Game Thread: The bragging rights to nothing

At 1:15 p.m., the baseball season has meaning.

No, wait. That’s wrong. No, it doesn’t, but don’t tell that to the folks at Yankees.com urging you to “tune in when the rivalry resumes.” The rivalry for the Grapefruit League sure is a good one. Whoever wins today is clearly the much better team.

In real news, Joba Chamberlain believes he is destined for the bullpen to start the season. I’m fine with this move on one condition: that Joba be moved to the starting rotation sooner rather than later. It’s fine to keep his innings under wraps as a reliever at the beginning of the season. It’s fine to have him thrown the 8th innings the Yanks hopefully get off to a hot start.

But his stuff is too and he’s just too dominant to stay in that role. Unless he can maintain a 0.50 ERA out of the bullpen for an entire season, he is much more valuable to the Yanks as a starter than he is a reliever.

On with the details: Today’s game is on YES and MLB.tv. Gameday will be available here soon. The lineups and potential pitchers come to us via PeteAbe:

YANKEES
Damon LF
Jeter SS
Abreu RF
Giambi 1B
Posada C
Matsui DH
Cano 2B
Betemit 3B
Cabrera CF

Pitching
Pettitte
Albaladejo
Traber
Philips

RED SOX
Lugo SS
Pedroia 2B
Ortiz DH
Youkilis 1B
Lowell 3B
Varitek C
Ellsbury CF
Carter LF
Moss RF

Pitching
Colon
Tavarez
Lopez
Hansen

And please keep the game thread halfway civilized if possible.