Anybody bring a broom?

12:44 p.m. - Lots of somewhat surly looking red-clad fans at the Trop as the Rays try to sweep the defending world champion Red Sox in a three-game set. That'll be no easy task against ace Josh Beckett. David Ortiz missing a second consecutive game with a sore knee will soften a tough Boston lineup somewhat, though.

Utility infielder Andy Cannizaro, recalled from AAA Durham to replace Elliot Johnson, has yet to arrive. His flight was delayed. Apparently that happens to everyone these days.

The lineups:

Boston

Jacoby Ellsbury - LF

Dustin Pedroia - 2B

J.D. Drew - RF

Manny Ramirez - DH

Kevin Youkilis - 1B

Coco Crisp - CF

Jason Varitek - C

Jed Lowrie - 3B

Julio Lugo - SS

Tampa Bay

Akinori Iwamura - 2B

Carl Crawford - LF

B.J. Upton - CF

Carlos Pena - 1B

Evan Longoria - 3B

Eric Hinske - DH

Dioner Navarro - C

Gabe Gross - RF

Jason Bartlett - SS

Cold start in New York

The Rays are going to have to battle the Yankees and the elements today as it's in the high 40s here in New York today with a wind chill of 39 degrees about 40 minutes before game time.

Principal owner Stuart Sternberg had the most interesting news of the day, that Tuesday's home opener is expected to be sold out later today or sometime Monday at the latest.

Not much news from manager Joe Maddon's pre-game session, except a slight tweak of the batting order, with RF Eric Hinske moving up to sixth and 3B Willy Aybar down to seventh. That puts lefties Cliff Floyd and Hinske back-to-back, but with righthanded hitting Jonny Gomes available as a pinch-hitter Maddon likes his options.

Also Maddon had praise for the way C Shawn Riggans - the interim starter with Dioner Navarro out at least two week - called Saturday's game, specifcially the way he called an unpredictable game and took charge with the pitchers. "I thought he was non-predictable in a good way,'' Maddon said.

Here is the Rays lineup:
Iwamura, 2b
Crawford, lf
Pena, 1b
Upton, cf
Floyd, dh
Hinske, rf
Aybar, 3b
Riggans, c
Bartlett, ss
Shields, rhp

And the Yankees, who get CF Melky Cabrera back from his suspension and now lose Shelley Duncan for two games, and have Jason Giambi bothered by a sore groin:

Damon, lf
Jeter, ss
Abreu, rf
Rodriguez, 3b
Matsui, dh
Cano, 2b
Posada, c
Betemit, 1b
Cabrera, cf

A not-quite beautiful day for baseball

Update, 4:13 The tarp is off and the game seems to be definitely be on. The Rays lineup looks a lot like it was going to Thursday, with Willy Aybar off and Eric Hinske making his first start at third since July 22, 2006, with Toronto. That puts Jonny Gomes - likely to be subject of Yankees' fans ire - in rightfield, right in front of the bleacher creatures.

Also, Thursday's rained out game in Baltimore will be made up on Sept. 23 at 5:05 p.m. as what will be part of a twilight doubleheader.

The full Rays lineup:
Iwamura, 2b
Crawford, lf
Pena, 1b
Upton, cf
Floyd, dh
Gomes, rf
Hinske, 3b
Navarro, c
Bartlett, ss
Andy Sonnanstine makes the start.

As dire as the forecast was the last two days, it sounded like Yankee Stadium would be floating by now. But it's a little after 3 and - thought the tarp was just put back on the infield - the sense is that that there will be baseball tonight, though perhaps with a few showers along the way.
As recently as this morning, the forecast was for it to start raining about noon and keep going until mid-day Saturday. But so far, not a drop.
That said, Andy Sonnanstine is scheduled to start for the Rays against Ian Kennedy, one of the Yankees' young guns.

Cloudy forecast

The next game the Rays play might be Saturday afternoon.
Rain is forecast to start falling in Baltimore by early evening, and once it starts it may not stop for days, following the Rays up the east coast to New York, where they are scheduled to open a four-game series on Friday night.
The Rays will be reporting to Camden Yards shortly, but could find themselves leaving early for New York. At 2:30, it was 50 degrees in Baltimore with gray skies and rain chances at 50 percent starting at 4 p.m. and increasing to 80 percent by the scheduled 7:05 first pitch.
If there is a rainout or two, you can be sure the Rays won't be happy mulling over Wednesday's game, when they were six out from just their second 2-0 start in franchise history and two old issues surface - ineffective relief work and former teammate Aubrey Huff, who knocked in Baltimore's tying and go-ahead run.
The Rays had gotten five quick outs from Gary Glover and Dan Wheeler when manager Joe Maddon went to Al Reyes for the eighth. He had had lefty specialist Trever Miller up earlier, but said he was going to stick with Reyes - last year's closer who has been moved to a setup role - for the full inning against righties or lefties.
"Al had 26 saves last year and I felt good about him going after the full eighth inning regardless of who was hitting,'' Maddon said.
Reyes said he felt fine and wasn't rusty, just ineffective in getting a few of his pitches where he wanted them, starting with his four-pitch walk to leadoff man Melvin Mora.

For openers ...

Update, 2:45 Okay, so it's still cold and still gray, but the rain has stopped and there will be baseball, so that does make it a great day. The Rays have been introduced and, in a bit of a twist, were lined up between third and second. The Orioles are coming out from centerfield on what has to be the world's longest orange carpet, with their arrival heralded by fireworks and their path lined by flag-waving kids.
By the way, there are rumors that the Orioles have still not sold out the opener, which is amazing given the history here.

Not too much in the way of news from manager Joe Maddon pre-game, basically that all players are healthy, though he may have to determine how available Cliff Floyd will be on almost a daily basis due to a sore knee. Maddon said he'll try to get all players a start sometime in the first week so they don't get stale coming out of spring training - keeping alive the enticing possibility of Elliot Johnson being introduced to the crowd at Yankee Stadium.

INF Ben Zobrist hasn't started hitting yet, the final stage of his recovery from a broken left thumb, which makes it unlikely he would join the team during the season-opening seven-game trip.

No word today  from the Rays on the 2009 contract options that have to be acted on by Tuesday, with Carl Crawford's expected to be picked up and Rocco Baldelli's expected to be declined.

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It's cold, gray and wet here in Baltimore this morning, not exactly a beautiful day for baseball, but all indications from the morning forecasts are that the opener will be played.

Light rain has been falling much of the morning, and temperatures are still in the low 40s, but by the 3:05 first pitch it should at least be in the 50s (great!) and the rain is supposed to dwindle to a drizzle (how nice!).

The Rays didn't work out in St. Petersburg or Baltimore on Sunday, taking a late afternoon flight. They may not get to hit on the field today either based on the weather.

Photo: Brian Cassella | Times

Disney return official

The Rays finalized plans to play their April 22-24 series with Toronto at the Disney complex, and said tickets will go on sale Saturday through all outlets on Saturday, including raysbaseball.com and ticketmaster.
There is also a special Internet pre-sale on Friday through raysbaseball.com. All fans attending the Disney games will get a voucher for another weekend game at Tropicana Field.

The Rays also announced the creation of an advisory board to guide the Rays Baseball Foundation, the team's charitable arm.
Those named were:
Lyle Blanden, CEO and chairman J.O. DeLotto and Sons, Inc.
Dick Crippen, Rays senior advisor
Dick Dobkin, consultant and retired managing partner Ernst & Young Tampa Bay
Jim MacDougald, Westshore Ventures, Inc.
Bob Dutkowsky, CEO Tech Data
Fred McGriff, Rays senior adviser
David Feaster, area president Whitney Bank
Winthrop Newton, president St. Petersburg association of firefighters
Lilly Gonzalez, VP and GM Univision Tampa Bay
Richard Reeves, VP advertising and marketing St. Petersburg Times
Cynthia Lake, executive director Children's Dream Fund
Frank Sanchez, partner CMPartners
Clarence Scott, city services administrator St. Petersburg
Stephanie Wheeler
Steve Colafrancesco, VP marketing and new business development Bright House Networks

The foundation also established three grant programs, continuing the field renovation program, adding a community fund grant program for non-profit organizations (on average of $5,000) and an all-star program of $50,000-$100,000.