I'm sure of it. FOX must've paid the Red Sox to pitch Schilling on Friday night against the yanks. And once they did, Francona couldn't pitch Pedro Saturday, or Pedro would be pissed that he would essentially become the number two starter. So Pedro is skipping the yankee series. Great. See the Sox' official site for details. It just seems really odd. There's no reasonable explanation as to why they're doing this.

You wanna know why I'm really mad about this?

Because I'm going to Saturday's game, and now I'm getting Arroyo! Nothing against him, but I was pretty sure that in Game 2 of the yankee series, I'd be gettin' Schill. And it actually worked out so that's how it SHOULD be, but now they go and mess with it, and I get Arroyo on 7 (?) days rest.

You know how else I know this was fixed from the beginning? Schilling told Mike & the Mad Dog that he was getting the start in the first Sox-yanks game, WELL before the season started.

But now I have TWO reasons to root for a rain-out Friday night: The original reason--so I can be the first to curse out A-Rod in person, and the new reason--so FOX loses their precious early-season special "cash in on the rivalry" game.