Yanks must earn a red-eye tonight

Shawn Chacon made his first start for the Yankees on July 30, a sultry Saturday in New York. He did something not many Yankee pitchers were doing at the time, going six innings and giving up only one run. Unfortunately, he was done in by the Yankee's Self-Implodable Middle Relief, and earned himself a no-decision. But for the second night in a row, the Yankees rallied against a very tired Anaheim Angel relief corps, and won the game in an exciting ninth inning.

The Bronx Bombers will need that kind of performance tonight. And there won't be any worries about middle relief since not only will Torre use Gordon and Rivera for, I'd expect, as many as four innings, but Chien-Ming Wang and Randy Johnson will also be available out of the bullpen.

That said, and much as I love Derek Jeter's indomitable confidence...

"You'd like to play, but you can't play," said Derek Jeter, the Yankees' shortstop and captain. "[The rainout is] like that for the other team. I don't really think it helps one team or the other."

...the washout of yesterday's game does give the Angels pitchers an advantage they wouldn't have otherwise: unlike July 30, Shields, Rodriguez, and company won't be tired.

Meanwhile, in the national league, the Cardinals win their series in a game played in the middle of the night to avoid heaping any more embarassing on the Padres.

And this afternoon they have the roof closed on Enron...er, Minute Maid Park, despite a beautiful afternoon apparently in Houston. Management wanted more noise from the fans bouncing back down to the field instead of rising to the heavens (and, I might add, to the baseball gods). That really bothers me. This isn't football.