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BOSTON (Ticker) -- Mother Nature found a way to cool off the heated rivalry between the New York yankees and Boston Red Sox.

A full day of rain has resulted in the postponement of Game Four of the American League Championship Series between the Yankees and Red Sox.

The Yankees hold a 2-1 series lead after Saturday's emotionally charged 4-3 victory, which featured a bench-clearing beanball incident. Game Four will be played Monday night, with Game Five shifted to Tuesday afternoon.

Rain fell all day, soaking the outfield grass at Fenway Park. Major League Baseball called the game roughly 35 minutes before first pitch.

The decision was not unexpected and both managers admitted that a postponement would factor into how they worked their rotations. Boston could skip No. 4 starter John Burkett and go with knuckleballer Tim Wakefield, who dominated the Yankees in Game One.

"A rainout will affect our starting rotation but we will make that announcement after a rainout comes," Red Sox manager Grady Little said before the game.

New York was scheduled to start lefthander David Wells but will switch to Game One loser Mike Mussina. Wells will start Game Five on Tuesday.

Tuesday originally was a travel day for the long-time rivals, who had an incident-filled Game Three. A benches-clearing melee and an altercation between Yankees players and a Fenway Park grounds crew member drew the wrath of Commissioner Bud Selig, who fined three players and Yankees bench coach Don Zimmer.