We don't really do breaking news here at The Love (hell to the no!), but I will tell you that Justin Masterson got the call-up today (Hansen back down) and will start for the Sox.

Alas, it's a 1:35pm start. So if you're thinking of catching the flu (like 90% of the Sox), today would be the day to go ahead and do that ...

The Herald's Jeff Horrigan:

Thurston also popped out to Blalock along the foul line in the fourth inning, but ump Paul Emmel determined the ball to be in fair territory, ruining Thurston’s chance to earn a Gilligan’s Island-inspired nickname of “Thurston Foul to Third.”

The memory of the magical 2000 Red Sox (85-77) will forever be tarnished.But let's hope we can look past this dark spot and remind ourselves of some of the finer moments of 2000:

If only to see if Orsillo would describe it as "inning-ending".

In case you somehow missed it, Bill James did Q&A on the Freakonomics blog  the other day.

Good stuff. Though he does get a little defensive, at times becoming rather cryptic and kind of ... well ... jerky.

Though I'd guess Galileo also had a pretty big chip on his shoulder.

Introducing every single staff member, including the freakin' team massage therapist, to extremely cheesey rock music? It makes the 1996 Bulls pre-game hoopla look positively dignified.

Also: could the Jays' outfits look any nylon-ier? Or powder blue-ier?

Old friend Eric Gagne is making his first appearance for the Brew Crew.

A single, then a walk. I'm wondering at this point if he can even get Beyond Fukodome.

UPDATE: I was actually just struggling to make this terrible play on words (I only had 162 games in which to do it). I didn't think that the new guy would come up so big. Wow!

Just got the following email from Mrs. Love, who's in Manhattan today for work.

Is it opening day for the yankees? I have seen about 20 posada jerseys. Lame.

Indeed.

... tell me that Manny is starting in this 200-foot-deep left field. If so, look for him to be playing so shallow that he'll be trying to throw out guys on grounders to left. Can't wait ....

Just trying to beat Dirt Dogs to the punch ......[Note the timestamp below, which are very hard to fake.*]

*If you get the Strange Brew allusion, give yourself a hand.