April Showers Could Bring Much Needed Rest

Most teams don't need their 5th starter until late April, but the Yankees will be using a full court press this season. That's because circumstances have set it up so that the Bombers play 19 road games in 21 days of April.

With the All-Star game scheduled one week later than normal and a collective bargaining agreement mandate of no more than 10 days off in the first half of the season, there are more games to squeeze into the time frame before the break.

To complicate matters further, Pope Benedict XVI makes a visit to NYC and will be performing a mass on Sunday, April 20 at Yankees Stadium. The latter caused some home series to be swapped for road series. The end result is the Yankees having to come home for a pair of two game series in between their long road trips. The Yankees are none too pleased with the outcome.

"It's pretty stupid," Johnny Damon said. "Every year it doesn't make sense. We come home for two days. It's brutal. We're gone for seven, come home for two, gone for 10. Why even come home?"

Mike Mussina pointed out that the worst part of the schedule is the 6 night getaway games. That means arriving in cities in the middle of the night/early morning, with games to play later that day.

Manager Joe Girardi realizes that the heavy work load in April means he will probably have to give more guys rest in the first month of the season. That could translate to a more rested team later in the season.

Jason Giambi, of course, took the whole thing in stride.

"Maybe that's the reason why we're running so much," Jason Giambi said.

And even the curmudgeon in the group, Mussina, thinks he has found a way of coping.

"Maybe I'll pack four suitcases," he said, "come home, drop off two, grab two more and go."

Though it could result in some day/night doubleheaders later in the season, we don't think anyone would complain (not even Moose) if some of those April dates were rained out.

Source: Star Ledger