Much as I wish I could tell you I witnessed Sally Field’s Alex Rodriguez’ dramatic, game-winning grand salami against the Orioles yesterday via live TV or internet, as an out of market sucker fan, the powers that be declared “no dice” (Clay).

MLB.com was a dark, dark place yesterday, as the entire afternoon slate of TV games was unavailable domestically due to an exclusive agreement with Fox. However, there’s no reason why those of us outside the NYC area should’ve been prevented from watching the Yanks/O’s. The Joe Buck / Tim McCarver helmed broadcast of the Mets’ first loss of ’07 didn’t hit the airwaves until long after the Yankees began playing in the Bronx, yet the YES feed of the latter game was blacked out via DirectTV. Even if I wanted to pledge allegience to the Fox network early Saturday afternoon, there was no baseball to be found, either via the Austin or New York affiliates.

I can understand why Fox insists on blacking out games that directly compete for viewership. They paid a ton of money for the privilege. But denying us the right to watch a game when Fox is showing re-runs, movies, etc. makes no sense whatsoever.

Despite being scheduled to start Tuesday’s game against Minnesota, Andy Pettitte is on the mound for the Yankees in the 6th inning today, with Baltimore leading 5-3. This is Pettitte’s first relief appearance for the Yanks since ’98, and just the 9th relief stint of his career.