Hey, It's Rivalry Week!

Ah, to be a Yankees fan at Shea Stadium. It's a good thing that someone is rudely making rabbit ears behind this kids' head, or else he'd surely be clocked by the other kid with the miniature bat. We're not sure what to think of interleague play. On one hand, a game between the Mets and Yankees that counts in the standings seems wrong somehow; against the laws of nature. Part of the fun of baseball used to be to imagine how an NL team would do against an AL team, and not knowing the answer until the World Series. On the other hand, it's always fun to see American League pitchers try to hit. It's like trying to teach your cat to answer the phone.

Well, all the fun begins today. We've got your Subway Series between the Yankees and Mets at Shea; your Bay Bridge Series between the Athletics and Giants (all games will be played in Oakland) and the South Side-North Side series between the Cubs and White Sox (three-game set at Cellular Field). And one that's often overlooked; St. Louis at Kansas City (the I-70 Series!). Fans are digging it, sure, but what about the players? They must be anxious to go out and establish city pride, right?

• "As a player, it's a pain.'' — Mets' Carlos Delgado. • "It screws up the rest of the schedule. It's an interest in certain areas but there are most of them that don't work.'' — Yankees' manager Joe Torre. • "If we played the way the Cubs have played, there would be 2,000 people in the ballpark, believe me.'' — White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen.

So as you can see, the participants are eager to get started. The Mets-Yankees should actually be good ... and Barry Bonds could pass and/or tie Babe Ruth in Oakland, an interesting concept given that there are rumors sending Barry to play for the A's as a DH next season. There should be a nice mixture of Bonds haters and Bonds apologists to make the stands very interesting, to say the least.

First Place Mets Set To Host Yankees [MSNBC]