Three certainties in life.

1) Death.

2) Taxes.

3) The Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees taking four friggin’ hours to play a baseball game.

In eighteen regular season matchups in 2007, the average game time of a Yanks-Red Sox contest was 3 ½ hours.

In a 15-9 Yankees win Wednesday evening, the nine inning game took 4:08 to complete. These two teams have now played each other four times in the past six days. Average game time: 3:28. All other Major League games typically are a shade under three hours.

The worst part is that ESPN and Fox Sports continually make the Yanks-Red Sox the nationally televised game almost every time they play.

To wit:

Saturday, April 12: FOX game of the week.

Sunday, April 13: ESPN Sunday Night Baseball.

Wednesday, April 16: ESPN Wednesday Night Baseball.

You can certainly rest assured that’s not going to change any time soon. Given the market size and on-field success of the two franchises, expect to be force-fed at least two out of every three games these teams play each other.

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