Only about 15 hours until the 2010 season starts, and with a bang too as the Red Sox host the Yankees.
But their head-to-head schedule presents two significant oddities.
- They do not play each other in June or July. Fans will have to wait from May 18 until Aug. 6 to see them.
- The rhythm of their matchups, in which series usually alternate between Boston and the Bronx, has been replaced by a disjointed setup: two early-season series at Fenway, then three straight at Yankee Stadium, then the season ender at Fenway.
Then the teams and networks go on to complain about the schedule. It's hard to empathize with FOX Sports, who routinely screws its out-of-market fans on Saturday afternoons.
- The roster was set yesterday evening. No surprises. Cervelli and Posada are healthy enough to make the opening-day roster. Mitre's the last pitcher and Pena's the UIF.
- As if ESPN wasn't great enough, now they're adding Curt Schilling as a baseball analyst. Oh, the joy!
- Joe Girardi now expects Nick Johnson to play tonight. He wasn't so sure on Friday afternoon.
"He should be okay [tonight]," Girardi said... Johnson said he's still sore, but he has no worries about being able to play [tonight].
- Surprisingly, third-string catcher Mike Rivera was released while Chad Moeller was signed to be Jesus Montero's backup in Scranton.
- A group of baseball fans traversed the country, stopping at every ML ballpark. The new Stadium ranked sixth (tied with Wrigley and Coors), ahead of places like Fenway, Citizens Bank and Comerica. Camden came out on top.
- For those interested in the intricacies of strikeouts, it turns out the batter (56%) is actually more responsible than the pitcher (44%). [Article only available to BPro subscribers.]