Update: Indeed, tonight’s game has been rained out. It will be made up on Friday August 18 at 1:05 as part of a day/night double header that will open what will now be a five-game series in Fenway.

If the rain allows, the Yankees will get a chance to counter the Red Sox victory in the first game of their season series and depart Boston where they came in, tied for first with the Sox.

If the rain allows, the Yanks will send Shawn Chacon to the hill to get the job done. After a couple of rough outings and an ugly stint in the bullpen, Chacon has come around in his last two starts working his low BABIP magic to hold the Orioles and Devil Rays to a combined .190 BABIP over 13 1/3 innings that saw just two runs cross the plate. That sort of thing won’t continue, of course, and the Red Sox, even with their diminished offense, are exactly the sort of team in exactly the sort of park in which such a stat is likely to correct itself. Indeed, Chacon was lit up by the Sox in his one start against
them last year, a very forgettable three-inning outing in the Bronx on the Saturday Game of the Week.

Chacon’s mound opponent, Josh Beckett, meanwhile, has been heading in the other direction. After three strong starts to start the season, Beckett has gone from bad to worse in his last two outings against the Blue Jays and Indians, failing to make it out of the fourth inning in his last outing against the Tribe. As a result the two pitchers have very similar season stats: both are 3-1 with an ERA very close to 4.50, K/9 close to 5.90, and K/BB close to 1.70 (startlingly, Chacon’s K/9 and K/BB are both better than Beckett’s thus far), while Beckett’s .272 BABIP is actually more likely to regress than Chacon’s overal .303. Hmmm. Could be an interesting night. If the rain allows.