Last night's rainout of the Red Sox' series opener against the Toronto Blue Jays nixed their best-laid plan of having Tim Wakefield pitch the regular-season finale Sunday against the New York Yankees and Curt Schilling face the Bombers Saturday.

Instead, the two will flip-flop, with Wakefield pitching on three days rest and Schilling on his regular four. Wakefield, initially slated to start tonight's game, will pitch in this afternoon's Game 1 of a doubleheader. Schilling, who would have pitched last night, will start the nightcap.

The Yankees rolled to an 11-3 win against the Baltimore Orioles last night and took a half-game lead in the AL East. The Sox stayed a half-game behind idle Cleveland in the wild card race.

Since there is no telling if the fates of the Sox' and Yankees' postseason hopes will come down to Saturday and Sunday, the effect of the weather-induced switch cannot be determined. Regardless, the change is one the Sox were powerless to prevent.

Wakefield, who pitched the home opener this year, arguably has been the club's most consistent starter this season. He is 15-11 with a 4.09 ERA and a .246 opponents' batting average. Schilling only lately has shown signs of regaining some of the luster from last season.

"Sunday might be the most important game of the year," manager Terry Francona said. "I tried like hell to figure out a way to stop the rain. I have no frustration, zero. You handle things the best way you can.

"You can't just start flip-flopping guys, regardless of how important games are. We set it up a long time ago with what we thought was our best order."

By never starting last night's game, the Red Sox avoided the quandary of wasting an appearance by Schilling in which he pitched two or three innings before the game was called.

"Oh yeah, that's huge," Francona said. "That was something we really wanted to stay away from. That gets you into a real tough situation – up, down, pitch, don't pitch. He'll pitch (tonight), and it's fairly normal, just like having an extra day. He stretched lightly, which is as far as he got along in his progression."

Regardless of how the rotation has panned out, at least one teammate is of the mindset that it is a win-win situation.

"I think it will be interesting no matter who is on the mound," reliever Mike Myers said. "It's very good for Curt to go ahead and do that because when the moment is high, he gets up for the occasion. And for Wakefield, it would have been good to get him out there, given what happened in the 2003 playoffs, but either way, it would have been great for both pitchers."

Randy Johnson got the win for the Yankees last night, and the Red Sox' rainout means he will not face Schilling Saturday, as some fervently had hoped. The only way the two would meet Sunday would be if one Yankees game was rained out this week.

"If they're on top of their game, it could be determined within two hours," Myers said. "That would be nice. It wouldn't prolong it any longer than you have to."