Pair of aces on the menu tonight as the Yankees and the Red Sox sqaure off in the Bronx. If the glass is half-empty for you Yankee fans, you are probably convinced that Mussina will suffer his first bad outing of the year tonight. If you are a Sox fan, you can only hope that Beckett feeds off of his first performance against the Yanks, and not how he pitched against Toronto recently. Course the Sox also hope that Mussina finally slips. Mikey Moose has been brilliant so far, every bit the ace of the staff. With the Yankees at less than full snuff he’s more important that ever. It’s a cool spring evening in New York. It should be a fun one.

Let’s Go Yan-Kees.

Hey, folks, Cliff here, back from a birthday weekend getaway with a few quick roster notes.

The toxic twins, Alex Rodriguez and Jason Giambi, are back in their usual spots at third and DH tonight, but Derek Jeter is riding pine due to being hit on the thumb by a pitch in yesterday’s game. Melky moved up to hit second in Jeter’s place and the hot-hitting Andy Phillips hits seventh ahead of right-fielder Bernie Williams and shortstop Miguel Cairo. Word is Mo is available tonight after the weekend off. Good stuff for the most part. Since Jeter’s x-rays were negative we can hope it’ll just be a one-day thing for him.

The Red Sox, meanwhile, have undergone a few changes since we last saw them, primarily getting Coco Crisp back in center and leading off, bouncing Kevin Youkilis down in the order, and losing Wily Mo Peña to the DL (though he was hurt and on the bench when these teams last met).

Here’s how they look today. Note that Pythagorean record.

Boston Red Sox

2006 Record: 33-21 (.611)
2006 Pythagorean Record: 30-24 (.564)

Manager: Terry Francona
General Manager: Theo Epstein

Home Ballpark (2005 Park Factors): Fenway Park (101/101)

Who’s Replacing Whom?

• Coco Crisp (DL) replaced Wily Mo Peña (DL)
• David Pauley (AA) replaced Lenny DiNardo (DL) (and a brief glimpse of David Wells)
• Jermaine Van Buren replaced Mike Timlin (DL)
• Manny Delcarmen repalced Dustin Mohr (minors)

Current Roster

1B – Kevin Youkilis (R)
2B – Mark Loretta (R)
SS – Alex Gonzalez (R)
3B – Mike Lowell (R)
C – Jason Varitek (S)
RF – Trot Nixon (L)
CF – Coco Crisp (S)
LF – Manny Ramirez (R)
DH – David Ortiz (L)

Bench:

L – Alex Cora (IF)
L – Willie Harris (OF)
L – J.T. Snow (1B)
R – Doug Mirabelli (C)

Rotation:

R – Curt Schilling
R – Tim Wakefield
R – Matt Clement
R – Josh Pauley
R – Josh Beckett

Bullpen:

R – Jon Papelbon
R – Keith Foulke
R – Julian Tavarez
R – David Riske
R – Rudy Seanez
R – Manny Delcarmen
R – Jermaine Van Buren

15-day DL: R – Mike Timlin, R – Wily Mo Peña (CF), L – David Wells, L – Lenny DiNardo

Typical Lineup

S – Coco Crisp (CF)
R – Mark Loretta (2B)
L – David Ortiz (DH)
R – Manny Ramirez (LF)
S – Jason Varitek (C)
R – Mike Lowell (3B)
R – Kevin Youkilis (1B)
L – Trot Nixon (RF)
R – Alex Gonzalez (SS)