AMERICAN LEAGUE Francona decides Martinez will miss big Yankees series

Tuesday's rainout didn't change the Boston skipper's plans.
BOSTON (AP) -- Pedro Martinez will still miss Boston's opening series against the New York Yankees even though the Red Sox shook up the rest of their rotation Tuesday.
A daylong rain washed out the night game against Baltimore and forced Boston manager Terry Francona to consider several ways to realign his rotation.
He changed the scheduled pitching days for four starters, but not for Martinez, a move that took some of the glamour out of the four-game series starting Friday night at Fenway Park.
"I'm trying to understand the electricity that goes on with the fans and the Yankees," Francona said, "but I don't think you can ruin your rotation ... because of that point."
Schilling goes Saturday
So Tim Wakefield will pitch Friday night's series opener against Javier Vazquez, with Curt Schilling, Bronson Arroyo and Derek Lowe working the other three games.
The postponement caused less shuffling of Baltimore's rotation. Kurt Ainsworth, who was scheduled to pitch Tuesday, will miss the Red Sox's series, with Sidney Ponson and Matt Riley making their scheduled starts tonight and Thursday.
The game will not be re-scheduled during the current series, the Red Sox announced.
Knuckleball change
The postponement allows Francona to set up his rotation in a way he didn't think he could do it so early in the season with knuckleballer Wakefield throwing between power pitchers Martinez and Schilling.
"I just think it can give us a different look three nights in a row," Francona said. "This was an opportunity to do it without a ton of headaches."
If Martinez's start were pushed back a day to Friday, he likely would have missed the three-game series the following weekend in New York in which he was scheduled to pitch the final game.
But with rain forecast for today and the possibility of another rainout, might Martinez end up facing the Yankees at Fenway after all?
Francona said the rotation would have to be adjusted again but he wouldn't say how. And he said he doesn't expect a doubleheader Thursday even if there's another rainout.
Lowe, who was scheduled to pitch Tuesday, is now slated to work tonight. Schilling and Arroyo also were pushed back a day.
Last time
The last pitch Martinez threw against the Yankees ended up as a popup by Jorge Posada that fell for a two-run double in short center field last Oct. 16 in New York.
The eighth-inning hit tied the seventh game of the AL championship series 5-5 and the Yankees won on Aaron Boone's 11th inning homer off Wakefield.
Francona said having Martinez face the Yankees in New York rather than in Boston fits in with his overall plan for the rotation.
"I understand when you talk about the Yankees [rivalry]," he said, "but we have a lot of other games and if we win when we play we're going to be OK, whether that's the Yankees, the Blue Jays, the Orioles."
The postponement, combined with Monday's day off, gave Boston's overworked bullpen a chance to recover. Scott Williamson, bypassed in Sunday's 6-4 win over Toronto because of a sore elbow, felt fine Tuesday.
"You get the rainout so you get an extra day [off]," he said. "So it helps out everybody. It definitely helps the bullpen."
And if Francona's revamped rotation succeeds, the bullpen should get even more rest.
"We gave thought to about eight different things" before deciding, he said. "We think this is the most practical and it will best suit out ballclub and our pitchers."