Thank you, Katy Feeney

As you’re going to hear about a million times over the next few days, the Yankees and Red Sox are playing a three-game series this week.

Normally, this match-up, which is continuously shoved down our throats, means at least two nationally televised Yankees-Red Sox games. If it’s a weekend series, it means Saturday afternoon baseball on FOX followed by Sunday night baseball on ESPN. If it’s a weekday series, it usually means Monday night baseball and Wednesday night baseball on ESPN.

But this week’s Red Sox-Yankees series goes from Tuesday-Thursday, meaning there’s only room for one nationally televised Yankees-Red Sox game (Wednesday, ESPN).

For that, I thank Katy Feeney, MLB’s senior vice president of scheduling. Her wisdom has spared us one overhyped Yankees-Red Sox broadcast. Thank you, from me and fans of teams other than the Red Sox and Yankees everywhere.

Be happy about less Red Sox-Yankees in your life for now, because we’ll get extra doses of it later. ESPN is showing Yankees-Red Sox on Friday, September 16 and Sunday, September 18 and it wouldn’t surprise me if FOX televises the Saturday game.

On a related, nerdy note, Feeney’s job is one of the most complex in sports. If you ever want a mental challenge, try making an MLB 162-game schedule using all the guidelines and traditions MLB uses. It’s a hobby of mine, and it’s tough.

Tuesday sports preview: The best baseball’s out West

GAME OF THE DAY: LA Angels at Seattle Mariners, 7 p.m. Yes, I picked them again. These are two of the best three teams in all of MLB, record wise.

The Angels dominated the series opener on Monday night, winning 6-0. Garret Anderson hit a solo home run to start the scoring off and had two more RBI later. GA is on fire all of a sudden, which is exactly what the Angels needed — Anderson’s looking like he’s in his prime again. In the last week or so, Anderson is 12-for-32 with four homers and 14 RBI. John Lackey was dominant, pitching a complete game shutout, striking out five and not allowing a walk.

The Mariners are now three games behind the Angels in the AL West, and lead the wild-card race by two games over the Yankees. Today’s probables: Ervin Santana vs. Jeff Weaver — yep, a battle of the inferior Santana and the inferior Weaver in the league.

OTHER BIG MLB GAMES — In case you hadn’t noticed, my Other Big MLB Games section always includes every game that either involves two teams in contention (I’ll lower that requirement to one as more teams get eliminated), or a nationally televised game:

Boston Red Sox at New York Yankees, 4 p.m. Ugh. Unfortunately, one of them has to win. More on that later.

Minnesota Twins at Cleveland Indians, 4 p.m. The Indians have quietly put together a great last couple of weeks. The Twins need to win the next two games to get back in the race, and yes, it seems like I’ve been saying that for weeks. Twins Territory has an interview with a Twins beat writer.

New York Mets at Philadelphia Phillies, 4 p.m. Chase Utley’s back! He homered in his first game off of the DL on Monday night, leading the Phillies to a 9-2 win and cutting the Mets’ lead in the NL East to five games.

Milwaukee Brewers at Chicago Cubs, 5 p.m. A battle for first place in the NL Central, between teams that are a combined three games over .500. At least the Cubs are playing well lately, the Brewers have been awful, and Chuckie Hacks outlines why.

Arizona Diamondbacks at San Diego Padres, 7 p.m. Who would’ve guessed that baseball’s strongest divisions this year would be the Western divisions? The Padres won the series opener 3-1, led by an 11-strikeout performance by Jake Peavy. The Padres are now only two games out of first and the NL Wild Card race by three games. Brandon Webb gets the start today for Arizona, and it’s too bad that Webb and Peavy couldn’t have faced off against each other.

OTHER SPORTS:

Tennis, U.S. Open, early rounds, all day nationally televised on USA. Tennis is one of those rare sports I love to play but can’t stand watching, so I have little to add here.

Olympic qualifying basketball, Puerto Rico vs. USA, 8 p.m., nationally televised on ESPN2. Either way, Americans win! The U.S. won their first game of Round 2, 127-100 on Monday over Mexico.

WNBA Playoffs, New York Liberty vs. Detroit Shock, televised on ESPN2. I know it’s a different team, but Jim Caple had a good column about the Seattle Storm possibly playing their last game in Seattle.