The scheduling gods give us thirteen hours of baseball this Thursday as the Indians start around noon EDT and the Mariners finish about 10 PM PDT. The first game of the day is one of the best as Johan Santana tries to get Minnesota back on the winning track. He'll face Fausto Carmona, who started the season in the rotation due to injury but earned a spot with his talent. Carmona doesn't allow many walks, nor does he strike out a lot of batters, and so far the Indians defense played well behind him. Santana hasn't benefited from the reduced home run levels of 2007. He's actually on a pace to allow more than last season, and that's keeping his ERA above 3.00.

How long can Matt DeSalvo survive in the majors striking out one for every three he walks? We'll get a clue today as he makes his third start, this time against the White Sox. Lefties hit him extremely well, and righties extremely badly so far, and with Thome and Podsednick on the DL, the White Sox don't have many left-handed batters to hit against the righty. Jon Garland opposes the Yankees hitters. Garland posts very low strikeout totals as well, but he's been effective against hitters from both sides of the plate.

Former teammates Bartolo Colon and Jarrod Washburn face off in Seattle to end the day. Washburn looks like he's getting more help from his defense this season as his opposition batting average dropped 50 points from last year. Colon is undefeated in five starts since returning from the DL and boasts a strikeout to walk ratio of better than 6 to 1.

Enjoy!

Correction: Fixed DeSalvo's first name.