It's do or die time for the Seattle Mariners. Despite losing nine games in a row, Seattle sits in second place in the AL Wild Card race, two games behind the Yankees. Today they start a six-game stretch in which they play the two teams competing with them for the playoffs. They start off with Felix Hernandez facing Roger Clemens in New York. Hernandez has had a strange season. He started off unhittable, until he injured his elbow. He's shown signs of that early season brilliance, but not consistently. His strikeout and home run rates are good, but that hasn't translated into a low batting average allowed or a low ERA. Clemens is suffering from both foot blisters and a sore elbow, so there's a possibility Mussina might get the start.

The other big New York news, of course, is the return of Pedro Martinez. I suspect the Mets will watch him very closely today and pull him at the first sign of trouble. The Martinez/Dunn matchups should be telling, since that pits Pedro's strength versus Adam's weakness, strikeouts. The Reds send Aaron Harang, the staff ace to the mound. Given his home park, ERA and won-loss record, Harang should get a little Cy Young consideration. If the Reds put a good team around him, he might have won 20 this season.

There are two good pitching matchups in the north today as Roy Oswalt visits MIlwaukee to take on Ben Sheets and C.C. Sabathia tries to beat Johan Santana again, this time in Minnesota. Neither lefty had their strikeout pitches working in their last meeting five games ago, both striking out just two. Sheets gave Milwaukee a boost in his first start back from the disabled list, allowing one run in six innings against the Cubs. The Brew Crew is 4-1 since that return, after a five-game losing streak.

Finally, the Padres visit the Diamondbacks for the last series between the two teams atop the NL West. Both are fourteen games over .500, but the Padres have two games in hand, giving them first place by less than a thousandths of a point. The days off might be an advantage for Arizona, however, San Diego uses up its two days over the next week. From September 11th on, the Padres play every day. Arizona has their off days spread out over the month. I wonder if they'll use those to move up Webb in the rotation to get him as many starts as possible down the stretch? Today it's Maddux vs. Owings. The two engaged in a great pitchers duel their last time out, both allowing just one run over seven innings.

Enjoy!