Carl Pavano, RH Bruce Chen, LH
(0-1, 3.24) (0-0, 3.00)
SS D Jeter 2B B Roberts
CF B Williams 3B M Mora
RF G Sheffield SS M Tejada
3B A Rodriguez RF S Sosa
LF H Matsui DH R Palmeiro
C J Posada C J Lopez
DH J Giambi 1B J Gibbons
1B T Martinez CF L Matos
2B R Sanchez LF L Bigbie
SportsCenter does indeed start off with SHEFFIELD V. FAN AT FENWAY, YANKEES SOX YANKEES SOX YANKEES SOX!!, but since we're playing the Yankees tonight, we get to go second! Well, sort of - there's a reporter at our park, and he's talking about, you know, Gary Sheffield and Yankees Sox Yankees Sox Yankees Sox. This is just not a big deal is the most annoying thing.
I learned something from that moment at Camden, though: the team was taking BP to a Shania Twain song, which is very unfortunate to know.
We've seen both of these two against the team they're facing already. Chen was solid in a no-decision when the bullpen blew up in an 8-5 loss, and Pavano was taken out early after being drilled with a Melvin Mora line drive in a 12-5 Oriole win at Yankee Stadium.
Now, our Yankee games are a big deal. I don't know how many times during the offseason I heard the talk about how tough we played Boston last year (owning the 10-9 record against them), and the team was reportedly really proud of that accomplishment. As also noted a lot, they were 5-14 against New York. If they can play both of those teams tough, they can play with anyone, and they could have something vaguely resembling a shot at chasing a playoff spot.