2-3 innings.

Clashing in the Senior Circuit . . .

The Cardinals will go with Chris Carpenter (10-3, 2.10 ERA) on Friday night when they play on the road against the Pirates and Paul Maholm (6-6, 4.75 ERA). Righthander Carpenter has been dominant over his past two outings, allowing just two earned runs over 16 innings in wins over the Astros and Dodgers. Lefthander Maholm hasn’t had the same level of success over his past two starts, losing to both the Nats and the Giants (eight runs over 12 1-3 innings).

Making up the rest of the NL schedule for Friday: Florida at Philadelphia, Arizona at Washington, Milwaukee at Houston, the Cubs at Colorado, the Mets at San Diego, Cincinnati at San Francisco, and Atlanta at the Dodgers. Jair Jurrjens (9-8, 2.85 ERA) will start for the Braves; the righthander fell to the Dodgers last time out, allowing four earned runs in five innings. Righthander Chad Billingsley (11-6, 3.82 ERA) will gun for a second consecutive victory over Jurrjens and his Braves.

Rounding out the Roundup . . .

The Canadian Football League kicks off Week 6 of its season on Friday night with Toronto at Montreal and Saskatchewan at British Columbia. The Argonauts sit at the bottom of the East with a 2-3 straight-up (2-3 against-the-spread) mark through the first five weeks of the season, and they’re big 13.5-point road ‘dogs against the Alouettes (4-1 SU, 3-2 ATS). The Lions are 1.5-point home favorites in the late game; B.C. is 1-4 SU and ATS, and Saskatchewan is 3-2 SU and ATS.

Finally, there’s a trio of games on the WNBA schedule for Friday, with Detroit at Washington, Connecticut at Minnesota, and New York at Sacramento. The Liberty are the coldest team in the league, as they’re riding a five-game losing streak into Friday’s matchup on the west coast; New York is 6-13 SU and 6-12-1 ATS on the season. The 5-16 Monarchs have the fewest wins in the entire league, and at 6-14-1 ATS they’ve also had problems paying off for bettors so far.