redsoxman
02-28-2004, 10:42 PM
FORT MYERS, Fla. - Bronson Arroyo [stats, news] will be on the mound for the Boston Red Sox [stats, schedule] when they play the Yankees in an exhibition game on March 7, the first meeting of the teams since New York won last year's AL pennant.
``It's the Yankees,'' Arroyo said Friday. ``It doesn't matter if it's spring or the postseason, it's the Yankees. And if they want to see what I've got, no better team to prove it against than that Yankees.''
Jose Contreras or Javier Vazquez is likely to start for New York in the game at Fort Myers.
The last time the Yankees faced the Red Sox, New York rallied from a 5-2, eighth-inning deficit in Game 7 of the AL championship series and won 6-5 on Aaron Boone's 11th-inning homer off Tim Wakefield [stats, news].
New York and Boston spent the offseason competing with each other, adding stars. The teams are projected to open with baseball's highest payrolls, about $180 million for the Yankees and $125 million for the Red Sox.
Red Sox manager Terry Francona said he didn't know when Pedro Martinez [stats, news] was going to make his first start of the spring, but added the fact that Martinez missing the first three days of workouts wasn't a factor in the decision.
``We'll get him in when he is ready to pitch,'' Francona said. ``I don't think he knows when that is so we don't know. He knows his body better than we do.''
``It's the Yankees,'' Arroyo said Friday. ``It doesn't matter if it's spring or the postseason, it's the Yankees. And if they want to see what I've got, no better team to prove it against than that Yankees.''
Jose Contreras or Javier Vazquez is likely to start for New York in the game at Fort Myers.
The last time the Yankees faced the Red Sox, New York rallied from a 5-2, eighth-inning deficit in Game 7 of the AL championship series and won 6-5 on Aaron Boone's 11th-inning homer off Tim Wakefield [stats, news].
New York and Boston spent the offseason competing with each other, adding stars. The teams are projected to open with baseball's highest payrolls, about $180 million for the Yankees and $125 million for the Red Sox.
Red Sox manager Terry Francona said he didn't know when Pedro Martinez [stats, news] was going to make his first start of the spring, but added the fact that Martinez missing the first three days of workouts wasn't a factor in the decision.
``We'll get him in when he is ready to pitch,'' Francona said. ``I don't think he knows when that is so we don't know. He knows his body better than we do.''