Now pitching opening day, number 45

Nope, that’s not a typo. By many accounts, Carl Pavano — the missing-in-action Carl Pavano — is going to start Opening Day for the Yanks. With Wang landing on the DL, Pettitte needing a few more days to get ready, and Mike Mussina’s starts not lining up right, Pavano may be the one to take the ball against the Devil Rays on Monday, April 1 at Yankee Stadium. This goes to show that it really doesn’t matter who symbolically gets to pitch game 1 of 162. And as Peter Abraham noted, “Pavano would be pitching on 643 days of rest.”