The Boston Red Sox head into the four game series with the Yanks tonight with a half a game lead in the standings. While the Sox have some injuries of their own, the Yanks are really banged up. AROD missed two games with the flu. Johnny Demon has a bad toe. Mariano Rivera has back spasms stemming from trying to tie his cleats. Jason Giambi with a stomach bug. Derek Jeter was hit by a pitch on his thumb yesterday but vows to play tonight. Godzilla is out with a broken arm. Sheff is out with torn tendons in his wrist stemming from a collision with Toronto’s Shea Hillenbrand. Shawn Chacon has been out with with a hematoma on his leg but hopes to return this Friday. For the Sox, David Wells is out with a bruise stemming from getting hit with a ball above his knee in his first back from the DL. Willy Mo Pena is out after having wrist surgery. Mike Timlin is out with basically what amounts to dead arm and some stiffness in his pitching arm. Last but not least, Kevin Youkilis is day to day after being hit with a pitch in his forearm yesterday.

So I have to ask this question..Who are the Sox going to be playing tonight? Is it a mixture of the Triple A team and the regular stars? Let’s take a look at the roster and see.
Replacing Giambi at first has been Andy Philips. The old veteran Miguel Cairo has been playing for GayRod at third. A combination of Bernie Williams and Kevin Thompson have been replacing Godzilla in left and Melky Cabrera has been replacing Sheff in right. Kyle Farnsworth has blown two saves since Mariano went down. And even with all these injuries, the Yanks are only a half game behind the Sox.

Tonight’s pitching matchup: Josh Beckett (7-2, 4.46 ERA) vs Mike Mussina (7-1, 2.42 ERA)
Tomorrow’s pitching matchup: David Pauley (0-0, 12.46 ERA) vs Chien Ming-Wang (5-2, 4.82 ERA)
Wednesday’s pitching matchup: Curt Schilling (8-2, 3.86 ERA) vs Jaret Wright (3-3, 4.12 ERA)
Thursday’s pitching matchup: Tim Wakefield (4-7, 4.05 ERA) vs Randy Johnson (7-4, 5.33 ERA)