Who would have thought this series might feature more ABs by Jonathan Van Every, Chris Carter, Jeff Bailey, and David Ross than Jacoby Ellsbury, J.D. Drew, Kevin Youkilis, and Jason Varitek?

Keep the momentum rolling towards October while that 3rd place team continues to find tee times and scheduling moving trucks. I'd like to finish out the season still starting these things.

A-Rod is throwing an after party after Sunday's game.

Hopefully after this series...the Yankees and Blue Jays will be tied after this series for third place. Can they have a playoff? I really want the Yankees to finish in fourth.

We should sweep this series though. Seriously.

How's the weather in Boston? If it's anything like in NY, I don't see how the first two games get played. It's been raining non-stop here since last night and won't stop until tomorrow. Bleh.

It's gonna be a long weekend as far as these games are concerned...

http://www.wunderground.com/US/MA/Boston.html

Good news if all games are cancelled: Red Sox get an extra 2-3 days of rest
Bad news if all games are cancelled: Drew and Lowell don't get in-game at bats before the playoffs.

I have tickets to tonight's game, so this is of immediate interest. Would the game be cancelled or postponed? If postponed, what is the best way to learn of the new date and time for the game?

If it's postponed, the only time it could be made up would be tomorrow night. If tomorrow's game is delayed to tomorrow night, I'm assuming they'll just cancel it. I doubt they're going to let extra games roll into Sunday.

There's no ESPN game Sunday night, so that could clear the way for the Sox and anyone else to play a DH on Sunday. I don't see the Sox losing the gate for Friday and Saturday, so my guess is one of those games (if both are called) will be made up Sunday and the other cancelled completely. No way IMO any games roll in to Monday, although it would be fun to have the MFY be forced to cancel their tee times for Monday.

Then again, with available golf dates throughout the entire month of October, one lost day on the links isn't that big of a deal.

Speaking of mockery, if the good fans at Fenway don't wish the Yankees bon voyage with "na na na na, na na na na, hey hey, good bye" on Sunday, I'm going to be very disappointed.

BSL-

I was thinking the same thing, if neither Friday or Saturday are played, they will turn it into a DH on Sunday. The question is how to figure out which game is played and which is cancelled. Friday happens first, so I figure they make the plan to schedule it for the DH on Sunday. Then Saturday is one of those awful, "keep waiting and waiting as they try to get it in games" where you waste the entire day being strung along in the rain.

If anyone gets any news about how they are going to sort out this mess, please post. As much as I love watching a Sox game sitting next to BSL - the thought of stringing along kids and entertaining them for hours while sorting out whether the game is going to happen - well I'm hoping for a cancellation of Saturday's game at this point and the sooner they make the decision the better.

Is Hansack going to start the second game of the DH on Sunday? I can't imagine many regulars will be playing too much that day, except for guys needing ABs.

Of course, if the Rays go 0 for the rest of the regular season...

The Red Sox will not cancel these games, and I'll tell you why: in Game #80, the middle game of the series, the Red Sox, for the first time in their history, will surpass 3 million in attendance. They can do without Game #81, but not if the division is at stake.

Game #80 will get played at all costs. Book it.

I am flying back to the UK tomorrow morning and have two CF bleacher tix for tonight, I am assuming a rainout. Is there no chance this game will be played tonight?

I hope John Henry hands out pamphlets to the Yankees for time shares to his Myrtle Beach Real Estate development...I'm sure there are plenty of takers.

An "O-VER-RA-TED" Chant for Cano would be sweet to couple with the MVP chants that will be greeting Dustin.

pretty much no chance. the tropical downpours don't even get here until this evening.

I'm another one with tickets to tomorrow's game. My friend coming up from NYC has already cancelled due to the weather, and I don't have a good feeling at all about this one.

Just forfeit. The arc of the Yankees story would be a great one

1996-2000: Dynasty
2001-2007: Overpaid underachievers
2008: Charity case

No vending tonight...

I forgot to mention a congratulations to Johnny Pesky on an honor well-deserved.

So what's that mean, Guap?

I've got tickets to Sunday's game - any chance that gets cancelled to make room for Friday & Saturday, or is Sunday the only pretty much sure thing?

It's a strong indication that they are thinking of cancelling the game...

edit: it's kind of obvious that the game will get called tonight, but this is usually the first in the chain of events...

For you weather gurus, is there any chance this storm misses Long Island?

Ann - they won't swap Friday's game for Sundays. Meaning, the Sunday game you've got is the most likely to be played. They may add Friday or Saturday's game to a DH on Sunday, but they won't cancel your game and replace it with one of the other games. That would be like bumping someone off a flight they have a ticket for, and replacing them with folks who's flight was cancelled. The folks with cancelled flight and/or game are the one's that get moved.

In the past, Guap has said that when the cancel the vending folks it doesn't insure the game is cancelled but it is highly likely. In this case, given the forecast, tonight is doomed.

The question is does it get cancelled or postponed to Sunday.

Guap - how do you think they will arrange the games? I realize that vending doesn't care which game is played when, just asking your opinion on this one.

BSL - what do you think? How are they going to sort this out?

Isn't it raining there now? Do you mean tomorrow? TS Kyle will bring downpours tomorrow, LI is in a better spot than Boston, but I imagine it will still be rainy and an overall shitty day.

It has been on and off the whole day. We have a football game tonight at 7 pm and am hoping against all odds that it stops for a couple hours.

My friend, whose name is Kyle (he's from Ohio), wanted TS Kyle to turn into a hurricane to slam Boston just for the headlines.

I wore my Dice-K jersey around campus for nothing. I got booed by this kid as I was walking by...gave him the glare™ and he whimpered "Yankee fan." I gave him an "okay" and walked away. No need to toss salt on the wounds. If they reschedule the games, what is the likelihood that we will see Dice-K pitch again? Or will Francona just shut him down and give him the extra rest?

Assuming tonight's game is cancelled: Will there be a rotation shuffle?

Thanks folks, for the info...guess I'll luck out. I feel for the people with tickets to tonight & tomorrow's game. You just know they're going to make people come to the park...

Such a weird weekend - Sox/Yankees with nothing on the line creating the possibility of complete cancellations. Are pigs flying?

I feel bad for anybody that paid big bucks for this series expecting an epic battle to decide the fate of the AL East.

A relatively meaningless game in a torrential downpour. Yeah, that's a hit!

the only way the Sox need to play all 3 games this weekend is if Tampa loses the next three to Detroit and the Sox are still mathematically alive for the AL East.

As soon as either TB clinches, there's no more need to play all 162 this year.

Globe:

1. Johnny Damon, LF
2. Derek Jeter, SS
3. Bobby Abreu, RF
4. Alex Rodriguez, 3B
5. Jason Giambi, 1B
6. Xavier Nady, DH
7. Robinson Cano, 2B
8. Chad Moeller, C
9. Brett Gardner, CF

1. Jacoby Ellbury, CF
2. Jed Lowrie, SS
3. David Ortiz, 1B
4, Kevin Youkilis, 3B
5. Jason Bay LF
6. Mike Lowell, DH
7. Mark Kotsay, RF
8. Kevin Cash, C
9. Gil Velazquez, 2B

Watch your back Cora...

From lurker tpdunnjr

I'm actually not surprised - they may try to do what they did the last time it rained (who was that against?). I'm guessing they may try to get some of the game played...maybe even hope for 5 innings...who knows.

They are going to do whatever it takes to get the games in as scheduled. No one wants to play DHs on the last weekend of the season(playoff-bound or no playoffs). Keeping the guys on a regular schedule is important.

It's just going to get worse as the night goes on. Anybody who shows up to this game is gonna get screwed.

http://www.wunderground.com/radar/radblast...99&smooth=0

On September 12 against Toronto, they played a game where it rained until about the seventh inning, with a break from somewhere in the seventh on. Just about all the other northeast games were rainouts. I'm glad I don't have this one. (Yes, I sat in the rain, camera tucked away, for that one.)

The rain that night is nothing like the rain we currently have now.

It's insane to play tonight. I live 15 miles south of Fenway and it's pouring. Channel 7 in Boston just said it's going to pour all night until around 3:00 tomorrow. The meteorologist said there might be a window to get tomorrow's game in.

I don't want Dice K out on a wet mound. Can we just have Timlin start instead?

Oh, no kidding. But if they see a stretch of plain ol' light rain coming, they may try to get five innings in. I think it's far more likely they call it before game time.

So they have already moved Pesky's # retirement to Sunday. Call tonight's game already, there is no way this game is played.

Tomorrow is going to be the cluster$##& as they drag it out trying to get that game in. All of this just for the chance to sing "Na-na-na", boo Arod, and send the Yanks off to early tee-times.

On one hand it would be nice to get a couple extra days off. On the other hand I am intrigued at the idea of tigers/sox sweeps. How to cheer...

Bring a blankie tomorrow. We might be in for a long day/night.

The blanket is good, but I think we are going to need some of Fris' tequila or Lowetek's scotch to get us through this one. Tickets are available for Saturday and Sunday's game if anyone wants to join us.

2008/09/27/nyamlb-bosmlb Loge Box available http://purchase.tickets.com/buy/MLBEventIn...nyamlb-bosmlb-1

new lineup according to Boston.com (but of course this is hypothetical)

1. Ellsbury, CF
2. Lowrie, SS
3. Lowell, DH
4. Youkilis, 1B
5. Kotsay, RF
6. Bay, LF
7. Casey, 1B
8. Cash, C
9. Velazquez, 2B

I'll be spending a fortune on Dunkies hot chocolate.

Youk and Casey are going to look silly fighting over who covers the bag on a throw to first.

(Yes, I know the typo comes from the Globe)