The Twins and White Sox finish up the regular season tonight as they play a 163rd game to decide the AL Central winner, the team to take on the Rays in the ALDS. Nick Blackburn matches up against John Danks. Both sport eleven wins on the season although Danks ERA stands over 0.6 runs lower than Blackburn's.

Both pitchers come into the game with 187 innings pitched, making their total directly comparable. Danks win in strikeouts and home runs. He lead Blackburn 155 to 93 in Ks. The extra balls in play off Blackburn show up in their batting average allowed. Danks comes in at .251, Nick .295. Blackburn allowed 22 home runs to John's 15.

Due to his low number of walks, however, 14 of the homers against Nick were solo shots. Danks didn't post the extremely low walk rate of Blackburn, but he was still very good. Twelve of his 15 homers allowed came with no one on.

Danks is simply the better pitcher. Combined with a rested Bobby Jenks, the White Sox hold the advantage on the mound. I could see winning today costing Chicago the first round, however. Danks is their best starter, but by pitching in the playoff game, he'll only be able to start once in the ALDS. If the Twins get by, however, they'll be able to go with a well rested Francisco Liriano in game one. A team can't win if it doesn't play, however, and the White Sox get the edge tonight.

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The White Sox host the Detroit Tigers with Chicago's season on the line this afternoon. A win by the White Sox sends them into a playoff with Minnesota for the AL Central title Tuesday. A loss sends Minnesota to Tampa Bay to play the Rays in the ALDS.

Gavin Floyd gets the ball for the White Sox. A regular starter for the first time in his career, Floyd responded with 200 innings and a 3.91 ERA. His main strength lies in his walk rate, a good one batter every three innings. His strikeout and home run rates are unremarkable.

He started the season strong, but July was the only month he didn't see his ERA rise. Gavin's September ERA stands at 5.40 coming into this game. Detroit failed to hang a loss on him in four starts, but his Floyd's 4.24 ERA against them indicated they hit well enough to give him trouble.

Detroit send Freddy Garcia to the mound. He took most of the year to recover from shoulder surgery and pitched just ten innings this season. He went five innings in both starts, shutting down Texas but getting pounded by Kansas City. He has struck out nine batters in his ten innings, a good sign. However, given the matchup, I'd put a high probability on a playoff game Tuesday.

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The Marlins and Mets get things started at 1:10 PM EDT this afternoon with Scott Olsen facing Oliver Perez. Perez takes the Tom Glavine mantle from last season, the lefty you just don't trust enough. He's been up and down in September, with two good performances, two bad performances, and one in the middle. The Mets pounded Scott Olsen this season. He's 0-3 in four starts against New York, the Mets hitting six home runs in 22 innings.

Mike Mussina tries to become the oldest pitcher to win 20 games for the first time. Jamie Moyer set the record in 2001, winning 20 for the first time at age 38. Mussina is 39. Mike is 1-2 against Boston this year with a 4.57 ERA. He'll have a tough assignment as Daisuke Matsuzaka goes for his 19th win. The Yankees did know Dice-K around in his only start against them this season.

Cliff Lee won't make his start as he came down with a stiff neck, so Bryan Bullington is charged with keeping the White Sox out of the playoffs. He's allowed three home runs in 9 2/3 innings for the Tribe this season, a weakness that plays to Chicago's strength. Mark Buehrle tries to win 15 games for the fifth time in his career. He's pitching well down the stretch, posting a 2.51 ERA in September. The White Sox need a win to insure the season continues into Monday.

At the same time, the Cubs try to cost the Brewers a playoff spot. Angel Guzman takes on CC Sabathia, making his third start in a row on three days rest. Maybe another success will get teams talking about a four-man rotation once again. In two starts against the Cubs, however, CC is 0-1 with a 4.61 ERA. This is the team he was hired to beat. Guzman is not a very good pitcher. In his short career he's walked a lot of batters and given up tons of hits despite excellent strikeout numbers.

Finally, Brandon Duckworth faces Scott Baker as a Twins win could give them the AL Central title outright with a Chicago loss. In six starts, Duckworth walked as many as he struck out , 15 of each in 32 innings. It's a strikeout rate too low and a walk rate too high, the worst of both worlds. A shutout by Scott Baker could propel him from 13th in the AL in ERA to fifth.

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On what might be the penultimate day of the regular season, the Mets send Johan Santana to the mound needing a win. A loss puts the Mets out of the NL East race and gives the Brewers a chance to clinch the NL Wild Card later in the afternoon. Johan takes on Ricky Nolasco and the Florida Marlins. Santana hasn't lost a game since June (he was 1-4 that month despite a stellar ERA). His 2.26 ERA since the start of June is third best in the majors. Nolasco holds an identical 15-7 record. His strikeout and walk rate remains excellent, and his only weakness is a tendency to give up the long ball.

Milwaukee, Minnesota and Philadlephia all have 3:55 starts on Fox, but I'm sure I'm going to see the Yankees-Red Sox here. It would be nice on a day like this for Fox to use their cable networks to make all four of these games available.

Gil Meche and Glen Perkins face off in Minnesota. A win by the Twins means the worst that can happen is they force the White Sox to play a makeup game Monday. Meche is having his best year in terms of home runs allowed, giving up longballs at a rate of 18.6 per 200 innings. Perkins holds a 12-4 record despite a 4.50 ERA. The Twins scored seven or more runs in nine of his 25 starts.

A Phillies win gives them the division no matter what happens in the Mets game, and Jamie Moyer host John Lannan in an effort to secure the playoff berth. The two hold similar ERAs by very different records. Lannan is 9-14, but 5-5 on the road with a 3.08 ERA. Moyer is 2-0 against the Nationals this year with a 2.82 ERA.

Ben Sheets returns to the mound for the Brewers, who can clinch at least a tie for the wild card with a win. The righty last pitched 10 day ago, lasting just two innings. He'll face Ted Lilly of the Cubs. The Brewers knocked Ted around a bit this year, hitting three home runs in 10 2/3 innings.

The White Sox continue their series with Cleveland, needing a win to at least keep pace with the Indians. A loss, couple with a Minnesota win puts them 1 1/2 game back in the AL Central and forces them to need help to make the playoffs. Zach Jackson faces Javier Vazquez. Jackson doesn't walk many, but his low strikeout rate leads to lots of hits and runs. Vazquez hasn't repeated his fine August, posting a 4.94 ERA in September.

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There are five games today that matter, and all the teams competing for a playoff berth are at home.

Washington travels to Philadelphia in a game threatened by rain. The Nationals send Collin Balester against Joe Blanton. Balestar keeps his walks low but tends to give up home runs. He's only walked one in two starts against the Phillies, but lost both games despite a 3.75 ERA. Blaton brought his ERA down 1/2 run with the Phillies compared to his time with the Athletics. The run support helps, as he's 3-0 with nine no decisions.

The Mets host the Marlins in another game threatened by rain. It's a great matchup of young pitchers as Chris Volstad takes on Mike Pelfrey. Volstad only allowed 3 home runs in 78 1/3 innings pitched. He's also held opponents to a .216 BA with runners in scoring position. Pelfrey's pitched much better at Shea Stadium this season, posting a 2.94 ERA at home and allowing just five homers in 113 1/3 innings there.

The Cubs send one of their three aces against the Brewers tonight as Ryan Dempster takes on Jeff Suppan. If Dempster pitches decently he'll end the season with the lowest ERA of his career. Suppan holds a 9.00 ERA in two starts against the Cubs this season. On top of that, he's allowed three unearned runs.

The Twins host the red hot Royals as Kyle Davies tries to derail Minnesota's playoff hopes. He's part of Kansas City's strong finish, posting a 2.45 ERA in September allowing just one home run. Francisco Liriano gets the call to keep the Twins ahead of the White Sox. He's 6-0 with a 2.05 ERA since returning to the majors, and is coming off a great start against Tampa Bay.

Finally the White Sox host the Indians with Scott Lewis facing John Danks. Lewis won all three of his starts, allowing no runs against the Twins and Orioles. Danks allowed just two home runs over the last two months of the season.

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The Tampa Rays send Scott Kazmir to the mound to try to win home field advantage in the first round. He'll face Armando Galarraga and the Tigers. Kazmir is another nice example of how the Rays defense helped their pitching shave two runs off their ERA. He gave up 196 hits in 206 innings in 2007, 117 hits in 147 innings this year.

The Cubs try to reduce the probability of the Mets making the playoffs as Rich Harden takes on Pedro Martinez. It's the chance to make up the proverbial win for the Mets. Harden won't make it easy as he's struck out 85 in 65 Cubs innings, good for a 1.66 ERA. Pedro doesn't have it down the stretch, going 0-3 with a 7.88 ERA in September.

The Brewers also get a chance to make up a win. Yovani Gallardo returns to try to save the day against Zach Duke. Gallardo made three good starts this year before injuries shut him down. He struck out batters in his minor league rehab, but also gave up a high number of hits.

The Twins go for the sweep of the White Sox as the three game series concludes in Minnesota. Whoever wins the game holds first place in the AL Central. A Twins win makes the White Sox playing Monday more likely. Gavin Floyd faces Kevin Slowey. Floyd is having a rough September, giving up seven home runs in 27 2/3 innings. Slowey is 1-3 with a 4.70 ERA in the same time period. He's keeping the ball in the park, but giving up a lot of hits.

Greg Maddux gets a chance to clinch the NL West for the Dodgers against the Padres Jake Peavy. The deal for Maddux was the opposite of the Manny deal. Greg has performed poorly, giving up hits and runs to the tune of a 5.71 ERA. Peavy, with his 2.77 ERA, deserves better than his 9-11 record.

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Two pitchers get to try to prove their last starts were just flukes this evening. The Phillies send Brett Myers against Jo-Jo Reyes of the Braves. Myers pitched brilliantly since his return from the minors until his last start against Florida. The Marlins pounded him for 10 runs in four innings, collecting nine hits, two walks and a home run.

In New York, while the Cubs as a team already clinched the division and home field, Zambrano needs to show the follow up to his no-hitter was the outlier. He had just returned from his grand mother's funeral, so he was likely as shell-shocked as when the Astros faced him. Oliver Perez pitches for the Mets, who are sandwiched between the Phillies and Brewers in the battle for the NL East/Wild Card. Perez has an interesting disconnect in his home road splits. The opposition hits worse against Perez at Shea in terms of BA/OBA/Slug, but Perez's Shea ERA is higher than on the road.

CC Sabathia starts for the second time in a row on short rest, this time against the Pirates. The last time he took on Pittsburgh, he threw the controversial one-hitter that seemed to mark the start of the Brewers slide. He'll face Paul Maholm 0-2 against the Brewers in four starts.

The White Sox send Mark Buehrle against Nick Blackburn and the Twins as Chicago tries to get at least one win against Minnesota in this series. One win and Chicago controls their own destiny in the AL Central. Buehrle pitches poorly on the road, 4-8 with a 5.14 ERA. Blackburn pitches great at home, 7-3 with a 2.92 ERA.

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The Boston Red Sox get to face a tougher pitcher than yesterday as they try to clinch a playoff berth. Cliff Lee makes his penultimate start of the season against Tim Wakefield. Lee walked as many as three men in a game for only the second time this season in his last start. The seven issued in those two starts comprises 23% of his total for the year. Tim Wakefiled appears to have lost it in September. He's allowed 13 runs, all earned in 12 innings of work. He's only walked four, but he allowed three home runs.

The Yankees send Mike Mussina out to try for win number 19 and to keep the Yankees chances alive if the Red Sox lose. He'll need to get by Jesse Litsch. Mussina is showing signs of fatigue, lasting less than six innings a start in September. The Yankees pounded Litsch in his two starts against New York. He gave up 17 hits in 8 innings of work, and his defense allowed five unearned runs on top of that.

One thing in Milwaukee's favor is a three-game series against the Pirates, the worst team in the NL Central. The Dave Bush/Jeff Karstens matchup should also favor Milwaukee. Karstens is a low BB, low K pitcher so it's no surprise the league is batting .288 against him. With a higher K total and a low walk rate, Bush has both a low batting average against and a low OBA allowed. He does tend to give up extra base hits, however.

The biggest game of the night involves the White Sox and the Twins as they send Javier Vazquez and Scott Baker to battle for the AL Central title. With Chicago's magic number standing at five, the Twins really need to sweep the series to have a chance at taking the division. That's the only way they make up the three losses. Chicago leads the season series 8-7, and all but four games ended in blow outs. The Twins need to keep the contests close, as they are 3-1 against the White Sox in one and two run games.

After a great August, Vazquez's walk and home run rate nearly doubled in September compared to last month. He's 2-0 against the Twins despite a 5.11 ERA, thanks to good run support. It's tough to go deep on Scott Baker in the Metrodome. He allows home runs at half the rate he does on the road. Like Vazquez, he's undefeated against the White Sox this season despite a 5.73 ERA. Something has to give.

Tim Lincecum pitches against Colorado in San Francisco tonight. He's always fun to watch, and another great performance enhances his Cy Young chances.

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The Marlins and Reds play a make-up game this afternoon as Florida tries to keep their wild card hopes alive. They send Rickey Nolasco against Aaron Harang. Nolasco is undefeated in day games, 4-0 with a 2.18 ERA. I guess he does well against half-awake batters. :-) If Harang win, his 2007 record of 16-6 will be turned completely around as he'll go to 6-16. He's finally put it together in September with a 1.82 ERA.

Cleveland comes to Boston as the Red Sox can clinch a playoff berth. The Indians are tied with the Phillies for the best record in the majors since August 17th, 23-10. Boston, however, is tied for third at 20-12. The pitching matchup favors a Red Sox victory as Josh Beckett takes on Zach Jackson. Zach came over from Milwaukee in the Sabathia deal. He doesn't walk batters, but the balls in play against him usually fall for hits. Like last season, the time off for Beckett made him stronger as he's posted an 0.95 ERA in September, striking out 21 in 19 innings pitched.

The Cubs visit the Mets in a possible NLDS preview. If the playoffs started today, these teams would be facing each other in Chicago. Jason Marquis faces Jonathon Niese. Niese has a nice number of strikeouts so far, 9 in 11 innings, but his six walks leave something to be desired. Marquis should be tough on the Mets switch hitters as lefties bat about 45 points lower against Marqius than righties do.

Finally, Brandon Webb goes for his 22nd win against the reeling Cardinals. Todd Wellemeyer stands in opposition. Webb only struck out 10 so far in 20 September innings. Todd's great year is partially due to his .173 BA allowed with runners in scoring position.

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The Red Sox can clinch a tie for the wild card with a win. Daisuke Matsuzaka takes a shot at it as he goes for his 18th win of the season against Toronto. Matsuzaka lowered his ERA nearly a run and a half versus his rookie season of 2007. That came from fewer home runs allowed, and lower hits allowed in general. He gave up 24.4 home runs per 200 innings in 2007, 14.0 in 2008. He'll face rookie Scott Richmond. I like that Richmond only walked one batter in 16 innings while striking out 13. It seems, however, he walking so few because batters find his pitches very hittable. He's allowed a .338 BA so far, and lefties are 18 for 35 against him.

Mike Pelfrey is another pitcher who greatly improved his ERA over 2007, almost by two runs. Mike walked 4.8 per in innings in 2007, 2.9 this year. He too faces a rookie putting up good numbers, James Parr. Parr struck out 12 in 16 1/3 innings, walking three, but only allowed 17 hits. That puts his ERA at 2.20.

Maybe the Twins can take advantage of a post-clinch let down and split the series with the Rays. Francisco Liriano takes the hill against Andy Sonnanstine. Liriano is coming off his worst start since rejoining the rotation. He only lasted 2 2/3 innings against the Indians He allowed eight runs, although just four were earned. Sonnanstine is posting a 1.89 ERA in September. In three starts, however, he just has an 0-1 record to show for it.

John Danks visits Brandon Duckworth as the White Sox hope to keep their 2 1/2 game lead as the prepare for the showdown with the Twins on Tuesday. Danks hasn't fared well against one of the weaker offenses in the game. The Royals scored eight runs in 9 2/3 innings against John this season. On top of that, the Royals seem to score with Ducksworth on the mound, generating 32 runs in his five starts.

Derek Lowe tries to take the Dodgers magic number down one more as he faces Matt Cain in the 2008 Dodger Stadium finale. Lowe posted a 1.13 ERA over his last seven starts, good for a 5-1 record. The opposition hit just one home run against him in that time, covering 47 2/3 innings. Cain already set a new career high in innings pitched, and with four strikeouts today he'll set a new career high in that category as well.

Finally, a weak pitching matchup for the closing of Yankee Stadium as Chris Waters gets the honor against Andy Pettitte. Chris, in his rookie year, sandwiched seven poor starts between two brilliant ones. Although he pitched poorly at home in 2008, Pettitte's career for the Yankees in the Bronx is rather impressive. He did a great job keeping players off base with walks and keeping the ball in the park. That was good enough for a 94-42 record and a .642 winnings percentage.

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The Red Sox send Jon Lester against Roy Halladay in Toronto as they try to clinch a spot in the playoffs. Lester is on fire down the stretch, posting an 0.87 ERA in September. He's struck out 20 in his last 20 2/3 innings. Meanwhile, Halladay hasn't helped his Cy Young chances in the month. He hasn't allowed a home run, he's walked just one batter, but his 1-2 record and 3.60 ERA probably throw the award to Cliff Lee.

CC Sabathia pitches on short rest as the Brewers try to salvage their playoff chances. Johnny Cueto tries to hang a second loss on CC. Sabathia pitched very well against the Reds this season, going 2-0 with a 1.88 ERA in three starts. The Reds have to be happy with Cueto's season. He struck out nearly a batter an inning, with a decent walk rate. If he can pull his home runs down next season he should make a major leap forward.

Scott Kazmir gets a chance to put the Rays in the playoffs as he faces Kevin Slowey and the Twins. Kazmir's walks increased the last two months. He walked 3.3 per 9 innings through July, 6.2 per 9 since. Slowey's 2.96 ERA since the All-Star break is the fourth best in the American League.

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Two big games take place in Florida tonight. The Twins face the Rays in game two of their four game series. Nick Blackburn faces Edwin Jackson. In his first full season in the majors, Blackburn appears to be hitting a wall. Since the start of August his ERA stands at 4.36. He's allowed 63 hits in 53 2/3 innings. Jackson is one of the few Rays pitchers who performs better on the road. It's not clear why his ERA is higher at home, however, since his BA/OBA/Slug are all lower at Tropicana Field.

In Miami, the Marlins open a three game series against the Phillies, who lead Florida by 5 1/2 games. Florida needs a sweep to get back in the NL East race. Brett Myers gets the ball for Philadelphia. The Marlins hung four runs on Myers on 9/10, despite Brett allowing one walk and striking out nine. It was the most runs Myers allowed since his return from the minor leagues. Josh Johnson's mid-season return helped stabilize the Florida rotation. He's already faced the Phillies twice, positng a 1.42 ERA against them in 12 2/3 innings of work despite giving up 12 hits and seven walks.

The Cubs can clinch the division with a win and a Brewers loss.

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The Brewers get a tough opponent this afternoon as the Cubs send Rich Harden against David Bush. Harden's allowed a bit more power since moving to the National League, but his walks and especially his hits allowed are down. Bush brings an 8.53 ERA in two starts against the Cubs into the game. Chicago hit four home runs in 12 2/3 innings against David.

Joe Saunders faces Josh Outman in Oakland this afternoon. The game isn't a big deal, but I just love that a person named Outman is pitching in the majors. The Angels lead for home field advantage is down to 1 1/2 games over Tampa Bay, however. Maybe it means less to LAnaheim because they are a fine road team, but they did lose five of the six games they played at Topicana Field this season.

The White Sox maintained their 2 1/2 game lead on the Twins despite their loss to the Yankees last night. They'll try to take another from New York as Javier Vazquez takes on Mike Mussina. The Yankees lit up Javy in his only start against his former team this season, scoring six runs in 5 1/3 innings. Mussina tries for his 18th win, last reached by him in 2002. He pitched seven strong innings against the White Sox in his only start against them this season.

It's a porcine battle in Atlanta as Cole Hamels takes on Mike Hampton. Can Cole bring home the bacon for Philadelphia, or will Mike pork the Phillies?

Enjoy!

Correction: It's Josh, not David Outman.

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Phil Hughes returns to the Yankees rotation tonight as they continue their series with the AL Central leading White Sox. Clayton Richard takes the hill for Chicago, and given the ERAs of the two pitchers this might turn out to be a slugfest. If Hughes can get two or three good starts under his belt, however, the Yankees go out on a positive note. Unlike some Yankees fans, I don't see this season as a disaster. It's the Red Sox 2006, a good team with some bad luck. As the Red Sox showed in 2007, that can be turned around quickly. If Hughes shows he can pitch, the Yankees head into 2009 with Wang, Joba and Phil in the rotation, maybe rounded out by Sabathia. That's not bad. These types of finishes force teams to really look at how they can improve, as opposed to , "We made the playoffs with these players, we'll be alright."

Meanwhile, the Red Sox and Rays continue to fight for the right to play the AL Central champion instead of the Angels. A win by the Rays reduces their magic number to clinch the division by three, since they then hold the tie-breaker in head-to-head competition against Boston. A Boston win means we won't know until they play a few more games against eastern division teams. Matt Garza hosts Tim Wakefield. Garza posts a 2.74 ERA at home this season. Wakefield has yet to defeat Tampa Bay in 2008 despite a 2.77 ERA against the Rays this season.

Both the Phillies and Mets send out inexperienced major league pitchers in their quests for the playoffs. J.A. Happ faces the Braves while Brandon Knight jousts with the Nationals. Both hold high ERAs and matchup against two good young pitchers, Jair Jurrjens and Shairon Martis.

Cliff Lee goes for win 23 against the struggling Twins. Scott Baker tries to get Minnesota back on the winning track. Although not as extreme, Baker shares Lee's ability to keep batters away from free passes. Lee does a much better job of keeping the ball in the park, however.

Finally, the Brewers send Ben Sheets against the Cubs and Jason Marquis. A Chicago win reduces their magic number to two. In 11 1/3 innings at Wrigley this season, Sheets walked nine and struck out nine. Two BB and seven K in one game, and just the opposite in the other. Marquis has only allowed four runs in 13 1/3 September innings despite giving up 10 hits and 8 walks. He's bending but not breaking.

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The White Sox and Twins send two good starters to the mound this evening as they take on the Yankees and Indians respectively in their battle for the AL Central. Gavin Floyd faces Andy Pettitte as the last week at Yankee Stadium continues. With 181 1/3 innings, Floyd pitched more this season than in his previous four years combined. In his final season at the old stadium, Pettitte performed poorly there, posting a 5.32 ERA. His other stats home and road are nearly the same. He has allowed a higher BA with runners in scoring position at home, .360 versus .319.

Meanwhile, Francisco Liriano battles Zach Jackson in Cleveland. Shouldn't Jackson's nickname be "Zachion"? With 51 hits allowed in 40 innings he certainly provides action to the hitters. Liriano's control is all the way back as he's only allowed one walk in 15 September innings.

If the Brewers had won a few more games recently, this series in Chicago might be more meaningful in the NL Central. The Brewers do get to hang on for dear life as they battle the Phillies and Mets for the wild card. It's a great matchup tonight as CC Sabathia tries to get Dale Sveum's career off on the right foot. He'll need to beat Ryan Dempster, however. The Cubs laid one of the the few no decisions on CC as they scored four runs off him in his only start against Chicago this year. Dempster comes into the game 3-0 against Milwaukee with a 2.37 ERA. He's yet to allow a home run to the Brewers this year.

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The Astros and Cubs finish their series in Milwaukee with an afternoon game. Ted Lilly face Brian Moehler as Houston tries to get a hit. Richard Justice blasts both Bud Selig and Drayton McLane for moving the games to Milwaukee. Moehler pitched very well against the Cubs this season, allowing a 2.12 ERA in three starts. Lilly is almost as good with a 2.19 ERA against the Astros.

The Red Sox and Rays begin their last head-to-head series of the regular season. Scott Kazmir hosts Daisuke Matsuzaka. Boston has yet to win in Tampa Bay this season. Matsuzaka is undefeated on the road, however, going 7-0 with a 2.67 ERA. Kazmir is close to unbeatable at home with a 7-1 record and a 2.10 ERA.

Dontrelle Willis makes his first appearance since June as he takes on the Rangers and Brandon McCarthy. Willis's minor league performance this year doesn't give me a lot of hope that he's over his wildness. He walked 25 in 56 1/3 innings. Lefties are hitting .300 against McCarthy, righties, .200, so splitting the difference his overall BA and OBA are good.

Enjoy!

Correction: Astros play the Cubs, not the Brewers.

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Although their playoff odds are slim, Toronto fights on with a great pitching matchup in Boston. Roy Halladay faces Jon Lester. Halladay and Lester are tied with six others for the AL lead in shutouts with two. It's possible one of them can break the tie today. Those are Lester's only two complete games, while Roy's eight CGs are twice as much as the next nearest pitcher, Cliff Lee.

Milwaukee and Philadelphia make up their Friday rain out with a split admission double header. The second game provides the best pitching matchup as Jeff Suppan faces Brett Myers. Suppan wasn't able to extend his great August into September. He's allowed three home runs in his last 10 2/3 innings during the current month. Myers hasn't lost a beat, however, striking out 19 in his 15 1/3 September innings. A sweep puts the Phillies into a tie for the wild card.

The Cubs and the Astros meet in Houston's temporary home in Milwaukee. Carlos Zambrano returns to the hill for Chicago, while late acquisition Randy Wolf faces the Cubs. Houston played well so far against Zambrano in 2008. They've drawn nine walks in 18 1/3 innings, that in a season in which Carlos greatly lowered his walk rate. Wolf lowered his ERA nearly a run compared to his stint in San Diego, mostly by lowering his home runs allowed.

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Six double headers are on tap for today. The last time as many as four double headers were played in one day was August 13, 1991. You need to go all the way back to August 17, 1980 to find a day with six double headers. Given the rain in the midwest, all six may not get played today.

The Blue Jays' loss Friday night puts whatever remaining playoffs hope they had in doubt, so they need to sweep the double header today. A.J. Burnett goes for his 18th win of the season as he attempts to reach 20 this season. He may reach that mark with an ERA over 4.00. Paul Byrd takes the hill for the Blue Jays in game one. His ERA with Boston is under four despite seven home runs allowed in 33 innings. Ten of the fourteen runs scored against Paul came via the long ball.

Mike Mussina also goes for his 18th win in his quest for his first 20 win season. He'll face the Rays and James Shields in game 1. Mussina reached the 18 win level five other times in his career. If he does reach 20 wins, it will be by posting the lowest walk rate of his career. A win for Shields gives him 13 on the season, which would be a new career high for him.

There's the possibility of a huge turnaround in the AL Central today. Opposite sweeps by the White Sox and the Twins could put Chicago in command, or the Twins in first place. Chicago's record against Detroit stands at 9-6 on the season, while the Twins won 11 of 15 against Kansas City in 2008.

Randy Johnson returns to the mound against the Cincinnati Reds and Edinson Volquez. These pitchers went in opposite directions in the second half. Volquez looked like a Cy Young candidate early on, but posted a more Texas like 5.12 ERA after the All-Star break. His strikeouts and walks remained good, but his home run rate doubled. Johnson's career looked over at the break, but he rebounded to post a 2.48 ERA since. Johnson's strikeouts went up and his walks came down.

Finally, Tim Lincecum continues his bid for best pitcher in the league as he visits the Padres and Chris Young. If the Giants had give Tim some run support against San Diego he might be going for his 20th win tonight. In five starts, Tim is 2-0 against the Padres with an 0.79 ERA. He's allowed just three runs in 34 1/3 innings. Chris Young takes the hill in opposition. After dealing with injuries, Young pitched very well against the Brewers his last time out, taking a perfect game deep and pitching extremely efficiently. The efficiency is something I'd like to see him take forward.

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The Yankees open their final home stand at the remodeled House that Ruth Built with Matt Garza facing Sidney Ponson. Yes, the Yankees are trying to play spoiler in the AL East. Garza limited the power and walks of the Yankees so far this season, allowing one home run and two BB in 12 innings of work. Ponson, who only allowed three home runs in his nine starts with Texas has allowed 10 homers in his 13 starts with the Yankees.

Toronto gets a chance to control their destiny tonight as they open a four game series with the Red Sox. At this point, they pretty much need to sweep all seven games against Boston to have a shot at the AL Wild Card. That's not likely, but it at least gives them a shot. David Purcey takes the hill against Tim Wakefield. Purcey's weaknesses, walks and home runs, play into the strength of the Red Sox. It should be noted, however, that his walks improved tremendously in the minors the last two years, so don't expect that to last. Since returning from the disabled list, Wakefield allowed 13 earned runs in 12 2/3 innings. This may be a slugfest tonight.

The Phillies are coming at the NL Wild Card in a similar way, needing to sweep the leader to tie. Manny Parra and Cole Hamels duel tonight. The Brewers were undefeated in Parra's starts in June, but are 3-10 since July when Manny takes the hill. He holds a 4.13 ERA in that time. Hamels ERA is down over a 1/4 run versus 2007. In 25 more innings he's walked just one more batter.

Enjoy!

Correction: It's a four game series against the Red Sox. I missed the double header on Saturday. Gaston will start Burnett, Litsch and Halladay on three-days rest to get his best possible pitchers into the series.

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The Twins go for a sweep of the Royals this afternoon as Brandon Duckworth faces Francisco Liriano. Duckworth pitched poorly in his three starts, walking 10 and striking out five in 15 innings. At least no one hit a home run off him. Liriano is getting better with each start. He lasted seven innings in his last two starts, allowing a total of 10 hits while walking one and striking out 15.

The Brewers and Phillies open a four game weekend series, with the Phillies four games back in the wild card standings. Ben Sheets tries to get the Brewers off on the right track. He matches up well against the Phillies lefty power as he's only allowed five home runs in 355 at bats without the platoon advantage. Jamie Moyer goes for Philadelphia. He's 5-1 since the All-Star break, converting his 3.95 ERA pre-break into a 3.05 mark post-break. He's brought his home runs way down.

Rich Harden returns to the Cubs rotation after missing a start to face the Cardinals and Todd Wellemeyer. Harden is a K machine since joining the Cubs, striking out 75 in 54 innings. He's been amazingly good against #3 hitters in the lineup, as they've gone 2 for 25 with 12 strikeouts. We'll see how he handles Pujols. Wellemeyer gets hit hard at home. He's allowed a .448 slugging percentage at Busch, .368 on the road.

Enjoy!

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I'm a bit surprised the Brewers are pitching Sabathia today instead of holding him back a game for the Phillies series. If he pitches tomorrow, he still gets to face the Cubs twice, the second time on the last day of the season. CC takes his perfect Brewers record against Bronson Arroyo. The Reds righty figured out how to keep the ball in the park, and only allowed two home runs in his last 47 2/3 innings after giving up 23 through the end of July.

The Diamondbacks send Dan Haren against Brad Hennessey in San Francisco. Haren tries to right his own ship. Dan made two good starts in his last seven, posting a 6.17 ERA. His walks and strikeout numbers are good, but his hits allowed are way up. Is Arizona missing Orlando Hudson's defense that much? Hennessey makes his first start of the season after posting a 12.46 ERA in the pen.

There's a dot in the rear-view mirror of the Red Sox. It's Blue and its wings are flapping. Josh Beckett tries to keep the image from growing as he hosts Andy Sonnanstine and the Rays for the final regular season meeting of the two teams at Fenway Park. Beckett came back full force from his injury, shutting out Texas for five innings while striking out seven. Sonnanstine is a pitcher I thought would benefit from the Rays improved defense, but he's still allowing many more hits than innings pitched.

The Blue Jays start Roy Halladay against Mark Buehrle, giving them a good chance to extend their winning streak to eleven. Roy held the White Sox to one earned run in 7 1/3 innings this season. Buehrle also pitched well against Toronto in his one start, allowing zero earned runs in eight innings. He took the loss, however, when two unearned runs scored. He'll need to pitch well tonight to keep Chicago from possibly falling into a tie with the Twins.

Finally, Ted Lilly takes on Braden Looper as the Cubs try to turn their slide around. Lilly's having the kind of season where he totally shuts down right-handed batters but lefties kill him. So far, however, righties continue to get about three times the at bats. Looper has a losing record at home and a winning record on the road, despite an ERA 1/2 run lower at Busch.

Enjoy!

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The Red Sox try to regain first place in the AL East as Scott Kazmir faces Daisuke Matsuzaka at Fenway Park. The improvement in Tampa Bay's defense is apparent in Kazmir's hit rate. Last season, he allowed 8.5 hits per 9, this year his rate stands at 6.9. His strikeout rate fell a little, so there are more balls in play. Matsuzaka shows a similar decline, from 8.4 hits per 9 to 6.8.

The Cardinals still hold wild card hopes as they host the Cubs. Cy Young candidate Ryan Dempster takes on Kyle Lohse. Dempster's pitched almost 120 more innings than in 2007, but only allowed four more home runs. The Cubs may be able to get out of their funk vs. Lohse, as they've scored 10 runs in 13 innings off him this season, all earned.

Finally, the Diamondbacks get a chance for a win as Doug Davis faces Barry Zito in San Francisco. Davis has put together four decent outings in a row, while Zito has gone three out of four. Barry is 0-3 against the Diamondbacks with a 7.40 ERA, however.

Enjoy!

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The big AL East showdown starts today in Boston as Edwin Jackson and the Rays visit Jon Lester and the Red Sox. Boston picked up four games on Tampa Bay last week as the Red Sox won as many (5) as the Rays lost. The season series so far stands at 6-6, with all the games won by the home team. Jackson, however, pitches better on the road for the Rays, so they have the right person on the mound to try to break that streak. He posts a 3.26 ERA away from Tampa Bay, 4.83 at home. That may be a bit of luck, however, as his averages allowed are nearly identical. Lester faced the Rays twice, both at home, and held them to two earned runs in 12 1/3 innings. While this series is unlikely to keep either team out of the playoffs at this point, winning home field advantage is very important to both.

The Brewers have trouble winning without Sheets or Sabathia on the mound lately. Dave Bush gets the added problem of facing Edinson Volquez. Despite an ERA in the fours the last two months, Volquez is still 6-2 over that time, and hasn't allowed a home run since July. Bush has been very consistent with all his averages this year, but with better offensive support he's 4-2 since the All-Star break.

The Blue Jays try to make it nine in a row as they take on the first place White Sox in Chicago. A.J. Burnett takes on Javier Vazquez. Burnett is making a good push in the second half if he decides to opt out of his contract. He's struck out 75 in 66 1/3 innings since the All-Star break while walking just 21, good for a 3.53 ERA. Vazquez showed improvement in the second half as well, posting a 3.79 ERA and lowering his home run rate by 1/3.

Arizona tries to get back in the win column as they face the weak hitting Giants, but Tim Lincecum stands in their way. He gave up five runs in a game for the third time this season in his last start. Against the Diamondbacks this season, he's struck out 20 in 14 1/3 innings while walking just three. Yusmeiro Petit takes the hill for Arizona.
Petit posts great K and BB numbers, but teams tend to take him deep. He is giving up home runs at a rate of 34.4 per 200 innings this season.

Enjoy!

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First, the game not of the day. The first game of the A's-Orioles double header was rained out yesterday. The double header was scheduled to give the teams a day off today so as not to interfere with the football game doing on at the next light rail stop. It hasn't been rescheduled, and I can't imagine the Athletics making another trip to Baltimore if both teams are out of the race. Amazing that Baltimore would give up the gate. Why not start at noon or 11 AM, just to get the game in. There's really no excuse for this.

The White Sox try to sweep the Angels, as the offense continues to perform well without Carlos Quentin. It's a battle of good, young pitchers as Joe Saunders faces John Danks. Saunders ERA rose dramatically since the break as he's averaged less than six innings a start, and Danks show the same pattern. Both pitchers are allowing more walks and hits.

Cliff Lee tries for his 21st win as he attempts to lock down the Cy Young award. Zack Greinke and the Royals try to stop him. The Royals may have a chance here as the only two games Lee lost this season came in the day time on the road (although one of those was in a dome at Minnesota). One bright spot for Kansas City is Greinke's season. On a team with a good offense he could easily with 15 to 18 games.

The Phillies and Mets play a split admission double header to make up for yesterday's rainout. The early game features Jamie Moyer against Pedro Martinez, while late we get the power with Cole Hamels taking on Johan Santana. Needless to say, the Phillies are looking for a sweep here as they stand two games out in the NL East. It was the Phillies sweep in their last series of the season that sent the Mets into a tailspin in 2007 as they blew a seven game lead. While a sweep would certainly not be a death-knell for New York, it would focus the media on that happening again, and Mets players and management are going to be stuck talking about the collapse. For that reason, it's extremely important for the Mets to take one of these games today.

Finally, the Diamondbacks try to regain first place in the NL West as substitute starter Max Scherzer faces Clayton Krenshaw. Max holds excellent strikeout numbers in his short time in the majors and pitched as well as a starter as he did as a reliever. Kershaw allowed a .354 OBA this year, but his .221 BA allowed with runners in scoring position tempers that somewhat.

Enjoy!

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Game 1 of Oakland at Baltimore and the Phillies-Mets game have both been postponed.

The Rays' lead is down to 2 1/2 games in the AL East as they send James Shields against Shawn Marcum in Toronto. Shields is only 3-6 on the road with a 5.84 ERA while Marcum's home run rate drops by more than half at the Rogers Center.

Arizona's lead is down to 1/2 game as Brandon Webb makes his third attempt at winning 20 games. He's allowed six earned runs in each of his last two starts, lasting a total of eight innings over both. Chad Billingsley stands in opposition. Billingsley allowed three earned runs or less in each of his last 10 starts, and comes into the game with a lower ERA than Webb (3.13 for Chad, 3.19 for Webb).

Both the Angels and White Sox try to reduce their magic numbers tonight as John Lackey takes on Gavin Floyd. The Angels number is five to clinch the division, while the White Sox need 21 for their crown. Despite the time off due to injury, this is likely to be Lackey's second highest season for allowing home runs. His career high was 31 in 2003, but his 22 in 2004 was the closest he's come to that number. He's at 21 right now. Floyd cut his HR per 200 innings from 48.6 in 2007 to 27.5 this season.

Jake Peavy takes on Ben Sheets and we'll be watching to see how Sheets holds up. He left his last start with tightness in his left groin. Peavy pitched poorly on the road this season, with a 4.52 ERA vs. 1.40 at home.

Enjoy!

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The Phillies travel to New York, three games behind the Mets to start a three-game series at Shea. It's the last series between these two teams in the regular season, it would behoove Philadelphia to sweep this weekend. It's a nice matchup this evening as Brett Myers takes on Mike Pelfrey. Myers keeps getting outs, now posting a 1.78 ERA since returning from the minors. He has not allowed a home run in his last three starts. Pelfrey faced Philadelphia twice in April, before he hit his stride. He allowed six runs in 10 innings of work.

CC Sabathia goes for his 10th win in 12 tries since joining the Brewers as he faces San Diego and Josh Geer. More importantly, Sabathia tries to halt the Brewers four game losing streak. Milliliter's opponents have accumulated a .541 OPS against the big lefty since the trade,with both his OBA and slugging percentage allowed well under .300. Geer made his first ML start against the Rockies, and held the lefties he faced to an 0 for 4.

Josh Beckett gets to test his numb hand in Texas. Yankees fans will tell their Red Sox counter parts that Texas is a place to suffer injuries, not recover from them. He'll face Kevin Millwood, coming off a 3-1 August in which he posted a 2.76 ERA. He walked just two batters in 29 1/3 innings.

A possible playoff preview takes place in Chicago where the the White Sox host the Angels. It's not much of a pitching matchup with Mosely facing Buehrle, but Vlad/Teixeira vs. Thome/Quentin makes for the possibility of a nice slugfest.

Finally, the Diamondbacks arrive in Los Angeles with a 1 1/2 game lead over the Dodgers. The big three of the Diamondbacks rotation try to put the division away, starting with Dan Haren against Derek Lowe tonight. Haren suffered through a rough August, as he allowed six home runs in the month, two of those off the bats of the Dodgers. Lowe's ERA at Dodger Stadium is half that of his road ERA. In his two starts against the Diamondbacks at home, he's allowed 3 runs in 11 1/3 innings. In his one start against them on the road, 4 runs in 5 1/3 innings.

Enjoy!

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The Yankees go for a sweep of the Rays as they try to keep hope alive for a playoff bid. Unfortunately for New York, Boston swept Baltimore so they haven't gained any ground in the wild card race. New York is 9-5 against the Rays, winning with pitching. They've posted a 3.57 ERA playing Tampa Bay.

Darrell Rasner gets a tough assignment tonight as he faces Scott Kazmir. After a great May, Rasner is 2-8 with a 6.07 ERA from June 1st on. The fact that he's starting and Joba Chamberlain went back to the pen shows pretty clearly that the Yankees are playing for next year. Kazmir isn't pitching much like an ace lately, however. Since the start of July, he's averaged less than six innings a start and is back to walking a ton of batters.

The Brewers host the Padres the team Milwaukee helped oust form the playoffs in 2007. It's a battle of veterans as Shawn Estes takes on Jeff Suppan. Estes missed all of June, July and August with a broken thumb followed by a finger nail infection. Suppan brings a five game winning streak into the contest. His ERA over that time is 3.00. He has allowed eight home runs in the 42 innings covering those six starts, account for 11 of the 14 runs he allowed.

Enjoy!

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The Mets go for a sweep of the Brewers this afternoon as Oliver Perez faces Dave Bush. A sweep puts the Mets one game behind the Brewers, which of course is important should New York find itself in the wild card rather than division winner position. Perez brought his home runs allowed under control since the all-star break, allowing just four in 58 innings. That helped lower his ERA to 2.95 in the time period. It's not clear why Dave Bush's ERA dropped since the break. Yes, he's pitching a little better, but the biggest difference is stolen bases. Runners were 11 for 15 against him pre-break, 3 for 7 since.

Carl Pavano continues to work for a new contract as he faces Edwin Jackson and the Rays. Five of Carl's six strikeouts came with men on base, preventing any advancement. His control is good as he's only walked two in 11 innings. Edwin Jackson's ERA is down almost two runs from 2007. His hits per nine dropped from 10.9 to 8.9 despite a drop in his strikeout rate. With more balls in play, he's benefiting from the improved Rays defense.

The Astros go for their ninth win against the Cubs this season with Randy Wolf facing Ryan Dempster. The interesting thing is that the Astros haven't hit well against Chicago this season. They've posted a .236 BA and a .296 OBA. Their slugging percentage is high for their BA, at .379. The Cubs have outscored them 67-55! But Houston tossed two shutouts against Chicago and held them to 1 or 2 runs three other times. Dempster is a Houston victim, going 1-2 against the Astros despite a 2.84 ERA.

Enjoy!

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The Yankees make one last ditch effort at getting themselves back in the AL East race as they open a three-game series in Tampa Bay. Mike Mussina takes on Matt Garza in what looks like the best pitching matchup of the series. With 16 wins, Mussina is going to need to stay at his best through September to have a chance at four more wins and his first 20 win season. He's pitched extremely well against the Rays this season, 2-0 with a 1.46 ERA in 12 1/3 innings. Matt Garza has been all or nothing over the last two months. He's allowed 0 earned runs in five of his last 11 starts and four or more earned runs in another five of those.

Washington tries to extend their winning streak to eight games as John Lannan host Cole Hamels and the Phillies. In 15 innings of work this season, Hamels allowed just one run to the Nationals on a solo home run. He struck out 17, walked four and allowed nine hits. He's 0-1 in two starts. Lannan is a lefty who is extremely effective against right-handed hitters. That gives him an advantage with switch hitters Rollins and Victorino in the lineup.

Carlos Zambrano was supposed to start Sunday but instead goes tonight against the Astros. We'll keep our eye on his performance to see if he's more injured than the Cubs believe. Brandon Backe goes for the Astros. The Cubs took Brandon Backe the woodshed this season, scoring 17 runs in 16 innings off the Astros starter.

Finally, Tim Lincecum faces Livan Hernandez once again, this time in Colorado. Hernandez held his own against Tim for 6 2/3 innings in their last start in San Francisco. Lincecum's had great success at Coors, going 2-0 with a 3.13 ERA in four starts.

Enjoy!

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If the playoffs were to start today, the Mets and Brewers would face each other in the NLDS. Two of their best battle today as Johan Santana takes on Ben Sheets in Milwaukee. Santana's pitched extremely well this season, although his bullpen hasn't helped him. Mets relievers hold a 4.11 ERA in Santana's starts and blew seven of 15 save opportunities. Sheets had problems of his own in August. He posted a 2.67 ERA, but the Brewers scored 2 runs or less in three of those starts, all resulting in losses for Ben.

The Cardinals are trying to hang on in the race for the NL Wild Card, and they send Joel Pineiro against Randy Johnson in Arizona. Pineiro has made twice as many starts on the road than at home, but his ERA is 1.2 runs higher away. Randy Johnson pitched well in his last three starts. He struck out 27 in 21 innings but doesn't have a win to show for the effort.

Cliff Lee tries to become the first pitcher this season to 20 wins and spoil the White Sox playoff run as he hosts Clayton Richard. Lee posted his second 5-0 month of the season in August, his 1.86 ERA second to his 0.96 April mark. Richard holds good strikeout and walk numbers, but opponents are hitting him at a .319 clip.

Enjoy!

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Pedro Martinez makes an important start for the Mets today against the Marlins. His walks and strikeouts have been very good in his last two outings, but that hasn't translated into low number of hits allowed and low numbers of runs allowed. With Arizona and Chicago all boasting three great starters, and Milwaukee close with Manny Parra as a third, the Mets could really use Pedro on his game to go with Santana and Pelfrey.

CC Sabathia goes for his 9th win since joining the Brewers. The big difference for CC after the trade comes from his home runs allowed. CC gave up 21.3 HR per 200 innings this season with Cleveland, 10.1 with Milwaukee. He'll face Pittsburgh for the second time in a row, this time drawing Jeff Karstens. After getting off to a good start with the Pirates, Karstens allowed nine runs in his last nine innings.

The Dodgers and Diamondbacks play the rubber game of their series with Derek Lowe facing Brandon Webb. Lowe's had a terrible season on the road this year, posting a 5.47 ERA to go with a 2-6 record. His .317 BA allowed on the road is over 100 points higher than he BA allowed at home, .215. Players hit Webb for a higher average when Brandon is at home, but he's still managed a 9-1 record and a 3.08 ERA in Arizona. A win tonight gives him 10 at home, 10 on the road, and 20 before September first.

Enjoy!

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The Phillies/Cubs game features two starters pitching better since the All-Star break for the same reasons. Both Brett Myers and Ted Lilly cut down on their home runs and their walks. With Myers, the transformation was extreme, going from a 5.84 ERA to a 1.66 ERA. Lilly cut his home run rate by about 1/3, but that was enough to bring his ERA down from 4.68 to 3.25.

After a shutout by the Red Sox and a big win by the Twins, the White Sox lead in the AL Central is down to 1/2 game over Minnesota. Chicago send Mark Buehrle to the mound against Michael Bowden, making his first major league start. You have to love the 21-year-old's minor league stats. In 406 innings he's struck out 389, walked 106 and allowed 29 home runs. This is the second year in a row Buehrle posted a good ERA by only has a record a bit over .500. I wonder if he usually matches up against another good pitcher?

The Mets can put another nail in the coffin of the Marlins season as Mike Pelfrey takes on Ricky Nolasco. The Marlins played better than anyone expected in 2008, they just don't have the stamina for a full season yet. Since his 0-5 May, Mike's record stands at 11-2 with a 3.03 ERA. Most impressively, he's only allowed five home runs in 107 innings. Nolasco is one Marlin who isn't fading. He's posted a 2.43 ERA in August with 43 strikeouts in 37 innings.

The Dodgers try to keep from falling off the edge of the NL West precipice as they send Chad Billingsley against Dan Haren. In three starts against the DBacks, Billingsley allowed 13 runs in 14 innings, walking 8 and giving up three home runs. Haren is having a tough August. He's 3-1, but his 5.29 ERA may be taking him out of the Cy Young race.

Enjoy!

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I'm pressed for time, so a very quick games of the day. Two pitchers who were teammates a couple of months ago face off in Chicago as Joe Blanton takes on Rich Harden. Rich has been nearly unhittable in Chicago, whereas Joe is pitching about the same as he did in Oakland.

Two former teammates also face off in New York as A.J. Burnett opposes Carl Pavano. Both may end up free agents at the end of the year. They may face different stories, however, as we wonder how high Burnett's salary might go while we wonder who would consider signing Pavano.

The Sox will win tonight as Javier Vazquez takes on Daisuke Matsuzaka. Javier is on a roll in August with great control and few home runs allowed, while Matsuzaka is undefeated in the month.

The Dodgers have yet to win on the road this trip as they face their biggest test of the season in Arizona. Hiroki Kuroda faces Doug Davis. Working in the Dodgers favor is a poor month by Doug Davis, 1-3 with a 7.50 ERA.

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The Red Sox and Yankees play their last game at Yankee Stadium this afternoon. The first major league game I attended was played between the Red Sox and Yankees at the old stadium. What I remember most was Mel Stottlemyre's triple and that I got to see recent call-up Thurman Munson catch. Both teams were out of it but it was exciting to finally see the ballpark. There's something about walking into a green enclave in an urban area. I got the feeling that I stepped into an oasis. Twice more I would experience the same emotion; the first time I entered Harvard Yard and the first time I saw the grass at Fenway Park. They remain my three favorite green islands in areas of urban bustle.

They'll end with a fine pitching matchup as Jon Lester faces Mike Mussina. The two come in with nearly identical ERAs, Lester slightly better at 3.45 than Mussina at 3.49. Jon's pretty much shut down the Yankees this season, allowing just two runs in 16 innings while striking out 16. As an example of how much Mike improved over last year, in 7 1/3 more innings he's walked 14 fewer batters and allowed 16 fewer hits.

The Dodgers try to win a game on their road trip before they head to Phoenix for a showdown with the Diamondbacks. Clayton Kershaw takes on John Lannan. The Dodgers have a chance as Lannan is terrible at home, going 2-7 with a 6.27 ERA. Kershaw is nearly as bad away from Los Angeles, posting a 5.79 ERA on the road.

The replay era kicks off at Wrigley Field (last night game, first replay) as Cole Hamels opposes Ryan Dempster. Ryan's held opponents to a .213 BA this season, with very little difference between left and right handed hitters. Lefties do hit for a bit more power. Hamels opponents are batting .220 against him, but for some reason lefties hit him for power. Hamels held the platoon advantage against hitters in 24% of the at bats against him, but those lefties delivered 33% of the home runs off Cole.

Enjoy!

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The Twins are in danger of getting swept by the Mariners as they send Glen Perkins against Ryan Feierabend. The Twins, scoring at a pretty good clip most of August, managed just two runs in each of the first two games. The Twins knocked around Feierabend in his first start of the season, but Ryan came back to pitch five strong innings against the Athletics. Perkins opposed Feierabend the last time he faced the Mariners. He didn't pitch great, but no walks allowed him to last six innings for the win.

Tonight's game in Philadelphia should favor the Mets as Johan Santana opposes Kyle Kendrick. Johan is giving the Mets their money's worth in August, going 3-0 in five starts with a 1.49 ERA. Kendrick walked more batters than he struck out in August, so it's not surprising his ERA stands at 6.75 for the month.

Just when you think the Rockies might be climbing back into the NL West race, you notice Livan Hernandez facing Tim Lincecum. For the full season, the opposition is hitting .348 against Livan with a .519 slugging percentage. Those numbers for a batter would merit MVP consideration. Lincecum's slugging percentage allowed, .314 is lower than Livan BA allowed!

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Three games today involve teams going head to head for a playoff spot. The Red Sox make what is probably their last visit to Yankee Stadium (a Rays collapse seems unlikely at this point, along with either the Twins or White Sox playing poorly enough to lose the wild card). Tim Wakefield gets the call against Andy Pettitte. Tim made two good starts before the Red Sox shut him down due to a stiff shoulder. We'll see how rusty he is tonight. Pettitte's overall number look okay, but he gives up a lot of power with men on base. Only six of his 17 home runs came with the bases empty.

The Mets go into Philadelphia for a two-game series leading the Phillies by 1/2 game. They'll send Pedro Martinez against Jamie Moyer in a battle of veterans. Pedro's posted a 3.16 ERA in August despite allowing seven home runs in the month. Moyer is enjoying his best season since 2003. He's brought the long ball under control, allowing just two home runs since the All-Star break, good for a 2.47 ERA. The opposition has not homered off him in August.

The Cardinals trail the Brewers by 3 1/2 games as Milwaukee visits St. Louis. Ben Sheets faces Todd Wellemeyer in game one. The Brewers lost four of Ben's last five starts, but only scored five runs in those four losses. Ben has a 4.36 ERA over those five games, so both sides are contributing. Wellemeyer's ERA is about 1 1/2 runs higher at home. In about the same number of innings, he's walked twice as many batters in St. Louis

Also on tap, Cliff Lee goes for his 19th win and third place in the AL Central as the Indians face the Tigers. Brandon Webb pitches for his 20th win as the Diamondbacks continue their series in San Diego.

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The Phillies try to return the favor and sweep a four game series from the Dodgers tonight. The overall score in the three games is not close as Philadelphia scored 22 runs to Los Angeles's five. It was a little closer at Dodger Stadium where the Phillies lost 22-16. Chad Billingsley brings a 3.10 ERA into the game. His 9.30 K per 9 is second in the NL only to Tim Lincecum. Brett Myers is coming off a complete game shutout and owns a 1.82 ERA in August. He's walked four and struck out 26 in the month.

Dan Haren and Jake Peavy matchup for the second time in a row. The pitching duel didn't develop as both were tagged for five earned runs. Playing in PETCO Park tonight could give us the low scoring game we expected last time.

In Seattle, Francisco Liriano takes on the Mariners and Miguel Batista. Liriano has not allowed an earned run in three of the four starts since his return to the majors. Batista walked seven more batters than he struck out this season, walking batters at a 6.3 per 9 clip.

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It's the trade show today as three pitchers who migrated to the National League try to to continue to help their new teams to the playoffs.

CC Sabathia aims to remain undefeated as the Brewers host the Pirates and Paul Maholm. While Sabathia holds the lowest ERA in the majors since the start of July, Maholm ranks twelfth. He's posted excellent strikeout, walk and home run numbers over that stretch.

Rich Harden sits number two on that ERA list. He gets what should be an easy assignment as he takes on Jason Bergmann and the Washington Nationals. Bergmann's big problem, apart from run support, is extra-base hits. He does a good job of limiting the number of batters reaching base, but gives up lots of doubles and homers to move the ones who do reach long distances. Opponents are just 2 for 25 against Harden with runners in scoring position since he joined the Cubs. He's allowed as many runs with the bases empty (four home runs) as with men on base.

Finally, Joe Blanton hosts the Dodgers' Hiroki Kuroda on ESPN. Kuroda is just 2-7 on the road. His walks and home runs go up while his strikeouts go down. Blanton comes off two poor starts in which he allowed 17 hits and 8 runs in 10 innings of work. He did strike out nine, but the balls in play against him kept finding holes.

Enjoy!

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Scott Kazmir faces Javier Vazquez as the Rays and White Sox continue their series in Chicago. Since the All-Star break, Kazmir's control took a nose dive. He walked 3.4 batters per nine innings before, 5.3 since. The extra pitches he's throwing shortened his average outing from six innings to 5 1/3. Vazquez is having his best month of the season, posting a 2.48 ERA in August. He's only allowed two home runs in the month after giving up six in each of the previous three.

Clayton Kershaw is the new Mr. No Decision. In fourteen starts, he's only recorded a 2-3 record. He'll need to average more than five innings per start if he wants to record wins. Cole Hamels tries to make it two in a row for the Phillies against the Dodgers. Hamels is less than two innings shy of his 2007 total. Despite giving up the same number of walks, two fewer homers and 14 fewer hits, his ERA is only 0.17 runs lower.

The Rockies host the Reds as Edinson Volquez takes on Aaron Cook. Volquez's BA allowed drops from .261 at GAB to .197 on the road. Cook is going through a rough patch in August, allowing 28 hits and 13 earned runs in 16 1/3 innings.

There are also three debuts of a sort today. Dirk Hayhurst makes his first major league appearance, pitching for the Padres. Despite good strikeout and walk numbers throughout his minor league career, Hayhurst is just making the majors at age 27. Of course, his gets added to the list of my favorite baseball names.

Brandon McCarthy spent the year on the disable list, but comes off today after work with Nolan Ryan. He returns to the majors with 13 straight scoreless innings at AAA. The White Sox are in contention this season with help from John Danks, and Texas hopes McCarthy can do the same for them next season.

Finally, Carl Pavano tries to make up for his lost contract as he goes against the Orioles. Starting him against a weaker team away from New York is probably a good idea. However, it is Baltimore, and they send their ace Jeremy Guthrie to the mound. Yankees fans like to travel south to see the team play (cheaper than going to Yankee Stadium) so it may be like home with the boo birds if Carl doesn't pitch well.

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It's a post-season preview weekend as many teams in contention for the playoffs matchup over both leagues. The Dodgers swept the Phillies four games in LA last week, and now the Phillies try to return the favor. The series opens with the return of Greg Maddux to the Dodgers. Greg's pitched better than his 6-9 record and comes into the game hot in August. He's posted a 1.89 ERA this month, walking one batter in 19 innings. He'll face his polar opposite in Kyle Kendrick. Kyle's pitched worse than his 10-7 record and sports a 9.00 ERA in August. He's walked 13 in 13 innings.

The Toronto Blue Jays stand seven games behind the Red Sox and Twins in the AL Wild Card race as Toronto hosts Boston in a three game series. This may be the Blue Jays last stand. A sweep of Boston gets them close enough for a September run. Losing two out of three would pretty much kill off their chances. Paul Byrd faces Shaun Marcum in the opener. Byrd faced Toronto in his first Boston appearance, and every batter put the ball in play. Ten of the 31 found their way for hits. Marcum pitched three shaky outings after returning from the disabled list, but in his last three starts opponents scored just four runs in 18 innings.

The Rays start a series in Chicago as Edwin Jackson opposes John Danks. This would be one ALDS series if Boston wins the wild card. Jackson's two run drop in ERA makes it look like Tampa Bay put a better defense behind him. Last season, he allowed 34 more hits than innings pitched. In 2008, that's down to two fewer hits than innings. Danks shows a similar falloff in hits, but a more pronounced fall off in ERA as he also limited the number of home runs he allowed.

The Marlins are just hanging on in the NL East race as they send Anibal Sanchez against the Diamondbacks and Randy Johnson. So far Sanchez shows a huge lefty/righty split, allowing a .341 BA to lefties and a .116 BA to righties. Johnson's found his old control since the All-Star break, walking just three batters in 40 1/3 innings.

Glen Perkins takes on Joe Saunders in another possible playoff matchup as the Twins try to take the second game of the series from the Angels. Perkins 10-3 record seems a bit too good given his pitching stats. However, most of the power against him comes with the bases empty. He's allowed 13 of his 16 home runs with no one on. Joe Saunders dropped his strikeout rate for the second year in a row, and for the second year in a row his ERA improved. After averaging four home runs a month this season through July, he hasn't allowed one in August.

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The Royals and Indians play a lunch time game as Zack Greinke faces AL Cy Young leader Cliff Lee. Lee goes for his 18th win against just two losses. If you're looking to see home runs and walks, Lee is not your man. He's allowed just on walk per start and gives up a long ball every three games. Grienke was in giving mood with home runs, allowing 14 in May and June. He's cut that down, allowing just three over his last 47 1/3 innings.

In the old, broken down pitchers making comebacks game, Mike Hampton takes on Pedro Martinez in New York. Mike's made five starts without injuring himself, and actually pitched well in two of them. Both were against San Francisco, however. Teams with good offense have knocked him around a bit, and the Mets own the second best offense in the National League. With Pedro, the good news is he's posted a 2.59 ERA in August. He has allowed six home runs in 24 1/3 innings, however. All six were solo shots, and only two other runs were charged to Pedro this month.

Brandon Webb tries for his 19th win as the Diamondbacks host the Padres and Chad Reineke. Chad is undefeated in his one game MLB career. In the minors, he struck out 500 in 513 innings. Webb's a great example of a pitcher who succeeds despite allowing the running game to flourish. Opponents have stolen 20 bases in 25 attempts, an 80% success rate. So few batters get hits against him however, it's tough to score those runners. Webb allows a .197 BA with runners in scoring position.

A possible first round playoff matchup gets a preview in Anaheim as the Twins take on the Angels. Scott Baker takes the hill for Minnesota. Baker is going through a rough stretch in his season, allowing 19 earned runs in his last five starts covering 28 2/3 innings. He's allowed eleven of his 26 walks in that stretch. John Lackey is not much better. His sub 2.00 ERA of May and June turned into a +5.00 ERA in July and August. He's more than doubled his home run rate in that time.

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The race for the AL Central continues this afternoon with Twins hosting the Athletics and the White Sox hosting the Mariners. Francisco Liriano takes the hill for Minnesota. Since returning from the minors he's posted a 1.45 ERA with 15 K in 18 2/3 innings. The only thing he's done poorly so far is walk seven batters. He'll face Dallas Braden. The A's pitcher has an interesting split, giving up a much higher BA with the bases empty, but a higher slugging percentage with men on base.

The White Sox send Gavin Floyd against R.A. Dickey. Despite allowing a majority of his home runs at home, Floyd is 8-2 with a 3.27 ERA in Chicago. For some reason, his strikeouts are much higher at the park formerly known as Comisky. Maybe players swing for the fences in the easy home run stadium? Dickey is averaging two base runners per inning in August.

The Rays go for the sweep of the Angels for the second time this season. The disappointing Jered Weaver faces Matt Garza. I don't quite understand why Weaver's ERA is so high. Most of the damage against him comes with the bases empty. It looks like a case of two seasons balancing out. Last year, his FIP was a little higher than his ERA. This season, it's a little lower. Garza's done a great job of keeping the ball in the park in Tampa Bay. He's allowed just two home runs at home, twelve on the road.

Finally, the best pitching matchup of the day goes to San Diego at Arizona as Jake Peavy faces Dan Haren. Peavy's allowed two runs in 14 innings against the Diamondback this season but still managed to lose a game. Haren's posted a 2.14 ERA against San Diego, but is 2-1 against the division rival.

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The Red Sox travel to Baltimore where Daisuke Matsuzaka goes for his 15th win. The Boston righty appears to have adopted the philosophy of denying batters anything good to hit. He's surviving a high walk total most likely due to batters chasing close pitches often enough that they strike out or put the ball in play weakly. Consider that of the 338 balls in play against him, only 91 have gone for hits, a .269 average. He's wild without finding the need to give in to hitters, and it's working for him. Compare that to Daniel Cabrera, his opponent tonight. Dice-K walks over a batter more per nine than Cabrera, but Daniel is among the worst twenty in the majors in BB/9. He's just much more hittable when he's in the strike zone.

The Rays try to take over the best record in the AL and the majors as Ervin Santana faces James Shields. With a win tonight Santana doubles his output from last season. He's already pitched 12 2/3 more innings while allowing 29 fewer hits. Against the Angels this season, Shields struck out 17 batters in 17 innings without allowing a walk.

Johnny Cueto takes on Rich Harden in Chicago as the Reds face the Cubs. Cueto is an example of a pitcher who despite low walks and high strikeouts just isn't successful. He allows too many home runs as his FIP is actually very close to his ERA. Harden's allowed five home runs in his 35 innings with the Cubs, but otherwise opponents don't score much. The homers account for six of the eight runs he's allowed since the trade.

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With both the White Sox and Twins breathing down their necks, the Red Sox send Jon Lester to the mound against Baltimore's Jeremy Guthrie. Lester is emerging as a legitimate ace. He's walking less than three batters per nine innings and keeping the ball in the park, both improvements over his two previous seasons. He's also going deep in games, averaging over seven innings per start since the all-star break. Guthrie is five innings short of his total from last season. His strikeouts are down, but so are his walks and home runs. He's emerged as the new ace of the Orioles staff with a 3.18 ERA.

The teams with the two best records in the American League meet in Tampa as the Angels visit the Rays. Jon Garland faces Andy Sonnanstine. The Rays have done a good job this year of shutting down LAnaheim's offense, allowing just 19 runs in six games while scoring 28. That's good for a 4-2 record. They've won all three games in Tampa Bay, tossing two 2-0 shutouts there. Garland was on the losing end of one of those as he pitched eight shutout innings against the Rays but did not get the decision. The next day Sonnanstine gave up five runs in five innings, but Tampa took home an 8-5 win.

CC Sabathia goes for his eighth win without a loss as the Brewers host the Astros and Randy Wolf. Randy is 2-0 himself since joining the Astros, posting a 3.63 ERA. Sabathia's most impressive stat with the Brewers is his four complete games in eight starts. He had three with Cleveland in 18 starts this seasons. In half the innings with Milwaukee he's allowed less than 1/6 of the home runs.

Finally, Justin Duchscherer and the Athletics travel to Minnesota to face Nick Blackburn and the Twins. Justin's faded since the All-Star break, his 1.82 ERA before the break ballooning to 5.34 since. Blackburn's ERA is about 1.5 runs better at home than on the road, although it's not clear that it's the park. He's allowed a .234 BA with men in scoring position at home, .284 on the road.

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It's a good day to get a handle on the NL Cy Young race as five possible candidates pitch today. Ryan Dempster faces Chris Volstad in Florida as the teams play the rubber game of their series. Of the Cubs regular starters, Dempster owns the best winning percentage and ERA. With almost the exact same number of innings as Zambrano, Dempster has struck out more batters and given up fewer hits and home runs. As a pitcher on a winning team with a good record and ERA, Dempster would appear to be the one to get the Cy Young votes on the Cubs. Volstad's been strong with runners on base this seasons, allowing a .261 slugging percentage. In his last two starts, however, he's walked more batters than he's struck out.

St. Louis sends Kyle Lohse against Edinson Volquez, two pitchers who made important and somewhat unexpected contributions to their teams this season. Edinson holds more than 1/4 of the Reds wins this season. He's been fading lately, however, posting a 4.57 ERA since the start of July. Lohse, too is starting to fade. His strength this season was keeping the ball in the park. Before the All-Star break he allowed just 8 home runs in 119 1/3 innings. Since he's given up seven long balls in 36 2/3 innings.

Tim Lincecum goes into Atlanta with a 12-3 record and 2.67 ERA to face Charlie Morton. Tim's turned up the strikeouts since the All-Star break, sending batters back to the dugout 47 times in 32 1/3 innings, 13.1 K per 9. Morton's numbers don't look that bad on the surface, but five of the seven home runs hit off him came with men on base.

The Mets and Johan Santana go for the team's sixth win a row as they face Jeff Karstens and the Pittsburgh Pirates. Although Santana doesn't have the record of a Cy Young candidate, his ERA and strikeouts are certainly in the ball park. A little more run support and Santana's record could be up there with Webb's. Karstens had his first rough outing for Pittsburgh against the Reds, but still lasted seven innings, giving up four runs, three earned.

Finally, Aaron Cook should get some consideration for the Cy Young award. He's a Rockies starter with an ERA under 4.00, never an easy feat to accomplish. He holds an excellent record on a poor team. He doesn't walk many and he keeps the ball in the park. He also gets a fairly easy assignment today as he faces Odalis Perez and the Nationals. Odalis is pitching well in August, posting a 2.79 ERA in three starts.

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Correction: Lincecum is 12-3, not 12-6.

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The AL Central race takes center stage on Fox this afternoon as they broadcast both the White Sox at Athletics and Mariners at Twins. John Danks gets the call for Chicago against Greg Smith of Oakland. Danks improved the three true outcomes for a pitcher this season, bettering his strikeouts, walks and especially home runs versus 2007. Smith pitched to some hard luck this season, although an 0-4 July was squarely his fault as he posted a 6.18 ERA that month. In two games against the White Sox this season he's walked seven while striking out only six.

Ryan Rowland-Smith takes on Scott Baker in Oakland. The hyphenated hurler makes his fourth start. His strikeouts per 9 are down since joining the rotation, leading to more hits allowed an a higher ERA. Baker posts a 2.83 ERA at home, only allowing five of his 17 home runs in the Metrodome.

St. Louis faces Cincinnati as they try to continue to catch Milwaukee for the wild card. Aaron Harang takes the mound for the Reds. Harang pitched poorly in his return from the disabled list, making me wonder if he's really healthy. Joel Pineiro take the hill for the Cardinals. In his two starts against the Reds this season he's posted a 1.50 ERA.

Anibal Sanchez tries to turn around the Marlins swoon against Sean Marshall of the Cubs. Marshall makes his fourth start of the season. He's struck out batters at a higher rate as a starter and walked batters at a lower rate, yet his ERA is almost a run higher than in the bullpen this season. Sanchez is allowing a .200 BA with runners in scoring position in his brief return to the majors.

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It's nice to have Cliff Lee and Brandon Webb on rotation as we get to see the two duke it out for most wins in the majors. Both get tough assignments tonight.

Cliff hosts the Angels and Jered Weaver. The Angels enjoy the best record in baseball and added hard hitting Mark Teixeira to the mix. He's slugging .620 since joining the Angels. Lee has allowed fewer walks than games started, and doesn't get hit hard for a pitcher who is always around the plate. Only 36 of his 152 hits allowed went for extra bases. Weaver allowed six home runs in his last two starts.

Webb pulls the hottest team in baseball as Arizona visits Houston. The Astros's winning streak, however, came against Cincinnati and San Francisco, not exactly NL power houses. Webb has allowed just three home runs on the road this season in 91 1/3 innings. He'll face Wandy Rodriguez, having the best strikeout season of his career. That should work well against the high K Arizona offense.

Paul Byrd makes his Red Sox debut and draws Roy Halladay. Roy averages 7.5 innings per start, taking plenty of pressure off the Toronto bullpen. Byrd hasn't allowed a home run since the All-Star break. That works well against Toronto as they've hit the fewest home runs in the AL in 2008.

After losing three of four to the Cardinals, the Marlins host Carlos Zambrano and the NL leading Chicago Cubs. Zambrano already beat the Marlins once this year, walking none and striking out six in seven innings of work. Josh Johnson tries to get Florida back to winning. He's giving up hits (.277 BA) but not much power (.387 SPCT).

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The best pitching matchup of the day goes to Milwaukee at San Diego as Ben Sheets faces Jake Peavy. Sheets has pitched well since the Brewers acquired Sabathia, but that hasn't resulted in good headline numbers. He's 1-3 with a 3.25 ERA despite allowing just 9 walks and 1 home run in 38 1/3 innings. Peavy holds the lowest ERA in the majors since the start of the 2007 season (300 innings) by over 0.3 runs.

Up the coast, the Rays and A's play the rubber game of their low-scoring series. James Shields takes on Sean Gallagher. Shields has taken his fine control to the next level since the All-Star break, striking out 25 while walking just three. Gallagher seems to have lost his, walking about twice as many batters per nine innings as he did with the Cubs earlier in the year.

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John Maine returns to the Mets rotation tonight against the Washington Nationals. He'll face Jason Bergman, and both own identical 4.13 ERAs. It says something about the relative strength of their offensive squads that Maine's record is 9-7 while Bergman's stands at 2-8.

Rich Harden pitches the night-cap for the Cubs after getting his start rained out yesterday. He takes on Jorge Campillo of the Braves in Atlanta. Harden's going to end the season in interesting fashion. He's striking out 1.5 more batters per nine than any other Major League pitcher with at least 100 innings. He also holds the lowest ERA in the majors. With 107 innings pitched, however, he still needs 55 innings to qualify for any sort of ERA title. The Cubs will have 42 more games after today, meaning Harden gets eight more starts. He's need to average seven innings per start to reach 162 innings. He's only averaged six innings per start with the Cubs. Still, it possible that Harden ends the season as the best pitcher in the majors, but due to his splitting the season between the two leagues, does not win a Cy Young award.

The Angels magic number to win the AL West sits at 29 as they face Felix Hernandez and the Seattle Mariners. The King posts a 2.47 ERA on the road, where he allowed just one home run all season. He'll face the magic man, Ervin Santana. Santana is off to a great start in August, striking out 15 and walking two in 15 innings of work.

Finally, CC Sabathia tries to remain perfect against as he takes on Josh Banks and the Padres. Milliliter has walked just 12 in 57 innings since joining Milwaukee, and that's helped him to a 1.58 ERA. Banks has similar great control, but doesn't match it with a high strikeout rate. He's a pitcher with an okay OBA allowed, but with most of his OBA coming from hits, runners tend to advance farther and score more.

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It's not a meaningful game, but Edinson Volquez and Jeff Karstens offer a good pitching matchup in Pittsburgh. Volquez is slipping in the Cy Young race, so we'll see if he can return to his early season form. Karstens has yet to allow a run since joining the Pirates.

The Cubs appear to have the highest probability of winning a game today as Rich Harden faces Charlie Morton in Atlanta. Harden has pitched spectacularly since joining the Cubs, while Turner Field exacerbates Morton's weaknesses. Charlie is 0-4 with an 8.39 ERA at home. He's allowed 5 home runs in 24 2/3 innings there.

The Rays are lucky the injuries to Longoria and Crawford came while they were facing the weak teams of the west. They travel to Oakland as Scott Kazmir takes on Gio Gonzalez in a battle of lefties. Kazmir is backsliding. Before the break, he was keeping his walks and pitch counts low. Now both are rising, meaning more runs allowed and fewer innings pitched. Gonzalez makes his second ML start after putting up both high K and and high BB numbers in the minors.

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Two surprise playoff contenders meet in Miami as the Cardinals face the Marlins in a four game series. Florida is two games behind St. Louis and five games behind Milwaukee in the wild card race, 2 1/2 back in the division. Joel Pineiro take the hill for the Cardinals. His strikeouts, walks and home runs are very similar to his 2007 effort, but his ERA is up .70 runs as more hits have gotten past the defense this season. Anibal Sanchez is coming along slowly, making his third start. The most encouraging thing so far is that he's not giving up extra-base hits.

The last time the Yankees met the Twins, New York needed a sweep to move past Minnesota in the wild card race. The same logic applies now. The Yankees trail Minnesota by 2 1/2 games and Boston by four in the competition for the last playoff spot. Sidney Ponson tries to get the Yankees back to winning after a sweep in Anaheim. Despite his 3-1 record with the Yankees, his 17 walks and five home runs allowed in 40 innings makes me think that record could be a lot worse. Glen Perkins doesn't strike out many batters, but like many Twins pitchers his walk total is so low he still maintains a 2:1 strikeout to walk ratio. He can be taken deep at home, however, as nine of his 13 homers allowed came in the Metrodome.

The White Sox try to make it three out of four against Boston in the series as they send John Danks against Josh Beckett. Josh seems to be allowing runners to score from first as he's allowed a high slugging percentage with men on base, but a low one with men in scoring position. Danks big improvement over 2007 is his home run rate. He'll likely pass his 2007 inning total tonight, but has allowed 17 fewer long balls.

The Phillies head to the west coast to take on the Dodgers. Derek Lowe owns a better ERA than Kyle Kendrick, but Kyle collected 10 wins while Derek suffers with 10 losses. Kendrick's ERA jumps to 4.79 on the road, but he's still managed a 6-2 record. Lowe posts a 2.72 ERA at Dodger Stadium, but he's just 6-5 there.

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Cliff Lee goes for his sixteenth win as the Indians take on Scott Richmond and the Toronto Blue Jays. That would give Lee nearly a third of the Indians wins this season. Lee is averaging just one walk per start this year, and only allows a home run every three. Richmond starts his major league career as a control freak as well, allowing just one free pass in his first eleven innings pitched.

The Marlins try to salvage a game against the Mets as Josh Johnson faces Mike Pelfrey. Johnson's ERA sits at 3.34 despite a .300 BA allowed with runners in scoring position. Pelfrey does a great job of keeping the ball in the park at Shea, allowing just three home runs in 78 2/3 innings there, or 7.6 per 200 innings.

Manny Parra makes his first start since his altercation with Prince Fielder as the Brewers go for their third straight shutout of the Nationals. Parra pitched three short shutouts this year, but allowed 11 earned runs in his last 11 1/3 innings. He'll face John Lannan. Lannan's 2.57 ERA on the road is fourth best in the National League.

The Angels look to bury the Yankees as Andy Pettitte takes on Joe Saunders. The Angels pounded Pettitte for nine runs in 5 1/3 innings in New York. Saunders gives up a good amount of home runs for a pitcher who doesn't strike out many batters, but most of them (11 of 17) were solo shots.

Brandon Webb tries to keep the Diamonbacks in first place and pick up his 17th win of the season as he faces Mike Hampton and the Atlanta Braves. The Braves offense has come alive with the return of Chipper Jones, 3 for 7 in his two games with two walks. One of Webb's two losses came against the Braves, however, who scored seven runs in 4 1/3 innings against him earlier this season.

Finally, the Cardinals and the Cubs play the rubber game of their series in Chicago on Sunday Night Baseball. Chris Carpenter makes his third start since returning from his long rehabilitation. So far, he's not striking out batters like he used to, but he's not allowing runs just the same. Ryan Dempster tries to extend the Cubs lead over their arch rivals. He's posted a 1.38 ERA since the All-Star break.

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The St. Louis Cardinals try to stop the Cubs juggernaut as they visit Wrigley Field for a three game series against Chicago. Branden Looper survives by keeping his walks low and limiting his extra base hits allowed to bases empty situations. He's allowed a .502 slugging percentage with no one on, but it drops over 100 points with men on base. Ted Lilly's home runs and walks are way up from his great 2007 season, but with the offense the Cubs generate he's still good enough to win most of his games.

The Mets trail the Marlins by 1/2 game as they open a three game series at Shea. It's been a close season series so far, with the Mets winning five of the nine games played. It's not so close in runs, however, as New York outscored Florida 51-38 in those contests. Ricky Nolasco set a career high in innings pitched and strikeouts without setting a career high in walks. Oliver Perez won two games in three starts against Florida without a loss this season. He's struck out 20 in 18 innings in head-to-head competition.

The Red Sox visit Chicago for an important four game series with both division and wild card implications. The White Sox would not only like to beat the Red Sox to keep their lead in the AL Central, but they'd like to move ahead of Boston for the wild card if the Twins stay on their tail. It starts with a battle of lefties as Jon Lester faces Mark Buehrle. Since 5/14/2008, no one with at least 70 innings pitched has been better than Lester at keeping the ball in the park. He'll be challenged by Chicago as they've hit the most home runs in the majors. Buehrle's ERA is much better at home, mostly due to giving up fewer hits. His batting average allowed drops 90 points home versus road.

On the west coast, two pitchers return to the majors. Ian Kennedy is thrown right back into the fire as the Yankees visit the LAnaheim Angels. Kennedy was 4-2 with a 2.14 ERA in AAA this season. He struck out 38 and walked 13 batters. We'll see if he can do that against the Angels, a team that likes to put the ball in play.

Up north, Brad Penny returns from his injury against Barry Zito and the Giants. Watch Penny's home runs. He allowed nine in 2007 in over 200 innings. He allowed nine this season in just 85 2/3.

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We'll know the state of the NL East by late afternoon as both the Mets and Phillies host matinees today. It's a good none matchup at Shea as Josh Banks faces Johan Santana. Banks holds a 2:1 strikeout to walk ratio despite a very low strikeout rate. He only walks a batter once every four innings. One worrisome stat for the future for Johan is that for the first time since 2001, he's striking out less than nine batters per nine innings. His 2007 rate of 9.7 K per 9 dropped to 7.5 this season.

The Marlins and Phillies play the rubber game of their series with Chris Volstad facing Cole Hamels. There's been speculation that Hamels is hurt as he's allowed 14 runs, 8 earned in his last two starts. He's also allowed 8 home runs in his last five outings. Volstad showed great control in the minors, averaging 2.4 walks per nine. So far, it's been a respectable 3.6 walks per nine in the majors.

Texas needs a win to take three out of four from the Yankees and actually gain some ground in the wild card race. They'll send Scott Feldman against Mike Mussina. Scott is the kind of pitcher the Yankees should beat. He strikes out too few, walks too many, and is susceptible to the long ball. Mussina's ERA has gone down every month this season, and he's started August with a 1.29 mark.

The Rays fly as far as they can for their next game as they travel to Seattle for a series against the Mariners. They draw Felix Hernandez in game one. King Felix cut down on his home runs up upped his walks this season. He already walked as many as in 2007 in 54 fewer innings. Andy Sonnanstine is about at his 2007 inning total. He allowed two fewer walks and five fewer home runs, lowering his ERA about one run.

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The Marlins and Phillies continue their battle for the NL East crown as Anibal Sanchez faces Kyle Kendrick. Sanchez pitched well in his first start since returning from his injury, but had trouble keeping the leadoff man in the inning off base. Kendrick's innings are almost equal to last year's total, but he's allowed ten more earned runs. His strikeouts are up, but so are his walks and hits allowed. Last season, his ERA was about a run better than his FIP indicated. This year, that's down to 1/2 a run.

Sidney Ponson returns to Texas, the team that let him go due to his bad attitude despite a good ERA. He's pitching worse but behaving better for the Yankees. He'll face Tommy Hunter, making the second start of his career. Hunter posted superb walk numbers in the minors, issuing just 1.7 walks per nine innings.

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The Astros won seven of their last eight games and pitched consecutive shutouts as they play game two against the Chicago Cubs. With visions of their 2004 and 2005 second half comebacks dancing in their heads, they now sit seven games out of the wild card with five teams ahead of them. Wandy Rodgriguez takes the mound this afternoon against Rich Harden. For the second year in a row, Wandy's taken his ERA down about a run. Last season he upped his strikeouts. This season, he lowered his walks. Harden has been almost unhittable since joining the Cubs. He faced 95 batters, struck out 39 and allowed just 14 hits.

The Fish and the Phillies open up a three game series, giving the Marlins a chance to move into first place in the NL East. A sweep puts them up 1/2 game. Josh Johnson takes on Jamie Moyer. Johnson's walk and strikeout numbers are good in his first four starts, but he has allowed three home runs in 23 2/3 innings. Moyer is perfect in his career against the Marlins, going 10-0 in ten starts with a 3.03 ERA.

The Tigers sit 6 1/2 games out of first place as they open a three-game series with the White Sox. Game one seems to favor Chicago as Nate Robertson opposes Gavin Floyd. Robertson has a well deserved 6.06 ERA as he's allowed a .501 slugging percentage this season. Batters hit for power off Floyd as well, but his batting average allowed is much lower, so it doesn't have the same impact.

The Dodgers and the Cardinals are both battling for playoffs spots with Chad Billingsley facing Chris Carpenter in St. Louis. Chad is the kind of pitcher who should benefit from the increased offense expected from the trade of Manny Ramirez. Despite a 3.05 ERA, his record is just 11-9. Carpenter was somewhat lucky to allow just one run in his first start since recovering from surgery. Seven of nineteen batters reached base against the former Cardinals ace.

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The heat is on in Texas as the Yankees open a four-game series with the Rangers. The forecast calls for 102 degrees Fahrenheit at game time. Joba Chamberlain will try to stay hydrated against Vicente Padilla. In moving to the rotation, Chamberlain maintained his high strikeout rate while lowering his walk rate. Padilla owns the third highest HR rate in the AL, 1.34 per nine innings. The Rangers sit 3 1/2 games behind the Yankees in the wild card race, so a sweep by Texas jumps one hurdle.

Two pitchers try for win number 15 tonight. Cliff Lee faces the first place Rays in Tampa Bay. The Rays are great at home, and Lee's only two losses came in road games. Aaron Cook might have a better chance as he hosts the Washington Nationals. Cook sports a 3.43 ERA at home where he's allowed five of his 12 home runs.

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The Milwaukee Brewers go for a sweep of the Braves with Ben Sheets facing Jorge Campillo. Sheets is coming off his worst month of the season, going 1-2 in July with a 4.34 ERA. It might have been the fault of his defense, however, as his strikeouts, walks and home runs allowed were all excellent. Batters are adjusting to Campillo. The high strikeout rate he showed in April and May (33 K in 36 1/3 innings) dropped in June and July (37 K in 64 2/3 innings).

Armando Galarraga faces James Shields today in the Tigers/Rays game. Galarraga and Edinson Volquez are two reasons, I believe, for the purge of the Texas Rangers pitching coaches. Neither performed well for the Rangers, but both blossomed away from Texas. Like Volquez in Cincinnati, Galarraga owns the best ERA among Tigers starters.

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The White Sox continue their series against the Royals with Mark Buehrle facing Kyle Davies. Buehrle's ERA doesn't jibe with his record of 8-9. A pitcher on a first place team with an ERA of 3.69 should at least be over .500. It's been his bad luck to start nine games in which the White Sox scored two runs or less. Davies is getting hit hard this year, but especially at home where opponents are batting .309.

Somehow, when Johan Santana faced Roy Oswalt, I didn't expect them to be a combined 17-15. Since the start of the 2003 season, the two rank 1st and 3rd in the majors in wins, respectively.

There's a good matchup of young left-handers in Boston as Dana Eveland visits Jon Lester. Eveland, however, is just 2-4 away from Oakland, posting a 4.44 ERA on the road. His walks go down but his home runs go up. Lester is having a great run since the start of June, undefeated with a 2.56 ERA. The high walk totals from the start of his career have disappeared as his BB per 9 is just 1.3 during this stretch.

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The Angels continue their blitz through the AL East as they send Ervin Santana against the Yankees' Sidney Ponson tonight. A somewhat telling statistic right now is that LAnaheim is 9-1 against the Red Sox and Yankees, 2-4 against Tampa Bay. The Angels are not only dominating the AL West, they may make the difference in the AL East as well.

The class of 1993 meets again in Florida as Ubaldo Jimenez takes on Chris Volstad. Ubaldo is coming off a hot July (we had a day last week when it was the heat, not the humidity) in which he posted a 1.74 ERA, giving up 29 hits in 41 1/3 innings. Volstad is off to a good major league start due to the lack of power against him. Only five of his 19 hits allowed went for extra bases, and opponents are slugging a mere .313 off the Florida rookie.

The Phillies and Cardinals start a weekend series with both division and wild card implications. Cole Hamels gets the ball in game one for Philadelphia. Cole's home run rate is holding him back from being a Cy Young contender. He's tough to hit, tough to reach base against, but with 21 homers allowed, nine for more than one run, more than half of his runs allowed came on the long ball. If he could cut his home run rate 25%, his ERA would likely drop to around 2.75. Look what an improved home run rate did for his opponent tonight, Kyle Lohse. His HR rate is down 25% from his career average and his ERA down a run from his career mark.

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The Yankees open a four game series with the Los Angeles Angels of Anahiem (LAnaheim Angels, for short) this evening. These are the two hottest teams in the majors. Starting July 12th, the Angels are 12-2, the Yankees 10-4. LAnaheim pretty much put the AL West in their pocket, opening up an 11 1/2 game lead. Meanwhile, the Yankees climbed to one game out of the wild card. The Angels just helped that cause with a sweep of Boston.

Since Mike Scioscia took over the Angels at the beginning of the 2000 season, LAnaheim is the only American League team with a winning record against the Yankees, 38-33 (regular season). This is the first time Mike face Joe Girardi, however.

Jon Garland faces Andy Pettitte. Garland has a habit of giving up extra-base hits with men on base. Eight of his 14 homers are of the multi-run variety. Home runs are a problem for Pettitte also. He's already allowed 14 after giving up 16 all last season.

The Cubs go for a sweep as they try to get Rich Harden his first win as a Cub. In three starts Rich earned a 1.04 ERA, but only lasted 17 1/3 innings. He'll face David Bush, who is posting a 2.14 ERA in July.

Anibal Sanchez returns for the Marlins as they face Colorado and Jorge De La Rosa.
Sanchez last pitched 5/2/2007, after four starts made it clear his control was gone. So was his shoulder. He's walked 10 in 28 rehabilitation innings while striking out 25. De La Rosa is 3-1 in July despite a 5.06 ERA. He gives up a lot of hits for a pitcher who strikes out over nine batters per nine innings, as opponents hit .284 against him.

The White Sox and Twins finish up their series with John Danks facing Scott Baker. A win by the Twins nets them a two game pickup for the series. Baker combines the ability to keep the ball in the strike zone with the ability to prevent hits, as both his batting average and OBA allowed are low. Danks strikes out more batters, but walks more as well. Both pitchers are enjoying excellent results this season.

Finally, a big showdown out west as the Diamondbacks visit the Dodgers. Brandon Webb, one of Arizona's two aces takes on Derek Lowe. Webb posts a 2.59 ERA on the road where he's allowed just three home runs in 83 1/3 innings, a rate of 7.2 per 200 innings. Lowe posts a 2.71 ERA at home.

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It's Cy Young candidate Wednesday. Cliff Lee goes for his 15th win tonight as he pitches against Nate Robertson and the Tigers. A win would give Cliff nearly 1/3 of the Indians wins this season. With two months left in the season, it would also make it possible for Lee to win 25 games.

Joe Saunders brings his 13-5 record to Boston to face Josh Beckett. Saunders has a 3.55 ERA against the Red Sox in two starts, despite walking six and striking out just four. The Red Sox have done most of their hitting against Saunders with two out, not allowing them to extend the inning. The Red Sox scored just two runs total in Beckett's last two starts as he fell to the Angels 4-2 and to the Yankees 1-0.

Edinson Volquez goes for his 13th win against the Astros. His 5.27 July ERA has taken him out of the NL lead in that category, however. Home runs are the problem this month as he's allowed four so far.

Ryan Dempster tries to make it three in a row for the Cubs against the Brewers as he faces Manny Parra. Dempster is only 1-3 on the road this season, however. He's neck and neck with Zambrano for best starter on the Cubs this season. Parra is no slouch, either. He's 5-1 at home, and has only allowed 2 of his 9 home runs at Miller Park.

Dan Haren leads the NL in ERA at 2.56, and pitching in San Diego should help that number. He has a 1.29 ERA against the Padres this season.

Last but not least, Chris Carpenter returns to the Cardinals rotation today. Chris is 51-19 with a 3.14 ERA in his St. Louis career. If he can come anywhere close to those numbers he'll improve the team's chances of making the playoffs.

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Sometimes, one game really stands out from all the others. Today, Carlos Zambrano faces Ben Sheets as the Cubs and Brewers continue their battle for the NL Central title. Zambrano reinvented himself this season after posting a 3.95 ERA in 2007. He reduced his walks from 4.2 per 9 innings last year to 3.0 this season. He appears to have cut down on his strikeouts to gain that control, but the added bonus is fewer home runs allowed as well.

He doesn't do as well on the road, however. His walk rate is higher, and it show in a 3.84 ERA away from Wrigley. He's also suffered some bad luck in his two outings against Milwaukee this season in terms of decisions. Despite allowing the Brewers just one run in two starts, Carlos does not have a decision. Both games resulted in 4-3 Milwaukee wins, with the runs coming late in the game.

The first of those was on opening day, when Zambrano and Ben Sheets matched shutouts into the seventh inning. After three season in which injuries limited Sheets time on the mound and effectiveness, he's back very close to his 2004 levels. The strikeouts aren't quite as high and the walks aren't quite as low as that season, but those stats are still very good. He's 1-0 against the Cubs in his two starts, but Chicago has been able to work him for walks. Sheets allowed 31 free passes this season, but nine of them (29%) accrued to the Cubs in just 11 1/3 innings (8.4%). With only five hits, however, the Cubs couldn't do much with the base on balls.

The only other game that comes close to this in terms of pitching is the Tampa Bay/Toronto game where Matt Garza faces Roy Halladay. If you're looking for a great pitching matchup, however, find a way to watch the Cubs and Brewers.

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Four big series kick off tonight, three of them involving head-to-head division battles. First off, however, the Angels visit the Red Sox. This pits the team with the best home record in baseball (Boston, 37-13, .740) against the team with the best road record in the majors (LAnaheim, 33-19, .635). Jered Weaver faces Daisuke Matsuzaka. Weaver's put together five good starts in a row, upping his strikeout rate and lowering his hits allowed. After a rough outing in his first start after returning from the disabled list, Matsuzaka also reeled off five straight stellar outings, posting a 0.88 ERA.

The Mets travel south to Miami to take on the team that won't go away, the Florida Marlins. A sweep of the three game series by Florida puts the Marlins ahead of the Mets by one game. They'll start with Ricky Nolasco hosting John Maine. The Mets righty has seen his ERA go up every month this season. He's currently at 5.73 for July with 14 walks and four home runs in 22 innings. Nolasco pitched very poorly against the Mets in 2006, but since won both his starts against New York.

Both Chicago teams hit the road to meet the challenge of the second place teams in their divisions. The Cubs send Ted Lilly against the Brewers recent acquisition, CC Sabathia in a battle of left handers. The Brewers need to take three of the four games in the series to grab the NL Central lead. Sabathia is 4-0 since joining Milwaukee, with three straight complete games. He's allowed a .180 batting average and a .244 OBA. Lilly reached 10 wins for the sixth consecutive season. He's upped his career K per 9. It was 7.7 through 2007, 8.4 this season.

Finally, the White Sox head to the land of 10,000 lakes to try to knock the Twins out of the race. This is also a four game series, and the Twins need to sweep to claim first in the AL Central. Mark Buehrle starts for the White Sox. He's putting up number extremely similar to 2007; low walks, a good home run rate and a low strikeout rate. Despite an ERA well below four, he's once again a .500 pitcher. Kevin Slowey takes the hill for Minnesota. After finishing June on a strong note, Slowey slowed down in July. Three bad outings has him with a 9.00 ERA for the month.

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The Cardinals and Mets finish their series as Kyle Lohse faces Johan Santana. Both are having somewhat surprising seasons. Lohse, the last minute signing by the Cardinals enjoys a 12-2 record and a 3.35 ERA. Although he's 6-1 both home and away, his ERA is over 1.50 runs higher away from Busch Stadium. Santana, the covetted prize of the off-season, is just 8-7 despite a 3.05 ERA. His 2.59 ERA at Shea is only good for a 4-3 record.

Randy Wolf makes his first start for the Astros against the streaking Brewers and Jeff Suppan. It's not clear why Houston wanted a pitcher with a 4.90 ERA over the last three seasons, other than Ed Wade knows him from Philadelphia. In eight seasons there, his lowest ERA was 3.20 and he only posted marks below 4.00 twice. Suppan, a right-hander, is getting pounded by right-handed hitters this season, allowing a .531 slugging percentage.

Eric Hurley and the Texas Rangers try to gain more ground in the wild card race as they take on Dana Eveland and the Oakland Athletics. The A's are 5-10 since trading Rich Harden, falling out of the AL West race and barely hanging on in the wild card race. Hurley's ERA is low for his stats, but he's pitched extremely well with men on base and runners in scoring position. He's allowed a .216 BA in former situation and a .211 BA in the latter. Eveland gets by with a high number of walks due to a low number of home runs. His slugging percentage allowed is less than his OBA allowed.

Finally, the Yankees can move into the lead in the AL Wild Card race with a win over the Red Sox tonight. Sidney Ponson opposes Jon Lester. Ponson's K, BB and HR numbers with the Yankees are terrible, yet he's 2-0. No wonder New York was looking at Jarrod Washburn as a replacement. Lester pitched a five-hit shutout against the Yankees on July 3rd. He owns two of Boston's five complete games this season.

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Wrigley Field offers a great matchup of pitchers who just recently joined their teams as Chris Volstad takes on Rich Harden. Volstad hasn't pitched as well as his ERA indicates. However, he does a very good job of keeping batters off base. With none on, he's allowed a .244 OBA. However, with men in scoring position, opponents hit .333 against him with a .538 OBA. He just keeps those situations to a minimum. Harden has allowed one run in two starts for the Cubs but has yet to see a win.

Two pitchers return from the disabled list today. Mike Hampton is scheduled to pitch against Cole Hamels and the Phillies, but I think the odds are 50-50 he injures himself during his warmup. Fausto Carmona takes the hill for the Indians after missing two months of the season. With Cleveland 13 games out, it's probably too late for him to help this season.

Finally, Brandon Webb takes on Tim Lincecum in San Francisco. Lincecum is having a rough July. His strikeouts and walks are still good, but his home runs are up and so are his hits allowed. Webb had his rough month in June. He's not getting the wins in July, but his ERA is 2.67 for the month. It's two runs lower than June, despite nearly identical stats. Opponents hit .300 against him with runners in scoring position during June, .094 in July.

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The Yankees post All-Star break schedule turned out to be perfect for the Bronx Bombers. They've faced the three teams in front of them in the wild card race in order. They passed the Athletics with a sweep, they passed the Twins with a sweep, and now can pass the Red Sox (by percentage points) with a sweep. The series starts with a great pitching matchup as Joba Chamberlain makes his first start in Fenway, facing Josh Beckett. Joba needs to extend his number of innings pitched per game. He's averaging just over five innings per start so far. Beckett is posting a 5.68 ERA in July. His strikeouts are down since the start of June. He was averaging 10.1 K per nine through the end of May, 6.5 since. Last season, a stint on the disabled list helped keep Beckett sharp late. I wonder if he could use a two week vacation now?

The Rockies visit the Reds with Aaron Cook facing Edinson Volquez. Cook holds a slightly higher ERA on the road this season as he's walked about twice as many batters away from Coors. Volquez is undefeated at home despite allowing more power there. He's given up 17 extra-base hits at Great American Ballpark, nine on the road.

The Cardinals are three games back in the Wild card race as they take on the Mets at Shea. Albert Pujols has hit just one home run in July. If he stays at that level, it will be his worst month for home runs in terms of games played. Meanwhile, Mets first baseman Carlos Delgado hit five homers on the month and is slugging .712 for July.

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The Phillies and Mets play the rubber game of their series at Shea this afternoon, the winner leaving with the NL East lead. It's a battle of left-handers as Jamie Moyer faces Oliver Perez. A win today by Moyer gives him 240 for his career, tying Jamie with two other left-handers, Herb Pennock and Frank Tanana, for 53rd on the all-time list. Moyer pitched well against New York this year, posting a 3.38 ERA in three starts. Perez has returned to his walking ways of 2005-2006, issuing 5.2 per nine innings.

The Marlins open a four-game series with the Cubs in Chicago. Florida sits one game out in the NL East, while the Cubs are one game up in the NL Central. The series also has wild card implications, however. The Marlins are currently five games back of Milwaukee for the wild card, so catching an NL Central team is important if the Marlins can't win the NL East. Scott Olsen opens against Carlos Zambrano. Olsen's ERA soars on the road to 4.93 as he allows 44.6 home runs per 200 innings away from Miami. Zambrano has only allowed three home runs in night games this season, covering 89 innings.

Finally, the Brewers go for a sweep of the Cardinals as Ben Sheets visits Todd Wellemeyer. The Milwaukee staff held St. Louis to just six runs in the first three games. Sheets is on a roll, as he's struck out 20 in 16 2/3 July innings. Wellemeyer, who started so well for the Cardinals, is slumping. His July ERA stands at 7.15. He's allowed 30 hits in his last 22 2/3 innings, 11 for extra bases.

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There's lots of afternoon baseball on the first Wednesday after the All-Star break. Greg Smith and James Shields hook up in Tampa Bay with the Rays holding on to a 1/2 game lead in the AL East. The two own similar ERAs, but Shields is doing a much better job of keeping his walks issued low. Smith does a better job of keeping the ball in the park.

Gaining on the Rays are the New York Yankees, undefeated since the break. They go for a sweep of the Twins as Mike Mussina hosts Glen Perkins. The Minnesota lefty relies on his defense, as he strikes out few and walks even fewer. So far it's worked as his ERA is under 4.00 despite allowing a .292 BA. Mussina allows a high average, too, but an even lower walk rate keeps his OBA allowed at .314.

Brett Myers returns to the rotation tonight against the Mets. He gave up nine earned runs in 27 minor league innings. Maine has walked seven and struck out six in 11 2/3 innings against the Phillies.

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Joe Blanton makes his Philadelphia debut as he faces Johan Santana and the Mets in New York. Blanton faced the Mets twice in his career, not allowing a run in fifteen innings of work. He struck out 10 and walked just one. Santana pitched well against the Phillies this season, striking out 16 and walking one in 15 innings pitched. The winner claims sole possession of first place in the NL East.

On the west coast, Daisuke Matsuzaka goes for his 11th win in his 17th start against R.A. Dickey of the Mariners. Amazingly, Dice-K walks 1.8 more batters per nine innings than the knuckleballer. Matsuzaka remains tough to hit, however, allowing a .178 BA with runners in scoring position. Dickey seems to be adopting the Dice-K strategy in July. He's walked 11 in fifteen innings but allowed just two runs.

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The Milwaukee Brewers travel to St. Louis for a wild card showdown with the Cardinals. St. Louis leads by one game, and both teams are also trying to gain on the Cubs. Seth McClung faces Joel Piniero. The more interesting matchup, however, may be Pujols against Braun. So far this season, Braun is batting .485 against the Cardinals with four home runs and a .500 OBA. Pujols owns a .526 OBA with one home run. With those two generating offense Milwaukee leads the season series 5-4.

The Yankees took care of one wild card rival over the weekend, and now face the Minnesota Twins. Nick Blackburn takes on Sidney Ponson. The offenses are going in different directions this month, the Twins scoring 5.73 runs per game, the Yankees 4.2 runs per game. The Twins are only a game better than the Yankees on the month, however, 10-5 vs. 9-6.

Finally, a battle of first-place teams in Arizona as the Cubs play the Diamondbacks. Rich Harden faces Randy Johnson. Harden got off to a good start with Chicago, striking out 10 in his first 5 1/3 innings of work. The Big Unit continues to fool batters often enough to have struck out 95 while walking 28. However, when he doesn't fool them, he gets hit hard, leading to the second highest ERA of his career.

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It's Cy Young Sunday as a number of pitchers competing for the award take the mound this afternoon. It starts with the MLB leader in ERA, Justin Duchscherer facing Andy Pettitte and the Yankees. With wins in the first two games of the series, the Yankees passed Oakland moving into third place in the wild card race. Since June 1st, Duscherer holds a 1.48 ERA, allowing just 33 hits in 61 innings. Pettitte pitched one of his better games against Oakland earlier in the season, allowing just one run in eight innings while striking out six.

The Phillies and Marlins see who wins their series today as Cole Hamels faces Josh Johnson. Expect the Fish to run on Cole as base stealers are 10 for 11 against him. Johnson showed great control in his first game back from a year on the disabled list, striking out six and walking none in five innings of work.

The Mets send Mike Pelfrey against Edinson Volquez in Cincinnati. After an 0-5 May, Pelfey is 6-0 in June and July. Volquez is on a pace to allow 8.5 home runs over 200 innings.

The Brewers are gaining on the Cubs as Manny Parra goes for the sweep of the Giants against Tim Lincecum. Parra walks a batter every other inning, but makes up for all those base runners by allowing a low average (.224) with runners in scoring position. Lincecum is having a rough July. He's already allowed two home runs on the month, matching his monthly high this season. :-)

The Dodgers and Diamondbacks play the rubber game of their series with Derek Lowe taking on Brandon Webb. Lowe has walked just nine batters in his last 54 1/3 innings. Webb is 6-1 at home despite a 4.28 ERA in Arizona.

Finally, Cliff Lee battles Carlos Silva as the Indians play the Mariners in Seattle. There may not be any base on balls in this game. The two pitchers combined to issue 39 in 243 1/3 innings.

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A quick games of the day as I'm off to Atlanta for the annual reunion with my college roommates. We're attending the Braves game. With John Lannan facing Jair Jurrjens it's up there with the best pitching matchups of the day.

The afternoon starts with recent acquisition Sean Gallagher against Joba Chamberlain in New York. Sean pitched the only game the Athletics won against the Angels just before the break.

The Red Sox find themselves in second place this morning after losing big to the Angels Friday night. They'll have a quick turnaround as Josh Beckett and Joe Saunders compete on Fox.

Mr. Complete, Roy Halladay hopes to get better run support than A.J. Burnett did Friday night as he faces Matt Garza and the first place Rays.

The NL Central tightened up a bit last night as the Cubs lost a well pitched game by Ted Lilly 2-1 while the Cardinals won a slugfest against the Padres and CC Sabathia used 110 pitches to complete a 9-1 win against the Giants. Carlos Zambrano faces Wandy Rodriguez in Houston while Ben Sheets goes against Jonathan Sanchez in San Francisco.

Finally, the Dodgers and Diamondbacks are tied after Los Angeles won an extra-innings squeaker Friday night. Chad Billingsley and Dan Haren battle with first place on the line.

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All 30 teams are in action tonight as the All-Star Break comes to an end. Oakland and New York are both in contention in their division and wild card races, but far enough out that every win is precious. They'll send Greg Smith and Mike Mussina to the mound in the Bronx tonight. Smith has been fantastic with men on base this season, allowing a mere .261 OBA and a .275 slugging percentage. A win tonight by Mussina gives him at least 12 wins in 15 of his 18 seasons.

Philadelphia and Florida battle for first place in the NL East as Jamie Moyer and Rickey Nolasco face off in game one of a three game set. These two teams are 1-2 in the majors in home runs, Flordia leading 135-132. The second base battle is more interesting than the pitching matchup. Utley and Uggla are very evenly matched. Both have 25 home runs. Utley holds 53 extra-base hits, Uggla 49. Dan has drawn 40 walks to Chase's 39. Because he missed a few games due to injury, Uggla's OBA and slugging percentage are a bit higher. We may be watching one of the best second base rivalries of all time.

The Dodgers trail the Diamondbacks by one game as they send Hiroki Kuroda against Doug Davis in Arizona. Kuroda uses his great control to keep the opposition in check. He's allowed just 29 walks this season, helping him hold opponents to a .294 OBA. Davis mixed in two bad outing in his first four starts back from cancer treatment, but his his last six starts he's posted a 2.95 ERA. Doug struck out 35 in his last 39 2/3 innings.

Finally, the team with the best run difference in the AL visits the team with the best winning percentage in the AL as Boston takes on LAnaheim. Clay Buchholz takes the mound against John Lackey. Buchholz owns an 8.64 ERA on the road this season. His walks, home runs and strikeouts aren't bad on the road, but he's allowed a .364 BA with runners in scoring position away from Fenway. After pitching lights out in May and June, Lackey was off to a rough start in July. He's given up 23 hits in his last 11 2/3 innings, good for an 8.49 ERA.

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The All-Star break keeps getting longer as only four games are on tap tonight. It's not like the old days when players had to walk uphill through the snow to play triple headers on Thursday!

Johan Santana tries to help the Mets continue their winning streaks as they face the Reds and Johnny Cueto. Santana's five shutout innings before the break allowed him to break a streak of six starts all lost by the Mets, despite a 2.48 ERA by Johan. He allowed three runs or less in four of those contests. The Mets offense is better now, scoring 54 runs in their nine game winning streak.

Cueto's problem his year is the home run ball. He's allowed 20 home runs this season, 35.8 per 200 innings. He has excelled in one situation. Opponents are 0 for 7 with the bases loaded with one RBI and three strikeouts.

The Cardinals try to gain ground on the idle Cubs as they host the Padres and Jake Peavy. Since the start of the 2007 season, Peavy holds the lowest ERA in the majors among pitchers with 300 innings, 0.3 runs better than John Lackey. Kyle Lohse takes the hill for the Cardinals. With an 11-2 record, Lohse is in double figures in wins for the third time in his career, and three wins away from tying his career high of 14. With just two losses, he's in good shape to end five straight seasons of double digit losses.

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Scott Kazmir tries to end the Rays six-game losing streak that cut their AL East lead to 0.5 games. Kazmir hasn't been going very deep in games lately. In his last five starts, his longest outing was 5 2/3 innings. He'll face Jeremy Sowers who comes into the game with a 7.81 ERA. With a low strikeout and walk rate, a lot of balls are put in play against Sowers, and that's resulting in opponents hitting .356 against him.

On the day before the All-Star break, three great pitching matchups are on tap. Brandon Webb faces Cole Hamels in Philadelphia. Webb goes for his 14th win of the season. Webb is tough on the road with a 7-3 record and a 2.47 ERA. Hamels is second in the NL in innings pitched this season, averaging over seven innings per start. His strikeouts drop during day games. He Ks 4.6 batters per nine innings during the day, 8.9 at night. The Phillies need the win as both the Marlins and Mets are just 1/2 game out of first place.

Tim Lincecum tries to end the Giants losing streak as he faces Ryan Dempster and the Cubs. Lincecum is off to a rough start in July, allowing two home runs in 12 innings and a 5.25 ERA. Dempster tries to stay undefeated at home, where he's collected all ten of his wins. If the Cubs make the later rounds of the post season, I bet they arrange things to start Ryan in games 2 and 6.

Finally, the Angels and Athletics play the rubber game of their match as Joe Saunders faces Justin Duchscherer. Saunders owns the second best road ERA in the American League, 2.23. Duchscherer own the best home ERA in the league, 1.23.

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Rich Harden makes his Chicago Cubs debut this afternoon against the San Francisco Giants. Unfortunately, since it's an early afternoon start, it won't be on National TV. Harden pitched one of his better games against the Giants, lasting six innings without allowing a run and striking out nine. In interleague play, Rich went 3-0 in four starts, pitched 26 2/3 innings, allowed 12 hits, two runs, one homer, walked six and struck out 33. No wonder the Cubs wanted him pitching against the National League! He'll face Kevin Correia. Although he throws from the right side, right-handed batters are crushing Kevin, slugging .541 against him. This neutralizes his effectiveness against lefties, who are just slugging .309.

Five games back are the Brewers, who face Cy Young candidate Edinson Volquez. Edinson's strikeouts are starting to slip. He's only K'd six in his last three starts, covering 15 2/3 innings. The Brewers send out Seth McClung. Since the start of June, McClung's gotten a better handle on his control, walking 14 in 39 1/3 innings.

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Arizona and Philadelphia cling to slim leads in their divisions as they face off in a three-game series leading to the All-Star break. Doug Davis and Kyle Kendrick start the action tonight. Davis was up and down in his first four starts after returning from cancer treatment, but he's posted a 2.67 ERA in his last five starts, going fairly deep into games. I especially like his 31 K and 12 BB in 33 2/3 innings. Kendrick's excellent record is as much a result of his support as his pitching. He's number one in the NL in run support per nine innings at 7.60.

Tampa Bay tries to end it's four-game losing streak, but need to get by Cliff Lee of the Indians. James Shields takes the mound for the Rays. Shields, however, is one reason Tampa Bay doesn't perform well on the road. His ERA goes up nearly four runs this season away from The Trop. Lee, for some reason, hasn't pitched much in Cleveland this season. Only six of his seventeen starts came at home, where he enjoys a 1.84 ERA.

The Yankees travel to Toronto as Joba Chamberlain faces Jays ace Roy Halladay. Joba hasn't shown the control he had as a reliever, but his 2.57 starter ERA is rather impressive. Halladay upped his K rate in 2008 compared to 2007. He struck out 5.5 per 9 last season, 7.4 in 2008, a increase that led to a lower ERA.

Finally, the Athletics get another chance to gain on the Angels before the all-star break. They send Rich Harden replacement Sean Gallagher against LAnaheim's Jon Garland. Gallagher looks like he was hurt a bit by his defense, as his FIP is about 40 points lower than his ERA. Oakland has the best DER in the American League (although the Cubs DER was also very good). Garland does very well against the top of the order, allowing just a .206 BA in the first inning with a .289 OBA and a .265 slugging percentage.

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The Mets try to make it three shutouts in a row as they finish up their series with the San Francisco Giants. John Maine gets the ball for New York. Maine is coming off an off start against Philadelphia in which he only gave up one hit over 5 2/3 innings, but it was a three-run homer. Maine is not an efficient pitcher, as he's only completed seven innings once this season. He'll face Barry Zito, coming off his best start of the year. His one walk, ten strikeout game against the Dodgers moved his K/BB over 1.0.

The Yankees and Pirates finish up interleague play with a make-up of a rain out in Pittsburgh. Mike Mussina goes for his 12th win against Paul Maholm. Mike is 5-1 on the road, walking just four in 36 innings pitched. Maholm is posting a 2.74 over his last seven starts. He's allowed nine home runs in that stretch, all solo shots.

Finally, two teams battling for their division leads do battle in Los Angeles. The Marlins welcome Josh Johnson back to the team. Johnson hasn't pitched in the majors in over a year. His rehabilitation assignments produced good and bad news. In 21 1/3 innings he struck out 16 and walked three, but he also allowed 12 earned runs. With the return of Anibal Sanchez a few weeks away, the Marlins are coming close to reuniting their 2006 rotation. He'll face Chan Ho Park, who is lights out at Dodger Stadium. Park owns a 0.62 ERA at the park this season, striking out 28 batters in 29 innings and allowing a .194 opposition BA.

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The Giants send Jonathan Sanchez against the Mets and Johan Santana at Shea this evening. Sanchez and Lincecum are a combined 18-6. The rest of the San Francisco staff holds a 21-45 record. The duo ranks third and fourth (Sanchez) in the majors in K per 9 innings. Santana is 0-4 in his last six starts despite a 2.48 ERA.

Johnny Cueto draws Cubs ace Carlos Zambrano as the Reds try to tame the Cubs offense. Cueto walked two and struck out eight in six innings against Chicago earlier this year. He's also pitching well lately, allowing six runs in his last four starts. Zambrano made a success return from the disabled list his last time out, throwing six shutout innings against the Cardinals.

For the second day in a row, the Rangers start a pitcher making his Major League debut. Mike Ballard hosts Jered Weaver. Ballard has a high minor league ERA, 4.69, despite low walks and home run totals. That makes me wonder if he played in a high scoring league. Weaver got off to a rough start this season, but he's been pitching well since the middle of May.

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The Cardinals and Phillies are each fighting for a playoff spot as the Cardinals visit the Phillies. Joel Pineiro faces Cole Hamels. Pineiro has allowed six of his eight home runs on the road, not a pleasant thought as he faces the Phillies heart of the order at CBP. Hamels remains on a roll, posting a 2.31 ERA in his last six starts. Eight of the twelve runs he allowed came on home runs.

The Yankees always seem to be playing a series they need to sweep, and never seem to accomplish the feat. They open a two-game set with the Rays, 8 1/2 games out of first place. In a battle of lefties, Scott Kazmir takes on Andy Pettitte. The improved Rays defense can be seen in Kazmir's hits per 9. In 2007, he allowed 8.5 H/9. This season it's down to 6.6 H/9. Pettitte's ERA at home this season is about 1.5 runs higher than on the road, despite his other stats being about equal. His home runs allowed at Yankee Stadium tend to come with men on, while on the road they tend to come with the bases empty.

The Minnesota Boston series continues with another good pitching matchup as Nick Blackburn battles Jon Lester. After a rough June, Blackburn started July with seven shutout innings. Lester did him a couple better with a shutout of the Yankees his last time out.

Of course, the biggest game tonight is the premier of CC Sabathia in Milwaukee. My latest SportingNews.com column pegs his contribution for the rest of the season at an increase of two wins for the Brewers. He gets a good shot at winning his first start as Mark Redman takes the mound for Colorado. Mark owns a 7.05 ERA this season, but pitched well against the Marlins in his return from AAA.

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The Mets try to make it three out of four against the Phillies as Pedro Martinez faces Adam Eaton. Pedro looks finished. His 6.4 K per 9 is well below his career average, and the opposition is hitting .325 against him. The Mets rolled the dice well against Eaton this season. In two starts against New York, Adam allowed seven runs in eleven innings. This could turn out to be a slugfest.

The Twins come into Boston trailing the Red Sox by 1/2 game in the wild card race. They'll send Scott Baker against Daisuke Matsuzaka. Baker has a tendency to give up home runs on the road, as eight of his eleven game away from the Metrodome. His low walk total, however, keeps them from doing much damage. Eight were also solo shots. Dice-K pitched well in his last two starts, allowing just one run, but lasted just five innings in both games. He's walked eight in those two starts, forcing his pitch count high quickly.

The Angels head to Texas with a 7 1/2 game lead over the Rangers. The four game series gives the Rangers a chance to climb back into the AL West race. Ervin Santana faces Luis Mendoza. Santana upped his strikeouts and reduced his home runs allowed, leading to the best ERA of his career. Mendoza's control as a reliever didn't translate to the rotation. He struck out six and walked none in seven relief innings. As a starter, he's walked nine and struck out four in 14 1/3 innings pitched.

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It's a Day for Cy Young contenders as four worthy candidates take the mound. Rich Harden faces John Danks in Chicago. Rich Harden is a few starts away from qualifying for the ERA title, but his 5-0 record and 2.25 ERA should put him in the mix once he reaches that threshold. He striking out more than nine per nine innings and three times more than he walks. Danks is posting a 2.50 ERA, not bad given that his home ERA is two runs higher than his road number. Even though his record is just a game over .500, Danks deserves serious consideration for the award.

Cliff Lee takes his 2.26 ERA against the surging Minnesota Twins. The Twins are scoring 6.3 runs per game over their last 22, including 21 in the last two games against Cleveland. Lee held Minnesota to two hits over eight innings the only time he faced the team this season. The league is hitting .308 against Minnesota starter Glen Perkins, so it's a chance for the Indians offense to bust out.

In the NL, Edinson Volquez toils for the Reds against the Nationals. He's coming off two short outings in which his walks equaled or exceeded his strikeouts. Collin Balester comes off a successful major league debut in which he allowed one hit and one run over five innings of work.

Finally, we get to see if Randy Johnson can turn things around. He faces the Padres, a poor offensive team. Johnson's strikeouts are high, but so are his hits allowed. He's fooling batters, but not every at bat. San Diego's starter Josh Banks is showing great control, walking one batter every four innings. He's limiting the opposition's power, even away from PETCO.

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The Cubs try to extend their lead over the Cardinals as Ted Lilly faces Kyle Lohse. Ted is having a very typical Lilly year in terms of his ERA and batting average allowed. He is throwing more pitches per start. Lohse found a great home in St. Louis, posting a 2.77 ERA at home vs. 5.13 on the road.

Greg Smith faces the White Sox for the second time. He held them to one run in seven innings of work back in April. Gavin Floyd takes the mound for Chicago. He's allowing a .176 BA at home.

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On the 25th anniversary of Dave Righetti's no hitter, the Red Sox visit New York for another July 4th battle. Josh Beckett takes the mound for the Red Sox. He's only allowed one home run in his last five starts, giving him a 2.38 ERA in June. Darrell Rasner tries to fill Righetti's shoes for the Yankees. He was tough to hit in May, allowing a .209 BA, but hitters figured him out in June, when they hit .341 against him.

The Phillies dispatched the Braves, and now the Mets get a chance to make a move in the NL East. New York send Johan Santana against Brett Myers fill-in J.A. Happ. Johan is basically posting the same numbers he did in 2007, but once again with a weak team behind him, an ERA in the low three is only good for a .500 record. Happ has impressive minor league numbers, but failed to impress in his one MLB start in 2007, also against the Mets. He struck out five, but gave up seven hits in four innings.

Finally, the Cubs get Carlos Zambrano back just in time to visit St. Louis. The Cardinals trail Chicago by 2 1/2 games as they open a three game series. Zambrano's need for rest was apparent from his 5.68 ERA in May. He'll face long time reliever turned starter Braden Looper. It will be a contrast of styles as Zambrano tries to power through the Cardinals lineup while Looper uses his control and defense to try to stop the Cubs.

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The Arizona Diamondbacks send out their ace to try to climb back to .500. Brandon Webb faces Manny Parra of the Brewers. Parra tends to give up long balls on the road, with the opposition hitting seven home runs in 34 1/3 innings. Webb is coming off a month in which he failed to average six innings per start.

The Yankees get a chance to gain on the wild card leader as Boston comes into town for a four game series. It starts with a battle of lefties as Jon Lester takes on Andy Pettitte. Except for his last start, Lester is on a roll. In his last nine starts he posted a 2.97 ERA, allowing just three home runs. Pettitte was roughed up by Kansas City early in June, but he's been lights out since. In his last four starts, Andy posted a 1.00 ERA and only allowed 19 hits in 27 innings.

With the Giants making a 4:05 PDT start, the east coast gets to see Tim Lincecum in prime time as the Cubs' Sean Gallagher stands in opposition. Gallagher is another pitcher who gets pounded on the road. He's yet to allow a home run at Wrigley this season, but the six hit off him on the road led to a .488 away slugging percentage allowed. Lincecum is just the opposite. All five home runs hit off him came in San Francisco.

Atlanta gets one more chance to gain ground on Philadelphia as Cole Hamels visits Jair Jurrjens. Both boast eight wins and low ERAs. Hamels is extremely effective against right-handed batters this season. Lefties are hitting .211, righties .212, and lefties have a higher slugging percentage. Jurrjens is coming off a great June in which he posted a 1.63 ERA.

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Two games feature outstanding pitching matchups in division races. This afternoon, Dana Eveland takes on Joe Saunders in the rubber game of the Oakland-LAnaheim series. Eveland's strength rests in his home runs allowed, three in 97 innings pitched. His walks are becoming a worry, however, as he issued more free passes than strikeouts in June, walking 20 in 30 2/3 innings. Saunders pitches his best outing of the season against Oakland at the end of April, eight shutout innings allowing four hits and one walk while striking out five.

Tonight, the Red Sox try to salvage one game of this series against the Rays as they send Daisuke Matsuzaka against Scott Kazmir. Dice-K returned to form in his second start since coming off the disabled list, allowing two hits and no runs against Houston. On the season he remains tough to hit, allowing a .206 BA. If batters can be selective against Matsuzaka, teams can put runners on base with walks and hope one of those rare hits comes after a couple of those.

Kazmir is lights out at home this season. Opponents are hitting .153 against Scott, and he's allowing a slugging percentage (.242) lower than his OBA allowed (.243). That's an OPS less than .500 against Kazmir at Tropicana Field.

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The revolution in the AL East continues tonight with the Red Sox sending Tim Wakefield against the Rays Matt Garza. Wakefield is posting his lowest ERA since 2002, when he spent most of the season in the pen. As a pure starter, this is the lowest his ERA's been since 1995, his first season with the Red Sox. Garza's June was his best month of the season in terms of strikeouts and walks. He fanned 26 while walking just seven in 31 1/3 innings.

At the other end of the standings, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati battle for last in the NL Central with Zach Duke taking on Edinson Volquez. Batter put lots of balls in play against Duke, but in the last two months, fewer are falling for hits. Volquez is quite the opposite. With high strikeout and walk totals, few balls are put in play, and the opposition is hitting just .202 against him.

Does anyone think Cliff Lee might be Cleveland's trade bait instead of C.C. Sabathia? Lee's trade value may never be higher as he tries to stop the White Sox and John Danks. John's home runs allowed are down from 40.3 per 200 innings in 2007 to 12.9 per 200 in 2008. That's 2/3 fewer long balls over the same amount of innings.

That Athletics try to shave another game off the Angels lead as Rich Harden faces Ervin Santana. Rich only pitched 16 innings on the road this season, but has yet to allow a home run away from home. Santana's walks jumped in June. We'll see if a selective A's team can take advantage of that.

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The Red Sox visit the first place Tampa Bay Rays tonight with 1/2 game separating the two clubs. Justin Masterson takes the hill for the Red Sox. His most impressive number is the .195 batting average he's allowed to opponents. That's somewhat neutralized by his high number of walks, but still, a .306 opponents OBA is very good. Five of the six home runs he allowed came off the bats of lefties. James Shields is charged with keeping the Rays in first place. He's pitched to a bit of tough luck this season as his 3.76 ERA only produced a 5-5 record. The Rays scored two runs or less in five of his starts. However, he has a four run difference in ERA home and road, posting a 1.99 mark in Tampa Bay. Only three of his eleven home runs allowed came at home.

There will be no Coco Crisp tonight, as he's serving his suspension. It was Shields and Crisp who were the initial combatants in the June 5th fight that led to the sanctions.

The Tigers are moving up in the AL Central, now just five games back of the White Sox and 3 1/2 behind the Twins. They visit Minnesota for a three game series with Armando Galarraga facing Glen Perkins. Galarraga is undefeated in June at 3-0, allowing just seven walks in 26 1/3 innings. Perkins allows a .315 opponents BA, and all nine of his home runs allowed came off right-handed bats. With Detroit's right-handed power, that could be a problem. However, Perkins's best start of the season came against the Tigers. He gave up one run in 7 2/3 innings on May 25th at Comerica.

Milwaukee and Arizona are both in tight pennant races. They face each other in Phoenix as Dave Bush takes on former Brewer Doug Davis. Bush is finishing up a fine June in which he controlled the long ball and reduced his already fine walk rate. Davis tries to keep the Diamondbacks above .500. He's 0-1 in five June starts despite a 3.03 ERA. The Diamondbacks won two of those starts, 2-1 and 1-0 victories.

Finally, Oakland starts first place week as they play both the Angels and the White Sox. Tonight, Greg Smith starts against John Garland. Smith has run into some trouble in June. His walks have gone up, and along with those his ERA. Garland has not pitched well in Anaheim this season, posting a 4.88 ERA at home. He walks a lot more batters in Angels Stadium than on the road.

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The Arizona Diamondbacks avoided falling under .500 with a win against the Marlins Saturday night. They'll try to extend that to two games over as they send Dan Haren against Scott Olsen. Haren's cut his walks allowed per nine innings from a great 2.2 in 2007 to a fantastic 1.5 in 2008. Olsen reduced his hits allowed versus 2007. Last season Scott allowed a .315 batting average. This year, with a .237 BA allowed, his .307 OBA is even lower than last season's BA.

Ben Sheets and Kevin Slowey hook up in Minnesota as the Brewers try to make it two in a row over the Twins. Sheets traded walks for home runs in June versus May. Last month, he allowed seven home runs and two walks. So far in June he's given up two home runs while walking eight. Starting with his win against Milwaukee on 6/13, Slowey's pitched three good games in a row, allowing three earned runs in 22 innings while striking out 16 and walking two.

The Dodgers try to win a game with a hit today, but they'll have a tough time as John Lackey takes the hill against Derek Lowe. Part of Lackey's success this season comes from demolishing left-handed batters. For his career through 2007, lefties hit Lackey a bit better than righties.
This season, lefties aren't even hitting the Mendoza line against Lackey. Left-handed batters are picking up few hits, few walks, and very little power.

Lowe's ERA is about a run better in Dodger Stadium than on the road this season, but that hasn't translated into more wins for the pitcher. He's just 4-3 at home. Lowe has allowed eight stolen bases in ten attempts this season, so look for the Angels to run.

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Fox picks up two good games for the national broadcast as the Cubs and White Sox continue their series on the south side and the Yankees and Mets meet again in Queens. Sean Gallagher faces Javier Vazquez in Chicago. Unfortunately, since the teams get to use the designated hitter, Gallagher won't be able to smash a watermelon at home plate. Opponents aren't mashing Sean, either, as he's allowed just four home runs in 47 2/3 innings. Vazquez is trying to end June on a high note. He's posted a 6.94 ERA for the month, allowing six of his thirteen homers since June first.

Lefties battle at Shea Stadium as Andy Pettitte takes on Johan Santana. Andy is on a roll, allowing just one run in his last three starts. He struck out 19 an walked four in 21 innings of work. I was reading an open thread on a Mets site the last time Santana pitched, and Mets fans seem disappointed in Johan. His stats, however, are very good; most teams will take a 2.93 ERA. He is allowing a few more hits, but I wonder how much of that is the Mets defense?

The Diamondbacks try to stay above .500 as they send Brandon Webb against Andrew Miller. Webb is averaging just over five innings in his four June starts. He was at seven in April and May. Miller's been up and down this month with three good starts and two poor ones.

Home runs are keeping Cole Hamels ERA higher than the elite pitchers of the league. Twenty two of the forty three runs he allowed scored via the fourteen homers he allowed. He'll try to keep the Texas hitters in the park as he faces Vicente Padilla. He's been very tough this season with men on base, allowing a .202 BA with men on and a .186 BA with men in scoring position.

The best matchup of the day takes place in Oakland where Tim Lincecum matches up against Justin Duchscherer. Tim is undefeated on the road, 6-0 with a 2.10 ERA. He's yet to allow a long ball away from AT&T Park. With a 1.99 ERA, Duchscherer need three innings to qualify for the AL ERA lead. Eight innings should put him among the qualifiers for good.

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I mistakenly left the Cubs-White Sox game off the games of the day. It's actually one of the better matchups of the day with Ryan Dempster facing Jose Contreras. Ryan's home/road spilt continues to be mind boggling. He's 9-0 at Wrigley in ten starts, 0-2 on the road in six starts despite a lower ERA. Part of that may be the defenses fault, as he's allowed six unearned runs on the road but only one at home. Ten of those sixteen also came as a result of home runs. His split of home runs makes me wonder if the wind has been blowing in at Wrigley this season.

Contreras has limited the power against him to bases empty situations this season. With no one on, opponents have 20 extra-base hits and a .388 slugging percentage. With men on base, they have five extra-base hits and a .318 slugging percentage, despite a higher batting average.

To prove the point of the previous post, Royals cast off Runelvys Hernandez starts for Houston tonight against the Boston Red Sox and Daisuke Matsuzaka. Hernandez hasn't pitched in the majors since 2006, and posted a career 5.38 ERA in his time with Kansas City. Dice-K makes his second start since coming off the DL, and almost has to do better than the seven runs in one inning which caused his ERA to jump a run.

Milwaukee and Minnesota are making comebacks in their divisions as Seth McClung faces Nick Blackburn. McClung holds a 2.10 ERA on the road, mostly due to allowing fewer home runs away from Miller Park. Blackburn's taken over the Carlos Silva role on the team. He doesn't walk batters and strikes out very few, depending on the Twins defense to keep his ERA low.

The Yankees and Mets are playing a split-park double header, and you just have to love the matchup in game two where Sidney Ponson faces Pedro Martinez at Shea. Why does anyone think Ponson can pitch? He had one good year in his career and has a 4.90 career ERA. About the only sign Pedro shows that he can still pitch is the six walks he's issued in 24 2/3 innings. He can still fool batters sometimes, as he's picked up seventeen strikeouts, but the 36 hits against him indicate he's not fooling them often enough.

Finally, in the battle of Los Angeles, Joe Saunders and Chan Ho Park battle at Dodger Stadium. Saunders posts a 1.89 ERA on the road this season, allowing just two of his twelve home runs away from Anaheim. Park should never have left the Dodgers. He's a different pitcher at Dodger Stadium, striking out more, walking fewer and keeping the ball in the park.

Enjoy!

Correction: Runelvys pitched for Kansas City.

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The Twins go for a sweep of the Padres this afternoon as they send Scott Baker against Josh Banks. Baker is just 3-2 this season, but he's sporting a 4.9 strikeout to walk ratio. Banks also is a control artist. Since moving into the Padres rotation he's walked one and struck out 15.

Matt Cain battles Cliff Lee in Cleveland this afternoon. Cain's strikeout and walk numbers aren't that different from his teammate Tim Lincecum, but Cain allows more home runs. He also has a tendency to give up his extra base hits with men on base, as opponents are slugging .507 against him in that situation. Lee pitched somewhat more normally in June, posting a 4.18 ERA so far. He's still showing great control, however, walking just five in 23 2/3 innings.

Finally, the Reds and Blue Jays finish up their series as Edinson Volquez faces Jesse Litsch. Volquez continues to avoid bats with walks and strikeouts, holding opponents to a .196 BA and a .262 slugging percentage. Litsch gives up hits instead of walks, so his OBA allowed is only 10 points higher than Volquez. However, a good number of his hits go for home runs, accounting for the higher ERA.

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The Milwaukee Brewers try to extend their winning streak to five games and sweep the former Milwaukee Braves as Jeff Suppan faces Jorge Campillo. Suppan's 5.70 road ERA comes mostly from his allowing seven of his nine home runs away from Miller Park (he must be a Star Trek fan). Campillo is showing great control this year, walking a batter every five innings.

Kyle Lohse and Armando Galarraga offer the best pitching matchup of the day. They are a combined 16-4 this season. Lohse took advantage of moving out of good home run parks to cut his rate of long balls allowed in half, dropping his ERA a run. Armando's strength is keeping the bases empty, allowing just a .254 OBA with no one on.

Runs galore in Cleveland today as Barry Zito faces Jeremy Sowers. Batters have an OPS against Sowers of .978. As a hitter, you'll be in contention for the MVP at that level. Zito isn't much better at .894. He's allowing a .411 OBA. That's turning every batter he faces into Wade Boggs!

Finally, Gavin Floyd takes on Eric Stults at Dodger Stadium. Floyd managed to keep his ERA low in June despite allowing as many home runs as April and May combined. Eight of the seventeen runs he allowed were unearned. Stults made an good first start against the Reds, allowing one earned run while walking one and striking out five in six innings.

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There's a rather uninspiring set of pitching matchups today. Arizona sends Doug Davis against Justin Masterson in best of the lot, although it would have made for a great story line to see Davis pitch against Jon Lester. Davis is posting a 2.78 ERA in June, but he's not pitching that well. He's only averaging about five innings a start with a high walk rate. He hasn't allowed a home run, however. Masterson's ERA looks la lot better than the stats producing it. The Hardball Times has his FIP ERA at 4.97. Either Justin really is hard to hit, or he's had a really good defense behind him.

The Reds visit the Blue Jays, which will no doubt lead to a lot of talk about Adam Dunn and J.P. Ricciardi. Adam Dunn is a player teams should want.

The Rays took two out of three against the Marlins in Tampa Bay, and now the Marlins try to return the favor in Miami. Andy Sonnanstine takes on Scott Olsen. Sonnanstine keeps winning despite a high ERA because he's getting 5.72 runs per 9 innings, 10th highest in the AL. Olsen's done a good job of capping opponents' power with men on base, 10 of the 12 home runs he's allowed going for solo shots.

The Reds/Blue Jays and Mariners/Mets should be competing for slugfest of the night, but all four offenses are so bad even facing pitchers with ERAs over 5.00 probably won't help them.

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MLB scheduled just five games tonight, but a few of them sport fine pitching matchups. First place clubs battle in Boston as the Diamondbacks take on the Red Sox. Dan Haren takes the mound for Arizona sporting a 3.26 ERA. He's given up quite a few hits at Fenway, leading to an 0-3 record and a 4.60 ERA. Josh Beckett pitches for the host team. He's pitched very well starting 5/24, and hasn't allowed a home run in his last three starts.

Milwaukee is making a run at the wild card and sends Ben Sheets against Jo-Jo Reyes in Atlanta. Sheets is undefeated on the road with a 5-0 record, but Atlanta owns one of the best home records in the majors. Reyes, on the other hand, hasn't fared well at home. He posts a 5.17 in Atlanta this year versus 2.83 on the road.

A pair of aces take the mound for new managers as the Mets host the Mariners at Shea. I wonder how the crowd will react to Jerry Manuel in his first home game as manager? He'll send Johan Santana against Felix Hernandez. King Felix owns a 1.90 road ERA, third best in the American League. We're starting to see the Santana second half surge. He owns a 2.03 ERA in June, but poor support means a 1-2 record in four starts in the month. He's only allowed one home runs so far in June after giving up twelve in the first third of the season.

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Two members of the class of 2006 face off in Philadelphia this afternoon as Jered Weaver faces Cole Hamels. Both pitchers came up two seasons ago and hold similar records. Weaver is at 30-16, Hamels 31-17 for their careers. The own similar ERAs, 3.67 for Weaver, 3.56 for Hamels. Their career, however, are going in different directions:

ERA by Season

Season	Weaver	Hamels
2006	2.56	4.08
2007	3.91	3.39
2008	4.73	3.23

Weaver did not maintain the high strikeout rate of his first season, and his hits allowed went up. Hamels remained an elite strikeout pitcher and kept his walks low. He's developed into the ace of the Phillies staff, where Weaver is a fourth or fifth starter.

Tim Lincecum and Kyle Davies battle in Kansas City. Lincecum is battling Edinson Volquez for best young pitcher in the National League and for a Cy Young award. His home run rate is just 10.2 per 200 innings this season. Davies allowed 28.2 home runs per 200 innings in his career, but has yet to allow a long ball in 24 2/3 innings of work in 2008. That's one reason his ERA is below 2.00. Although he's walked 12 batters, he's yet to allow an extra base hit with men on base.

Finally, the White Sox try to salvage a game against the Cubs as Javier Vazquez takes the hill against Ryan Dempster at Wrigley on ESPN. Vazquez is suffering through a rough June. His walks and hits are both up, resulting in a 7.27 ERA. Opponents are hitting just .190 against Ryan at home with a .281 slugging percentage.

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The Reds give Daryl Thompson a tough assignment for his major league debut. At 22, he was tearing up AA, but gave up four home runs in his 19 innings at AAA. He'll face Dan Giese who was shadowing Joba Chamberlain before Wang went down with a foot injury. He'll get a chance to fill in for Chien. He's only walked one in 7 1/3 innings of relief. His control has been there throughout his long minor league career, but didn't get him to the majors until 2007.

C.C. Sabathia visits Los Angeles as he faces Chan Ho Park at Dodger Stadium. C.C. Recovered well from his poor start. He walked 14 in his first four games, 15 in his 11 starts since. Park returned to the park of his greatest success. He's posting a 0.50 ERA at Dodger Stadium, 4.74 on the road.

Daisuke Matsuzaka returns to the Red Sox after a rotator cuff problem kept him out for nearly a month. It will be interesting to see if his control improves with the healed shoulder. Mitchell Boggs makes the third start and fourth appearance of his career. His low strikeout rate and high walk rate does not match up well against Boston. They'll wait for him to throw strikes, and pitching to contact against a team that hits well just isn't a good idea.

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The central division leaders meet at Wrigley Field this afternoon as the White Sox face the Cubs. The Cubs hold the best record in baseball while the White Sox are tied for the biggest division lead. Both teams are coming off sweep. The White Sox demolished the Pirates by a combined score of 37-15 while the Cubs let the Rays squeak by them in two games by one run. John Danks takes the hill for the visitors. He's pitched well on the road this season. His 1.72 away ERA is a result of more strikeouts and fewer home runs. Ted Lilly stands in opposition. The Cubs lefty has better opposition batting numbers at home, but a higher ERA. He's given up a high batting average with runners in scoring position at Wrigley, and four of the six homers he's allowed at home came with men on base.

In another possible World Series matchup, the Angels travel to Philadelphia as Ervin Santana faces Adam Eaton. Santana's ERA is on the rise again in June, giving up more hits than innings pitched in a month for the first time this season. Eaton's lower ERA in 2008 is attributable to his cutting his home runs and walks allowed by 1/3 compared to 2007.

A great pitching matchup in New York tonight as Edinson Volquez takes on Mike Mussina. At 10.74 K per 9, Volquez is one strikeout per nine innings better than any qualifying NL pitcher. Mussina's cut his ERA almost 1.5 runs compared to 2007. His strikeouts and walks are a little better than 2007, and his home run rate is higher. Fewer balls in play, however, are landing for hits. It appears that Mike made a change to fool left-handed batters:

Mike Mussina Batting Average Allowed

BA Allowed	2007	2008
Vs. LHB	.315	.234
Vs. RHB	.307	.309

What ever trick Mussina discovered, it has lefties looking for answers.

Finally, two teams looking to move up from second place battle in Oakland as the Marlins visit the Athletics. Mark Hendrickson appears to have lost his ace status as he's posted an 11.05 ERA over his last five starts. Rich Harden struck out 26 in his 18 2/3 June innings.

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Inexperienced starters matchup at Yankee Stadium as Josh Banks faces Joba Chamberlain. Banks so far is doing a great job of limiting both home runs and walks. Joba is walking a lot more batters as a starter than as a reliever, but so far he's limited extra base hits to cover that weakness. Joba should be off pitch counts at this point, so waiting him out may not be an option for the Padres.

At the other end of the evening, Cleveland and Colorado might offer a great slugfest. Sowers comes into the game with a 7.23 ERA, de la Rosa 6.89. Sowers is giving up 42.9 homers per 200 innings, de la Rosa 30.6.

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The Red Sox and Phillies play the rubber game of their series this afternoon as Justin Masterson faces Kyle Kendrick. The Phillies have done a good job of holding Boston's offense in check, allowing just five runs in two games. Kendrick, with few strikeouts and walks, allows a lot of balls in play. The Red Sox have a .310 BABIP, the second highest in the American League, so they're in a good position to score some runs against Kyle. Masterson doesn't give up many hits, but most of the ones he does allow go for extra bases. That's doesn't bode well against a powerful Phillies lineup. This could be a high scoring affair today.

In New York, Jake Peavy takes on Darrell Rasner as Jake tries to cool the Yankees offense. In winning five in a row, New York scored 35 runs. Peavy hasn't repeated his great road performance of 2007, allowing five of his six home runs on the road. Rasner is posting a 1.71 ERA at Yankee Stadium, allowing just one walk and one home run in 21 innings of work there.

Shaun Marcum and Ben Sheets meet as two players pitching well for disappointing teams. Marcum's knocked a run off his ERA every month so far this season, posting a 1.29 ERA in June. Opponents are hitting just .194 against him overall. Sheets ability to keep batters off base resulted in nine of the eleven home runs he allowed going for solo shots.

Finally, Dan Haren faces his former teammates as he takes on Joe Blanton in Arizona. Blanton's stock is falling as his low K rate is resulting in opponents hitting .278 against him with a .425 slugging percentage. Haren is just as good as Joe in limiting walks, but with a higher K rate, opponents are batting just .229 against Dan.

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Lou Piniella returns to his home and previous managerial job as the Cubs take on the Rays in Tampa Bay. The leadoff with a great pitching matchup as Ryan Dempster faces Scott Kazmir. The fact that Dempster is 0-2 on the road despite a better ERA away from Wrigley says something about the Cubs offense. Kazmir is about 20 innings short of counting among the league leaders in ERA, but if he can maintain this level of play he should take over that role sometime in July.

Atlanta travels to another good hitters park as Tim Hudson faces Vicente Padilla in Texas. Chipper Jones is at .403 after a 2 for 4 game in Colorado, and will need a couple of hits or some walks to start above .400 after tonight's game. Hudson has a 6.23 career ERA in Arlington, and didn't get out of the third inning the one time he visited with Atlanta. Padilla's stats look worse than his ERA indicates. He makes the opposition look like power hitters, but most of that power comes with the bases empty.

St. Louis hosts cross-state rivals Kansas City, with the Cardinals clubhouse looking more like a rehab center. They'll face Kyle Davies, who is off to a good start since returning to the major league club. He's posting a 1.53 ERA despite nine walks in 17 2/3 innings. Joel Piniero does a much better job of limiting free passes, but opponents are hitting .326 with runners in scoring position against Joel.

The west coast offers three excellent matchups. Jerry Manuel gets to start his tenure with Johan Santana on the mound facing John Lackey. Both pitchers keep their walks low and their strikeouts high, and both can give up a home run.

Justin Duchscherer faces Brandon Webb as the Athletics travel to Arizona. Duchscherer is another pitcher, like Dempster, making a very successful move from relief to starting. Webb goes for his seventh win versus no losses at home.

Finally, Scott Olsen takes on Felix Hernandez in Seattle. Olsen's done a good job of removing base runners this season, inducing seven double plays while base runners are only 3 for 8 stealing. King Felix has not allowed an earned run in his last three starts, and only one run overall.

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The Phillies host the Red Sox in what could be a preview of the World Series. While both teams have great records, each has the smallest lead of any first place team in their respective leads. They are going to need to continue to play well to hold off the competition. Bartolo Colon takes on Cole Hamels this evening. Colon took a while to find a job, but with a 3.41 ERA, the Red Sox are happy everyone else passed. Bartolo has walked just seven batters in 29 innings of work. Hamels turned into the ace of the Phillies staff, averaging over seven innings per start. He's a left hander who is nearly as effective against right-handed batters with a .595 OPS against lefties and a .631 OPS against righties.

Chipper Jones tries to bounce his batting average safely above .400 again as the Braves visit Coors Field. Jair Jurrjens faces Ubaldo Jimenez. Jair missed his last start with an injury, so he should be well rested. His ERA is about two runs higher on the road this season, and pitching in Colorado probably won't help that. Jimenez pitched his best at Coors in 2008, with a walk rate about half of the one he shows on the road.

The Mets visit the other LA, as Mike Pefrey matches up with Jered Weaver and the Angels. All eyes will be watching to see if Willie Randolph maintains his position as manager. The two teams are at the opposite ends of one-run game success, the Angels third in the majors at 13-8, the Mets third from the bottom at 6-10.

The Marlins go from facing one of the best teams in the majors to one of the worst as they make the long flight from Tampa Bay to Seattle. Andrew Miller and Carlos Silva are headed in opposite directions in terms of ERA. After a 3-0 start in April, Silva is 0-7 with an 8.79 ERA. After a 9.12 ERA in April, Miller's been pitching to a 3.00 mark since.

Finally, Justin Verlander and the streaking Tigers take on Tim Lincecum and the reeling Giants. Justin posted a 2.57 ERA in his last six starts, allowing just one home run. Lincecum is one of four regular starters (70 IP) with more strikeouts than innings pitched. San Francisco is 10-4 in Tim's starts, 20-36 otherwise.

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The fans in Cleveland get a treat today as Greg Maddux faces C.C. Sabathia. Maddux pitched at Jacobs Field twice before, in 1995 World Series and in 2006 with the Cubs. Both times he gave up four runs in about seven innings. Maddux has a 1.38 ERA this June but has a no decision in both starts. C.C. is also pitching well this month, posting a 2.40 ERA with thirteen strikeouts and three walks.

The Rockies and White Sox play the rubber game of their series with Aaron Cook and Jose Contreras on the mound. Cook represents the only consistently good starter on Colorado this year. He's pitched well both at home on the road this season, and is almost as effective against lefty batters as righties. Contreras's opponents have a combined OPS of .601.

Finally, a great pitching matchup on ESPN this evening as Atlanta send Jorge Campillo against Joe Saunders. Campillo stepped into a rotation destroyed by injuries and so far posted a 2.96 ERA as a starter, striking out 21 in 24 1/3 innings. Saunders is coming off the worst start of his season and is looking a bit more human lately. He's allowed 17 runs, 14 earned over his last three starts.

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Correction: Maddux was in Cleveland in 1995, not 1996.

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The Red Sox were not able to get to Aaron Harrang last night, despite the Reds ace having an off year. Today they get the emerging ace of the staff, Edinson Volquez. He's leading the NL in ERA by over 0.4 runs. He's still wild, but his high number of strikeouts and low number of home runs are keeping his ERA low. Tim Wakefield at age 41 continues to keep his value. Opponents can run on him, however, as he's allowed 17 stolen bases in 21 attempts.

Mike Mussina tries to become the AL's second ten game winner as he faces Wandy Rodriguez and the Houston Astros. Since Hank Steinbrenner's rant, Mike is 8-1 with a 3.11 ERA. He's only walked 1.3 per nine innings in that time. Wandy's been nearly untouchable at home, posting a 0.72 ERA in four starts at Minute Maid.

Meanwhile, Cliff Lee tries to go to eleven against the Padres and Cha Seung Baek. Lee's been a little more human lately, allowing eleven earned runs in his last three starts.

Finally, the Bay area offers a nice matchup of good young pitchers. Rich Harden faces Matt Cain. Harden owns the highest K per 9 mark in the majors for any pitcher with at least 45 innings.
Cain's main problem this season is his increase in home runs. He allowed 14 in 2007, 12 so far this season.

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The battle of Florida takes on special meaning this season as both Sunshine State teams are in the playoff hunt. Ryan Tucker takes the mound for the Marlins, making the second start of his career. He only allowed one run in five innings against Cincinnati. Despite walking five, he struck out six and allowed just two hits. He'll face Andy Sonnanstine. Andy continues his great walk rate of 2007, but also his high batting average allowed, .302.

The Yankees send Joba Chamberlain into Houston to face former Yankees short lived wonder Shaun Chacon. Joba has a 4.05 ERA as a starter so far, mostly due to more walks. He should get to throw about 90 pitches tonight. After a strong start, Chacon has allowed 11 earned runs in his last six innings pitched. Home runs have been flying out of Minute Maid the last two games, so the pitcher who does a better job of keeping the ball in the park is likely to get the win tonight.

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It's a good afternoon to take a late, long lunch and watch some baseball at your local watering hole. The Diamondbacks and Mets start us off with Dan Haren facing Johan Santana. Haren is looking for his first win on the road, where he owns a 4.94 ERA in five starts. The biggest change for Santana this season is his batting average allowed. Through 2007, opponents hit just .221 off Johan. This year, it's .251.

The Braves try to win one on the road as their one uninjured starter, Tim Hudson takes on Cubs ace Carlos Zambrano. Hudson has yet to give up a home run to a right-hander this season, and six of the seven hit off him were solo shots. Zambrano is off to a great start despite his second straight year showing a major drop in strikeouts. His K per 9 innings number for the last three seasons: 8.8 in 2006, 7.4 2007, 6.1 in 2008.

Jake Peavy returns to the mound in San Diego to host the Dodgers and Hiroki Kuroda. Kuroda pitched well in his first start against the Padres, allowing three hits in seven innings. Jake is getting slammed by lefties this season, allowing a .357 OBA and a .365 slugging percentage. For some reason, however, he's faced about 40 more righties than lefties.

For those of you more interested in night baseball, Florida can pull to within one game of Philadelphia with a sweep of the Phillies tonight. Jamie Moyer takes on Scott Olsen. Moyer refuses to walk batters, so he gives up hits and home runs. With the Phillies superb offense, however, Jamie can win pitching like that. Runners have problems stealing against Olsen, as only eight attempts have been tried and only three of those were successful.

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It's tough not to find a good pitching matchup today, but the two afternoon games may offer the best. Seattle sends Felix Hernandez against Toronto's Shaun Marcum at 12:30 PM EDT. King Felix is benefiting from the lack of power in the AL this season, cutting his home runs allowed by about 1/3. For the first time since his rookie season, he's also allowing fewer hits than innings pitched. Marcum seems to be getting better as the season progresses. In his last three starts he's allowed four four earned runs in 21 1/3 innings of work.

Scott Kazmir and John Lackey each had their seasons delayed by injury, and each has pitched like a Cy Young winner since returning to the rotation. The two meet in Anaheim this afternoon in the rubber match of their three game series. Tampa Bay failed to catch the Red Sox last night as they lost 6-1 to the Angels. Kazmir's strikeouts are down a tiny bit this season, but his improved control and ability to keep the ball in the park are well worth fewer Ks. Lackey is also showing tremendous control with a better than 4 to 1 strikeout to walk ratio.

Brandon Webb goes for his 12th win of the season as he faces Mike Pelfry and the Mets. Webb is averaging nearly seven innings a start, one reason he's received a decision in all thirteen starts. He had a rough outing versus New York earlier this year, allowing four runs in six innings but still walked away with the win. Mike Pelfry is at the dangerous point where his walks are about even with his strikeouts, and his walks aren't low.

Texas and Kansas City square off again with Vicente Padilla and Kyle Davies matching up on the mound. It's not clear why Padilla's ERA is two runs lower than last year. He's giving up more home runs and about the same number of walks, but his hits allowed are down. Opponents are just 11 for 60 against him with runners in scoring position, so it may be his timing is just better. In his first two starts this season, Davies has shut down left-handed batters, holding them to a 4 for 27, a .148 BA. Given that lefties represent 3/5 of the at bats against Kyle, it's no wonder he's allowed just two runs so far.

Finally, the Yankees try to start their road trip 2-0 as they send Darrell Rasner against Justin Duchscherer. The most impressive change about Rasner this season is his control. He's struck out 23 and walked just five. He came into the season with 26 K and 15 walks. Duchscherer should give some hope to Yankees fans who worry about Joba moving from the bullpen to the rotation. His ERA of 2.32 this season is in line with his best years as a setup man in the pen.

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Four games behind the Phillies, the Marlins open a three game series against the NL East leaders tonight. Brett Myers has hardly been a ace this season, coming into the game with a 3-7 record and a 5.13 ERA. He's pitched better in his last two starts, however, allowing four runs in 15 1/3 innings. The Marlins send Ricky Nolasco, who is 5-4 despite not pitching all that well. He's allowing opposition hitters a .345 OBA and a .496 slugging percentage.

The Astros trail the Brewers by 1 1/2 games for third place in the NL Central, and host Seth McClung against Roy Oswalt. McClung's 3.54 relief ERA hasn't translated well into the starter's role. His strikeouts dropped and his hits allowed increased. The Astros lost Oswalt's last four starts, only scoring two runs in three of those games. Home runs are still Roy's problem, as he needs to allow just two more to equal his career high.

The Rays are coming off a big win against the Angels and send James Shields against Jered Weaver tonight. Shields should be well rested, as he only lasted an inning against the Red Sox. He hit Coco Crisp and was ejected after the brawl. I like the way he built on his 2007 success by reducing his home run allowed rate. Weaver's done nothing to build on his successful rookie year. His ERA is up again in 2008, and his hits allowed per nine remain well above his 2006 numbers.

The Padres trail the Dodgers by three games as they two teams open a series in San Diego. Rookie Clayton Kershaw gets the ball for Los Angeles. He's struck out 14 in his first 14 2/3 innings, but walked nine. Clayton is still looking for his first win. He'll face the opposite end of the spectrum, 350 game winner Greg Maddux. Maddux is still an all-star when he pitches at PETCO, posting a 1.73 ERA there in six starts. He only has a 1-0 record to show for it, however.

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Joba Chamberlain make his second start against a team less likely to try to wait him out. The Royals have drawn the fewest walks in the American League this season, meaning they're not a team that sits back and waits for their pitch. Joba does seem to be in rotation against everyone else's aces, however, as he draws Zack Greinke. His best game of the season came on April 9th when he shutout the Yankees for eight innings.

The Orioles go for a sweep of the Blue Jays as Toronto's pitching went south just as the Blue Jays offense came to life. Roy Halladay tries to turn that around. He's pitching well in Toronto this season, allowing a .234 OBA there. He'll face Radhames Liz, making his second start of the season. So far, so good as he walked one and struck out four in 5 1/3 innings in his first start.

The Cardinals and Astros play the rubber game of their series as both teams try to narrow the gap with the Cubs. Kyle Lohse takes the hill for St. Louis, still one of the best signings of the winter. He's another pitcher who has really reduced his home run rate, from 22.8 per 200 innings in 2007 to 8.1 in 2008. Wandy Rodriguez was roughed up by the Cardinals in his first start coming off the DL, but rebounded to shutout the Pirates for six innings in his last start.

Finally, the Oakland Athletics try to salvage a win in their series against the Angels as Rich Harden hosts Ervin Santana. Last season, Santana gave up 24 more hits than innings pitched. This year, he's allowed 17 fewer hits than innings. Harden's posted a 1.76 ERA in his five home starts, although all three of his homers allowed came in Oakland.

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The Cubs continue their series with the Dodgers, sending Carlos Zambrano versus Derek Lowe. Not only has Carlos limited opponents to just four home runs this season, only one of those came with men on base. After a rough few starts in May, Lowe turned it around in his last three, allowing just three runs in 22 innings, including seven shutout innings against the Cubs. He's walked just five batters in that span.

After a 10-6 Chicago victory last night, the first place White Sox try to send Minnesota farther back in the standings as they send Mark Buehrle to host Livan Hernandez. Livan proved to be the innings eater the Twins needed, often pitching into the seventh inning. Despite the league hitting him hard (.339 BA, .506 slugging allowed), he's somehow managed a 4.81 ERA. The opposition is hitting Buehrle not quite as hard (.304, .470) but his ERA is well over 5.00.

Jon Garland tries to make it two in a row for the Angels over the Athletics and Greg Smith. Jon only struck out 22 so far this year, well below his 29 walks. It's a rate where the number of balls in play tend to inflate the pitcher's batting average allowed, and opponents are hitting .280 against Garland. Smith struck out 53 so far this season, and his batting average against is just .230.

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Atlanta just took three out of four from Florida and now hosts the first place Phillies. A three game sweep would put Atlanta 1/2 game behind Philadelphia. Old AL West rivals Jamie Moyer and Tim Hudson pitch game one. Moyer's pitched very well away from Citizen's Bank Ballpark, posting a 3.41 ERA on the road. All seven of Hudson's home runs allowed came off left-handed bats, which may be a problem tonight with Philadelphia's left-handed power.

The Minnesota Twins are 2 1/2 games behind the White Sox as they open a four game series in Chicago on the south side. Nick Blackburn faces Javier Vazquez in the opener. Nick's 1-1 against the White Sox this season with a 4.00 ERA. Chicago has been able to draw walks and hit home runs against Blackburn, two things that represent strengths for the pitcher overall. Vazquez is pitching extremely well, putting up tremendous strikeout and walk numbers.

The final 1-2 matchup pits the Angels and John Lackey against the Athletics and Joe Blanton. John's been great since returning from the disabled list, posting a 1.80 ERA. The only negative is that he's allowed four homers in 30 innings. Joe Blanton has to be a disappointment for Oakland. Expected to be the staff ace, Blanton gives up a decently low OBA, but a lot of that is on the hit side of the ledger and the hits go for extra bases. He's only had one outstanding start since the beginning of May.

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Homer Bailey returns to the Reds and is thrown into a tough situation, facing the Phillies and Cole Hamels. Homer's had a down year at AAA, walking 31 in 69 1/3 innings and posting a 4.15 ERA. Hamels is the anchor of the Phillies rotation, holding the opposition to a .277 OBA.

Tampa Bay tries to regain first place this evening as James Shields takes on Jon Lester. Shields is building nicely on his 2007 success, reducing his home runs allowed rate, bring his ERA down over half a run. Lester is taking a similar route, reducing both his home runs and hits allowed, which brought his ERA down nearly a run.

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The Braves can move into a virtual tie with the Marlins this afternoon as Mark Hendrickson takes on Tom Glavine. Mark did not repeat his excellent April, allowing 13 more hits, six more walks and two more home runs during May in about the same number of innings. Glavine's lost some durability from last season. In 2007, he came close to pitching six innings per start. In 2008, he's lost close to an inning off that.

It's the rhyme game in San Francisco as Maine face Cain. The Giants offense is playing better lately, scoring 83 runs in their last 15 games, 5.5 runs per game. They haven't turned that into a big winning streak, however, as they've gone 8-7 in that time. They've been particularly good against New York this season, scoring 16 runs in two games.

The Angels are burying the Mariners in the AL West. With a win today the Angels sweep the series in Seattle and push the Mariners 15 1/2 games back. To add insult to injury, the Angels won the first two games without Vlad Guerrero in the lineup. Jered Weaver and Carlos Silva matchup this afternoon.

Tonight, Edinson Volquez gets a tough challenge as he faces the red hot Phillies and Brett Myers. Volquez is very stingy with his home runs allowed. His rate per 200 innings is just 8.8 dingers. He'll face the team with the most home runs in the NL as the Phillies send up three players in double digits.

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It may seem like there are only two games today, each involving a New York baseball team, but there are a couple of others worth mentioning as well.

Joba Chamberlain, of course, makes his transition to the starting rotation and does not draw an easy assignment. He'll face Roy Halladay and the Blue Jays in the Bronx. Halladay is pitching old school this season, with five complete games under his belt. Chamberlain will likely be limited to 70 pitches, so unless the Blue Jays do him a favor and swing at a lot of first pitches, he won't be around at the end. It will be interesting to see how Joba paces himself.

Meanwhile, in Boston, two teams are actually battling for first place in the AL East. The Rays send Matt Garza against the Pawtucket Shuttle, Justin Masterson. In two starts Masterson walked a few batters, but he's been nearly unhittable as opponents managed a .128 BA against him. Garza is doing a great job shutting down left-handed batters this season, allowing a .307 OBA and a .310 slugging percentage.

Despite their recent losing streak, the Royals are 7 1/2 games out of first place, and get a chance to gain as they play the White Sox tonight. It's a good matchup of young pitchers as Zach Greinke visits Gavin Floyd. Part of Greinke's success comes from allowing a .191 BA with runners in scoring position this season. Floyd, like much of the White Sox staff, cut down on his home runs allowed this season. He's pitched six fewer innings than last year, but allowed ten fewer home runs. Guillen and Williams will meet before the game to discuss the offense, and possibly Ozzie's job.

Dontrelle Willis make his first start in his home town as he faces the Athletics and Dana Eveland. Willis has not pitched much nor pitched well, walking eleven batters and striking out none in six innings of work. Eveland has been impressive for the A's, especially at home where his ERA is 2.73.

Finally, Pedro Martinez returns to the mound for the Mets, trying not to turn into Mike Hampton/Mark Prior/Carl Pavano. He'll face a fairly weak offense in the Giants, who are averaging 3.93 runs per game. Barry Zito tries to stop the Mets. He pitched okay in May, posting a 3.49 ERA but he still is issuing a ton of walks.

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The Phillies just passed the Marlins, and Braves will try to do the same. Florida and Atlanta open a four game series tonight with the Braves trailing the Marlins by three games. Scott Olsen throws for Florida. He's done a good job of confining his worst pitching to bases empty situations. Eight of the ten home runs he's allowed came with no runners on. Jo-Jo Reyes takes the hill for Atlanta. Despite his high strikeout rate, Reyes is giving up a lot of hits. This is especially true at home where opponents are hitting .315 against him. Chipper Jones is 11 for 19 against the Marlins this season with three home runs.

The Cubs travel to San Diego to face the Padres. Carlos Zambrano faces Cha Seung Baek as Chicago tries to extend their winning streak to eight games. Carlos sees his ERA go down on the road, while the Cubs as a team score less and allow more away from Wrigley this year. Baek, recently acquired from the Mariners, hasn't pitched that well this season, but he has allowed a mere .147 BA with runners in scoring position.

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The Astros surge came to an end with a four game losing streak, but today's matchup between Shaun Chacon and David Bush might get the Astros started again. While Shaun is only 2-0, he's kept the Astros in all but two games he started. He home runs allowed went way up in May as he allowed nine versus just three in April. Bush is a bit of an oddity this year. His strikeouts are way down, but his hits allowed aren't up. Even the timing of his against him isn't bad, as he allowed a .264 BA overall, but only .255 with runners in scoring position. His problems basically come down to a home run rate of 47.7 per 200 innings.

Texas can move into second place in the AL West with a win over Oakland this afternoon. Greg Smith brings a 2.84 ERA into the game, fifth in the American League. Smith has thrown exactly half his innings on the road, where his ERA is 3.41. Only one of his five home runs came away from Oakland, but he walks more batters on the road. He'll visit Scott Feldman, who has greatly improved his control since 2007.

Finally, the ESPN game features the Dodgers at the Mets with Hiroki Kuroda facing Johan Santana. The two are fairly evenly matched, Kuroda posting an ERA 0.12 runs better than Santana. John strikes out many more batters, but Kuroda gives up home runs at half the rate.

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For the third day in a row, the White Sox and Rays present a good pitching matchup. Javier Vazquez takes on Scott Kazmir in the Scrabble game. Lefties are hitting .314 against Javier, and the Rays can put five lefties up against him. Kazmir has yet to allow a home run in his first 30 innings pitched.

Rickey Nolasco tries to put the Marlins back in first place as he faces Cole Hamels and the Phillies. Rickey is very good at keeping the running game in check as opponents are just 3 for 6 in stolen base opportunities. The Marlins might run on Hamels as he's allowed seven steals in eight attempts. Of course, they need to get on base and Hamels opposition OBA is a very low .271.

Finally, on the west coast the Blue Jays and the Angels send us Shaun Marcum against John Lackey. Marcum's been especially tough to hit in May, allowing a .142 BA and a .231 slugging percentage. Lackey's low ERA is due to allowing batters one hit in ten at bats with runners in scoring position.

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The big NL East showdown starts tonight in Philadelphia as Florida comes to town. I hope Phish phans aren't conphused. The Marlins lead the Phillies by 1/2 game in the NL East, with Florida losing two in a row and Philadelphia on a four game winning streak. Mark Hendrickson opposes Brett Myers. Hendrickson has not gone deep in games his last four starts, averaging less than five innings. He's letting his pitching count climb early, putting pressure on the bullpen. Myers return to the rotation has been a rocky one. He's allowed 15 home runs this season, a rate of 45.9 per 200 innings. Of course, pitchers who allow home runs at that rate rarely get 200 innings. These are the top two home run hitting teams in the majors, so expect some fireworks.

The White Sox and Rays continue their battle of first place teams with Jose Contreras facing James Shields. While a lower home run rate contributed greatly to Contreras's success, he also lowered his walk rate as well. He's walking 2.1 per nine instead of his career average 3.2 per nine innings. Shields shows a huge home/road split this season, favoring his performances in Tampa Bay. He's allowed a 1.75 ERA at home, 6.04 on the road.

The Texas trails Oakland by 2 1/2 games as the Athletics come to town for a three game set. Young and Kinsler have hitting streaks of 14 and 13 games respectively, but they are weak streaks. Both are batting under .300, and Young's OBA during the streak is .292. The Rangers send Kevin Millwood against Justin Duchscherer. Duke is doing everything right for the A's this season, posting good strikeout numbers with a low walk and home run rate. Millwood takes advantage of the Texas offense at home to go 2-0 in Arlington despite a 5.40 ERA.

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The Blue Jays and Athletics finish up their low scoring series with another good pitching matchup as Jesse Litsch faces Dana Eveland. Litsch represents another good example of how a low walk rate can compensate for a high home run rate. Eight of the nine home runs he allowed came with the bases empty. Eveland comes from the opposite direction. His walks don't hurt him very much since he allows few hits and home runs.

We might see a playoff preview today as the White Sox travel to Tampa Bay for a four game series. Chicago holds a two game lead over Minnesota, and the Rays lead the Red Sox by three in the AFILC. Danks has a good ERA and a poor record. The White Sox lost two of his May starts by a score of 2-0. Edwin Jackson takes the hill for the Rays, and is another pitcher who has benefited from the power falloff in the American League. Last season his home run rate was 23.6 per 200 innings, this season that's down to 13.4.

Finally, the Giants go for a sweep of the Diamondbacks with two lefties on the mound, one an old man and the other pitching like one. Barry Zito picked up his first win his last time out. He's actually been effective in May, posting a 3.22 ERA despite a 1-2 record. He's still walking too many batters, but he's cut down the number of hits allowed. Johnson is hitting his stride. In his last two starts he's struck out 15 batters in 13 innings, walking one and allowing one run.

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The White Sox and Indians play a business lunch for the rubber game of their three game set. Gavin Floyd takes the hill for Chicago with Jake Westbrook pitching for Cleveland. Both pitchers have done a tremendous job keeping batters off base this season, holding the opposition to a .291 OBA. Floyd holds their hits low, while Westbrook keeps the walks in check. That gives Floyd a bit of an advantage, as his walks don't advance runners as much as Westbrook's hits.

Wandy Rodriguez returns from the disabled list with a chance to move the Astros into sole possession of second place in the NL Central. He was pitching well before he went down, striking out more than a batter an inning for the first time in his career. He won't have an easy time as the Cardinals are sending out Adam Wainwright. All seven home runs allowed by Wainwright came as solo shots this season.

Finally, the pitching duel of the day goes to the RH factor, Roy Halladay versus Rich Harden in Oakland. Roy's upped his strikeouts this season, which brought down his batting average allowed and ERA. With eight strikeouts tonight, he'll be halfway to his 2007 total. Harden's been hard to score on at home, allowing three runs in three starts, all against Boston (one home game in Japan).

Speaking of Boston, keep you eye on that game as Manny Ramirez needs one home run to reach 500.

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The Indians need a win, and the pitching matchup tonight should favor them over the White Sox. Aaron Laffey sports a 1.60 ERA to visiting pitcher Mark Buehrle's 4.82. Buehrle's been hit hard on the road this season, allowing a .336 BA and a .374 OBA. Laffey combines the ability to keep batters off base and in the ballpark with an opposition OPS of .452.

Ian Kennedy may be making his last start for a while. Joba Chamberlain should be ready to move into the rotation the next time through, and while I'd rather see him replace Mussina, Kennedy is having the poorer season. He'll take on Brian Burres, and lefties are giving the Yankees fits this year. New York's OBA against lefties is a poor .317 and their slugging percentage stands at .347.

The Marlins try to put another nail in the Mets coffin tonight, sending rookie Andrew Miller against big money veteran Johan Santana. Santana beat the Fish opening day, and he is pitching well, but not lights out. With power down in the AL this year, Johan might have been better off staying put. After an awful April, Miller has the third best ERA in the majors in May. He's only allowed one home run in the month.

The Astros are just one game behind the Cardinals for the Wild Card slot in the National League as they open a three game series with St. Louis. Mr. No-Decision, Shawn Chacon takes the Hill for Houston against Braden Looper. In ten starts this season, Chacon is 1-0 while the team went 5-5. He's posted a 2.77 ERA in two starts against St. Louis despite allowing ten walks in 13 innings. Looper is benefiting from good run support as the Cardinals scored five runs or more in all six of his wins. However, Braden did pitch well enough in two of the team's losses to take home a victory.

The Giants get a chance to defeat the leader as they take on Arizona in Phoenix. San Francisco sends their winner to the mound in the person of Tim Lincecum. Tim is near perfect on the road, sporting a 4-0 record an a 1.23 ERA. He'll go against Dan Haren, who is almost as good at home. He's undefeated there with a 5-0 record and a 2.27 ERA.

Finally, Daisuke Matsuzaka goes for his ninth win without a loss against the hapless Mariners. Opponents have not bee able to capitalize on Matsuzaka's high walk totals, and given the poor OBA of Seattle hitters (.309), they may not get Dice-K's walks very high tonight.

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The Braves try to earn a split with the Diamondbacks this afternoon as Brandon Webb faces Jair Jurrjens. A win today for Webb would give him ten in two months, just the pace needed for 30 on the year. Webb's been especially effective on the road this season, posting a 1.85 ERA. His one loss, however, did come away from home. Jurrjens leads the majors in fewest home runs allowed per nine innings, with Webb among the leaders also.

The Dodgers and Cubs are fighting for division titles and meet for battle in the windy city. Chad Billingsley takes the hill for Los Angeles with a good ERA and a so-so record. Billingsley stands second to Edinson Volquez in K per 9 in the majors. He'll face Ryan Dempster. He's pitched about the same number of innings as last season, but gave up half the home runs.

Over their last 10 games the White Sox and Indians own opposite records, with Chicago 8-2 to Cleveland's 2-8. With the Indians 4 1/2 games back in the Central, this is an important series for them to get back in the race. Javier Vazquez takes on Paul Byrd. Like his teammate, Jose Contreras, Javier gained control of the long ball this year, allowing just four home runs so far. Byrd has the opposite problem, as he's allowed eleven home runs so far this year, more like his 2002 season with Kansas City.

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Micah Owings faces Tom Glavine at Turner Field this afternoon. While Micah is known for his hitting skills, Tom was no slouch with the bat either, hitting over .200 a number of times in his career. On the pitching side, Glavine is having a rough May, posting a 5.01 ERA and walking 12 in 23 1/3 innings. Owings has allowed eight home runs this season, but only six have come with men on base.

Daniel Cabrera tries to salvage a win for Baltimore against the Rays as he faces James Shields. The big story with Cabrera is his long sought control came to light in May. He walked 21 batters in 37 innings in April, just three in 30 i1/3 innings in May. With that came a much lower ERA. James has been tough to hit in Tampa this year, allowing a .165 BA at home, .325 away.

Jon Lester takes the mound against the Oakland Athletics with a no-hitter under his belt. He may need that kind of stuff today as Boston managed just three runs in the first two games of this series. That puts first place in jeopardy as Tampa Bay stands just 1/2 game out. A big difference for Lester this season is home runs allowed. He's giving one up every eleven innings; last year it was one every 6 1/3. Joe Blanton takes the hill for Oakland. Blanton is a good pitcher who gets hurt by his low strikeout total. His .314 OBA allowed is good, but since the BA against him is .279, players getting on by hits tend to move runners more. On top of that, he's allowed 21 doubles, third most in the AL, which move runners even more. He's a low run pitcher, not a shutout pitcher, and with the A's scoring three runs or less five times when Joe starts, that the recipe for a poor record.

Dodgers fans are very excited about the debut of Clayton Kershaw. Born March 19, 1988, he beats Justin Upton by seven months as the youngest players in the majors. Kershaw struck out more batters than innings pitched at each level of baseball, and allowed just nine home runs in his 202 1/3 innings of minor league experience. His ERA at the lower levels was a combined 2.62. He'll face one of the many surprising players on the Cardinals, Todd Wellemeyer. Todd's had control issues in the past, but he managed to reduce his walks this season.

Finally, the ESPN game features John Lackey in his third start of the season facing Jose Contreras. You would never know Lackey was hurt as he allowed one run in seven innings in each of his first two starts. Contreras lowered his ERA by almost 2 1/2 runs versus 2007 by finding a way to keep the ball in the park. He's only allowed two home runs so far this season. His ground ball percentage is usually in the mid 40s, but he has it up to 57% this season.

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The Angels and White Sox continue their series in Chicago with Jered Weaver facing John Danks. There wasn't much offense last night as the two teams combined for seven hits. Weaver appears to have switched pitching ability with Ervin Santana this season, as he's great at home but is posting a 7.76 ERA on the road, mostly due to six home runs allowed in 26 2/3 innings. Danks allowed just three home runs all season, and only one in Chicago.

The Diamondbacks broke their losing streak last night, and try to make it two in a row against the Braves. Randy Johnson takes the hill for Arizona versus Jorge Campillo for the Braves. Used mostly as a reliever, Campillo made a strong start versus the Mets, shutting them out for six innings while striking out seven and walking none. Johnson isn't quite the Big Unit of old. The high number of strikeouts are still there, but he isn't fooling hitters as often as they now collect more hits than innings pitched against the tall left-hander.

The Texas Rangers are back in the hunt for the AL West crown, but face Cliff Lee this evening. Lee suffered his first loss and bad outing of the season against Cincinnati last time out. He still has a 9:1 K/BB and a .202 BA allowed. He'll face Scott Feldman, who is posting a 3.45 ERA since moving from the bullpen into the Texas rotation.

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Texas tries to extend Cleveland's losing streak as they send Kason Gabbard against Fausto Carmona. Gabbard is having success this season despite walking more batters than he strikes out. His walks are low however, so he'll mostly get hurt if his defense doesn't play well behind him. Carmona is even more egregious in this regard. Despite walking 35 in 56 innings, he's posting a 2.25 ERA. I wonder when pitchers like Carmona and Matsuzaka will have their high walk totals catch up to them?

It's not a great team matchup, but Zack Greinke versus Roy Halladay should be a showcase of pitching talent. Greinke does give up home runs, but six of his seven allowed came with the bases empty. Halladay leads the AL in complete games. His four are twice James Shields second place level, and they're the only pitchers with more than one.

The Orioles visit the Tampa Bay "Wild Card" Rays trailing them 2 1/2 games in the standings. Baltimore sends Jeremy Guthrie against Matt Garza. Guthrie gave up six home runs in April, but only two in May indicates he has that under control. The Rays play like champions at home, winning 16 of 24 so far in 2008.

Doug Davis returns from his treatments for cancer to face Jo-Jo Reyes and the Atlanta Braves. Davis pitched a good game and a poor game before hitting the DL. Reyes is striking out many more batters per nine than he did in his brief visit to the majors last year.

The Angels and White Sox split four games last week in Anaheim, and they meet again tonight in a battle of first place teams. Joe Saunders was the one starter Chicago didn't see in that meeting. He's holding the opposition to a .286 OBA and a .324 slugging percentage. Gavin Floyd miss the series as well, and he's also holding batters to low averages, .297 OBA and .349 slugging.

Finally, a youthful Edinson Volquez takes on a rejuvenated Shawn Estes. I suspect Shawn is looking forward to beating the Reds, especially if it's a hot night. Volquez can bring the heat, however, and unlike most of the Reds staff, he doesn't wilt on the road.

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Texas and Minnesota are both hanging in their division races and offer a fine pitching matchup today as Vicente Padilla faces Livan Hernandez. Padilla is posting an ERA 2 1/2 runs less than his 2007 mark, and already equalled his 2007 win total of six. A few more strikeouts have led to fewer hits per nine innings. Livan has bought into the Minnesota system of not walking batters, leading to fewer runners scoring on the home runs he allows.

The Braves go for the sweep of the Mets in Atlanta. It's been a drubbing so far as they've out-scored the Mets 23-7 over the first three games. New York sends Johan Santana to the mound to try to salvage the last game. While home runs have been a problem for Johan this season, it's mostly a Shea phenomenon. He's allowed six at home in 18 1/3 innings, five on the road in 41 2/3 innings. Tim Hudson is pitching in quantum states this season. He's either in the greatest pitcher in the league category, or the I can't get anyone out category. He sports a 3.06 ERA despite three poor starts, including his last one against Oakland in which he allowed five runs in five innings.

The Marlins go for a sweep of the Diamondbacks, sending Andrew Miller against Dan Haren. So if the Marlins sweep the best team in the league, defeating the best two pitchers on the team, does that mean they're for real? The Marlins have a chance as Haren pitched poorly in three road starts this season with a combined ERA of 5.09. Of course, Miller sports a 6.18 ERA. He's getting better, however, as he's only allowed four earned runs in his last three starts, good for a 1.93 ERA.

Finally, the White Sox go for the sweep of the Indians to try to further cement their lead in the AL Central. The matchup of Laffey and Buehrle would seem to favor the Indians left-hander, as his ERA is about four runs lower than Buehrle's. The White Sox hit lefties well, however. Their OBA and slugging percentage go up against southpaws as opposed to right-handers. The Indians produce a higher batting average against lefties, but with reduced power.

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The Tampa Bay Rays go for a sweep of the Oakland Athletics as Andy Sonnanstine faces Dana Eveland this afternoon. Sonnanstine is undefeated away from the Trop, allowing just two home runs and three walks in twenty eight innings. Eveland is undefeated at home, posting a 0.92 ERA in Oakland. He's allowed just twelve hits in 19 1/3 innings. They've played two one-run games so far in this series, and this might well be another one.

Baltimore tries to extend the Yankees misery as undefeated pitchers Garrett Olson and Darrell Rasner meet in the battle of double double letters. Olson gives up almost nothing but singles. Of the 25 hits against him, three doubles are the only ones for extra bases. Rasner has yet to allow a hit with runners in scoring position.

Bartolo Colon makes his 2008 debut tonight, facing Kansas City at Fenway Park. The Red Sox gave him an easy opponent, as the Royals managed just one run in two games and hits in just one of them. Brett Tomko is pitching much better than his ERA, with low walks and low home runs allowed. That makes me wonder if the defense behind him has been shaky.

Finally, in the battle for the AL Central, the first place White Sox host the third place Indians. Chicago brings a six game winning streak into the game, while the Indians dropped four in a row. Paul Byrd takes the hill for the Tribe. He's only walking one batter every nine innings, but giving up two home runs over the same span. Javier Vazquez, Mr. Scrabble, greatly cut down on his home run rate. He is getting hit hard by lefties, however, who slug .491 against him.

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Alex Rodriguez returns to the Yankees lineup tonight as the Baltimore Orioles come into town. The Orioles sit in third place, 3 1/2 games ahead of the bottom dwelling Yankees. They'll send Daniel Cabrera against Mike Mussina. Both pitchers are showing improvement in their recent starts. Cabrera only walked three batters in his three May starts after issuing 21 in his six April starts. And he's done this while keeping his strikeouts high. Mussina allowed two runs or less in four of his last five starts, ever since he reduced the velocity of both his fast ball and changeup, increasing the difference between the two.

First place teams battle in southern Florida as the Diamondbacks visit the Marlins. Micah Owings gets the call for Arizona. Owings upped his K per 9 by over a strikeout this season, and he's seen his ERA go down half a run. Mark Hendrickson owns a low walk and strikeout rate, but he's kept his hits down as well. He has given up a .309 BA with runners in scoring position, however.

Winning pitchers on losing teams face off in Colorado as Tim Lincecum faces Aaron Cook. Tim's only loss of the season came against Aaron at the end of April. Lincecum allowed just three runs in seven innings, but Cook was better, letting in two unearned runs in the same span.

Finally, the good, young pitchers series continues in Oakland as Scott Kazmir takes on Greg Smith. After a rough first start off the DL, Kazmir hasn't allowed a run in his last two starts, giving up just six hits in twelve innings. Smith is another Athletics pitcher suffering from poor supporting offense. In his last four starts, the A's have scored a total of five runs.

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The Cubs lead the Central by two games over St. Louis and 2 1/2 over Houston as the Astros host Chicago tonight. This is a matchup between two hot power hitters, Lance Berkman and Alfonso Soriano. Since May 2nd, each played 16 games and each hit eight home runs. Soriano's driven in 21 to Berkman's 19, but Lance has scored 22 to Alfonso's 15. Seems backward for a leadoff hitter and a middle of the order slugger. Berkman is slugging 1.065 in that time and Soriano .891. The Cubs are 10-6 over that stretch, the Astros 12-4.

In a very tight AL Central, the Royals are in striking distance of first place despite standing one game under .500. They travel to Boston tonight as Luke Hochevar faces Jon Lester. In his first full season in the majors, Hochevar is posting a good ERA of 3.94 despite walking close to a batter every other inning. He's extremely tough to hit in the first three innings, with opponents batting .149 against him, 7 for 47. Lester is posting a similar ERA and similar walk numbers in about twice the innings. The walks probably favor the Red Sox tonight as Boston is ranked high in AL in walks drawn, KC fairly low.

On the west coast, a battle of good, young teams take place as Tampa Bay takes on Oakland. Both teams sit a close second in their division. James Shields takes the hill for the Rays. Shields has only allowed two home runs all year, and none in his last four starts. He'll face Joe Blanton, whose nickname this season should be "Bad Luck." Despite a 3.69 ERA, Joe sports a 2-6 record. The A's have scored 2 runs or less in games Joe pitched four times.

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One game stands out above all the others today as Cleveland sends Cliff Lee against Cincinnati's Edinson Volquez. Ohio hosts the AL and NL leaders in ERA, and the pair is also 1-2 in the majors.

Both pitchers are doing an excellent job of keeping the ball in the park, each allowing just one home run. That's really impressive for Volquez, who plays half his games at Great American Ballpark. It's a home run haven, yet no one took Volquez deep there yet.

The strikeouts belong to Volquez. At 10.6 per nine innings, he leads the majors. He even does better during day games, and the team are playing an afternoon start. Lee is no slouch when it comes to K's, downing 7.4 per 9 without a ball in play.

Control, however, is Lee's forte. Cliff only walks a batter about once every 13 innings, by far the best in the majors. His K/BB currently stands at eleven. Walks are Volquez's biggest problem, issuing close to five free passes per nine innings. His strengths of keeping the ball in the park and not allowing many hits prevents most of those base runners from scoring. Opponents are hitting just .205 off Volquez, .176 off Lee. The Indians sport the lowest team batting average in the American League. While it's not the recipe for a no hitter, it sure raises the probability of one.

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The battle for Ohio continues today with Fausto Carmona facing Aaron Harang. You could call it a battle of aces since at the moment it's tough to identify a single ace on the Cleveland staff. Harang is suffering from poor run support this season, getting just 3.32 runs while he's in the game. Carmona is enjoy plenty from the Tribe, 5.92 for every nine innings he pitches.

Tim Hudson will run into some old friends today as he pitches against the Athletics. Hudson pitched well overall this season, but mixed in two bad outings. Otherwise, he might lead the league in ERA. This May, it's at a misery 0.76. He'll face Rich Harden, making his second start since his latest injury. He has one start in March, one in April and one in May. Two starts in one month might be a minor miracle.

Finally, the nominee for slugfest of the night goes to the battle between Mark Buehrle and Barry Zito by the bay. Both are expected to be aces on their teams, and both are struggling. Mark increase his strikeouts this season, but in an unusual occurrence, increased his hits allowed as well. Zito brought his ERA down over his last two starts, but no run support by the Giants means he's still hasn't recorded a win. He is back to striking out more than he walks, however.

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The Pittsburgh Pirates went 8-2 over their last ten games and are one of the hottest teams in the majors. They get a chance to gain on the division leader in the one non-interleague series this weekend as they play the Cubs. It's looking like a high scoring affair this afternoon as Tom Gorzelanny takes on Sean Gallagher. Both sport ERAs over 5.00. Sean hasn't pitched that much, but Tom has walked more batters than he's struck out, and almost one walk per inning.

Both the Yankees and Mets are off to disappointing starts as they square off in the Bronx. The Bombers find themselves in last place, while the Mets are only one game above .500. After lefty Scott Kazmir gave them trouble yesterday, the Yankees get to face Johan Santana. The Mets ace pitched very well during the regular season against the Yankees in his career, posting a 2.66 ERA. Rasner's been a bit of a savior so far, only allowing one walk in his first two starts.

Everyone will have an "A" on his cap tonight as the Braves host the Athletics. It's a battle of young pitchers acquired for veterans with Dana Eveland taking the hill against Jair Jurrjens. Eveland keeps the ball in the park as he's allowed just two home runs this season. Both of those came on the road, however, where his ERA is 4.88. Jurrjens owns the same strength, allowing just one long ball all season. His only one came at home, but his ERA in Atlanta stands at 1.96.

Somehow, I feel the need to include a pitching matchup between Shawn Chacon and Sidney Ponson in games of the day. It just proves that a pitching career is never really finished.

Finally, the all LA series features Hiroki Kuroda facing Joe Saunders. Kuroda's been very tough against the top of the order, allowing an .077 batting average in the first inning. Saunders is giving up fewer hits this season, bringing down his ERA. His line drive percentage is down to 13.5% from 20.7% last season. Line drives tend to turn into hits, so he's found some way to prevent batters from squaring up the ball.

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It's a good afternoon to play hooky from work as nine games take place under the sun. Cleveland Indians starters hold a 43 1/3 inning scoreless streak as Aaron Laffey takes the hill against the Oakland Athletics. C.C. Sabathia was the last starter to allow a run, in the fifth inning against Toronto on May 9th. Laffey holds a 1.83 ERA this season, walking just four batters in 19 2/3 innings. He'll face one of the young stars of the Oakland rotation, Greg Smith. The A's picked up another high strikeout, low walk pitcher and it's paying off for them in Smith.

Greg Maddux returns to Chicago with 350 wins under his belt to face Ryan Dempster. The old man is posting the same strikeout and walk rates as in 2007, with fewer hits allowed. Dempster made a fantastic transition from bullpen to rotation, pitching better as a stater than he ever did for Florida or Cincinnati.

Ian Kennedy's minor league stint was a short one as he returns to the Yankees to face Scott Kazmir. Kennedy allowed just one hit in 7 1/3 inning start at Scranton, showing that the demotion was the kick in the pants he needed to get his act together. The Yankees don't give him an easy job, however, as he faces the first place Rays. Scott Kazmir signed a new contract yesterday, keeping him on the Rays through at least 2011. Since 2006, he's struck out more batters than innings pitched, and the Rays correctly see the value in locking in that skill.

The best pure pitching matchup of the day takes place in Arizona where Aaron Cook and Brandon Webb. Not only is Webb undefeated, he's won each of his eight starts. Cook, however, is 6-1 with a better ERA than Webb. Both do a great job of keeping the ball in the park, Webb allowing two home runs, Cook just three.

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The Red Sox and Orioles continue their series this afternoon with Jon Lester facing Daniel Cabrera. Cabrera is coming off two nice starts in which he combined to walk three batters in 16 1/3 innings. The selective Red Sox hitters will be a good test of his new control. The Red Sox should be concerned with Lester's fall off in strikeouts. Last season he struck out 50 in 63 innings. This season he has just 29 in 51 innings, with no decrease in walks.

Jake Peavy takes on Ted Lilly as the Padres visit the Cubs. Peavy hasn't lost a step from last season, with his ERA a few points lower than in 2007. Last season, however, he was equally good home and away. In 2008 he's allowed a 4.58 ERA on the road. Lilly, too, isn't pitching that differently from last year despite a higher ERA. It's luck turning from good to bad. In 2007, he allowed a .220 batting average with runners in scoring position. This year, .300.

Finally, John Lackey returns to the Angels rotation tonight. LAnaheim weathered his injury well, their starters posting a 4.18 ERA in his absence, 7th in the AL. His first test will be against Jose Contreras of the White Sox. Jose is having his best year keeping the ball in the park, allowing just two home runs so far this season.

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Two pitchers doing better than expected take the mound in Cincinnati as Mark Hendrickson faces Edinson Volquez. I scoffed when Hendrickson got the opening day nod for the Marlins, but he's now 5-1 with a 3.56 ERA. He's not doing things that differently in terms of strikeouts and walks, which suggests he may have a better defense behind him or the balls put in play against him are easier to field. Since his line drive percentage is down to 16.5% from 23% last year, it looks like the latter. Volquez upped his strikeouts, and despite playing half his games at GAB allowed only one home run so far this season.

The may be some fireworks in Texas tonight as Felix Hernandez and Kason Gabbard square off in Texas. Five days ago, Felix hit two Texas batters. When Gabbard threw one high over the plate to Richie Sexson, the big first baseman charged the mound and threw his helmet into Gabbard's back. Richie will continue serving his suspension tonight. With luck, they'll stick to pitching well. Hernandez is coming off two poor starts in which he allowed 10 runs in 10 2/3 innings. Gabbard continues to test the limits of how few strikeouts a pitcher can accumulate and still have a sub-2.00 ERA. He's walked 13 and struck out nine in 24 1/3 innings, but with only four extra base hits against him, those free passes haven't led to many runs.

Two years ago, Justin Verlander was the up and coming star and Zack Greinke was trying to get his head on straight. Now, Verlander is struggling to keep runs off the scoreboard and Greinke is fulfilling his potential. Zack's main weakness is the long ball, but four of his five home runs allowed came with the bases empty. Verlander has seen his K per 9 drop by over one this season from his career average. Opponents are putting more balls in play, and more are finding the fences at inopportune times as four of his seven homers allowed came with men on base.

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The Yankees open a four game series in Tampa Bay, trailing the Rays by 2 1/2 games in the AL East. At 13-7, the Rays are tied with the Twins for the second best home record in the American League. Andy Pettitte faces Matt Garza. Andy's pitched well on the road this season, posting a 2.81 ERA. He's kept the ball in the park away from Yankee Stadium, allowing just two home runs, versus for four in the Bronx (in fewer innings). Garza pitched well since returning from his injury, with a 3.06 ERA in three games. He's not striking out batters, however, just six in his last 17 2/3 innings.

Cliff Lee tries to extend his incredible start against the Blue Jays in the second game of a double header tonight. Lee has won each of his starts, posting a miserly 0.81 ERA. with no walks in his last game, Lee now owns a K/BB of 19.5. He'll face a very good pitcher in Shaun Marcum. While not posting the ultra-low walk rate of Lee, Shaun does fine walking a batter every three innings.

The first place Cubs host the struggling Padres as Carlos Zambrano takes on Randy Wolf. Carlos is off to a great start, trading fewer walks for fewer strikeouts, and so far it's working. Wolf may face a tough game tonight, as the Cubs hit lefties well, accumulating a .285 team batting average against southpaws.

Finally, a game of struggling aces pits Roy Oswalt against Barry Zito in San Francisco. Oswalt's strikeouts and walks are fine, it's just that balls are sailing out of the park against him. He's allowed eleven home runs so far this season; his career high is 18. Zito is perfectly awful, going 0-7 in his seven starts. The sign of hope in his last start after missing a turn in the rotation was that he struck out five and walked two. Despite that, he still has walked more than he struck out this season.

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The Florida Marlins go for a sweep of the Washington Nationals and their seventh win in a row this afternoon as Scott Olsen faces Shawn Hill. Olsen is 1/3 of an inning short of averaging seven per start. He's already 2-0 with a 2.45 ERA against the Nationals. A big reason for the Marlins early success is a 7-1 record against Washington. They're 15-13 against the rest of the league. Opponents have recorded 46 at bats against Hill at home and on the road this season, with a .217 BA in Washington and a .348 BA away.

With a win over the Angels today, the Tampa Bay Rays move into the wild card slot in the American League. That's no mean feat for a team that's basically never been in contention. Andy Sonnanstine gets the ball for the Rays. He's won his last four starts, posting a 2.45 ERA without allowing a home run. He'll take on the undefeated Ervin Santana. Magic continues to be tough with men in scoring position, allowing a mere .107 BA on three hits in the situation.

Randy Johnson and Carlos Zambrano square off at Wrigley field this afternoon. The Big Unit still strikes out a ton of batters, but he's been hurt by three of his four home runs allowed coming with men on base. Zambrano cut his walk rate in half this season and is on his way to the lowest ERA of his career.

The pitching matchup of the afternoon amazingly takes place in Texas where Rich Harden returns from the disabled list to face the rejuvenated Sidney Ponson. Harden held opponents to one run in eleven innings before he went down with a shoulder strain. Ponson is keeping the ball in the park. He allowed seven home runs in 37 2/3 innings for Minnesota last season, but in 2008 opponents are yet to take him deep in his 20 1/3 innings pitched.

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The Mets play a split admission double header to make up for last night's rain out. Those going out to game one get to see Johan Santana face Matt Belisle. Belisle may be one of those pitchers with too much control. He's given up 25 hits in 14 1/3 innings, but just two walks. I guess his pitchers are so hittable that batters have no reason to go deep in the count. It's tough to score against Santana unless a batter hits a home run, as nine of the 16 runs scored against Johan came on the long ball.

Ben Sheets makes his third start since returning from an injury, and the first two didn't go that well. He walked a ton of batters in the first, gave up lots of hits in the second, and both resulted in the opposition scoring four runs against the Brewers' ace. Joel Pineiro pitches for St. Louis, and his 4.33 ERA looks high for someone with so few walks and home runs allowed. He's allowed a .409 batting average with runners in scoring position so far this season.

There will be a nice contrast in styles on display in San Francisco as Tim Lincecum hosts Jamie Moyer. Young vs. old, fast vs, slow, right vs. left. Lincecum is not unhittable, as he .261 BA against shows. It's just tough to hit him hard, as his .350 slugging against shows. Moyer's usefulness may be at an end. The Phillies need to score lots of runs to support his 4.15 ERA. But he's no longer an innings eater, as Jamie isn't averaging six innings a game.

Scott Kazmir tries to keep the Rays winning streak alive versus Joe Saunders and the Angels tonight. Kazmir pitched poorly in his first start back from rehab, allowing nine base runners in just four innings. Saunders was just what the Angels needed to weather their pitching injuries. His ability to keep batters off base allows him to compensate for a .303 BA allowed with runners in scoring position.

Finally, Greg Maddux goes for win 350 again. He's on long rest, having pitched six days ago. He's at home, in a park that doesn't allow much offense. He's pitching against a slumping Rockies team, although there are signs of them hitting better. He's facing Ubaldo Jimenez, who sports a 5.82 ERA and pitches worse away from Coors. The stars should be aligned for Greg tonight.

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A few games today feature a good pitcher facing a good pitcher having a bad year. The first takes place this afternoon in Chicago where Dan Haren visits Ted Lilly. Haren is living up to his trade, positing an ERA just 0.05 higher than his mark for Oakland last season. Ted Lilly's ERA soared by 2.00 runs from his 2007 level, mostly due to a lack of control leading to more hits against him.

Toronto travels to Cleveland as Roy Halladay takes on C.C. Sabathia. With four complete games this season, Roy is on his way to setting a new career high (9). He's the king of complete games in the aughties with 33. After making two good starts in a row, Sabathia was roughed up a bit by Kansas City his last time out. He maintained his good control, however, walking just one.

There's a battle of first place teams in Minnesota as the Red Sox challenge the Twins. Both teams are hot, with the Red Sox winning eight of their last ten and the Twins seven in that span. Boston's offense is starting to kick into gear as they've scored 51 runs in their last seven games. The Twins scoring isn't quite as consistent, but they have hit double digits in runs in three of their last ten games.

The best pitching matchup of the day takes place in San Diego as Aaron Cook takes on Jake Peavy. Both sport ERAs in the low 2.00s. Cook is doing a good job of keeping the bases empty, allowing a .281 OBA with none on. That has led to all three home runs against him resulting in one run. Peavy's given up the long ball a little more frequently this season, although four of the five came on the road.

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It's a good day to take a long lunch as there are plenty of afternoon baseball games happening. The Braves go for a sweep of the Padres as Wilfredo Ledezma takes on Jo-Jo Reyes. With the injuries to the rotation, Reyes is getting a second look in Atlanta after control problems in 2007. Ledezma gets a rare start. He sports a low ERA this season despite a high number of walks and hits allowed. The may turn out to be a high scoring game, which would be good for Chipper Jones keeping his batting average above .400.

Brandon Webb goes for his eighth win in eight starts as he faces Brett Myers and the Phillies. Webb's ERA is three times higher at Chase Field than on the road, but he gets more offensive support as well. Myers tendency to give up home runs in his career became even more exaggerated this season as he's allowed eleven in 44 innings. That would be 50 over a 200 inning season. Look for some long balls today from the Diamondbacks hitters.

A pair of struggling aces take the mound in the Detroit as Josh Beckett visits Justin Verlander. Beckett, in terms of hits, walks, home runs and strikeouts isn't doing a lot that's different from 2007. One tiny difference is that last season, only four of his 17 home runs allowed came with men on base. This season two of his four came with men on. Verlander's walk rate jumped this year, leading to the hits he allows doing more damage.

Finally, Kason Gabbard comes off the disabled list to take on Seattle's Felix Hernandez. The Rangers moved past the Mariners last night with a 2-0 win. Gabbard pitched well before the injury, although he's walked nine and struck out just eight. Felix is coming off a ten K game, and struck out at least seven in each of this last four starts.

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The Cubs and Reds get us started with an early afternoon game featuring Jon Lieber and Edinson Volquez. Lieber makes his first start of the season after nine effective relief outings. He's only walked two batters in 19 1/3 innings pitched. Volquez cools the fans at GAB by inducing a large number of strikeouts. He's currently second in the NL with 10.7 strikeouts per nine innings.

The Red Sox try to make it three in a row at Comerica as two young starters take the hill for Boston and Detroit. Buchholz tries to make it four good starts in a row. He's only allowed 13 hits in his last 19 1/3 innings. Armando Galarraga, making his fifth start of the season, has only allowed 13 hits in his 24 innings. He's also cut down his walks by 1/3 vs. his cup of coffee in 2007.

The premier matchup, however, takes place in New York where the undefeated battle. Cliff Lee brings a 5-0 record against 6-0 Chien-Ming Wang. Lee is pitching like Bob Gibson, Tom Seaver, Roger Clemens and Greg Maddux all rolled into one. His K/BB is 16 to 1. He's allowed 19 hits in 37 2/3 innings. He's averaging over seven innings a start. Only one ball left the park against him. Right now, he's the perfect pitcher.

Wang is pitching the best ball of his career as well. His 6.4 K per 9 is well above his 4.0 career average. He struck out nine Indians in their first meeting of the season, holding the Tribe to four hits and no runs over seven innings.

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The Yankees and Indians face off in the Bronx with Fausto Carmona taking on Andy Pettitte. Fausto 2.60 ERA is looking very vulnerable to me. He's walked 26 batters and struck out just 13 so far this season. I don't think that kind of ratio is sustainable long term. With all the innings he threw last season, he's a candidate for a break down in 2008, and we may be seeing the start of that. Yankee Stadium is supposed to help left-handed pitchers, but Andy Pettitte pitched poorly in his first two starts of 2008 at home. He's allowed three homers in 11 innings at home, just two homers in 25 2/3 innings on the road.

In Atlanta, Young visits a young pitcher as Chris Young takes the hill against Jair Jurrjens. Atlanta's righty pitches well against left-handed hitters, allowing a batting line of .181/.253/.250. The pitching Chris Young is keeping opposition batting averages low (.213) with his strikeouts, but his walks are allowing a decent OBA (.324).

There's a nice matchup of aces in Cincinnati as Carlos Zambrano takes on Aaron Harang. Both sport ERAs under 3.00, but Zambrano is 4-1 while Harang sites 1-4. A big difference in the two is that Harang has a .100 point higher BA allowed with runners in scoring position than Zambrano While half his batters faced have been lefties, Carlos has yet to allowed a home run to a batter from that side.

The Twins lead the White Sox by two games in the AL Central as the two team start battle in Chicago. Youngsters take the hill as Nick Blackburn hurls against Gavin Floyd. With few strikeouts, Blackburn is dependent on his defense, and so far ball in play have gotten through to the tune of a .315 BA allowed. Floyd also strikes out a batter about every other inning, but the White Sox defense held opponents to just a .176 BA behind him.

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The Red Sox travel to Detroit to face a new Tigers lineup and Jeremy Bonderman. It's tough to believe Bonderman is just 25 years old. He's in his sixth season with the Tigers, and when I look at this stats I wonder if he'll ever be a great pitcher. He has good strikeout, walk and home run numbers; good, not great. Still, they seem to be better than his 4.74 career ERA. It's tough to see any reasons in his career splits. Maybe it's just a career of bad luck.

Daisuke Matsuzaka challenges the Tigers tonight. He seems to have learned from his 2007 season, and is doing a better job of holding down his hits allowed. He's starting to look like the great pitcher the Red Sox thought they purchased.

Dustin McGowan tries to make Ozzie Guillen's head explode as the Blue Jays go for a sweep of the White Sox. The Jays starters are on quite a role with eight consecutive quality starts. Over that time, they posted a 1.22 ERA. McGowan faces Javier Vazquez, who finally found a way to keep the ball in the park. He's allowed just one home run this season. It's not clear why, as his groundball percentage is way down this season.

The Phillies travel to the land of the rising bird to face Max Scherzer in his first major league start. He's rocketed through the minors, with an impressive K per 9 of 11.4. He does tend to walk batters. He'll face the old man of the hill, Jamie Moyer. It's hard to believe that Moyer's ERA is just 4.50 with the opposition slugging .526 against him. Most of those extra base hits came with the bases empty, however.

Enjoy!

Correction: Corrected Dustin McGowan's name.

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Greg Maddux makes his fourth attempt at 350 wins. His first attempt he took one for the team after a marathon 22 inning game. His last two attempts, he pitched well enough to win but first his offense, then his bullpen let him down. He'll face a Florida Marlins team that's starting to slide. They've lost four of their last five games, allowing 36 runs. Maddux faces former Tiger Andrew Miller. Miller looked like he made some progress in his penultimate start, but he still gave up nine hits in five innings. He hasn't struck out a batter in his last two appearances.

Roy Halladay tries to break a rare three game losing streak against the White Sox this afternoon. Rare in that he completed all three games:

Their losing pitcher in the 19th straight loss was Mickey Lolich. It marked his seventh straight start in which he did both of these things: He threw a complete game, and he lost.

That is the longest such streak of complete-game losses in at least the last half-century, according to baseball-reference.com.

Toronto's Roy Halladay has pitched a complete-game loss in each of his last three starts. If he does so again today against the White Sox, he'll become the first pitcher in 28 years to have a complete-game loss in four straight starts.

The last pitcher to incur this fate was Oakland's Rick Langford, who had six straight complete-game losses in 1980. They came early in a streak in which manager Billy Martin abused Langford by having him throw 22 straight complete games (by far the longest such streak in the last half-century). Langford's career faded soon thereafter.

As you can see, Halladay pitched very well over the three games, not allowing a home run and only one walk a game. Jose Contreras takes the hill for Chicago. He's doing a better job of keeping the ball in the park, allowing just two home runs so far. That's tough when half the games are at the White Sox home park.

Scott Kazmir makes his 2008 debut as he tries to prevent a Red Sox sweep of the Rays. He'll face fellow lefty Jon Lester. Lester has walked more than he struck out this season, but he's coming off a great start in which he shutout the Blue Jays for eight innings. The Rays managed a 4.04 team ERA, good for sixth in the AL without Kazmir in the rotation. I suspect it will get even better now.

The matchup of the day takes place in Philadelphia where Cole Hamels hosts the Giants Tim Lincecum. Hamels pitches at his best at home this season, posting a 2.15 ERA and allowing just two home runs in 29 1/3 innings. Lincecum allowed just one round tripper all season. Tim's overall batting against numbers aren't that impressive (.265 BA, .345 OBA), but he's allowed a mere .111 BA with men in scoring position. It's the bend, don't break strategy.

Two former AL aces battle in the desert later today as Johan Santana faces Dan Haren. Dan faced the Mets twice in interleague play and posted very good numbers in a small sample size. This is Santana's first crack at the snakes.

Finally, the Cubs and Cardinals play the rubber game of their series with first place in the NL Central on the line. Jason Marquis and Todd Wellemeyer do battle. Last season, the former Cardinal Marquis showed St. Louis they were wrong to let him go, compiling a 3-1 record and a 3.60 ERA against them. Welllemeyer's strikeouts and walks indicate he should be better than a 4.14 ERA, but his six home runs allowed negate that somewhat.

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There are no outstanding pitching matchups today, although there are outstanding pitchers. Felix Hernandez leads off the day as he takes on the Yankees in the Bronx. Despite a 2.22 ERA, Hernandez is just 2-1 in six starts. Part of that is poor bullpen support. In the nine innings they've pitched in Felix's starts, they've allowed seven runs, fifteen hits and six walks.

Brandon Webb goes for his seventh win of the season, facing the Mets in Arizona. To win 30 games in this era, a pitcher needs to win every start he makes, and so far Webb accomplished that. He's pitched out of tight situations; batters are 0 for 5 against him with the bases loaded with three strikeouts, and are hitting just .088 with men in scoring position.

James Shields continues to improve on his 2007 season by lowering his home runs allowed. Only twice has he served up gopher balls this season. He will once again duel Josh Beckett. They faced each other in their last starts, with Shields walking away with a 3-0, complete game victory. A win moves them back ahead of the Red Sox for first place in the AL East.

Finally, Jake Peavy faces Florida in San Diego. In four starts at PETCO this season, Peavy allowed just three runs for an 0.87 ERA. He's averaging just a hair over three hits per start in those games. The Marlins have given Peavy some trouble in his seven starts against them. His record is just 3-4, despite an 11.6 K per 9 mark. He pitched well enough to win three of the four losses.

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Four percentage points separate the Rays and the Red Sox as Tampa Bay opens up a four game series in Boston to decide which team will remain in first place. Edwin Jackson faces Clay Buchholz in game one tonight. Jackson came up at a young age, and now at 24 he's finally finding his way. He still walks too many people, but he's cut down on home runs and with the defense lowering his hits allowed, Jackson is posting a good ERA. He's an object lesson for all who are worried about their young pitchers turning out well. Buchholz is one of those youngsters off to a rough start. His last two appearances, however, are what Boston fans expect as he struck out 15 in 14 innings pitched while walking four.

The Mariners and Yankees offer a great matchup of undefeated pitchers as Erik Bedard faces Chien-Ming Wang. Erik pitched well at the stadium in his career, posting a 3.45 ERA. He only has a 1-1 record to show for it, however. Wang is baffling left-handed hitters this season, holding them to a .299 slugging percentage. They do, however, have the only home run hit off the Yankees ace.

Cincinnati travels to Atlanta and sends rising star Edinson Volquez against Tim Hudson. Volquez is wild but tough to hit as he's allowed 20 hits and 16 walks in 29 1/3 innings. Hudson is causing some worries as in two of his last three starts he lasted just three innings while allowing four runs.

The Cubs trail the Cardinals by 1/2 game as Chicago travels to St. Louis. Rich Hill takes the hill versus ace Adam Wainwright. Hill posted a K/BB of nearly 3.0 in 2007, but in 2008 he's even at 14/14. That's never a good sign for a pitcher. The trick to getting to Wainwright is to fill your lineup with lefties. Those batters are slugging .625 against the Cardinals right hander. The Cubs, however, only have three position players right now who bat left-handed.

Finally, the Mets and Diamondbacks do battle in Phoenix as John Maine takes on slugger Micah Owings. The two own similar ERAs but Owings took home two more wins. Maine's had bad luck on the road so far, posting a 5.40 ERA away from the friendly confines of Shea Stadium. Owings is glad he doesn't have to face himself as a batter. He's hitting .421, his opponents just .195.

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The Royals offense came to life against Texas, scoring nine runs in each of the first two games of the series. Unfortunately, they only split those games as Texas scored eleven last night. Zack Grienke tries to bring the Texas hitters under control as he goes for his fourth win of the season. It's been a bend, don't break year for Zack as he's allowed a .304 batting average with the bases empty but just .091 with runners in scoring position. He'll face Sidney Ponson, who was the victim of poor fielding in his first start, allowing five runs, four unearned.

As Milwaukee comes off a Wednesday night pounding to play a Thursday afternoon game, they'll depend on Yovani Gallardo to shut down the Cubs run machine. The only run against Gallardo in his two starts came on a solo home run. He takes on Cubs ace Carlos Zambrano. Carlos is off to a much better start than last April. He gave up the same number of hits, but did it over six more innings. On top of that, he cut his walks by ten.

Finally, the Blue Jays and Red Sox try to find some offense as A.J. Burnett pitches against Tim Wakefield. Burnett sports a 6.07 ERA and Wakefield comes in at 4.07. A .302 BA allowed and a .382 OBA allowed by Burnett matches the Red Sox strengths. Wakefield is wild, walking seventeen in twenty nine innings. We'll see how good these pitchers are today at leaving runners on base.

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Cliff Lee tries to end his incredible April 5-0 as he faces the Seattle Mariners. He's only allowed one earned run in the month. His strikeout to walk ratio is 14.5 to 1. His stats are a sabermetric marvel.

The Brewers can tie the Cubs with a win tonight as Jeff Suppan takes on Ryan Dempster. Suppan is not striking out many batters this season, eleven in 31 1/3 innings. I wouldn't want too many Cubs putting the ball in play, as they are hitting .281 as a team. Dempster is walking a high number of batters, about one every other inning. He's not getting hit, however, and with only two home runs allowed, the walks haven't cost him. So far, the move from the pen to the rotation is working well.

The Athletics and Angels play game three of their four game series with first place on the line once more. Dana Eveland and Ervin Santana are both off to good starts. The Magic is back for Santana as he's cut down his hits allowed and with it his home run rate. Eveland is starting out as a reverse lefty. Think Tom Glavine at his best, the type of left-hander that does better against righties than lefties. He should do well against the Angels who put few lefties in the lineup.

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The Pirates travel to New York as aces Ian Snell and Johan Santana do battle at Shea Stadium. Snell has pitched much better than his 4.45 ERA. His strikeouts, walks and home run allowed (just one) indicate he should be having a pretty good season. His ERA is 1.42 runs higher than his FIP, possibly indicating bad luck. Batters are hitting a high percentage of line drives off him, and his defense isn't turning balls into outs very well. He also has an extremely strange platoon split. A right-handed pitcher, lefties are hitting .194 against him, righties .403 in equal numbers of at bats.

Johan Santana is doing pretty much what's expected from the ace. He's recorded lots of strikeouts, few walks and fewer hits than innings pitched. In 2007, however, home runs hit off the lefty rose, and that rate doesn't appear to be a fluke as Santana continues on pace to allowed about 30 home runs in 200 innings.

On the west coast, the battle for first place in the AL West commences as the Oakland Athletics open a four game series with the Angels in Anaheim. The series kicks off tonight with Chad Gaudin facing Jon Garland. It was the Angels who were supposed to dominate in pitching, but right now the Athletics own the lowest ERA in the American League by 0.4 runs. The Oakland staff has done a great job of keeping their walks and home runs low, and Gaudin is a good example of that. He walks one batter every four innings and allows a home run every twelve innings.

Garland is the victim of a strikeout rate that fell off a cliff. He's only struck out four batters in 30 1/3 innings this season, the lowest rate by far in the majors. This has led to lots more balls in play, many more hits (a .336 BA allowed) and more power (a .516 slugging percentage allowed).

The Angels strength is their offense, which ranks second in the AL in runs per game at 5.0, 0.4 runs better than Oakland ranked sixth. We'll see if Gaudin's good pitching can beat the Angels good hitting.

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Sometimes there's one matchup so outstanding, it just jumps to the top of games to watch. That game takes place in San Diego where Brandon Webb faces Jake Peavy. Consider:

• Both pitchers are undefeated.
• Both have ERAs in the low twos.
• There in the best pitchers park in the majors.

Webb is off to a 5-0 start and averages seven innings a game. Opponents are hitting under the Mendoza line with a .188 batting average, and they are barely registering extra base hits with a .258 slugging percentage. Not only do few batters get on against Brandon, but his batting average allowed goes down as the opposition threatens; .158 with runners on, .103 with men in scoring position.

Brandon is actually allowing a line drive percentage higher than any of his last four seasons. With a very high DER behind him, I wonder if those liners are being hit right at people? If that's the case, we might see a turnaround in his numbers as the year goes on.

In 2007, Peavy was just as effective on the road as he was at pitcher friendly PETCO. So far in 2008, that's not true. He's nearly unhittable at home, as the opposition posts a line of .117/.200/.169 against him.

On the road, however, batters are hitting .340 against Jake with a .617 slugging percentage. So today's game puts Jake in the perfect place to do well against Arizona. Like Webb, he gets tougher with men on base allowing, his averages allowed dropping to .163 with men on and .115 with runners in scoring position.

Unlike Webb, Jake lowered his line drive percentage this season, raised his ground ball percentage, and is doing a great job on keeping fly ball against him on the infield.

Since the start of the 2004 season, Peavy and Webb rank third and eighth respectively in ERA among pitchers with 500 innings. Both are great at keeping the ball in the park, but Webb's rank of third in the majors over that time is all the more amazing given his home park. This should be a great duel this afternoon.

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Baltimore and Chicago play two after rain postponed Friday night's game. A sweep by the Orioles would assure a tie for first place in the AL East, while a sweep by Chicago will help them fend off the surging Indians. Game one offers the most interesting matchup as Brian Burres faces John Danks.

Burres's last two outings are quite a contrast. He allowed five hits and four walks in 4 2/3 innings against Tampa Bay, resulting in six runs, then allowed five hits and four walks in 5 2/3 innings against the Yankees, and left with a shutout intact. Danks is turning out to be very tough to hit this year. Not only has he limited opponents to a .202 batting average, only one of his seventeen hits allowed went for extra bases, a double.

A pair of aces pitch in St. Louis as Roy Oswalt faces Adam Wainwright. Oswalt found his groove after a rough start, allowing four runs in his last fourteen innings pitched. It's interesting that his walks have gone up a bit but the hits against him went down. Maybe he was around the plate too much. Adam is doing everything right so far this season as he's struck out three times as many as he's walked and only allowed one home run.

The Diamondbacks are 8-4 on the road with a 2.23 ERA this season. They send the undefeated Micah Owings against the Padres and the winless Justin Germano. The opposition is getting the bat on the ball versus Justin as he's only struck out seven in 23 1/3 innings. That's not going to cut it in the majors. All three home runs allowed by Owings this season came off the bats of left handers.

Finally, Oakland continues to win while rebuilding and sends Justin Duchscherer against Seattle's Erik Bedard. Justin pitched well in his first start since 2003, striking out six in five innings and allowing just one run. Bedard makes his first start in three weeks. So far this season, he's been a bit wild and hit hard as he's walked eight and allowed three home runs in eleven innings pitched.

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A good pitching matchup in New York tonight between two young pitchers. Mike Pelfrey takes on Jair Jurrjens. Pelfrey's 3.18 ERA is only 0.06 behind Johan Santana. Mike pitched much better at Shea this year, giving up the same number of hits as on the road, but in almost twice the at bats. Jurrjens has walked nine batters in 25 1/3 innings, but his control is better than that. Four of those walks were intentional, tied for the most in the majors.

Only 0.38 separate the ERAs of Ryan Dempster and Odalis Perez, but their records are opposite as the Cubs Dempster comes in at 3-0 while the Nationals Perez lies at 0-3. Dempster has been wild, walking eleven batters in 24 innings, but he's allowed a mere .167 BA with runners in scoring position. The Nationals have not scored more than four runs in any of Perez's starts, averaging a little over two runs in the games he pitched.

Minnesota and Texas send two evenly matched pitchers to the mound as well. Nick Blackburn comes off 7 2/3 shutout innings against Cleveland, and is getting twice as many balls hit on the ground compared to hit as flies. Millwood pitched well against the Red Sox his last time out, but his bullpen couldn't hold the lead he helped establish. Kevin is giving up a lot of hits, but he's helped by the great majority of them going for singles. His opponents isolated power is just 0.062.

Finally, the Marlins head north to take on the Brewers. Scott Olsen is undefeated for the Fish, his 2.60 ERA a result of holding right-handed batters to a .190 batting average. Yovani Gallardo makes his second start since returning from the disabled list. He allowed just one run in his first start, and now holds a 3.53 ERA in his 117 1/3 innings major league career. Although a right-handed pitcher, left handed batters hit about nine points lower against Gallardo.

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The Red Sox call up Justin Masterson to start in their ailing rotation. Too bad he's not a pinch hitter, so that in a tight situation the crowd could start chanting, "Bat Masterson!" He'll face a tough opponent in Joe Saunders. The Angels starter walks a batter every five innings and that has helped him keep his ERA down to 2.15.

Francisco Liriano makes his third start of the season, and hopes to pitch better this time. His control is awful, with ten walks in 9 2/3 innings. Greg Smith's control hasn't been great for the Athletics, but he's been tough to hit as Smith allowed just a .222 batting average.

Hank Steinbrenner's outburst appeared to have a positive effect on Mike Mussina Wednesday night, and we'll see if it does the same for Phil Hughes. The league is hitting .357 against The Franchise right now, so he has no where to go but up. The White Sox counter with Gavin Floyd, off to a great start this season. However, his walk rate is a bit high and his strikeout rate is a bit low. That should be a poor match for the Yankees offense.

The Indians and Royals play two games to make up for last night's rainout. Both offer great pitching matchups as Carmona and Tomko square off in game one and Lee and Bannister take the mound in game two. While aces Sabathia and Meche have struggled this season, the 2-3-4 starters for both teams are off to very good starts.

Finally, Tim Lincecum takes his 3-0 record into San Diego to face the reeling Padres. They've lost seven of their last eight games and send Chris Young to the mound. Young hasn't found the magic that made him unhittable in 2007. His strikeouts are good, but he's walking so many teams can wait for good pitches in the strike zone. The last time I watched Lincecum pitch, the broadcasters wondered if he would turn out to be Steve Carlton 1972, putting up a great record on a lousy team.

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Daisuke Matsuzaka goes for his fifth win of the season tonight as the Red Sox continue their series with the Angels. So far this year, Matsuzaka lowered his ERA over a run by trading hits for walks. In 2007, his WHIP was 1.32. This year it's down to 1.22, despite a higher walk rate. We'll see how long that can last.

The Angels send Jon Garland to the mound. He was never much of a strike out pitcher, but his rate is dropping like a stone as he's only struck out three batters in 24 1/3 innings. I can't imagine it's good for a pitcher to allow lots of balls in play at Fenway Park.

Talk about taking Moneyball to an extreme, the Red Sox roster currently holds six players with over fifty plate appearances whose OBAs are over .400. I suspect David Ortiz will join them eventually.

Johan Santana and Tim Redding own nearly identical ERAs as they face each other tonight in Washington. Tim's done a great job of keeping runners off base this season, but once they're on he gives up extra base hits. The best time to get Santana is at the start of the seventh. He allows a .165 BA through six, but that jumps to .353 after that.

Greg Maddux makes his second attempt at winning his 350th game, this time against the San Francisco Giants. The struggling Matt Cain tries to keep Greg one short. Cain is simply wild, walking 15 batters in 20 1/3 innings. That gives the opposition a .375 OBA. Home runs are once again a problem for Greg. Moving to the big parks of the west coast helped keep those totals down, but he's already allowed four in just twenty five innings. Of course, when the cleanup hitter is Bengie Molina, he shouldn't worry about it that much.

Finally, a contrast in control in Seattle as Daniel Cabrera faces Carlos Silva. Since he entered the league in 2004, no one has walked more batters than Daniel Cabrera. In that same time period, only Brad Radke walked fewer batters per nine than Carlos Silva.

Enjoy!

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Correction: Garland is not a lefty.

First place teams battle in Boston as the Angels visit the Red Sox. Josh Beckett seems more worried about ice cream than his ERA of late. He comes into the game with a 5.12 ERA, Although he's improved in each of his last two starts. He's given up five extra-base hits this year, four with men on base. Jered Weaver comes to town with a good ERA but a 1-3 record. He's pitched two games which the Angels lost 3-2.

The other Los Angeles team, the Dodgers, continue their series against the Reds. Hong-Chih Kuo makes his third start for Los Angeles. He's been effectively wild, walking six batters in seven innings as a starter, but allowing just three hits. Cincinnati sends Edinson Volquez in opposition, who is having similar results. He's walked nine in fifteen innings, but batters are hitting just .226 against him, and are 1 for 10 with runners in scoring position.

Cleveland is looking up at the Kansas City Royals right now, and tonight C.C. Sabathia tries to turn around his season as he faces Gil Meche. C.C. brings a kiloliter size ERA into the game, 13.50. He's already walked more than a third of batters he walked in all of 2007, and given up 1/4 of the home runs. Meche is off to a slow start as well, although with Gil it's more timing, as batters have hit .391 so far against him with runners in scoring position.

Barry Zito gets a tough assignment as he tries to pick up his first win of the season, Brandon Webb and the Diamonbacks. Arizona hits lefties better so far this season, a .300 BA. They're at .269 vs. righties. Given how hard he's been hit this season, Zito's 4.50 ERA is probably generous. Webb is pretty much the opposite in all regards. He won his first four starts, keeps hits against him low, struck out many more than he walked and lefties are hitting just .171 off him.

There are also a number of good aces in action tonight as Wang, Smoltz, Felix Hernandez and Jake Peavy take the mounds for their clubs. All are undefeated, as is Kyle Lohse who currently sports an unexpected 1.48 ERA.

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It's the one they kept versus the one that got away in Boston this morning. Today's the annual 11 AM Patriots Day game at Fenway with Kason Gabbard taking on Clay Buchholz. So far, Gabbard's pitched well for Texas. In eleven starts with the Rangers, he's 3-1 with a 4.58 ERA, but he's started 2008 with a 2.41 mark. He does depend on the opposition putting the ball in play, something that's always dangerous at Fenway. Buchholz is off to a tough start in 2008. The strikeouts are there, the walks aren't, but the opposition is hitting .370 against him with runners in scoring position.

Toronto hosts their neighbor Detroit in an early start as well as Armando Galarraga visits Shaun Marcum. Galarraga pitched very well in his first start of the year, striking out six and walking none as he allowed just two runs in 6 2/3 innings. Marcum appears to have made a leap this season as he's ratcheted up his strikeouts and dialed down his walks. The result so far is an ERA about 1 1/2 runs better than 2007.

The first place Marlins continue their easy schedule as they visit Pittsburgh to take on the reeling Pirates. Despite just nine strikeouts in 22 2/3 innings, Mark Hendrickson is limiting the number of hits against him and is 3-1 with a 3.97 ERA. He is easy to run on, however, as opposition base stealers are 4-0 against him. Matt Morris takes the mound for the Pirates and brings along a 7.02 ERA. He is simply getting pounded as he's allowed a .356 BA so far with ten of the twenty six hits going for extra bases. I doubt he'll last much longer in the majors if those numbers continue.

Finally, Mich Owings hosts Kevin Correia as the Giants visit the Diamondbacks. Correia has pitched better than his ERA. He hasn't timed his extra base hits allowed well as they tend to come more often with men on base. Owings, like Marcum, upped the strikeouts and downed the walks. With a 2.29 ERA and a .200 BA, he might end up with a higher batting average (times 10) than his ERA.

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Yovani Gallardo makes his 2008 debut as the Brewers go for a sweep of the Reds. So far, Milwaukee has doubled the Reds runs in the series, outscoring them 10-5. That might be more difficult today and Aaron Harang takes the mound for Cincinnati. Aaron is holding the opposition to a .271 OBA, but his four home runs allowed accounted for more than half his runs allowed. Gallardo impressed in his rookie season, striking out 101 while walking just 37.

Texas starters are pitching decently, posting a 4.11 ERA, but are just 4-8 on the season. Kevin Millwood suffered the most here as he comes into this game against the Red Sox with a 1-2 record despite a 2.42 ERA. Millwood seems to be one of those pitchers where luck evens out. His .348 OBA allowed indicates his ERA should be higher, but four double plays and three caught stealings helped him out. He'll face Tim Wakefield, who is in the same boat. Wakefield is allowing a .392 OBA, but since he's allowed a .217 BA with runners in scoring position, it hasn't killed him. I wonder how long he can pitch on the edge like that.

Two relative newcomers face off in Atlanta as Hiroki Kuroda visits Jair Jurrjens. The latest Dodgers import is showing great control as Kuroda walked just two in 18 2/3 innings so far this season. Jurrjens has yet to allow a home run in his first 18 1/3 innings of work, and has only allowed four in his first 49 major league innings.

The Pirates and Cubs feature two D's on the mound as Zach Duke faces Ryan Dempster. Duke is another pitcher with a great ERA despite the opposition getting on base a lot. In Duke's case, he's limited the opposition's power with men on base. Dempster is trading walks for hits as he's allowed nine of each in nineteen innings so far. He's only issued two with runners on base however, so he's making the opposition earn their movement around the bases.

Finally, it's a Randy battle in Phoenix as Johnson faces Wolf. The Big Unit starts at home for the first time since his surgery. Errors kept the three runs allowed in his first start unearned. Wolf sports a 1.42 ERA and a very Johnson like eighteen strikeouts in nineteen innings.

Enjoy!

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There are a number of good young pitchers taking the mound today. Johnny Cueto faces the Milwaukee Brewers and Jeff Suppan. The Reds Rookie already faced the Brewers once and struck out eight in 6 2/3 innings, although he did not get the decision. Suppan is off to a rough start, as his strikeouts have fallen off to the point that he's now walked more batters than he's K'd.

Tim Lincecum is emerging as the ace of the Giants rotation. No other San Francisco starter owns an ERA under 4.00, and Tim stands at 2.25. He also has the best batting average on the team at the moment, as he's 2 for 4 on the season.

Lincecum stepped up his strikeout rate this season, sending down 12.4 batters per nine via the K. He's yet to allow a ball to leave the park. He'll face Joel Pineiro who had a very rough outing versus San Francisco six days ago. We'll see if he's better in his second start since returning to the Cardinals.

Even though he's been around since 2004, Zack Greinke is still rather young at 24 years old. He continues to impress on the mound, boasting an 0.75 ERA so far this season. Unlike Cueto and Lincecum, however, Zack does not rely on the strikeout for his success. He tries to keep the ball on the ground, with 47% of ball in play going that route. His fly balls stay in the park as well, as he's only allowed one home run this season.

Greg Smith, one of the many off-season Oakland trade acquisitions is off to a good start himself. So far his control hasn't been great, but it appears he's effectively wild as batters are hitting just .186 against him. This matchup of youngsters might be the best of the day.

The Mariners and Angels split their first four games in rather high scoring fashion as the teams are averaging 12 runs per game in their meetings. Jarrod Washburn and Ervin Santana will try to quell the opposing offenses tonight. About the only time Washburn's been hit this year is with a man on first only. With runners on he's allowed a .333 BA, but with men in scoring position that drops to .154. So far this season Santana cut his home run rate by 1/3 as compared to 2007. The result is an over two run drop in ERA.

Enjoy!

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The Mets travel to Philadelphia for a huge pitching matchup as Johan Santana faces Cole Hamels in a battle of elite lefties. Hamels is posting an 0.82 ERA despite a rise in his walk rate and a fall in his strikeout rate compared to 2007. He's become tougher to hit, however, as the league is batting just .143 against him, .083 with runners on base. Santana pitched well in all three starts, but ran into trouble with the gopher ball the last time out against Milwaukee. That's a danger as well when facing Philadelphia.

Cleveland travels to Minnesota where the rejuvenated Cliff Lee faces the recovering Francisco Liriano. Lee has been about as perfect as you could expect from a starter. In 14 2/3 innings so far he's recorded twelve strikeouts, walked just one and allowed no home runs. Liriano didn't look ready to return to the majors as he walked five in his first start. He walked 32 in 121 innings before his injury sent him to surgery in 2006.

In Anaheim, Joe Saunders tries to continue his ace-like pitching against the Seattle Mariners. He's only allowed one extra base hit so far, so his opponents OBA (.253) is higher than his opponents slugging percentage (.233). R.A. Dickey makes his first start for the Mariners. He spent last year in the Brewers system converting to a pure knuckleball pitcher. He pitched one perfect inning of relief so far, so we'll see if this start goes better the last start in which he just threw the knuckleball at the major league level.

Enjoy!

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The Cardinals go for their eighth win at home and the Brewers try to close the gap in the NL Central as these two rivals face off this afternoon. Manny Parra takes the hill for Milwaukee. Parra's allowed a few runs so far due to four singles with men in scoring position. His strikeout, walk and home run numbers, however, indicate a good pitcher in the making. Kyle Lohse continues to be the surprise signing of the spring. Opponents managed just one extra-base hit off the Cardinals pitcher in three starts leading to a mere .290 slugging percentage against.

Edinson Volquez tries to keep the Reds from a sweep as he takes on Ted Lilly and the Cubs. Volquez is one of the young guns who is turning the Reds rotation into a solid staff. He's yet to allow a hit with runners in scoring position this season. Lilly, like a few starters detailed yesterday, is simply getting hit. He's allowed nineteen hits so far, and nine of those resulted in extra bases for an opposition slugging percentage of .614.

In New York, the Yankees and Red Sox finish up their five games in seven days as Josh Beckett faces Mike Mussina. After a rough first start against Toronto, Josh pitched decently against the Yankees, allowing three runs over 6 2/3 innings and receiving the win. His control was back, as he walked just one against a very selective team. The matchup on the other side to watch is Mussina and Manny. Mike has pluses and minuses against Ramirez. Manny's been held to a .321 OBA, but his hits tend to go for extra bases as he's slugging .561 against Mike.

Enjoy!

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Four aces in trouble take the mound today. Barry Zito and the Giants host Brandon Webb and the Diamondbacks this afternoon. In Zito's strong seasons, he allowed fewer hits than innings pitched. So far in 2008, he's given up 23 hits in 16 innings. The good news is that his walks are low. The bad news is the Diamondbacks are hitting well and Brandon Webb is pitching well. Webb is in the sweet spot, where he's striking out batters at a high rate, and his defense is turning a high number of the batted balls against him into outs. The Hardball times lists the DER behind Webb at .810.

C.C. Sabathia, like Zito, is giving up a ton of hits, and unlike Zito is also walking batters. Thirty three runners reached base against Sabathia in just 14 innings. He's getting the Tigers at the wrong time, as their slumbering offense awoke to score 17 runs in the last two games.

Roy Oswalt takes the hill for the Astros after their disastrous loss against Philadelphia Tuesday night. Oswalt's been pounded in his three starts, allowing 30 hits in 16 innings. He's only walked two, but it looks like his opponents are seeing pitches in the strike zone just fine. He's allowed five home runs so far, after giving up just 15 in 2007. Kyle Kendrick opposes him for Philadelphia. Kendrick's ERA is 6.00, and his control is awful. Kendrick allowed eight walks and struck out just one batter so far in 2007.

Finally, Gil Meche tries to earn his ace money against the Angels. In 2007, Gil got his walks under control, but so far in 2008 they are up over one every other inning. Jered Weaver goes for the Angels, and he hasn't allowed a run at home yet.

Enjoy!

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The Giants celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first major league game in San Francisco with a 1:34 start against the Diamondbacks. That's the minute the Giants' first game played at Seals Stadium took place. That was an 8-0 victory for over the Dodgers.

Today, a pair of 2.63 ERA pitchers take the mound as Micah Owings battles Kevin Correia. Kevin is off to a good start in an effort to drop his ERA for the fourth year in a row. The righty is having great success against left-handed batters so far, holding them to a .222 OBA and a .269 slugging percentage. Owings is simply blowing away hitters, striking out 13 in his first 13 2/3 innings.

Toronto and Baltimore continue their battle in the tight AL East with the best pitching matchup of the day in the league. Shaun Marcum faces Steve Trachsel. Marcum's been consistent in his first two starts, going seven innings, walking one and striking out eight in each. That kind of performance makes a manager's life easy. Despite an ERA of 3.00, Trachsel is living on the edge. With more walks than strikeouts, he's being saved right now by lefties hitting just .083 against him, vs. .350 for righties. That reverse platoon difference is unlikely to last.

In Chicago, converted closer Ryan Dempster hosts Reds ace Aaron Harang. Dempster is pitching like a closer, striking out ten and allowing just four hits in 13 innings so far. Harang is averaging seven innings a start and holding the opposition to a .238 OBA early in the season.

Finally, the Yankees and Rays battle again with Andy Pettitte taking the mound against Edwin Jackson. Pettitte pitched one good game and one poor game so far, the poor start coming against this Tampa Bay team. Jackson is the surprise of the year. His 0.64 ERA is the result of allowing fewer hits, although his strikeout and walk rates are about the same as in 2007. He might be the pitcher the Rays improved defense is helping the most.

Enjoy!

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The Red Sox head to Cleveland as these two teams face each other for the first time since the 2007 ALCS. Jon Lester takes the hill for Boston and his 2008 season is off to a lackluster start. He's walked ten in sixteen innings while striking out just seven. Walks in general have been a problem for the Boston starters this year as they've walked 43 in 72 2/3 innings, or 5.3 per 9. Westbrook's been in the strike zone in his two starts as he walked just one.

Two first place teams face off in Chicago as Greg Smith and the Athletics take on Mark Buehrle and the White Sox. This will be the first time Nick Swisher plays against his former team in the regular season. Swisher is providing a great OBA at the top of the order for the White Sox, posting a .444 OBA there. Ryan Sweeney, one of the players the A's acquired in the deal, is putting up very good numbers for the Athletics, although an injury and the expected cold weather will likely keep him out of these games.

It's also a game that pits two teams with different strengths. The White Sox score over six runs per game, the A's just over four. But Oakland allows about 0.8 runs less than Chicago per game, so we'll see if good pitching stops good hitting.

Finally, Randy Johnson makes his first start of the 2008 season in San Francisco. It's a good opponent for the Big Unit, as they are tied with the Padres for lowest runs per game in the National League. Randy faces Jonathan Sanchez. The Giants pitcher struck out 95 in 92 innings his first two years in the majors, but has yet to record a K in 10 innings this year, and this year struck out 18 in 10 innings. With Arizona boasting the highest runs per game in the majors, this will be a tough assignment for the young left-hander.

Enjoy!

Correction: I read the wrong column when looking at Sanchez's K rate.

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The Mets and Brewers play the rubber game of their series at Shea this afternoon as Jeff Suppan takes on Oliver Perez. Both are off to great starts. Suppan is spreading out his hits allowed nicely, as batters are hitting .303 against him with the bases empty but .133 with men on. Batters are not hitting Perez at all, as opponents are an aggregate .200 against him and have yet to score a run.

Johnny Cueto makes his third start, and so far batters are having a tough time making contact. He's struck out 18 in 13 1/3 innings, over 12 per nine innings, and he's done it without walking a batter. Of the 28 balls in play against Cueto, only six have resulted in hits.

His opponent, Tom Gorzelanny, is the exact opposite. He's walked more batters than he's struck out, and twelve of 29 balls in play against him would up as hits.

Burke Badenhop makes his first major league start this afternoon against the Wandy Rodriguez and the Houston Astros. It's not that compelling a matchup, but Badenhop is now my favorite baseball name.

Francisco Liriano makes his first major league appearance since the 2006 season. He's returning from Tommy John surgery. His two minor league outings were unimpressive save for the strikeouts in the FSL. I get the feeling the Twins are rushing him back. He'll face Brian Bannister, who has proven tough to hit this season. Not only is he holding opponents to a .171 BA, he hasn't allowed an extra-base hit.

The Mariners go for the sweep against the Angels in Seattle with Erik Bedard facing Joe Saunders. Saunders is earning a permanent spot in the rotation with his 0.56 ERA. He's walked just three batters in sixteen innings of work. Bedard's ERA is a good 3.27, but he hasn't shown much control yet, walking eight in eleven innings. The free passes haven't hurt him that much as he's allowed an .077 BA with runners in scoring position.

Finally, the Yankees and Red Sox play their rubber game with young Phil Hughes facing Japanese sensation Daisuke Matsuzaka. Phil pitched well against Toronto and poorly against the Royals in his two starts so far, the difference coming down to walks. Dice-K has been up and down with walks, too, this season, but through it all he's been nearly unhittable, allowing a .131 BA, .074 against lefties.

Enjoy!

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The Brewers and Mets boast the pitching matchup of the day as Ben Sheets face Johan Santana. Ben held opponents so far, striking out fifteen in 15 1/3 innings.
Santana is holding batters to a .200 batting average, but half the hits against went for extra bases.

The Rockies try to earn their first against the Diamondbacks after four losses. Franklin Morales takes on Dan Haren. Morales held Arizona scoreless for six innings in his first start, but the bullpen blew the game and Colorado lost in extra innings. Haren is showing great control so far, having walked one while striking out nine in his first twelve innings with the Diamondbacks.

The first place Marlins take another shot at Houston today with Andrew Miller visiting Brandon Backe. Backe is striking out batters at a good clip, but his control isn't back yet, as he's walked six in eleven innings. Andrew Miller is striking out batters just fine, but when he makes contact, the balls are landing for hits. The Marlins want him to just let the ball fly today, rather than trying to be too fine.

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There are a ton of interesting pitching matchups and team matchups today. Here's the best of the best.

The Yankees and Red Sox meet for the first time this year as Chien-Ming Wang and Clay Buchholz faceoff at Fenway. Opponents are not generating much power versus Wang as they managed a .229 slugging percentage against the big righty, based on ten hits and one double. Tonight marks Clay's first appearance against the Yankees. In his short major league career, Buchholz averaged nearly four walks per nine innings, something the selective Yankees can use to their advantage.

The Cubs face the Phillies in an inter-divisional battle of aces. Carlos Zambrano takes on Brett Myers. Unlike 2007, Carlos is off to a great start, striking out 12 and walking just one in his first 13 2/3 innings. Myers showed unusual control issues so far, walking five in his first ten innings.

Another matchup of aces takes place in Cleveland where the Athletics pit Joe Blanton against the Indians C.C. Sabathia. Blanton pitched well in his two starts but has yet to win a game. He's never been much of a strikeout pitcher, but his K rate is below 4.5 per nine for the first time. Sabathia has already walked one fifth of the batters he passed in 2007.

On the west coast, what may be a long pitching duel sees Jered Weaver visit Felix Hernandez. The two already faced off four times, with Weaver going 3-0 while Hernandez came in at 0-2. Both are pitching extremely well with neither allowing a home run yet.

Finally, Peavy and Penny meet for the second time this season, this time at Dodger Stadium. Jake won the first matchup, throwing a complete game two-hitter. Penny didn't allow a run in his first home start and is 24-9 with a 3.32 ERA at home since his trade to Los Angeles.

Enjoy!

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Rain postponed Wednesday night's game between the Orioles and the Rangers, but that didn't stop the Orioles from widening their AL East lead as all four division opponents lost. They play two today with Trachsel going against Millwood in the opener. Kevin Millwood is the unluckiest starter in the majors this year. He allowed two unearned runs in his first start and lost, then allowed two earned runs in his second start and also lost. If the Rangers can just reach that three run barrier, Kevin might pick up a win.

Meanwhile, the Orioles are scoring nearly six runs per game, and getting great offense from Luis Hernandez. The all-glove, no hit shortstop, along with the slugging Luke Scott is making the Miguel Tejada trade look good for the moment.

Oakland goes for a sweep of Toronto behind starter Dana Eveland. Eveland did something in his 2008 debut he hasn't done previously in his major league career, control his walks. He entered 2008 with 39 walks in 64 1/3 innings, but only walked one in seven innings against Cleveland last week. Shaun Marcum showed great control throughout his short major league career, and also walked his one in seven inning in his first start of the season. Maybe we'll see a 2:30 game in the Great White North tonight!

If you like lots of extra baseball, check out the Cubs and Pirates. In the first two games of the series, they've played twenty seven innings, a whole extra game! Rich Hill faces Matt Morris this evening as the Pirates try to salvage the last game of the series. Hill faces a lineup of nearly all righties in his first start. He allowed just four hits in twenty at bats to batters with the platoon advantage. Lefties gave the righty Morris lots of trouble in his first start as they went 5 for 9 and with two walks.

Finally, it's Cuba night in Chicago as Livan Hernandez faces fellow expatriate Jose Contreras. Livan is off to a great start with the Twins. He was hired as an innings eater for a young staff, but he's pitching like an ace. He hasn't walked a batter in two starts and won both. Contreras continues to decline. His first full season with the White Sox was his best, but his ERA is rising at the rate of one run a year since. His poor first start doesn't bode well toward reversing that trend.

Enjoy!

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Correction: Fixed a typo. I thought Hernandez and Contreras used to play for the Patriots. :-)

The Diamondbacks go for a sweep of the Dodgers this afternoon in Arizona. Both Hiroki Kuroda and Micah Owings performed well in their first starts of the year, each limiting the opposition to one run. Owings did it with strikeouts. His nine K in 6 2/3 innings helped hold the Rockies to just two hits. Kuroda made just one mistake in his outing, a home run to Brian Giles. Kuroda issued no walks; his control was one of his strengths in Japan.

The Phillies go for their 10th straight win against the Mets tonight at Shea. Kyle Kendrick faces Mike Pelfry in his 2008 debut. Kendrick's low strikeout totals caught up with him in his first start as he allowed four runs in five innings. The Phillies offense, however, bailed him out for the win. In his first two seasons in the majors, Pelfry suffered control problems, walking nearly as many as he struck out. That's a bad sign against a selective heart of the Phillies order.

Steve Trachsel tries to keep Baltimore's winning streak alive as he visits the Rangers and Kason Gabbard. Like Owings, Gabbard pitched poorly during spring training but opened with a flourish. He gave up seven hits to the Angels in seven innings, but kept them all to singles. That kept LAnaheim off the scoreboard. Since the start of the 2006 season, Trachsel has walked 156 batters while striking out 136. That's a very bad sign for a pitcher, even if he has a decent walk rate.

Enjoy!

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The Red Sox return hope from their epic journey to face the Detroit Tigers today. The Tigers get to see the hoopla surrounding a World Series win, something that looks tougher for Detroit this year given their winless start. Kenny Rogers faces Daisuke Matsuzaka. Rogers pitched well in his first start, but the two runs he allowed were too much for the weak Tigers offense. Matsuzaka found his control last time out, and now is up to 15 strikeouts in 11 2/3 innings of work.

Johnny Cueto makes his second start of the season, this time against the division leading Brewers. It's an early season chance for Cincinnati to take the lead in the NL Central. Cueto impressed in his first major league start, striking out ten and walking none. The Brewers batters strike out about seven times per game, so we could be looking at another big day for the rookie.

Jeff Suppan takes the mound for the Brewers. Jeff allowed two solo home runs in his first outing, the only runs the Cubs generated against him. Chicago was just one for six with men on base in that game.

There's a nice matchup in Kansas City with two favorites of the blogosphere. Phil Hughes maintains his own web site. There was some concern about Hughes velocity this week, but if he keeps pitching as he did in his first start of the season, that shouldn't be a big problem. Brian Bannister takes the hill for the Royals. The sabermetric savvy pitcher turned in seven shutout innings against the Tigers. He'll try to do the same against another projected high scoring offense.

Finally, we get to see if Bruce Bochy's decision to bring Tim Lincecum back after a long rain delay hurt the young pitcher. He host the Padres and Randy Wolf in San Francisco. Wolf faced nothing but right-handed batters against Houston last week, and held them to a .190 BA.

Enjoy!

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The Phillies and Reds play an early afternoon getaway game with Cole Hamels facing Bronson Arroyo. Starters pitched 85 quality starts so far this year, with 40 of them resulting in a loss or no decision. That's 47%, up just a bit from 2007's 43%. Of those 40, Cole Hamels has the highest game score with a loss, 72. Hammels did not allow a hit with runners on in his first game, the only run coming on a solo homer. Arroyo only last five innings in his first start. His defense let him down as only two of the four runs he allowed were earned.

The San Francisco Giants play their home opener with a 1-5 record a 2.0 runs per game offense. Matt Cain is the type of pitcher who can win on this team, however, as he's capable of keeping the opposition from crossing the plate often. Cain was a bit wild in his first start, walking four in 5 2/3 innings, but not allowing a run. He'll take on the old man, Greg Maddux. The 347 game winner showed why he's still a valuable piece of a pitching staff, going six innings and allowing three runs in his first outing. That 4.50 ERA doesn't sound that great, but high scoring teams can certainly win lots of games with that performance. San Diego has the type of bullpen that can make those three runs stick as well.

Finally, Fausto Carmona clashes with Joe Saunder in Anaheim in the late night game. Carmona was a bit wild in his first start, walking four, but held the White Sox to 2 for 12 with men on base. Saunders only walked one in his eight innings of work, giving the Angels eight shutout innings. The Minnesota lineup was stacked with righties against him, but they managed just four hits in 22 at bats.

Enjoy!

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Two injured aces return to the mound this afternoon. Josh Beckett makes his 2008 season debut for the Red Sox. It took him a while to get hip to his real problems:

"Everything was day to day," Beckett said. "After the first week, my back really responded to the treatment, and once we got rid of the back spasms, basically what we had to do was just strengthen my hip. That's kind of where the problem lied. I think the back spasms were just more of protecting my hip. Once we got that strong, then it was just kind of a building-up process. We're still kind of in that.

"We kind of realized that after my first intense throwing session. We started getting that because my back wasn't bothering me, then it was the hip. Once we got the hip to where I could throw every day, throw bullpens, then it was just getting into games and building up."

Beckett faces Toronto ace Roy Halladay. Roy pitched well against the Yankees but lost. Halladay stayed healthy the last two seasons, but he's striking out fewer batters. He averaged 6.5 K per 9 through 2005, but 5.5 K per 9 since then.

John Smoltz makes his first start of the season against Johan Santana and the Mets. Smoltz was originally scheduled for Monday, but the cold weather predicted for Colorado induced Bobby Cox to move the start up one day.

Glavine said. "I said, 'I don't care.' I understand. There's the potential for [pitching in Colorado] to kind of set him back a little. If we can avoid that, I'm OK with it. Fine by me."

Smoltz is 3-2 with a 4.20 ERA in 14 games (seven starts) at Coors Field, including 2-0 with a 3.27 ERA in three starts since moving back from the closer role in 2005.

"I'm not afraid of any situation," said Smoltz, who'll be 41 on May 15. "But I've got to do what's best. What's best for me is best for the team. If this was July, it wouldn't be an issue. It's the total package of Colorado, my shoulder, making your first start. ...

"As a pitcher I hate talking about it, because it sounds like excuses. But it's the best solution. It has nothing to do with matchups, nothing to do with Johan Santana, the Rockies. ... It has everything to do with the long term."

Santana gave the Mets just what they wanted on opening day, allowing just two runs in seven innings while striking out eight.

The Dodgers and Padres match up two of the best number two starters you'll see as Chris Young host Derek Lowe. It's a great contrast as Young is a pure power hitter who keeps his hits allowed low due to his strikeouts. Lowe's success comes from keeping the balls in play against him on the ground. In a good year, two thirds of fair contact result in a grounder.

The Tigers try to get into the win column tonight as Justin Verlander makes his second start on ESPN2. What were supposed to be the strengths of this team, the offense and the starting pitching, haven't performed well. The hitters are plating less than three runs per game, while the starting pitching's posts a 5.72 ERA. While Verlander looked good in striking out six and walking one in six innings, he still allowed four runs.

Mark Buehrle takes the mound for the White Sox. He did not look good at all as the Indians pounded him for seven hits in 1 2/3 innings. He couldn't even get the lefties out, who went 2 for 4 against him.

Enjoy!

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Clay Buchholz makes his 2008 season debut for the Red Sox against Jesse Litsch and the Tornoto Blue Jays this afternoon. The young Boston hurler thrilled fans last year as he pitched a no hitter in his second major league start. What was most impressive was his strikeout rate, 22 Ks in 22 2/3 innings. Litsch made his major league debut as well in 2008, but pitched a bit more. His 3.81 ERA was mostly the result of a low walk rate. Players can take him deep, but few walks helps keep the bases clear.

There's a bit of a mismatch in Cincinnati as Adam Eaton faces Aaron Harang. Eaton just missed qualifying for the ERA title in 2007 by 1/3 of an inning. Had he recorded one more out, his 6.29 ERA would have been the worst among qualifiers. Over the last three years, Harang put up consistently good numbers. His ERA varied between 3.73 and 3.83, better than 210 innings, and over 200 strikeouts the last two seasons. Given the run enhancing effects of GAB, Harang's numbers are extraordinary.

The winless Tigers send Dontrelle Willis to the mound for his Tigers debut. His career suffered a setback in 2007 as his ERA ballooned over 5.00 as he gave up more long balls than ever before. Was it a fluke or an injury? Chicago opposes him with Gavin Floyd, who really was hammered by home runs in 2007. He allowed 17 in 70 innings, 2.2 per nine innings.

The best pitching matchup of the day takes place in San Diego where Brad Penny takes on Jake Peavy. Through the end of June in 2007, these two were neck and neck in the race for the NL ERA title. Peavy pulled away to win the Cy Young award. Both are off to good starts again, neither allowing a run in his first start.

Enjoy!

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Arizona attends the Rockies home opener. I'm told, however, Colorado is stretching the NL Championship celebration over the weekend, so they won't raise the pennant nor give out rings today. They hope that drives attendance higher for all three games. I would think playing the team they beat for the flag would be enough. Micah Owings faces Mark Redman. Owings hit better than he pitched last season, blasting four home runs for a .683 slugging percentage. Redman pitched well for Colorado down the stretch last season, posting a 3.20 ERA. Earlier in the season, he went 0-4 with an 11.63 ERA for Atlanta. My guess is he'll end up somewhere in between this season.

Tampa Bay gets their first real challenge of the season as they travel to New York to face the Yankees. Two young pitchers take the mound tonight as Andy Sonnanstine faces Ian Kennedy. I'm very curious to see what Sonnanstine does with a better defense behind him. He only walked 26 batters in 130 2/3 innings last season, and induced 20 double plays. He allowed a lot of hits, however and I wonder if Bartlett will make a big difference in that area. Kennedy, in his brief stint with the Yankees was the opposite. He walked close to a batter every other inning, but was very tough to hit. That led to a 1.89 ERA.

Someone other than Matsuzaka or Lester gets to start a game for the Red Sox as Tim Wakefield takes the mound for Boston against Shaun Marcum in Toronto. It's the third country of the Red Sox opening season tour. The Red Sox catcher will received some scrutiny:

The burden of catching Wakefield, who makes his first start of 2008 tonight against the Toronto Blue Jays in Rogers Centre, now falls on Kevin Cash, who is seven years younger than Mirabelli. Cash showed last season after Mirabelli strained a calf muscle that he could handle the knuckleball, but has yet to prove he can hit big league pitching, as his .167 career average in limited time with the Blue Jays, Devil Rays, and Sox would attest.

It does seem more important to stop the knuckleball than to hit for average. The rest of the lineup is pretty good at putting runs on the board.

Marcum is one of the three young but experience starters on the Blue Jays. He posts good strikeout and walk numbers, but the long ball really hurts him. If he can keep his home runs limited to solo shots, he'll be okay.

The Mets are working their way north and play Atlanta. Both staffs are facing a depleted rotation as old starters Smoltz, Hampton, Martinez and Hernandez all work on healing from injuries. Nonetheless, the teams present a good matchup tonight as John Maine takes on Tim Hudson. Since joining the Mets after a high ERA in Baltimore, Maine's posted a 3.81 ERA in 281 innings for New York, striking out 8 per nine innings. Hudson is the only one of Oakland's big three to keep his value since leaving the team, pitching well enough to earn a .581 winning percentage with Atlanta.

Finally, the Angels come home to face Texas in a battle of youngsters. Injuries forced Dustin Moseley into the rotation. He's a pitcher who needs a good defense behind him as he keeps the ball in the strike zone, but records few strikeouts. Gabbard was impressive with the Red Sox in 2007, not so much with Texas. The difference was that a lot more hits fell in when he played for the Rangers, once again showing the value of the defense behind the starter.

Enjoy!

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The Royals and Tigers finish up their opening series this afternoon in Detroit with the Royals looking to sweep a team many favored to win the division. They'll pit Zack Greinke against face Jeremy Bonderman. Greinke worked his way back from mental illness last season, returning to a starting role late in the year. He posted a 1.85 ERA in those seven starts. Bonderman pitched well in 2007, once he made it past the first inning. In that first frame, batters hit at a .375/.442/.688 (BA/OBA/Slug) clip. Note that while his overall OBA of .326 was decent, he still gave up long hits, as his over .453 slugging percentage attests.

Mike Hampton returns to the majors this evening after a two year hiatus due to injury. Hampton lost his ability to strike out batters with any frequency after his 2001 season in Colorado. He'll need to depend on his defense and a low walk rate to be successful this season. The Pirates send Zach Due to the mound. Duke got off to a strong start in 2005, going 8-2 with a 1.81 ERA. His low strikeout numbers were worrisome, however, and those worries proved well founded. With both low strikeout and walk rates, Duke is in the strike zone and hittable. He's allowed a .322 batting average the last two seasons.

Finally, Phil of the Future fans see Hughes in action this evening. The Blue Jays match one of their youngsters, Dustin McGowan against Phil Hughes of the Yankees. McGowan's 4.08 ERA last year wasn't bad for someone in their first full season in the bigs. He struck out a good number, didn't walk too many and did a great job keeping the ball in the park with just 14 home runs allowed in 169 2/3 innings. McGowan pitched a bit better than Hughes last year. Phil said his leg wasn't really strong after the injury, so we'll see if he's off to a better start in 2008.

Enjoy!

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It's premier Wednesday as four pitchers who changed teams over the winter hope to make an impact for their new teams.

Matt Garza makes his first start for the Rays as he faced Daniel Cabrera in Baltimore. Matt's 3.69 was helped by his great pitching with runners in scoring position last year. He allowed just a .213 batting average. The key for Cabrera is control. His 108 walks in 204 1/3 innings was an improvement over 2006, but still not very good. He also allowed as many home runs last year as he did in the two previous seasons combined.

Jair Jurrjens came over to the Braves in the Edgar Renteria deal. He's 3-1 in his brief major league career, but his minor league numbers show a young pitcher with great control. He's walked 2.2 batters per nine in the minors. Tom Gorzelanny takes the hill for the Pirates. Tom's easy to run on as opponents were successful in 17 of 22 attempts against him in 2007.

Arizona picked up a second ace when they traded the farm for Dan Haren. He'll make his first start as a Diamondback against Bronson Arroyo and the Reds. Haren upped his strikeouts and lowered his home runs allowed to bring his ERA down over a run in 2007. Arroyo went in the opposite direction, as fewer strikeouts made him more hittable, and he saw his ERA balloon by almost a run versus 2006.

Finally, Andrew Miller premiers for the Marlins. One of the two top prospects in the Cabrera/Willis deal with the Tigers, Miller hosts the Mets and Oliver Perez. Miller's had little seasoning. He only pitched 140 2/3 innings in the minors with a 4.22 ERA. At the major league level, he's pitched 74 1/3 innings with a 5.69 ERA. Florida fans may have to content themselves with watching on the job training. Oliver Perez returned to the form that tantilized us in 2004. He kept his walks and home runs under control to post a 3.56 ERA after two seasons around 6.00. Now we get to see if he can repeat a great performance.

Enjoy!

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Yesterdays' summary of the Blue Jays/Yankees game still stands:

The New York Yankees open the House that Ruth Built for the last time, facing division rival the Toronto Blue Jays. Chien-Ming Wang faces Roy Halladay and the worms are in full retreat. Wang leads the majors in wins since the start of the 2006 season with 39, while Halladay ranks seventh with 32. Alex Rodriguez sits just three home runs behind Ted Williams and Willie McCovey on the all-time home run list, and a 45 home run campaign ties him with Reggie Jackson for eleventh.

Baseball Musings roving reporter Jim Storer will be at the game, supplying photos from his camera phone.

The Mets and Marlins continue their series, this time with Pedro Martinez taking on Rick VandenHurk. You couldn't ask for a bigger contrast in the first two games of this series. Two of the best pitchers of their generations taking on two pitchers with career ERAs over 5.00. VandenHurk, however, does strike out tons of batters, 82 in 81 1/3 innings last year. That's a sign that he could be good. Pedro pitched impressively in his five starts for the Mets in 2008, not allowing a home run in 28 innings. Like Santana yesterday, he's getting an easy assignment to start the season.

Oakland plays their real home opener tonight, and the pitching matchup is the same as game one of their Japanese opener. Joe Blanton host Daisuke Matsuzaka. Joe showed the effects of the early season start when he tired in the sixth, allowing his first extra-base hits of the game and three runs. Dice-K suffered control problems early, but the A's couldn't get the big hit. Once his control returned in the third inning, Oakland did not get a hit big or small.

The Giants and Dodgers play game two in Los Angeles as the real ace of the San Francisco staff takes the mound. Matt Cain improved his ERA, home run rate and walk rate in 2007. His 7-16 record is a perfect example of what happens to a good pitcher when his team doesn't score many runs. He may be in for a similar fate this season. Derek Lowe can feel his pain. His 12-14 record in 2007 seems harsh for a 3.88 ERA. He's been consistently good since joining the Dodgers, but posted losing records in two of three seasons. They both can't lose tonight.

Finally, Felix Hernandez takes the mound for the Mariners against the Rangers and Vicente Padilla. Hernandez started off like gang busters in 2007, allowing four hits and no runs in his first two starts, a total of seventeen innings. He never quite got that back after missing a month due to an arm injury, posting a 4.16 ERA from the middle of May on. His control in that time was great, however, as he walked just 2.4 per nine innings. Padilla, too suffered an injury last year, but his walk rate had deteriorated before he hurt his triceps.

Enjoy!

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The third and real opening day takes place today as twenty six teams play for the first time and fourteen ballparks see their first games of 2008. I have the Mix Channel and the Strike Zone channel set up on DirecTV, and almost every Extra Innings channel has a corresponding HD option. This is going to be fun. DirecTV is also offering a free HD preview of the games until 4/6. You can find the channels starting in the 720s.

As for the games, the Tigers get us started as they host the Royals. Gil Meche takes on Justin Verlander. Although the signing of Meche last year raised eyebrows, Gil posted the best ERA of his career, cutting down both his walk and home run rates. Verlander equaled his fine 2006 season in ERA, but he really did pitch better in 2007. More innings, a better strikeout and home run rate indicates he's still growing positively as a pitcher. We also get to see the debut of Miguel Cabrera at Comerica Park.

The New York Yankees open the House that Ruth Built for the last time, facing division rival the Toronto Blue Jays. Chien-Ming Wang faces Roy Halladay and the worms are in full retreat. Wang leads the majors in wins since the start of the 2006 season with 39, while Halladay ranks seventh with 32. Alex Rodriguez sits just three home runs behind Ted Williams and Willie McCovey on the all-time home run list, and a 45 home run campaign ties him with Reggie Jackson for eleventh.

Two teams likely to battle for the NL Central title open at Wrigely Field as the Milwaukee Brewers visit the Chicago Cubs. Ben Sheets hopes to play a full season, his first since 2004. His health could be a key factor in the Brewers hope for a playoff appearance. He'll face the Cubs ace Carlos Zambrano. Carlos is a slow starter, however. Over his career he's allowed his highest BA, OBA and slugging percentage in the month of April.

The Mets and the Mariners each debut their prize pitching acquisitions this afternoon. Johan Santana gets an easy assignment as he faces the Marlins in Miami. Outside of Hanely Ramirez, there's not much offense on that team. His opponent, Mark Hendrickson, brings a 5.01 career ERA into the game. Johan couldn't ask for a better way to start his Mets career.

The Mariners send Erik Bedard to the mound as they host the Texas Rangers. Bedard pitched poorly this spring, only striking out 10 in 24 innings. He led the majors in strikeouts per 9 in 2007. Kevin Millwood hasn't been able to repeat his 2005 ERA championship. Since he's moved to Texas, many more balls are falling for hits.

Joe Torre makes his Dodgers debut as Los Angeles takes on their arch rivals the San Francisco Giants. While Dodgers ace Brad Penny has been worth every cent, big money Barry Zito hasn't lived up to expectations. With a poor offense behind him this year, he might be lucky to break the 10 win mark.

Finally, it what is one of many great pitching matchups, the Astros travel to San Diego to play the Padres in the only late game of the day. Roy Oswalt takes on Jake Peavy. Going into his eighth year, Roy has never posted a losing season, and since the start of the 2001 season his .675 winning percentage is among the best in the majors. Peavy was completely healthy in 2007 and showed durability and power, posting his highest numbers in both innings and strikeouts.

Enjoy!

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The North American leg of the 2008 Major League Baseball season gets underway tonight as the Washington Nationals host the Atlanta Braves. Not only is it the second opening day of the season, but the Nationals show off their new park to a National audience on ESPN. Unfortunately, the Nationals don't offer a team to match the quality of their new facility.

Tim Hudson takes on Odalis Perez in a lopsided pitching matchup. Since joining the Braves in 2005, Hudson won 43 games, one behind John Smoltz. He does this by keeping his walks low and the ball in the park. With Smoltz unable to start the opener due to an injury, Hudson steps in as a worthy replacement.

In 2007, Hudson showed almost no platoon difference. Lefties and righties posted the same batting average against him, while lefties managed two more points of slugging percentage. He did give up a few more walks to lefties, but was extremely effective against both sides of the plate.

Perez gets the opening day nod despite posting the second highest ERA in the majors since the start of the 2006 season (minimum 250 innings), 5.87. Perez actually posts good walk and home run numbers, but strikes out so few batters that all the balls in play against him turn into a ton of hits. Couple that with a .330 BA allowed with runners in scoring position during that time, and Perez's ERA isn't a surprise.

The big positive tonight for the Nationals is the return of Nick Johnson after missing a year due to a broken femur. The Nationals need big seasons from Johnson and the young newcomers Dukes and Milledge to have a chance to compete in the NL East this season.

Enjoy!

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And so it begins.

The Red Sox travel to Tokyo to play the Oakland Athletics at their temporary home stadium, the Tokyo Dome as the two teams kick off the MLB season six days early. Daisuke Matsuzaka returns to his home country; the $100 million dollar man comes back champion of the world.

Dice-K started strong, compiling a 10-6 record with a 3.84 ERA before the All-Star break, but a 5-6, 5.19 ERA after. One thing to look for this year is if both Matsuzaka and Okajima keep their stamina up through the entire season.

Joe Blanton takes the mound for the Athletics. With the departure of Dan Haren and the injury history of Rich Harden, Joe emerged as the A's ace. His strength is avoiding the free pass. His low home run rate, however, is more a function of his home park. He's allowed a .377 slugging percentage at home versus a .433 on the road. The Red Sox as a team, however, have just two home runs in 123 at bats against Joe.

I'll be up early live blogging the game.

Enjoy!

The Colorado Rockies host the San Diego Padres in the final game of the regular season today. The Rockies won thirteen of their last fourteen games to earn a tie for the NL Wild Card, forcing a one-game playoff with the Padres. Jake Peavy faces Josh Fogg tonight, with the game starting at 7:30 EDT on TBS (which DirecTV now broadcasts in HD!).

Peavy was simply the best pitcher in the majors this season. He leads in ERA by a whopping 0.65 runs. Jake strikes out close to ten a game while walking less than three. He allowed just eleven home runs all season, better than one every eighteen innings.

And yes, Jake plays in a park that does nothing to help hitters, but if you put Jake on the road he still is first in ERA in the majors. He walks more and allows a home run rate that's a tiny bit higher, but it just doesn't matter where Jake pitched in 2007. This is his first game at Coors in 2007, but he's pitched well there in his career.

Josh Fogg pitched to his career averages this season. His strikeout, walk and home run totals were very close to what you'd expect based on the career of the pitcher. Coors was not kind to him, as he posted a 5.66 ERA there vs. 4.16 on the road.

Fogg's went up and down with the months, with high ERAs in April, June and August and low ERAs in May, July and September. In fact, Fogg getting hot in the final month contributed to the Rockies making it this far. He defeated contenders Arizona, Los Angeles and San Diego in the month, posting a 3.25 ERA. Most importantly, he allowed just one home run down the stretch, 0.33 HR per nine innings versus 1.41 the rest of the season.

And his teammates have a special name for him:

"We call him the dragon slayer," Holliday said. "He's been beating aces all year long."

He hung a loss on Brandon Webb twice and such notables as Rich Hill, Curt Schilling, Derek Lowe, Mike Mussina and Orlando Hernandez. He out-pitched Brad Penny in the stretch drive, although Penny didn't get the loss. So the final day of the season comes down to David Fogg vs. Goliath Peavy. And David had some success with the slingshot this season.

Enjoy!

The start of the four big games are nicely staggered today to draw out the drama. It starts with a battle of lefties in New York as Tom Glavine hosts Dontrelle Willis and the Marlins at 1 PM EDT. With 35 post-season starts under his belt, I don't think Tom will be feeling any pressure today. Glavine has mixed results against Florida this season. He's pitched 11 1/3 innings, allowing one walk and one home run while striking out eight. But the Marlins did a good job when they put the ball in play, knocking out eighteen hits. Willis pitched poorly this season, but he's ending strong, coming off two fine outings versus contenders New York and Chicago. Righties walloped Willis all season, hitting .321 against him overall, but in those last two starts they're just 7 for 44, a .159 BA.

Next at 1:30 PM EDT, the Phillies continue their series with the Nationals. Once again, a veteran lefty takes the hill for the contender as Jamie Moyer faces Jason Bergmann. Jason's not a bad pitcher, he just tends to allow too many home runs. Even in his good September performance, he's allowed six home runs in 31 1/3 innings. In his two starts against the Nationals, Moyer walked seven in fourteen innings. It seemed to be effective wildness, however, as he allowed just ten hits and no home runs.

At 2 PM EDT, the Padres and the Brewers get underway with Brett Tomko facing Jeff Suppan. This is the game that has me excited for a four-way tie. The Padres need to lose for that to happen, and Tomko isn't a very good pitcher. He's pitched better for the Padres than for the Dodgers, however, only walking four in 23 innings of work. Suppan is at home, where his ERA is about a run and a half better than on the road, even though his K, BB, HR and hits allowed are similar. It turns out opponents hits .252 with men in scoring position at Miller Park, .360 when Jeff is on the road.

Then at 3 PM EDT, Doug Davis and Ubaldo Jimenez see if the Rockies can complete their comeback. The Rockies and Davis produced unusual stats this season. Davis allowed 12 walks and 23 hits in 17 innings against the Rockies, but only six earned runs, nine total. That's a lot of men left on base. But despite the 3.18 ERA, Davis only managed a 1-2 record against Colorado. After a very good August, Ubaldo's strikeouts tumbled and his walks and home runs rose. I suspect the managers will go to their bullpens early in this game.

Again, for the four-way tie to occur, the Mets, Phillies and Rockies must win and San Diego must lose. A San Diego win makes the Padres the wild card and eliminates the Rockies. If the Mets and the Phillies suffer the same fate today (win or lose), they play for the NL east in Philadelphia tomorrow. If the Padres lose and the Rockies win, and the NL East is either decided or both the Mets and Phillies lose, the Padres and Rockies play for the Wild Card in Colorado tomorrow. And there is the possibility of a three-way tie among the Mets, Phillies and Padres if the Rockies lose and everything else breaks right.

Enjoy and stay tuned!

I'm surprised Fox hasn't moved the Mets game to 3:55 from 1:10. It would create a bit more excitement if the two games were head-to-head and the teams could watch the scoreboards. But the Mets play first, as Seddon faces Maine. Maine's been terrible since the start of August, although he's still striking out batters at a high rate. In that time, opponents are hitting .306 against him, but .412 when not striking out.

If the Mets lose, the Phillies can clinch the East with a win over the Nationals. Adam Eaton gets the ball against Matt Chico. The only good thing you can say about Adam's season is he's 10-9. Like Eaton, Chico's given up a lot of walks and home runs this season, but he's finishing strong in September, walking just six in 28 2/3 innings.

A win by San Diego puts them in the playoffs. Chris Young will try to do what Cole Hamels did last night and shine in his last start before the playoffs. He's 0-5 in nine starts since returning from his injury.

Finally, the Diamondbacks can clinch the division with a win tonight, as they hold the tie breaker with San Diego. If the Padres lose this afternoon, the NL West title is settled, but the wild card remains in play for the Nationals. It's not a great pitching matchup as Edgar Gonzalez faces Mark Redman. Expect the offense to dominate this game.

Enjoy!

As we go into the final weekend, unless you really care about the race for the best record in the AL, there are five series that matter. The Phillies host the Nationals with Cole Hamels facing Tim Redding. The two have identical ERA, although Tim's comes from throwing 2/3 of his innings at RFK, while Hamels is actually good. Cole's posted a 2.63 ERA against Washington this year, although he only has a 1-1 record to show for it in four starts. For the massive tie scenario, a Phillies win is the best outcome.

The Mets should be the favorites tonight as the Marlins send Byung-Hyun Kim against Oliver Perez. Kim strikes out a lot of batters, but he just gives up too many walks and home runs. Perez has pitched very well against the Marlins this year, striking out 22 in 18 2/3 innings. For the massive tie scenario, look for a Mets win.

The Cubs send their ace, Carlos Zambrano to the mound against Bronson Arroyo as Chicago tries to clinch a tie tonight. But the Reds have knocked Carlos around this year, to the tune of a 6.59 ERA over five starts. He's walked 17 and struck out just eleven in 28 2/3 innings. Of course, Cincinnati is playing without Griffey and Dunn, so I don't know how valid those numbers are for this game. Arroyo pitched well against the Cubs in four starts but hasn't won. A Cubs loss would be best for getting a tie in the Central.

The Padres send Greg Maddux to the mound against Chris Capuano. Maddux's ERA goes up a run away from PETCO, and he also looks like he's wearing down as he's posted a 6.29 ERA in September. Capuano's pitched much better at home, where is K/BB is excellent. A Padres loss is best for the massive tie and an NL Central tie.

Finally, in an early start (8:05 EDT), the Diamondbacks visit the Rockies. The two teams send out their best as Brandon Webb faces Jeff Francis. Webb pitched poorly against the Rockies this season, and the venue didn't matter. He walked batters and gave up home runs. Lefties on the Rockies hit him hard, and he got hammered with men in scoring position. Francis only saw the Rockies twice, but posted a 1.38 ERA. The Rockies want that to hold up tonight, and so does the massive tie scenario.

Enjoy!

This afternoon's matchup between Brandon Webb and Paul Maholm appears to favor the Diamondbacks. Not only is Webb the Arizona ace, but his ERA drops 0.3 runs on the road. This means, of course, that the Rockies won't see Webb this weekend. Maholm has pitched 4 2/3 innings in September and allowed 21 hits.

Update: I just looked at the boxscore, and Micah Owings is facing John Van Benschoten. Still, that favors the Diamondbacks.

Update: The Pirates broadcast said Webb was held back because of the chance of bad weather.

If Josh Beckett pitches 5 2/3 innings today without allowing an earned run, he'll move ahead of Carmona for the ERA lead. So while this isn't a huge game for the Red Sox, it could be a big game toward getting Beckett a Cy Young award.

The Phillies send youngster Kyle Kendrick against the ageless John Smoltz. John is posting his lowest ERA as a starter since 1998. Kendrick saved the Phillies rotation this year, although he is vulnerable to left-handed batters.

Pedro Martinez tries to go 4-0 tonight as he faces the Cardinals. The Mets need the bullpen saved a bit, so we'll see if Martinez can keep his pitch count low.

San Diego and Milwaukee are each fighting for their lives in their divisions, so this four game series could be a lot of fun. I suspect there will be a lot of managerial second guessing. Rookies open the series as Jack Cassel faces Yovani Gallardo. Yovani allowed just a .208 BA in Milwaukee this season. Cassel hasn't pitched much, but the league is batting .387 against him. I suspect we'll see the Padres bullpen early tonight.

And Colorado takes on the Dodgers as they try to extend their winning streak to eleven games. Franklin Morales hasn't allowed a run in his last three starts, allowing just seven hits in seventeen innings. He'll face Esteban Loaiza, who has an 8.53 ERA since joining the Dodgers. Athletics fans complained that Billy Beane got nothing for Esteban, but it looks like that's all he was worth.

I don't like the way the pitching matchups worked out for the massive tie. Both the Diamondbacks and Rockies should be favored to win, and one of them (but not both) needs to lose to keep the five-way tie intact.

Enjoy!

The schedule is filled with important games today and tonight, but the best pitching matchup goes to Minnesota at Detroit. The Tigers' playoff hopes hang by a thread as they send Jair Jurrjens against Johan Santana. Jurrjens impresses with his control, allowing just eight walks in his first 27 2/3 innings pitched. The four home runs allowed, however, have hurt him. Home runs hurt Santana too as he allowed nine more than last season, helping his ERA jump by 0.5 runs.

The other matchup to watch also pits a young veteran against a good rookie. Jake Peavy and Pat Misch face off in San Francisco. In three starts, Misch struck out 16 in 15 1/3 innings, and with Peavy leading the NL in strikeouts, fans won't need fans tonight. And it's likely to be Barry Bonds' last game as a Giant at home, if his toe allows him to play. Knowing how much San Francisco fans love him, I suspect it will be a very emotional night.

Enjoy!

Curt Schilling tries to make it six good outings in a row as the Red Sox host the Oakland Athletics tonight. Even Schilling's four runs allowed against New York was more a function of the manager leaving him in too long. Having both Beckett and Schilling strong going into the playoffs is a major boost for Boston.

The Phillies host the Braves tonight. Atlanta trails Philadelphia and San Diego by three in the wild card race, so a sweep by the Phillies and some help could bring Atlanta back into the race. Chuck James battles Jamie Moyer tonight.

Arizona's magic number is down to four as they draw the Pirates, tied for the worst record in the NL. They'll face a tough pitcher as Doug Davis takes on Ian Snell. The Pirates are reeling, however, having lost nine in a row. It hasn't been pretty as Pittsburgh has been outscored 73-32 during the streak.

Ted Lilly's wins are equal to Dontrelle Willis' losses as the promising Marlins left-hander finishes up the worst season of his career. Ted's pitched very well vs. right-handed batters, allowing a .230 BA and a .285 OBA this season.

Keep your eye on Roger Clemens tonight as he tries to pitch the Yankees into the playoffs. He's suffering from various injuries and I'll be curious to see how well he does against the Devil Rays offense. Tampa Bay on average scored a run less per game than the Yankees.

Jeff Suppan and Braden Looper take their high 4.00's ERAs into battle as Milwaukee tries to hold on in the NL Central. Prince Fielder is just two home runs away from joining his dad as 50 home run hitters. They'd be the first father-son combination to accomplish the feat.

The Angels play in Texas, where Michael Young is three hits away from his fifth straight 200 hit season. His slow start in April was the anomaly, as he picked up at least 32 hits in every other month this year.

Colorado may see their eight game winning streak come to an end as they face Brad Penny and the Dodgers. One third of Penny's nine home runs came off the Rockies bats, however. Ubaldo Jimenez is 2-0 against the Dodgers this year with a 3.65 ERA, although he's walked six and struck out four in 12 1/3 innings.

Finally, the Padres and Giants face off in San Francisco. Will Barry Bonds play tonight? There's just two home games left, and I'm sure the Bay Area fans want to see the home run king at least one more time. If he plays this evening, he'll have a chance to add Brett Tomko to the list of pitchers Barry took deep.

Enjoy!

Update: I've been informed Clemens will not pitch and Kei Igawa will take the mound. We'll see if he's learned anything in the minors.

The Blue Jays and Yankees meet this afternoon in a makeup game, and the Yankees can clinch a tie for the AL Wild Card with a win. A.J. Burnett faces Andy Pettitte in a battle of the double-Ts. Burnett's been particularly effective against left-handed batters this season, which might gives the Yankees trouble. He's only allowed New York one run in fifteen innings pitched against them in 2007. Pettitte's handled the Blue Jays fairly well this year also, posting a 2.25 ERA in three starts.

It's a good day to see baseball in New York, as the Mets take the field at Shea this evening against the Nationals. You might see some runs in this one as Matt Chico and Mike Pelfry both hold high ERAs.

The Brewers get a chance to gain on the idle Cubs as they host the Cardinals. The ptiching matchup favor the Cardinals, however, as Wainwright owns an ERA 1.6 runs lower than David Bush.

And on the west coast, the Padres open a series in San Francisco with Chris Young facing Barry Zito. Young hasn't pitched well since returning from the disabled list, but his last two outings showed improvement. Having Young and Peavy hitting on all cylinders gives the Padres a much better chance for post-season success.

As for the massive tie scenario, a Mets loss and a Padres win is probably the best outcome to produce a division/wild card tie. For just a three-way wild card tie, a Padres loss is the best outcome.

Update: I understand Burnett will not start for the Jays this afternoon.

The Nationals bid farewell to RFK Stadium today as they play at a very early start time, 12:05 PM. Cole Hamels faces Joel Hanrahan. The two squared off on August 16th, with Hamels walking away with a 4-2 victory. Still working his way back from an injury, Hamels will be on a 70 pitch count limit. The Nationals may want to take a lot early to drive him from the game. In case you're wondering, Alfonso Soriano holds the record for most home runs as a Nationals player at RFK. Zimmerman needs a big day to catch him.

A Cleveland win or a Detroit loss puts the Indians in the post season. Both games start a 1:05, so there will be some scoreboard watching going on. It's the Indians last home game of the regular season, so it's their last chance to clinch in front of the home town fans. Jake Westbrook gets the start for the Indians. He was a big part of the Indians hot streak that led to their big lead, but he's reverted a big lately.

Milwuakee can't afford to lose many more games as they send Chris Capuano against the Braves. Capuano hasn't won since May, and this is first start in over a month. Capuano was a steady performer on the mound for the Brewers the previous two seasons. His problems coupled with Sheets injury really hurt the Brewers chances of making the playoffs.

John Maine faces Florida this afternoon. He looked like a Cy Young candidate at the All-Star break, but his ERA balloon by more than a run since then. He did not allow six runs or more in a game before the break, but has done that six times since.

The Cubs task is simple right now, keep winning. They send Carlos Zambrano against Tom Gorzelanny this afternoon. Tom's pitched well against Chicago this year, holding them to two runs in fourteen innings pitched. Somehow, he managed to lose one of those games. Zambrano's shown poor control all season, and he's walked ten Pirates in nineteen innings of work. Given that the Pirates have drawn the fewest walks in the National League, that's quite an accomplishment.

The Angels get their last chance to clinch the AL West at home as they host the Mariners for the final regular season game in Anaheim. Ace John Lackey tries to nail down the division. Lackey is one of a large group of pitchers at the top of the AL ERA race. A complete game shutout would put him in the ERA lead and give him a leg up in the Cy Young race.

The Rockies rotation trots out their best today as they try to win their eighth game in a row and gain on the Padres in the NL Wild Card race. Jeff Francis faces future Hall of Famer Greg Maddux. The Padres pounded Jeff this season, however, hanging an 8.10 ERA on him in four starts. He's allowed five homers and twenty one runs in 23 1/3 innings of work. Maddux pitched well against Colorado, allowing just a 3.30 ERA, although he's lost two of his five starts. He's walked just two Rockies all season.

Finally, Chad Billingsley tries to play spoiler as he takes on the Diamondbacks and Edgar Gonzalez. Gonzalez may be the luckiest pitchers ever to by 8-2. He's not that good, and his team doesn't score very much when he's on the mound, but I guess he gets the runs at the right time. Billingsley can solidify a season in which he showed solid improvement. He's pitched 50 more innings than in 2006, but his one shy of the number of walks he issued last season.

Enjoy!

The Pirates and Cubs meet in the only afternoon game of the day as Chicago tries to solidify its lead in the NL Central. Jason Marquis goes for his thirteenth win as he caps a nice turnaround season. He's cut his home runs allowed from 35 in 2006 to 22 this year.

Fausto Carmona leads the AL in ERA, but only 0.09 runs separate first from fifth in one of the tightest races ever. A great game and an eighteenth win helps Fausto move toward a Cy Young award and helps Cleveland in the race to clinch the division and gain best record in the league. They trail LAnaheim by 1/2 game in the latter. Carmona faces Joe Blanton, whose ERA jumps two runs on the road.

Roy Halladay visits Chien-Ming Wang as the Blue Jays and Yankees battle. Halladay and Wang own identical ERAs and losses, but Wang leads in the win column 18-15. Toronto is without Vernon Wells, whom they shut down to have surgery on his shoulder.

The Brewers draw a tough assignment this evening as the Braves send Tim Hudson to the mound. Tim brought his home runs allowed back to his 2004 level, and he's having his most successful season with the Braves. Carlos Villanueva opposes Tim, and Villanueva's move to the rotation resulted in a 1.57 ERA as a starter.

The matchup doesn't favor the Phillies as Adam Eaton takes on Shawn Hill. The Phillies offense, best in the NL and second in the majors will need to find a lot of runs to support a starter again tonight.

The Mets, however, get to send Pedro Martinez against the Marlins. Pedro struck out 13 and walked one in his last eleven innings. Sounds like the Pedro of yesteryear to me.

Scott Kazmir pretty much owns the Red Sox. He's pitched five short shutouts against Boston in his career, the latest a 1-0 win over Schilling on 9/10/2007. He'll get a tough assignment again tonight as he faces Josh Beckett. The Red Sox ace's great control may make him the majors first twenty game winner tonight.

The reeling Dodgers are reduced to playing spoilers and they'll send Esteban Loaiza against Livan Hernandez in Arizona. Expect some runs in that game.

Meanwhile, the Rockies need to sweep the Padres, but they draw Jake Peavy in game one. Jake's had his problems with the Rockies over the years, even at home. Franklin Morales draws the assignment for Colorado. In his three road starts, he's posted a 1.76 ERA.

Enjoy!

There's a light schedule today, but five games in the NL impact the playoff race. This afternoon, the Dodgers and Rockies finish up their four game series, and Colorado can't afford to lose if they're going to capture the NL Wild Card, or even the division. They send Ubaldo Jimenez against Derek Lowe. Jimenez has rough first innings, so if he gets by the top of the lineup, look for him to pitch a good game.

Pitching rejects Matt Morris and Bret Tomko face off in San Diego. Morris has pitched worse for the Pirates than he did for the Giants. Tomko's walked 1 and struck out 11 in 11 innings for San Diego.

The Phillies send Kyle Lohse against the Nationals and Jason Bergmann. Jason tends to give up the long ball, but otherwise has had a pretty decent year for the Nationals. Lohse is good enough to be 2-0 in nine starts with the Phillies. They score enough runs that he doesn't lose.

The Mets travel to Florida, where the Marlins held Dontrelle Willis back a day to pitch against New York. With the way Willis pitched this season, that has to bring a smile to Willie Randolph's face. Tom Glavine takes the hill for New York. He's undefeated since the All-Star break with a 3.15 ERA.

The Brewers get a chance to "make up a win" as they face the Braves this evening. Jeff Suppan is only 3-8 on the road with a 5.44 ERA. Keep your eye on Prince Fielder as well as he's just three home runs shy of 50.

The LAnaheim Angels can clinch a tie for the AL West with a win over the Mariners tonight. It's the last chance for Seattle to show some guts, heart and determination, or more to the point, that they can hit and pitch before getting eliminated. A sweep of the Angels in Anaheim would certainly be a moral victory for the Mariners.

Enjoy!

For all intents and purposes, the Indians lock up the AL Central with a win against Detroit this afternoon.

C.C. Sabathia gets the chance to add to his Cy Young credentials as he faces Nate Robertson. With a win today, C.C. sets a new career high in Ws, 18. He's 6-2 against the Tigers and Twins this season. Sabathia is on an impressive late season run, with his ERA reflecting his superb strikeout, walk and home run rates. Nate Robertson doesn't do anything particularly well or particularly badly, he just gives up lots of hits.

The Mets pitching and defense has been porous of late, and they're not doing much to change that by sending Mike Pelfry to the mound. In his short career he's consistently walked too many batters, and given up two many hits to drive those walks around. The Nationals send out Matt Chico, who is vulnerable to the long ball, even in Washington.

Ted Lilly goes for a career high in wins as the Cubs host the Reds in the rubber game of their series. The Cubs and Brewers are tied in the NL Central in terms of games back, but the Brewers have two games in hand, so the Cubs need to keep winning. Lilly's struck out 24 Reds in 18 innings this season, but they managed eight earned runs against him. He'll face Tom Shearn. The rookie is off to a 3-0 start. He doesn't walk many, but opponents can take him deep.

Clay Buchholz makes a spot start for Boston as Terry Francona tries to give Schilling and Matsuzaka some extra rest going into the final week of the season. The last time Clay started a game, he pitched a no-hitter. Overall, batters are just four for 58 against Buchholz in his rookie year. Jesse Litsch gets the chance to be the latest pitcher to spoil Boston's AL East championship bid. Litsch is having a bad September, however, having allowed five home runs in 11 1/3 innings.

Chris Young and the Padres host Ian Snell and the Pirates tonight. Young's made only two good starts since his return from the disabled list in early August. That makes me wonder if he was rushed back. Five of his nine home runs allowed came in that time, although he strikeout rate remains good. Ian Snell can go home from the 2007 season knowing he improved in his second full year. If his run support had improved as well, he might have a winning record with his 3.92 ERA.

Enjoy!

The Dodgers play two in the rare air of Colorado today, with the Rockies playoff hopes hanging in the balance. Basically, Colorado really can't afford to lose many as they take a shot at the wild card. And they have the opportunity as over the next ten days they play seven against the Dodgers and three against the Padres. Billingsley against Francis in the opener is the best of the two matchups. The Rockies have handled Chad this season, hitting three home runs against him in 10 2/3 innings. Francis has pitched well at home this season, and it's doubles, not home runs that bother him at Coors.

Detroit needs a win, too. They'll send ace Justin Verlander against Cleveland's Jake Westbrook. Westbrook's strength is keeping the ball in the park, otherwise he's not that good. Verlander does that better, and also posts good strikeout and walk numbers. This is a pitching matchup that favors the Tigers. If they don't win this one, they have Sabathia tomorrow, and it will be tough to walk away with one win in this series.

The Reds and Cubs match up their aces as Aaron Harang takes on Carlos Zambrano. With a win, Harang ties Penny for best winning percentage in the NL. Zambrano needs to return to his July form. Coming off a bad August he's allowed a 4.91 ERA in September.

And in a big game for the Phillies, Cole Hamels returns to the starting rotation. The Phillies starters were 9-8 with a 5.52 ERA without Cole in the rotation, but the team has gone 17-13 overall.

Enjoy!

The Detroit Tigers get one last chance to make a run at the AL Central title as they travel to Cleveland 4 1/2 games behind the Indians. Even a three game sweep of Cleveland leaves the Tigers needing help from some other teams. They start the series with a matchup of wily veterans as Kenny Rogers faces Paul Byrd. Rogers makes just his ninth start in an injury plagued season. Even though his ERA is higher than in 2006, his component numbers compare favorably to that season, with his home runs up a bit. Byrd is 9-1 against division opponents this season, including 2-0 against Detroit in three starts. However, the Tigers have hit him, scoring 14 runs in 18 2/3 innings, eleven earned. The Tigers rank third lowest in walks drawn, so they're looking to put the ball in play. Byrd puts pitches in the strike zone, and the Tigers hit them.

The Yankees will be rooting for Cleveland as they try to figure out the Orioles. The Yankees might want the Indians to finish ahead of the Angels, because New York dominated Cleveland this season. But the Yankees are just 4-8 against Baltimore this season. They'll face Daniel Cabrera. He's posted a 3.79 ERA against the Yankees, despite walking 13 in 19 innings. Phil Hughes is pitching better in September, allowing three earned runs in 12 innings of work.

The Cubs and the Reds meet up in Chicago as Cincinnati tries to reach third place in the NL Central and Chicago tries to hold on to the division lead. Bronson Arroyo and Rich Hill each have nine wins, but Hill has six fewer losses. Arroyo's pitching better in September as he's only walked three in twenty innings.

Enjoy!

The Phillies go for their second consecutive sweep of the Mets this afternoon as Adam Eaton faces Oliver Perez. Eaton, with his 6.31 ERA and 9-9 record might do something historic. Since 1900, Wes Ferrell holds the record for pitcher with the highest ERA and a record of .500 or better, 6.28 in 1938 (min. 162 IP). Eaton, however, may lower that ERA a bit as he's pitched well against the Mets this season, posting a 2-0 record and a 2.89 ERA. On the other hand, Perez has been less than stellar against Philadelphia, losing both his starts, walking twelve in 8 2/3 innings.

Detroit is on a four-game winning streak as they try to catch the Yankees for the AL Wild Card. They send rookie Jair Jurrjens against the Twins and Scott Baker. Like most pitchers who come through the Twins system, Baker keeps his walks allowed low. Jurrjens baffles hitters from the left and right side of the plate. Pitching to contact, he's allowed a .169 batting average so far.

The three teams competing for the NL West title are in action at 4 PM EDT as the Dodgers try to sweep their way to a shot at an NL West title. The Dodgers pitchers have shutdown the Diamondbacks offense this season, posting a 2.93 ERA against Arizona. On the surface, it's not clear why the Dodgers have outscored the Diamondbacks by twelve runs this season. Their batting stats are close. But the Diamondbacks hit just .184 with runners in scoring position against Los Angeles, while the Dodgers managed a .221 BA in that situation.

The Padres and Giants finish up their series in San Diego with rookie Tim Lincecum going against Padres ace Jake Peavy. Peavy and Lincecum are 1-2 in the NL in strikeouts per nine if you lower the requirement to 140 innings. With three starts to go, Tim can qualify for the title if he goes deep in all three starts, or if the Giants bring him back on the last day of the season to pick up the innings he needs.

Finally, it's geezer night in Boston as Clemens faces Schilling. I hate to say this is going to be Clemens last regular appearance at Fenway, because you never know with Roger. Clemens won his last three starts at Fenway during the first retirement tour in 2003, including beating Pedro in the game three of the ALCS. Both pitchers saw a degradation of their K/9 rates, making me believe neither is going to be around much longer.

Enjoy!

The Phillies were written off earlier in the week, but they're still in the hunt for the wild card. They'll face a tough opponent today as Pedro Martinez makes his third start of the season. He's only allowed one hit with runners in scoring position this season. Kyle Lohse takes the hill for the Phillies. He hasn't pitched that much better than he did for the Reds, but he's gotten much better run support.

Josh Beckett and Chien-Ming Wang matchup in a battle of 18-6 pitchers. Only one might come out with nineteen wins. Their approaches are very different as Beckett strikes out almost twice as many as Wang, but Chien-Ming allows fewer home runs. Beckett has struck out 18 Yankees in 19 2/3 innings, but they've still managed 30 hits off him. Wang's only struck out 12 in 25 innings against the Red Sox, but he's allowed just 24 hits. The Yankees are doing a better job of getting outs on balls in play.

Johan Santana leads the AL in ERA, but he's reduced to trying to spoil Detroit's playoff hopes this evening. If it wasn't for a career high in home runs allowed, Santana might be posting another sub-3.00 ERA. Yorman Bazardo gets his first major league start. He's struck out eight and walked none in twelve innings of work this season.

Enjoy!

For do or die series start tonight, four trailing teams sitting on the edge of the division race have a chance to sweep a division leader and at least make things interesting for the last two weeks of the season. The Yankees visit Boston with Andy Pettitte facing Daisuke Matsuaka. A sweep puts New York 2 1/2 games behind the Red Sox with two weeks to play. I'll be interested to see how many righties Francona starts against Andy. He's a reverse lefty, meaning righties have more trouble with Pettitte than lefties. Dice-K's ERA ballooned since the middle of August. It makes you wonder if the longer MLB season is wearing him down, or if having seem him for a few months, hitters figured out what he's throwing. Maybe the gyroball isn't that special after all.

The Phillies and Mets present the battle of old lefties as Philadelphia attempts to repeat the sweep and close the gap with New York to 3 1/2 games. Jamie Moyer takes on Tom Glavine at Shea. Moyer is showing his age as he's allowed a 6.68 ERA since the all-star break, giving up 87 hits in 62 innings. Glavine, however, found a second wind in the second half, going 6-0 since the All-Star break and not allowing a home run in his last eight starts.

The Cubs and Cardinals start their four game series with their best pitchers on the mound as Carlos Zambrano faces Adam Wainwright. Although, you could argue the way Carlos pitched since signing his new contract, he's not the best on the team anymore. He's been walking a ton of batters lately. Despite all the turmoil in St. Louis, Wainwright put up an impressive first season as a starter. His home run rate is very good, and he's improved in the second half, especially striking out batters. He's someone Cardinals fans can get excited about for 2008.

On the west coast, the Dodgers play three against the Diamondbacks as they sit 5 1/2 games out of first. Doug Davis will try to keep Arizona winning. Although he has a 5-8 record away from home, Davis is much more effective on the road, keeping his home run total low. Brad Penny's done that where ever he pitched, allowing just five on the year and two at Dodger Stadium in 105 2/3 innings.

Enjoy!

The Rockies and Phillies find themselves tied for second in the NL Wild Card race as they finish up their four game series in the city of brotherly love. Colorado ace Jeff Francis tries to extend yesterday's shutout. His ERA is lower on the road, but due to many fewer hits allowed rather than many more home runs. J.D. Durbin takes the hill for Philadelphia. Five of the six home runs hit against Durbin this season came in Philadelphia.

The Yankees go for their eighth win in a row and a 4 1/2 game deficit as they head into Boston against the Blue Jays tonight. Ian Kennedy has baffled lefties so far, allowing five hits in twenty two at bats. A.J. Burnett continues his second half surge as he's allowed just nine earned runs in his last 42 2/3 innings, holding opponents to a .146 batting average in that time.

It's bobble belly night in Los Angeles as David Wells hosts Greg Maddux. Wells is 2-0 since joining the Dodgers, and opponents who were ripping him for a .322 BA when he was with San Diego are now just hitting .262 against him as a member of the Dodgers. Maddux is 5-1 with a 2.32 ERA since he decided walks were a bad thing.

Enjoy!

The Brewers try to maintain their lead in the NL Central as send David Bush against Tom Gorzelanny. Tom is 5-1 with a 3.27 ERA since the start of August, and he's allowed just four home runs in his last 44 innings pitched. Bush has an extreme reverse platoon difference this season, holding lefties to a .237 batting average but allowing a .330 BA to righties.

Jon Lester gets a crack at the Tampa Bay Devil Rays tonight. And while Lester's recovery from cancer provides a heart-warming story, his record is certainly out of line with his pitching ability. Lester is now 11-2 for his career over 23 starts, but with a 4.65 ERA. He's received some defensive support as he's never allowed an unearned run, and plenty of offensive support. The Red Sox score 7.12 runs per 9 innings with Jon on the mound. Lester walks a lot of batters and gives up a lot of hits. I'm glad he's doing well, but his record is more a result of his teammates than his accomplishments.

Just to show how desperate the Rockies are for a starter, Denny Bautista takes the mound tonight with a 19.06 ERA. Yes, it's only over 5 2/3 innings, but his career ERA will get you a Slurpee, 7.11. He'll face Kyle Kendrick, the rookie who saved the Phillies season. Despite a very low K per 9, Kendrick posts a 3.78 ERA. He keeps his walks low so the hits don't hurt him too much.

Enjoy!

There are only two games today in which teams vying for a playoff spot go head to head. The Rockies and Phillies play game two of their four game series, and it looks to be a slugfest. Franklin Morales and Adam Eaton both own ERAs over 6.00. Morales, in his four starts, has walked more batters than he's struck out. Eaton holds the third higest ERA in the majors since June 1, 6.67.

The best game of the day takes place in Los Angeles where the Padres and Dodgers start their final series of the season. Los Angeles trails San Deigo by 2 1/2 games in the wild card race, so they need the sweep to pass the Padres. Ace Jake Peavy goes against late pick-up Esteban Loaiza. Peavy's last start was on three days rest and went badly, but he's going tonight with five days off. Loaiza makes his second start for the Dodgers. In three games this season he's held opponents to six runs in 21 2/3 innings. He's not striking out many batters, but he's walking even fewer. Given the park, the teams and the pitchers, expect a low scoring, close game.

Enjoy!

The Cardinals and Cubs make up a postponed game at Wrigley today as Joel Pineiro faces Ted Lilly. Pineiro's represents one of the best trades of the season, as he's gone 4-2 with a 3.63 ERA for a Cardinals rotation that needed a boost. Lilly's posted a 3.60 ERA against St. Louis this season, but he lost two of his three starts by two runs or less.

Colorado trails Philadelphia by one game in the wild card race as the Rockies try to leap frog into second place in that sprint to the playoffs. Ubaldo Jimenez takes on Kyle Lohse. Ubaldo should be pretty good away from Coors as he strikes out more and allows fewer home runs, but so far he's walked too many batters, leading to a higher ERA. Lohse is 2-0 since leaving the Reds as the Phillies are able to provide him with enough run support for a pitcher with an ERA in the fours to win.

Scott Kazmir takes on Curt Schiling in Boston as Tampa Bay tries to continue to finish on an up-note this season. They are 20-17 since August 1st, and a sweep of the Red Sox means they won't lose 100 games this season. For his career, Scott owns a 2.82 ERA vs. the Red Sox and has two short shutouts against them in 2007, although he did not get a decision in either game. Schilling's only struck out 17 in 37 innings since returning from the DL, something that will lessen his chances of big money as a free agent this winter.

Enjoy!

It's incredible how bad the Mariners played over the last two weeks. Twenty games over .500, facing a stretch against the opponents to beat to gain a playoff berth, they go 1-13, 1-7 against the Angels, Yankees and Tigers. They finish that stretch up today as Felix Hernandez, the pitcher who owns that lone win, goes against Jeremy Bonderman. Despite that record, they're not out of the AL Wild Card race, but they're certainly teetering on the brink. This is their last chance to help themselves, as they face neither Detroit nor New York the rest of the way.

Pedro Martinez makes his 2007 Shea debut this afternoon. He draws Astros ace Roy Oswalt, so it should be a good one. Oswalt is six walks away from setting a new career high, one reason his ERA is up over the last two seasons.

Beckett and Wang stay on rotation as the two race to twenty wins. Both face fourth place teams today, which should help each win game number eighteen. What's impressive about both is they missed three or four starts, and still lead the AL in wins. Here's a comparison of the three 17 game winners. Sabathia out performs both.

The two teams play a three game series with a day off before they meet in Boston for the last time. We'll see if the rotations work out for a head-to-head meeting. Wang faces Zack Greinke today, who is on a bit of a roll himself. He hasn't allowed a run since returning to the rotation three starts ago, and the Royals are doing a good job of working him back, extending him by an inning each outing. He's struck out eleven and walked one in those twelve innings.

Finally, a good pitching matchup as the Dodgers play their last game in San Francisco this season. Brad Penny takes on Matt Cain. Penny's made three starts against the Giants in 2007, but has only struck out four in nineteen innings. After being the poster child for lousy support most of the season, Cain is 4-2 in his last eight starts with a 3.35 ERA. He's only allowed three homers in his last 51 innings.

Enjoy!

Boston faces Baltimore against tonight, with Daisuke Matsuzaka taking on Jon Leicester. Not a great matchup, but I'm disappointed we didn't get Jon Lester vs. Jon Leicester. On a serious note, should the Red Sox be worried about Matsuzaka? Is the longer MLB season wearing down on him? His last two starts have been poor, but on top of that he's only struck out five in his last 11 2/3 innings. Dice-K's pitching at this point won't keep the Red Sox out of the playoffs, but it could very well make a difference once the Red Sox are there.

The NL Central remains a division in which no team can take charge. The Pirates play the Cubs, and Pittsburgh is tied for last but only 9 1/2 games out of first. This is a team the Cubs should stomp on, but in this crazy division, the Pirates can't really feel they're out of the race. They have five more games with the Cubs, three with the Brewers and three with the Cardinals. The Reds play the Brewers today, and they are only 7 1/2 out. They play five more vs. Milwaukee, six more vs. the Cubs and three with the Cardinals. Both the Pirates and Reds boast good offenses, they just need to figure out who can pitch down the stretch! They'll send their best out today, as Ian Snell faced Carlos Zambrano and Aaron Harang takes on Jeff Suppan. Can one of these teams do what the Astros almost did in 2006?

Colorado tries to gain on wild card leader San Diego again as Greg Maddux faces Jeff Francis. Maddux has a 5.58 ERA in ten starts at Coors. The Padres have Francis' number, however. In three starts against San Diego, he's allowed 19 runs, all earned, in 15 1/3 innings, including five homers.

Enjoy!

Boston faces Baltimore against tonight, with Daisuke Matsuzaka taking on Jon Leicester. Not a great matchup, but I'm disappointed we didn't get Jon Lester vs. Jon Leicester. On a serious note, should the Red Sox be worried about Matsuzaka? Is the longer MLB season wearing down on him? His last two starts have been poor, but on top of that he's only struck out five in his last 11 2/3 innings. Dice-K's pitching at this point won't keep the Red Sox out of the playoffs, but it could very well make a difference once the Red Sox are there.

The NL Central remains a division in which no team can take charge. The Pirates play the Cubs, and Pittsburgh is tied for last but only 9 1/2 games out of first. This is a team the Cubs should stomp on, but in this crazy division, the Pirates can't really feel they're out of the race. They have five more games with the Cubs, three with the Brewers and three with the Cardinals. The Reds play the Brewers today, and they are only 7 1/2 out. They play five more vs. Milwaukee, six more vs. the Cubs and three with the Cardinals. Both the Pirates and Reds boast good offenses, they just need to figure out who can pitch down the stretch! They'll send their best out today, as Ian Snell faced Carlos Zambrano and Aaron Harang takes on Jeff Suppan. Can one of these teams do what the Astros almost did in 2006?

Colorado tries to gain on wild card leader San Diego again as Greg Maddux faces Jeff Francis. Maddux has a 5.58 ERA in ten starts at Coors. The Padres have Francis' number, however. In three starts against San Diego, he's allowed 19 runs, all earned, in 15 1/3 innings, including five homers.

Enjoy!

The Detroit Tigers host the Seattle Mariners as the two teams vie to stay in the AL Wild Card race. The Mariners send Miguel Batista against Justin Verlander. Batista had success against Detroit in one start this season, holding them to one run in six innings. Verlander upped his strikeouts and lowered his home runs allowed this year, but only kept his ERA in line. It turns out in 2006 he was much better than his FIP ERA, but this year he's just slightly better. He's shown real improvement that's covered by luck.

Colorado starts a series of 20 games against NL West and Wild Card contenders as they open a series against San Diego. Justin Germano opposes Elmer Dessens. Germano's walks have been high lately, as he's issued sixteen free passes in his last thirty four innings. Dessens pitched badly as a reliever this season, and even worse as a starter. The Colorado offense is going to need to hit on all cylinders tonight to win this one.

Enjoy!

There are only five games today, but each holds some playoff importance. The White Sox and Tigers play the rubber game of their series after an extra-inning win on Wednesday kept the Tigers in striking distance of the Yankees. They'll have to get by Mark Buehrle today, however, and for some reason the Tigers can't hit the most blown out team in the majors this week.

It's a good afternoon for the NL Central race as the Cardinals host Pittsburgh and the Cubs finish their series with Los Angeles. Bryan Bullington makes his first major league start this afternoon. He's demonstrated great control in the minors. Mike Maroth takes the hill for St. Louis. He's missed a month with a sore elbow, but pitched badly before that. If a team goes to a six man rotation, it helps to have six decent pitchers.

Derek Lowe and Jason Marquis face off in Chicago. A Cubs loss puts them in a tie with the Brewers for first place in the NL Central. Lowe has pitched poorly since the all-star break, allowing a 5.47 ERA in that time. He allowed eight home runs before the break, nine since in seventy seven fewer innings. Marquis has kept the ball in the park at Wrigley this season, allowing just eight home runs in 91 2/3 innings at home. Opponents hit thirteen in 73 1/3 road innings.

Tim Wakefield goes for his seventeenth win and his twenty seventh decision in twenty seven starts against Baltimore tonight. Wakefield is coming off a great August in which he posted a 2.45 ERA by not allowing a home run. Garrett Olson is today's sacrificial lamb for the Orioles. Olson strikes people out, 25 in 28 2/3 innings. But he has no control as he's walked 26.

Two and one half games separate the three division leaders in the AL, and two of them square off tonight as the Indians visit Anaheim to play the Angels. The Indians are one game behind the Angels for second place in the league. Cleveland needs to take three out of four to move into second place, meaning home field in the first round and the chance to play the wild card instead of a division winner. With the season series tied at three between the clubs, the Angels just need a split to hold second place, although taking three out of four gives them the tie breaker as well. Paul Byrd takes on Kelvim Escobar. The veteran Byrd has two shutouts in his last six starts and holds a 7-1 record since the All-Star break. Escobar has allowed five runs in two of his last three starts, but still remains a strong Cy Young candidate.

Enjoy!

There's an excellent pitching matchup in Fenway tonight as the Blue Jays send Roy Halladay against Josh Beckett. Halladay's ability to strike out batter went down over the last two season, but he's still able to get outs on contact. Beckett tries to become the first seventeen game winner in the majors. He's received tremendous run support, the Red Sox ouscoring the opposition 124-64 with Beckett in the game.

Chien-Ming Wang might have an easier path to seventeen wins, however. He's facing Horacio Ramirez who is 8-4 despite a 6.55 ERA. A win for the Yankees tonight means Seattle leaves New York in second place in the AL Wild Card race.

The Tigers are 2 1/2 games behind New York, and get to play the reeling White Sox. Chicago won just two of their last twelve games, so this is a golden opportunity for Detroit to put together a three game winning streak.

Kyle Lohse and Tim Hudson continue the Philles-Braves series tonight. Atlanta needs to win every game, especially against wild card opponents to try to stay in the race. Lohse has posted a 4.35 ERA since joining Philadelphia, but he's kept the ball in the park, allowing just three home runs. Hudson allowed just seven home runs all season.

The Dodgers send ace Brad Penny against the Cubs this evening as a win for the Dodgers means they move up in either the NL Wild Card or NL West races. Not only has Penny held opponents to just five home runs this season, four of them were solo shots. Steve Trachsel makes his 2007 Cubs debut. Right-handed batters are hitting .303 off Steve this season.

Chris Young tries to show his back is better after pitching in the Padres only loss to the Diamondbacks last week. This time the two teams meet in Arizona as Young visits Doug Davis. Davis cut down on his hits allowed since the start of July, posting a 7-2 record in that time. Young let the ERA title slip out of his hands with a 5.48 August ERA, but opponents are still hitting just .182 against the big Ivy Leaguer.

Enjoy!

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!

On this Labor Day weekend, the Mets and Braves give us a classic matchup of two of the best pitchers of their generation. Tom Glavine faces John Smoltz at Turner Field. Both own similar records, but Smoltz remains effective in terms of strikeouts, walks and home runs allowed, while Glavine requires much more support from his team to maintain his winning ways.

The Mariners are fading fast as they send Jeff Weaver against A.J. Burnett. Burnett's been a mixed bag for the Blue Jays. In his two seasons in Toronto he's pitched well, but he's only made 40 starts. Of course, given the way pitching contracts skyrocketted last winter, his salary looks pretty good right now.

The Padres try to put the final nail in the coffin of the Dodgers' post season hopes as Chad Billingsley faces Justin Germano. Billingsly is 2-0 vs. the Padres this season, however, with a 1.42 ERA. He's struck out 20 Dodgers in 12 2/3 innings. The Dodgers had no trouble with Germano the first time they faced him, hitting two home runs and scoring five runs.

Finally, after Haren and Escobar failed to solidify their Cy Young credentials yesterday, John Lackey goes for the major league lead in wins as he faces the Texas Rangers. He walked just five batters in 34 2/3 innings during August. He'll face 6-1 Kason Gabbard, 2-1 with a 3.86 ERA since joining Texas. That should make him the staff ace.

Enjoy!

Ian Kennedy makes his Yankees debut this afternoon as roster expand for the remainder of the season. The Yankees give what appears to be a fairly easy task as he faces Tampa Bay and Edwin Jackson. The Devil Rays starter, however, pitched well in August, allowing a 2.45 ERA in five starts. On top of that, the Devil Rays are on a roll, winning 8 of their last 10 games.

The race for the AL ERA title is on Fox this afternoon as Dan Haren at 2.72 faces Detroit and Kelvim Escobar at 2.77 takes on Texas. Haren started strong, but Kelvim posted a 2.01 ERA over the last two months, while Dan's ERA in that time is over 4.00.

The late game in San Diego offers what may be the best matchup of the day as Jake Peavy takes on Derek Lowe. Jake goes for his sixteenth win, which would set a new career high for the Cooler King. In 14 1/3 innings, Lowe has yet to allow a home run to the Padres.

Enjoy!

The Orioles travel to Boston, as two teams on losing streaks face each other. It's a nice chance for a probability lesson. When a team suffers a long losing streak, people tend to think that the team is due for a win. In other words, the probablility of the Orioles losing is lower that one would normally calculate, because the chance of losing ten games in a row, even for a bad team, is small. Of course, that's not true. Games are farily random events, so the probability of the Orioles losing today remains high. Tim Wakefield will try to keep his streak of getting a decision in every start intact, although with the Orioles ability to lose games late, his streak may end.

Fausto Carmona continues his bid for a Cy Young award as he faces AL Central doormat Chicago. He'll face the White Sox ace Mark Buehrle. The White Sox have scored 20 runs in their last eight games. They're batting .192 as a team in that stretch, and .119 with runners in scoring position.

The Phillies just made a big move on the Mets, and now Atlanta gets the same opportunity. They host the Mets and then the Phillies for three games, giving them a great opportunity to make waves in the NL East. John Maine face Tim Hudson in an excellent matchup today. Hudson is 2-0 against the Mets this year with a 1.93 ERA, while Maine was hammered in his only start against the Braves.

And it's a big night in the NL West as the four top teams go head-to-head. Colorado trails Arizona by six games as they open a three game series in Phoenix. The teams have split twelve games so far, with Colorado outscoring Arizona 51-45. The Dodgers visit San Diego, having outscored the Padres by the same score, 51-45. Los Angeles, however, is only 5-7 vs. San Diego.

Enjoy!

It's a New York afternoon as both the Yankees and Mets work on sweeps, one good and one bad. Curt Schilling faces Chien-Ming Wang as the Yankees go for a sweep of the Red Sox in order to keep hope alive that they can win their tenth straight division title. Schilling is showing signs of aging, as his strike out rate hasn't recovered from his injury. He struck out 11 in 23 1/3 innings in June, and since his return, 11 in 24 innings. Wang's benefited from good run support in August, going 3-1 despite a 5.46 ERA.

The Mets try not to get swept in Philadelphia. A win by the Phillies today leaves them just two games back of the NL East leading Mets. The Mets have a decent shot at this game as Orlando Hernandez faces Kyle Lohse. But El Duque is susceptible to the long ball away from Shea, and Lohse pitches very well in Philadelphia, posting a 2.72 ERA at home this season.

Who does Detroit root for tonight? The Tigers try to avoid a sweep at the hands of the Royals this afternoon, but tonight Seattle plays Cleveland. Detroit is closer to the wild card lead, but two teams are ahead of them. They only need to worry about the Indians for the AL Central lead. On the other hand, maybe Detroit should just worry about winning.

The Brewers and Cubs play the rubber game of their series tonight as both fight for the NL Central lead. Manny Parra makes his second start after pitching very well out of the bullpen. Ted Lilly takes the hill for Chicago. Ted still gives up a good amount of home runs, but he's limited his runners on base this year so most of the long balls have been solo shots.

Finally, the Padres go for a sweep and a one-game lead in the NL West. Chris Young says his back is fine, which give the Padres an edge as the Diamondbacks send Doug Davis to the mound. And for those of you wondering if Chris Young facing Chris Young will cause a rift in the space-time continuum, they've faced each other six times already, Chris Young going 0 for 6 with one strikeout against Chris Young.

Enjoy!

MLB presents us with a number of very good pitching matchups today, starting with Shawn Hill vs. Brad Penny in a noon Los Angeles start. Despite a relatively low strikeout rate, Hill's been tough to hit, allowing a .196 BA this season. Penny continues to keep the ball in the park, allowing just one home run so far in August.

Jered Weaver takes on Felix Hernandez an hour and a half later. The two youngsters have similar record and similar ERAs and face each other in a must win game for Seattle if they want to keep their hopes of winning the west alive.

Losing the first two games against Cleveland pretty much eliminated the Twins from competition, but a matchup of Johan Santana and C.C. Sabathia is always worth watching. Johan puts up better strikeout number, but Milliliter has him in walks and home runs.

Josh Beckett takes on Roger Clemens in New York as the Yankees try to keep the AL East interesting. Beckett, at age 27, is having a similar season to Clemens at age 26. Of course, Roger at age 27 was posting a sub-2.00 ERA. Now, however, the matchup favors Josh as Roger has been inconsistent this season.

The Phillies try to make it three in a row against the Mets as Oliver Perez battles fellow lefty Jamie Moyer. Moyer does a good job of trading off walks for home runs in Philadelphia.

Finally, Ben Sheets returns to the Brewers to face Carlos Zambrano. Sheets last pitched on July 14, and since that time the Brewers are 15-26, the second worst record in the majors.

Enjoy!

Of all the games scheduled today, the one that interests me the most is Arizona at San Diego. The Padres were able to defeat the Diamondbacks at their own game last night, winning a tight, low scoring game. Tonight, Arizona sends out Brandon Webb, who saw his scoreless streak stopped in his last start, but still has just allowed tallies in two of his last 49 innings. He'll face Justin Germano, who turned his ERA around for the better in August, but just has one loss to show for his four starts.

Enjoy!

I'll be handling the big division series games in separate posts, but here are the other games of interest.

The Yankees and Tigers finish up their series in an important game for both teams. A loss puts the Yankees eight games behind the Red Sox, making a sweep of Boston even more imperative. A Detroit loss means they failed to gain any ground on New York in the wild card race. Mike Mussina is coming off two poor starts, and he's looking old on the mound. He'll face Justin Verlander, pitching less than stellar himself.

And even though the Twins looked to be out of the race recently, their five game winning streak left them 5 1/2 games behind the Indians as they open a three-game series in Cleveland. Carlos Silva and Paul Byrd face off, so don't expect many walks. Byrd ranks second in the majors and Silva sixth in fewest walks per nine innings.

Enjoy!

A pair of rookies face off in Detroit as Phil Hughes faces Jair Jurrjens. In his two major league starts, Jurrjens has been tough to hit, but he's been careful to left-handed batters, issuing six walks. Hughes, too, needs to develop better control. His strikeouts and home runs allowed are already very good. If the Tigers are going to gain on the Yankees in the wild card race, they need this win. A split of the four game series doesn't help them very much.

A complete game shutout by Erik Bedard against the Twins this afternoon would bring his ERA down to 2.82. Then Dan Haren would need to give up five runs in five innings to put Bedard in the lead for AL ERA. Given the way the Devil Rays trounced the Athletics in the last two games, that's not out of the question. The most runs in the shortest time for Haren to allow if Bedard goes nine scoreless is four runs in two innings.

Of course, you need to throw into the mix Kelvim Escobar, who enters the day with a 2.85 ERA. A shutout against Toronto takes his ERA down to 2.71. You can certainly get your fill of AL Cy Young candidates this afternoon.

And on the ESPN National game, David Wells returns to New York to try to salvage the Dodgers season. He'll face John Maine, finishing up a rough August. Maine's allowed five home runs and thirteen walks this month in just 18 2/3 innings, leading to an 8.68 ERA. There's a good chance of a slugfest at Shea tonight.

Enjoy!

Eric Stults (who I loved in Killing Zoe) takes on Orlando Hernandez at Shea this afternoon. The Dodgers are in danger of falling out of both the NL West and Wild Card races. Stults has a tendency to allow home runs, and given the Mets are sixth in the NL in that category, that could be a problem. El Duque's home runs come mostly on the road. He's allowed just four of sixteen at Shea this season.

Cleveland, at this point in the season, should be walking all over Kansas City, but lost 2-1 last night despite Sabathia going up against a cobbled together pitching staff. Laffey faces Davies today, and both have ERAs over 5.00. Laffey's been pitching great at AAA. Davies has good strikeout numbers since joining Kansas City, but his walks and home runs allowed are high. The Indians need to take advantage of that today.

Enjoy!

The Yankees and Tigers kick off a four game series tonight with Roger Clemens facing off against Andrew Miller. The Tigers are in a bad position regarding the wild card, five games out and three behind the Yankees. They need to take at least three out of four in this series. A split gets them nowhere, and with Cleveland playing Kansas City, the Tigers might wind up losing ground in the division with a 2-2 outcome.

Clemens is like a box of chocolates this year. A couple of good outings are followed by a bad one, and he's due for a bad one. Miller is very tough on left-handed hitters, and the Yankees power goes way down vs. left handed pitchers, so this should be a good matchup for Detroit.

There's also the chance of a big swing in the AL East as Boston plays a double header with Chicago. That brings up the possibility of a 1 1/2 game shift in the standings either way.

The Dodgers and Padres switch locales as Los Angeles visits New York and the Padres match up with their nearest wild card rival, the Phillies. The old men battle at CBP. Greg Maddux and Jamie Moyer see who can throw the nastiest slow stuff and keep the ball in the park. At Shea, Brad Penny takes on Oliver Perez. Penny has Brandon Webb close to catching him for third place in the NL ERA race, having allowed exactly three earned runs in five of his last seven starts. Perez hasn't pitched well in August despite striking out a ton of batters. His 7.06 ERA in the month. He's allowed a .308 batting average overall and a .412 batting average when batters don't strike out. When opponents put wood on the ball, they're finding holes.

Enjoy!

Cleveland and Detroit play the rubber game of their series today. The Tigers are 1 1/2 games back in the AL Central, but two games down in the AFILC. However, if Detroit wins this afternoon, don't they make up a loss? I thought that was impossible!

Fabio Castro makes his first major league start today, replacing Cole Hamels on the Phillies roster. Cole hit the disabled list with a strained elbow, which should bring a sigh of relief from the Phillies faithful. Castro owns good minor league numbers with a high strikeout rate and a low home run rate. He does, however, walk a few too many batters. Another good strikeout pitcher, Chad Billingsley stands in opposition. At some point, I hope Castro gets to face a pitcher named Batista.

Enjoy!

The big game to watch today pits Brandon Webb and his 42 inning scoreless streak against the Milwaukee Brewers and their resurgent offense. During the five full games of the streak (accounting for 41 innings), opponents have hit just .160 against Brandon. And even when they make contact, they're not doing much as their batting average when not striking out is just .211. He'll face a team that is pounding the ball in Arizona. The Brewers picked up eighteen hits in their first two games, eleven of them going for extra bases. After a stretch of ten games in which they only exceeded four runs twice, the Brewers have scored 30 run in their last four contests. We'll see tonight if good pitching stops good hitting.

Enjoy!

Detroit and Cleveland resume their battle for the AL Central tonight with Fausto Carmona facing Jair Jurrjens. Jair pitched okay in his first major league start against Cleveland, his big mistake being a two-run homer to Gutierrez. Carmona goes for his fifteenth win of the season. He's done a great job of keeping the ball in the park this season. He's on a pace to allow 16 homers in 210 innings pitched.

The Dodgers visit the Phillies in an NL Wild Card battle. The Phillies trail the Padres by one game and the Dodgers trail the Phillies by 1 1/2. The pitching matchup seems to favor the Phillies as Brett Tomko and his 5.67 ERA visit Kyle Kendrick. Kendrick's 3.94 ERA is a result of his low walk rate, just 18 in 75 1/3 innings. That makes up for his .271 BA allowed. Tomko performs better away from Dodger Stadium this season. Both his wins came on the road and his ERA is about two runs better.

If the playoffs started today, the Padres and Mets would be first round opponents. They present one of the best pitching matchups tonight as Chris Young takes on John Maine. Young's keeping his ERA under 2.00 by keeping the ball in the park. He's allowed just four home runs this season. Maine keeps both left and right handed batters off balance, both hitting less than .230 against him.

There's also plenty of playoff potential on the west coast tonight. The Brewers try to put another dent in the Diamondbacks drive to the playoffs, the Cubs take on the Giants rookie sensation Tim Lincecum, and the Yankees match fading star Mike Mussina versus young stud Kelvim Escobar.

Enjoy!

The Cardinals try to salvage one game from their series with the Cubs as Joel Pineiro faces Ted Lilly this afternoon. Pineiro's been great since joining St. Louis, posting a 2.84 ERA in three starts, walking two and striking out ten. A good performance by Lilly today could bring his ERA below 3.69, his career best. He's at 3.74 entering the game. As in 2002, he's done a great job keeping free passes to a minimum.

Scott Kazmir seems to save his best for the Red Sox. In fourteen career starts vs. Boston, he's allowed zero runs five times (and zero earned runs six), including his last two starts. Despite a 2.37 career ERA vs. the Red Sox, he's only 5-3. He has the best ERA vs. the Red Sox since the start of the 2004 season (minimum 30 innings pitched). He'll face Tim Wakefield, who is looking for his fourth 15 win season. He has a shot at surpassing his career best 17 wins in 1998.

The Brewers try to get their team back to winning as they travel to Arizona. Yovani Gallardo posted a game score of -12 two starts ago (the worst in nine years, via Keith Woolner), and followed that up with a seven run outing vs. the Cardinals. Doug Davis, on the other hand, is 5-0 since the All-Star break with a 3.13 ERA. He's been helped by his defense, allowing a .200 opposition batting average in that time, versus .300 before the break.

And an important series opens in Anaheim tonight as the Yankees take on the Angels. If the Yankees make the playoffs as the wild card, their most likely opponent is LAnaheim. I'm sure Yankees fans would love to see New York face any other team. If the Yankees can sweep this series, however, it gives Seattle a better chance to win the division, and then New York might be able to edge out the Angels for the wild card, taking them out of the playoffs completely.

Phil Hughes faces Dustin Moseley tonight. A right-hander, Moseley keeps left-handed batters off base, holding them to a .289 OBA, about 100 points lower than against righties. That works well against a Yankees lineup full of lefties and switch hitters. Hughes has only allowed four hits on the road this year in two starts.

Enjoy!

The Yankees try to improve 9-1 against the leading AL Central teams by going for their third win in four tries against the Tigers. The Yankees are fifteen games over .500, and they can thank the AL Central division for that, as they are seventeen games over versus those five teams. It's a good pitching matchup as Jeremy Bonderman takes on Chien-Ming Wang. Bonderman gives up home runs on the road, as thirteen of the nineteen long balls hit against him came away from Detroit. Wang's been in a bit of a slump since the All-Star break. He's not allowing home runs, he's not walking batters, but he has allowed a .318 batting average. I wonder if his lack of strikeouts is finally catching up with him.

The best pitching matchup of the day looks like Orlando Hernandez versus Shawn Hill. El Duque's been extremely tough to hit this season, his 6.3 hits per nine innings second only to Chris Young of San Diego. Hill's allowed just two home runs in 56 innings. That would give him about eight over a full season.

The schedule is working out well for the Indians. While the Yankees are giving the Tigers a tough time, the back end of the Cleveland rotation allowed just two runs to the Devil Rays in two games. Now, Tampa Bay faces the Indians ace C.C. Sabathia. Milliliter is going for his 15th win, which will be the third time in his career he reached that level. He'll face James Shields, who owns a winning record on a very poor team. He's kept the opposition off base, and the Devil Rays got him enough runs for a 9-8 record.

Finally, the first place Cubs can guarantee a win in their four game series against the Cardinals with a victory in game three tonight. Carlos Zambrano shows off his $90 million arm against Kip Wells. Carlos is coming off two poor starts in which he allowed 13 runs in 12 2/3 innings. Wells is pitching well lately, allowing a 2.79 in his last six starts.

Enjoy!

Lots of old pitchers on the mound today as Steve Trachsel, Roger Clemens, Curt Schilling and Jamie Moyer all get a start in games related to pennant races. The Blue Jays remain on the edge of the AL Wild Card race, six games behind Seattle as they face Trachsel in the early afternoon game. Jesse Litsch takes on the Orioles in this battle of the birds. Litsch is another low strikeout pitcher who survives by keeping his walks even lower. His 14 GDP induced in just 61 innings shows his Wang like ability to keep the ball on the ground and reduced his overall OBA allowed.

Clemens tries to climb back to .500 against the Tigers and Chad Durbin. Only once before has Roger finished a season with a losing record, and that was in 1993. Chad's nickname might be "Hanging," since he's allowing 1.3 home runs per nine innings this season. Lefties, however, haven't hit many off him, something he'll see a lot of today with the Yankees lineup.

Curt Schilling takes on young stud Jered Weaver at Fenway this afternoon. This might actually be a low K game. Since the start of June, Weaver's only struck out 35 batters in 66 innings. That's well below his career mark of 7.0 per game. And Schilling only has five K in twelve innings since returning from the DL.

Jamie Moyer battles another lefty today as he visits Paul Maholm in Pittsburgh. Maholm uses PNC Park to his advantage, lowering his ERA about a run vs. on the road by keeping the ball in the park. Moyer faced the Pirates once this season, picking up a seven inning complete game shutout.

Enjoy!

The Angels and Red Sox play a split admission double header today, but all eyes will be on game one as Clay Buchholz makes his major league debut against John Lackey. Boston is throwing the pitcher right into the fire. To read the scouting report on him, he appears to be Clemens, Martinez and Mussina rolled into one. His minor league numbers support that optimism. Lackey will be a tough challenge as he tries to become the first 16 game winner in the majors. If Buchholz can prevent that, Beckett gets a shot in the night cap.

The Cardinals just finished dispatching the Brewers, and now they get to take on the Cubs. The matchup favors Chicago, however, as Braden Looper takes on Rich Hill. The experiment of turning Looper into a starter worked for the month of April, but since then he's posted a 6.18 ERA. Despite that, his record stands at 7-8 over that time. The Cubs have only scored 51 runs for Rich Hill while he's on the mound, helping him to a record one game below .500 despite a good ERA.

And out on the west coast, another pitcher makes his first major league start, Dan Meyer. His minor league numbers are not as impressive as Buchholz, but he'll try to make the Tim Hudson trade worthwhile for the Athletics. He'll get an easier first assignment as the A's face the Royals.

Enjoy!

A quick list today.

St. Louis at Milwaukee. A sweep of the Brewers puts the Cardinals 2 1/2 games out of first place and possibly a game behind the Cubs.

The Tigers visit the Yankees. Beating New York in a four game series would at least give the Tigers a leg up on the wild card.

Dan Haren pitches against the White Sox as Escobar and Bedard creep up on him for the AL ERA lead.

Kelvim Escobar tries to get a win for the Angels on the road in Toronto. The Blue Jays are inching their way back into the wild card race.

Colorado and San Diego play the rubber game of their series. Both starters have ERAs over 6.00, so we might see a slugfest in San Diego.

Enjoy!

Both the Yankees and Red Sox play early this afternoon, but the Yankees pitching matchup is the most intriguing.

Erik Bedard sits one strikeout short of 200 as he goes against rookie Phil Hughes. Bedard hasn't lost a game since June 15th, and in that stretch since he's 8-0 with a 2.40 ERA in eleven starts, striking out 96 in 75 innings. Hughes makes his fifth start of his major league career, with two good ones and two poor ones under his belt. He's yet to pitch well at Yankee Stadium.

The Diamondbacks haven't lost often lately, but when they do it's a blow out like last night. Doug Davis tries to turn that around today as he faces Sergio Mitre. Davis has pitched great since the All-Star break, posting a 2.40 ERA in six starts. He's walking batters but not allowing hits, making the most of his defense. Mitre deserves better than his 5-5 record, but on the mound he's allowed 60 runs in 21 starts while the Marlins scored just 55.

And the Dodgers might actually manage to score some runs tonight as Jason Jennings takes on Brad Penny. Jennings' ERA is more than twice as high as Penny's, so if the Dodgers can't support Brad tonight, they might as well kiss their season good bye.

Enjoy!

Two games today pit division contenders head-head-to-head. The Tigers and Indians are in a dead heat for the AL Central as they open up a two game series with each other. They'll play five over the next nine games, with the Tigers facing the Yankees in two four game series following each Cleveland tussle. It's a do-or-die stretch for Detroit, as the Indians take on the Devil Rays and Royals while the Tigers are battling the Yankees.

Tonight, Jeremy Bonderman visits C.C. Sabathia. Bonderman is simply having a strange year. His strikeouts, walks and home runs are all good, but his ERA remains high. He appears to allow more hits than would be expected, making me question the defense behind him despite Polanco's errorless streak. Sabathia leads the American League in innings pitched and may come close to 240 IP this season. Detroit is one of the few teams with success against C.C. this season, scoring 15 runs in 18 1/3 innings against the lefty, and five of the seventeen home runs Sabathia allowed came off Detroit bats.

In the west, Colorado visits San Diego as Jeff Francis faces Greg Maddux. A Rockies sweep of the three game series puts them ahead of current lead San Diego in the wild card race. Francis is undefeated since the All-Star break, a period in which he's walked just one man every seven innings. The slugging percentage against him drops 100 points away from Coors. Maddux hasn't won in six starts since the break despite a 3.78 ERA.

There are some other good pitching matchups tonight as Orlando Hernandez faces Ian Snell, Roy Halladay host Joe Saunders and Aaron Harang visits Carlos Zambrano. And St. Louis goes north to Milwaukee, not out of the division chase. They're 5 1/2 games out with three against Milwaukee now and three at the end of September.

Enjoy!

The Giants/Pirates doesn't sound like much of a double header, but folks in Pittsburgh might want to venture out to the ballpark this evening to catch two good young pitchers in Matt Cain and Noah Lowry. Cain is the new poster child for poor support, although he deserved his 1-3 record in July. Since then, however, he's posted a 1.35 ERA in two starts, walking two and striking out fourteen. He even managed to win one of those games! Lowry's forte is keeping the ball in the park. He's allowed just six long balls so far this season, and it's a good thing because he walks as many as he strikes out.

The Yankees have the chance to gain 1/2 game on the idle Red Sox, but they're facing a tough pitcher in Baltimore's Jeremy Guthrie. One of Mazzone's success stories, Guthrie walked 21 batters in 37 innings with Cleveland, and 34 batters in 134 innings with Baltimore. He'll face Chien-Ming Wang, who did not get out of the third inning in his last outing. The Orioles have given Wang trouble lately, tagging him with a 6.38 ERA in his last three starts against them.

The pitching matchup of the night takes place in Seattle where Johan Santana faces Felix Hernandez. One reason Santana may want to leave the Twins is that he's made seven quality start this season in which he lost or received a no decision. Felix has a tendency to give up home runs with men on base, which brings up his ERA a bit.

Enjoy!

Correction: The Red Sox are in action tonight. Sorry, I missed that.

The NL Wild Card race is tighter than ever with six team within two games of the top second spot. Wild card leader San Diego send one of their best, Jake Peavy, against Bronson Arroyo in Cincinnati. Their ERAs are 2.3 runs apart, and their records are the exact opposite as Peavy brings twelve wins and five losses against Arroyo's five wins and twelve losses. Arroyo's been hurt by support this year, however. He's made ten quality starts and nine Game Score QS that he lost or received a no decision. As he showed last time out against the Dodgers, he's perfectly capable of defeating contenders. Peavy, despite working half his games in a great pitcher's park, sports a 6-0 record and a 0.89 ERA on the road. He's allowed one run or less in eight of his nine road starts.

The Dodgers try once again to get their offense back up to speed as they face the Cardinals' Anthony Reyes. Reyes held the Padres to one run in his last outing, but ran his record to 1-11 as the Padres pitched a shutout. That probably won't happen with Mark Hendrickson on the mound for LA as he's allowed a .299 batting average with runners in scoring position.

The Rockies and Cubs break the tie between the two clubs this afternoon as Sean Marshall takes on Tim Harikkala, making his first appearance of 2007. Harikkala's been in and out of baseball for twelve years, but had his best season with Colorado in 2004. Marshall owns a good 3.38 road ERA this season, but that hasn't included Coors.

Wrapping up the NL Wild Card, the Phillies and Braves wrap up their three game series on ESPN, the victor winning second place in the NL East. Buddy Carlyle faces Jamie Moyer. Carlyle showed great control this season, walking just 17 in 75 2/3 innings. Moyer really turns on the control at home where homers are more likely to occur. His OBA allowed is 50 points lower in Philadelphia this season.

Enjoy!

The best pitching matchup of the day pits Dan Haren against Justin Verlander. Haren still leads the American League with a 2.46 ERA, although he's coming off a period in which he's allowed 19 earned runs in 43 1/3 innings, a 3.95 ERA. Verlander's been shaky since 6/29, going 2-2 but allowing an ERA of 5.44.

The Diamondbacks try to continue their drive to the playoffs vs. the Nationals as John Lannan faces Brandon Webb. Lannan did a good job against Bonds in the game before the record breaker. Webb's posted a 2.21 ERA over his last thirteen starts, although it's only good for a 7-5 record. That pulls his seasonal ERA under 3.00.

Enjoy!

Three early games games tonight offer not only good pitching but also impact three AL races, the East, Central and Wild Card. The Red Sox start us off with a visit to Baltimore as Dice-K Matsuzaka takes on Eri-K Bedard. The two rank 1-5 in the AL in strikesouts, and with the number of Red Sox fans who usually travel to Baltimore for games, I'm sure competing K signs will be out tonight. The Orioles won each of Bedard's last nine starts.

In what could be a matchup we'll be seeing for years to come, Phil Hughes takes the Yankees to Cleveland to face Fausto Carmona. Hughes is making his fourth ML start. He was hit a bit in his first and third, but his second was great. And despite an ERA over 5.00 at the moment, his strikeouts, walks and home run numbers are all good. For some reason, Carmona's pitched much better in day games, so that might work to the Yankees advantage.

Then in Detroit, Oakland comes to town with Joe Blanton opposing Jordan Tata. Tata has not produced a 'tater in his twelve innings pitched. Detroit knocked Joe around the only time they faced him this year, scoring five runs on nine hits.

The NL East also produces a good matchup as the Braves visit the Phillies and Chuck James faces Cole Hamels. James allowed twenty home runs so far, but seventeen came with the bases empty, helping keep his ERA under 4.00. Hamels has the same MO, twenty four home runs allowed, twenty with the bases empty. One difference, however, is that Hamels does a better job of keeping runners off base to begin with, while James is tougher once runners each base, especially in scoring position.

Finally, in what only can be described as the ultimate "veteran presence" game, Matt Morris returns to San Francisco to face the Giants and Russ Ortiz. I thought Russ was dead, but it was just a strained right forearm. If this game doesn't end 13-12, it's only because the two offenses are so poor they can't even hit the slow, straight stuff.

Enjoy!

Tim Hudson and John Maine match pitches at noon as the Braves and Mets play the rubber game of their series. The split allowed the Phillies to move into second place in the NL East. The Phillies go for a sweep of the Marlins later in the day.

The Dodgers' offense tries to break its 28 scoreless inning streak against Phil Dumatrait of the Reds. Phil comes into the game with a 16.20 ERA in 3 1/3 innings pitched. I'd say they have a good chance of picking up a run.

Chris Young returns from the disabled list to face the Cardinals after a tough 2-1 loss to St. Louis yesterday. Young still has enough innings to qualify for the NL ERA lead.

Enjoy!

There's only one afternoon game this Wednesday, but it's a good one as Colorado hosts Milwaukee. Rookie Yovani Gallardo faces Colorado veteran Jeff Francis. In a good example of how the problem at Coors isn't always home runs, Francis allowed eight long balls both home and away, but many more hits (especially doubles) at home. Gallardo continues to impress with superb walk, home run and strikeout numbers.

Felix Hernandez tries to even the score with Jeremy Guthrie tonight in Baltimore. Guthrie best Hernandez as both pitched six innings in an 8-3 Orioles win. The game was close until Hernandez left, but he allowed three runs, enough to pin him with the loss.

The Yankees have taken six of their last seven meeting with Toronto after losing the first three. Chien-Ming Wang faces Roy Halladay. The two pitchers rank one and nine in fewest home runs allowed per nine innings since the start of 2005, with Wang leading the majors.

Atlanta tries to pick up another game on the Mets as veterans John Smoltz and Orlando Hernandez battle. Smoltz is 2-0 in three starts against the Mets this season, although his stats are not outstanding against New York. Hernandez posts an excellent ERA at Shea, where he does a good job of keeping the ball in the park.

Enjoy!

The Braves come to New York trailing the Mets by 4 1/2 games in the NL East. Atlanta sends Buddy Carlyle against lefty Oliver Perez. Carlyle pitched well since the start of June, averaging just one walk per nine innings. Walks are a good stat for Perez also. He's already thrown more innings than in 2006 and hasn't reached his walk totals from last year. MetsBlog.com will air a preview of the series with writers for the Braves and Mets at 3:30 PM EDT.

On paper, the Jake Peavy/Anthony Reyes matchup looks like an easy win for San Diego. Not only is Peavy's ERA almost four runs lower than Reyes, Anthony's only won one game this season to go with ten losses. Jake is 2-2 against St. Louis in his career, and is making just his second regular season start at a Busch Stadium.

Finally, Joe Saunders tries to remain undefeated as he faces the Red Sox and Tim Wakefield. Despite allowing a .307 BA at home, Saunders is 2-0 there with a 3.72 ERA. No matter where he pitches, he keeps his walks low. Wakefield's received a decision in every start he made this season. The opposition hits him worse on the road, but his record is better at Fenway, likely due to run support.

Enjoy!

Sorry, the computer ate my post. So here's the quick version. There are lots of pennant contenders going head to head:

Yankees at Blue Jays. Toronto is in striking distance of the wild card, like the Yankees gaining on a collapsing Detroit and Cleveland. They need a sweep to make up for the 3 out of 4 they dropped the last time they were in New York. The Yankees have scored at least seven runs in each of their last seven games, averaging over ten runs per game.

Minnesota aims to take 3 out of four from Cleveland, despite the Indians outscoring the Twins so far in the series. Few runs and two one-run Twins wins mark this series.

Milwaukee travels to Colorado. The Brewers play poorly on the road. Colorado's offense goes way up in Coors, while their ERA only goes up a little.

Curt Schilling returns to the mound for the Red Sox. A healthy Schilling down the stretch would be a big plus to this team. Jered Weaver allowed six runs in each of his last two starts.

Enjoy!

The Mets just finished knocking the Brewers out of first place in the NL Central, and they'll try to do the same thing to the Cubs this afternoon. Orlando Hernandez face the red hot Carlos Zambrano. Orlando's 3.02 ERA is the best of his career, mostly because opponents are not hitting him well. He's allowed a .198 batting average this season. Zambrano is 9-2 in his last eleven starts with a 1.41 ERA. He's allowed just 37 hits in 76 2/3 innings.

Colorado tries to move up in the wild card standings as they face Atlanta. The Rockies are just a game behind the Braves in the bunched up six team race. Jeff Francis takes the mound against John Smoltz. Jeff Francis is the greatest pitcher in Rockies history, at least in terms of winning percentage. He's been above .500 every season in a Colorado uniform, and has the highest winning percentage among Rockies with seventy decisions. He'll have to go a long way to match Smoltz, however, who's had 15 seasons over .500.

Baseball resumes in Minnesota tonight after the bridge collapse, and the bad news for the Cleveland Indians is that yesterday's postponement means they'll face Johan Santana. Of course, Cleveland sends their own lefty ace to the mound in the person of C.C. Sabathia. The two, amazingly, only met once before, 7/15/2006. Santana won that one, giving up two runs in seven innings while C.C. took a complete game loss. Both struck out seven and walked none.

Jon Lester returns to Seattle. It was about this time last year that he was diagnosed here with cancer.

"Almost a year later, to see him back out there -- this is going be a nice trip," said Lester's father, John, a sergeant in the Pierce County Sheriff's Department. "I'm always nervous to see my son pitch, but I really don't care how he does now."

Lester has a good chance of winning the game as his opponent, Horacio Ramirez, sports a 6.52 ERA despite a 6-3 record.

Finally, the Diamondbacks visit the Dodgers for a three game series, the two teams separated by one game in the standings. Arizona leads the NL West despite being outscored by their opponents by 34 runs.

Enjoy!

There's action all day as games start at noon EDT with the Rangers and Indians and end with the Giants and Dodgers at 10:10 EDT tonight. The AL Wild Card and NL East and Central races will dominate the afternoon with the Indians, Yankees, Mets, Phillies, Brewers and Cubs all in action. But the best matchup of the afternoon is in the NL West with Yusmeiro Petit facing Jake Peavy in San Diego. Petit is a righty who lefties find tough to hit. And like Peavy, he has a great strikeout to walk ratio. Jake is coming off a rough July for him, going 1-3 with a 3.81 ERA. He gave up two home runs in the month, doubling his total for the season.

The other great matchup of the day takes place in Oakland where the Athletics open a four game series with the Angels in an effort to spoil LAnaheim's bid for a Western Division crown. Joe Saunders faces Chad Gaudin. Joe is 4-0 with a 3.16 despite a lack of strikeouts. He's allowed a .208 batting average on the road this season. While Gaudin's overall ERA is good, since the All-Star break he's been terrible, allowing eighteen walks and nineteen runs in 21 2/3 innings.

Enjoy!

There's not much in the way of pitching matchups today, but the Phillies and Cubs send out Jamie Moyer and Rich Hill. Moyer seems to be showing his age as the season wears on. He's coming off a July in which he posted a 6.75 ERA. Batters hit him at a .323 clip last month. Hill's allowed two runs or less in each of his last three starts.

The pitching matchup of the day takes place in Seattle where the Mariners host the Angels in the rubber game of their three-game series. It's a key game for both teams, since it means a two game swing in the standings. The teams have seven games left to play, so a five game lead for the Angels means the Mariners might need to take six of those last seven contests to win the west. Young stars Jered Weaver and Felix Hernandez take the mound. The Angels are giving Jered terrific run support this season, outscoring their opponents 63-45 with Weaver in the game. Hernandez has an interesting home/road split. He's given up 23 more hits at SafeCo, but six fewer home runs. That gives him a better ERA at home.

Enjoy!

The night starts off with an excellent pitching matchup as Erik Bedard and the Orioles visit the Red Sox and Josh Beckett. Bedard blowing away the rest of the American League in strikeouts and with a .213 batting average allowed is a big reason the Orioles starters are the toughest to hit in the league. Since May 4th, Bedard and his teammate Jeremy Guthrie are 1-2 in the AL in ERA. The big difference between Beckett 2007 and Beckett 2006 is his success on the road. Last season, through July 30th, Josh allowed 23 home runs away from Fenway. This year just three.

It's a battle of veterans, a battle of first place teams, and a possible career milestone as the Mets travel to Milwaukee to face the Brewers. Tom Glavine goes for win 300 against Jeff Suppan. No one who came to the majors between 1969 and 1983 won 300 games, but if and when Glavine gets to 300, we'll have players from 1984, 1986 and 1987 on the list. Glavine, like Clemens and Maddux spent most of his career with very good teams. It's easier to win 300 when a pitcher has plenty of support from both his offense and defense. Milwaukee's lost 8 of their last 11 games, while the Mets just managed a split with Washington and lost three of five.

Dan Haren host Justin Verlander in Oakland tonight in a battle of good young pitchers. If Haren is still on the Athletics at the end of the day, that is. I doubt Beane would trade Danny, but he would certainly fetch a high price.

The Mariners try to move up another game on the Angels tonight, but the pitching matchup seems to favor LAnaheim. Jon Lackey takes on ex-Angel Jeff Weaver. (The Weavers aligned for awhile, and I hoped we'd see them go head-to-head at some point.) Lackey is tied with Johan Santana for the most road wins in the AL. Both are 7-3. Weaver is 0-3 in July, although he's had just one bad start in a month where his ERA is 3.51.

The Padres trail the Diamondbacks and Dodgers by 1/2 game in the NL West as they face Arizona and Brandon Webb tonight. Justin Germano takes the hill for the Padres. His lack of strikeouts caught up with him in July, as opponents pounded out 35 hits in 27 1/3 innings, including five home runs. Webb's allowed a .248 BA over all, but just .229 with runners in scoring position.

And finally, we have the two home run milestones in waiting. Alex Rodriguez returns to the Bronx to face Jose Contreras, looking to become the youngest player to hit 500 home runs. Contreras gives up a lot of runs, but his twelve homers allowed isn't bad. Bonds might have a tougher time as he faces Brad Penny and the Dodgers. Penny's allowed just four home runs all season. It should also be noted that the Dodgers were the team in that gave up Aaron's record breaking 715th home run back in 1974.

Word is Barry may rest tonight. Most interesting is that Vin Scully is scheduled to call the the games:

Calling the game at Dodger Stadium will be announcer Vin Scully. On April 8, 1974, Scully made the call when Aaron broke Babe Ruth's record of 714 home runs. Scully is on record not wanting to call the shot with which Bonds surpasses Aaron.

Here's the quote (second hand since the original article is no longer online):

"I would just as soon it not happen against the Dodgers," Scully said. "With Aaron, it was a privilege to be there when he did it. It was just a great moment. With Bonds, no matter what happens now, it will be an awkward moment. That's the best word I can think of now. If I had my druthers, I would rather have that awkward moment happen to somebody else."

Then again, Vin is one announcer who is bound to handle the awkward moment well.

Enjoy!

There's a nice matchup of lefties in Chicago tonight as two eleven game winners face off at Wrigley. Cole Hamels takes the mound for Philadelphia against Ted Lilly. Hamels is having his best month of the season, posting a 2.67 ERA in four starts. He's only walked four in 27 innings. Lilly's done a good job cutting down on his home runs allowed this season. Through 2006 he allowed 1.38 per nine. In 2007, it's down to 0.95. This game has important wild card considerations as well. The Phillies are just 1/2 game behind the Cubs and 1 1/2 games behind the leading Diamondbacks.

Trailing the Angels by four games in the AL West, Seattle host LAnaheim in a three game series. It's Kelvim Escobar vs. Miguel Batista in game one. Batista is pretty much given the Mariners what they expected as his ERA is just .02 runs above his career numbers. Escobar is 5-1 on the road despite an ERA that's double his mark at home. The Angels have scored 41 runs in his eight road starts, more than enough for Kelvim's 4.22 away ERA.

Enjoy!

The Twins and Indians play the rubber game of their three-game series this afternoon. It's a good pitching matchup as Matt Garza faces C.C. Sabathia. Garza's posted a 1.33 ERA so far, but lefties have hit him well, collecting 12 hits in 36 at bats. Sabathia tries to become the majors first fourteen game winner. Sabathia's control this season is the best of his career, averaging less than a walk per start.

While C.C. goes for win 14, so does Carlos Zambrano. Carlos is on a roll, going 8-2 in his last 10 starts with a 1.56 ERA. Even in his two losses he pitched extremely well, one being a complete game, 1-0 loss to San Diego. His opponent is Matt Belisle, who's allowed a .304 batting average this year. The odds favor Carlos and the Cubs today.

St. Louis tries to make it three out of four vs. the division leading Brewers today in an effort to climb back into the NL Central race. They'll face Yovani Gallardo, the fifth youngest player to appear in the majors this season. Gallardo's great strength is keeping the ball in the park, as he's only allowed one home run in 41 1/3 innings this season. The Cardinals send out Kip Wells, who leads the league in losses with 13. It's said you have to be pretty good to lose 20 games, but Wells is making an argument against that. His 5.57 ERA would be good for a lot of losses on most teams.

And of course, the Bonds watch is on. I don't know if he'll play today, as he often rest on a day game after a night game, but the team does have Monday off before heading to Los Angeles. I'm guessing Bonds will take advantage of the opportunity to tie the record at home.

Enjoy!

Even though it's the last game of the day, the Marlins at the Giants is likely to gather the most attention. Barry Bonds faces Dontrelle Willis in that game, and Barry is one for three with four walks versus the big lefty in his career. And while Dontrelle is allowing home runs at the highest rate of his career, he hasn't given one up to a lefty this season. ESPN should be cutting into the game.

If you're into a matchup between classic pitchers, Greg Maddux faces Roy Oswalt in Houston. For good, young pitchers, check out Andrew Miller vs. Joe Saunders in Anaheim.

I'll be home from vacation later this afternoon. Full time blogging resumes then.

Enjoy!

The Minnesota Twins trail the Cleveland Indians by 7 1/2 games, and the two teams open a three games series tonight. They'll also play seven games over the next eleven days, giving Minnesota a chance to climb back into the wild card race. Boof Bonser and Paul Byrd get the series going. Boof's big weakness is lefty batters. They're hitting .306 against the righty. Byrd is 5-2 at home despite a 5.67 ERA in Cleveland.

The Tigers play the Angels in a possible post-season preview. Nate Robertson takes the hill for the Tigers against Jered Weaver. Robertson got off to a good start, posting a 2.43 ERA in April, but since his ERA is 5.81, with low strikeouts and high walks. Weaver's weakness comes with runners in scoring position, where he's allowed a .293 BA this season, compared to a .261 average overall.

Enjoy!

The Mets go for a sweep of the Pirates early this afternoon as Oliver Perez hosts Paul Maholm. The win would give Perez ten on the season, matching his total for the previous two seasons.

Atlanta and San Francisco play a late afternoon game matching pitchers with 5-2 records. Buddy Carlyle takes on rookie Tim Lincecum. Tim is coming off his best start of the year and has allowed no runs in three of his last five starts. Buddy never faced Barry before.

Out west, Brad Penny goes for his thirteenth win against the Rockies, and Dan Haren tries for a dozen wins as he faces the Mariners. The Rockies are just 4 1/2 games behind the Dodgers as the two teams open a four game series. It's a great chance for Colorado to move up in the standings. The Mariners are on a six game losing streak, so Haren is getting them at a perfect time to extend his ERA lead. Seattle has scored just 17 runs in the last six games.

Enjoy!

The Oakland Athletics go for a sweep of the LAnaheim Angels this afternoon as Joe Blanton takes on Angels ace John Lackey. Blanton's having a rough July. Batters are putting lots of balls in play against Joe, resulting in 36 hits in 28 1/3 innings. In two starts against the Athletics this year, Lackey struck out ten and walked just two in fourteen innings.

Fausto Carmona tries to tie Josh Beckett with thirteen wins and four losses as the two go head-to-head in Cleveland. The two are separated in ERA by just 0.11 runs.

Enjoy!

Daisuke Matsuzaka faces C.C. Sabathia as the Red Sox try to make it two in a row over the Indians and five in a row overall. Milliliter is in a bit of a slump, having allowed sixteen runs and thirty hits in this last seventeen innings. Matsuzaka's not much better, allowing thirteen runs in his last sixteen innings while walking twelve.

Ian Snell and John Main meet in New York as the Pirates visit the Mets. Snell is just 1-4 on the road as nine of the fourteen home runs against have come away from Pittsburgh. After the Mets won Maine's first seven starts, they're 4-7 in his games since.

NL ERA leader Chris Young allowed no runs in six of his last night starts. That might not be so easy in Colorado, where the Rockies came back against the San Diego bullpen to take a 7-5 victory last night. Young, however, has had great success there in this three starts, going 3-0 with a 1.89 ERA.

Enjoy!

Jon Lester starts for the Red Sox today after battling cancer last year.

Lester pitched fairly well in his stint at Pawtucket. His walks were a little high, but he kept the long balls low as witnessed by his .343 slugging percentage allowed (The stats at the link appear not to include his last start). And he was effective against right-handed batters.

The Red Sox are throwing him right into the fire, however, as he'll face the Cleveland Indians. The Tribe ranks third in the American League in runs per game. Plus, they hit left handers well, with both a higher OBA and slugging percentage than against right-handed pitchers.

However, the Red Sox offense ranks right behind Cleveland's, and they'll be facing the hittable Jake Westbrook. Overall the league is hitting a healthy .288 against Westbrook, while lefties are slugging .486 against him. Lester is likely to get plenty of run support tonight.

It's an important game for both teams. The Indians are one game behind Detroit for the division lead and just 2 1/2 games ahead of Seattle for the Wild Card. They are also one behind the Red Sox which would be important in defining home field advantage in the playoffs. Cleveland is 34-15 at home. Boston is now behind Detroit for best record in the AL, so winning here not only holds off the Yankees but gives them a better shot at home field advantage as well.

Two teams on the edge of contention face off in Toronto as Johan Santana takes on Shaun Marcum. The Twins are seven back in the wild card race, the Blue Jays ten. Marcum sports a 3.24 ERA as a starter this season, his big flaw the long ball. Part of that is the Rogers Center, as eleven of his sixteen home runs allowed came at home. The big difference between Santana this year and his five previous dominant seasons is right-handed power. Righties are slugging .392 against Johan in 2007; they slugged just .336 against him from 2002-2006.

Roger Clemens faces a team he dominates as the Yankees travel to Kansas City to face the Royals. He's 24-7 against them in his career with a 2.17 ERA. He'll face Odalis Perez, who's allowing a .337 BA at home.

Finally, Barry Bonds returns to San Francisco two shy tying Henry Aarons' career home run record. He'll face a tough opponent as John Smoltz takes the hill against Matt Cain. Bonds, however, hit Smoltz very well over the years. His OBA is .464 against John, and his slugging percentage .734. He's homered eight times in eight squared at bats vs. Smoltz, walking 20 times and striking out just 14.

Enjoy!

There two good pitching matchups today between good, young pitchers. In Minnesota, Joe Saunders takes on Matt Garza. Joe was languishing in the minors while Colon and Santana struggled. In fifteen innings so far, Garza's allowed just one unearned run. Opponents are just 1 for 22 against him with runners on base.

In Chicago, Yusmeiro Petit faces Sean Marshall. Petit has one huge flaw, giving up home runs, but so far all five were solo shots. Marshall is doing a much better job this year of keeping his walks down.

Enjoy!

The NL Central takes center stage early today as the Cubs host the Diamondbacks early this afternoon with the Giants and Brewers following on Fox. The Cubs have cut the Brewers lead to 2 1/2 games and send Rich HIll against Mich Owings at 12:05 PMCDT. Hill doesn't give up many hits, but he does give up over a home run per start. Right handers especially take him deep as they homer every 19.7 at bats against Hill. Owings' has had an especially tough time on the road. He's posting a 7.46 ERA away from Arizona mostly due to the .507 slugging percentage he allows in those ballparks.

At 2:55 PM CDT, the Giants send rookie Tim Lincecum against the Brewers' David Bush. Both have winning records but unimpressive ERAs. Lincecum's strikeout totals are impressive, but his control remains erratic. He was roughed up in his first start at Miller Park, but since then he's posted a 1.37 ERA in four starts. Bush hasn't one of the strangest platoon differentials I've seen. David throws from the right side, but lefties are hitting just .219 against Bush with a .307 slugging percentage, while righties are hitting him at a .325 clip with a .540 slugging percentage. Maybe switch hitters should switch against him.

In the American League, the AL West race has closed to one game. The Mariners trail the Angels by one game and get a chance to put pressure on early as they play the Blue Jays at 1:07 PM EDT. This could be a slugfest as Jeff Weaver face Josh Towers. You could call this the game of disappointing contracts as Vernon Wells is hitting way below his career norms after signing a huge deal over the winter, and Adrian Beltre is in the third year of not living up to his 2004 season, although he is having his best year average wise for the Mariners.

Later that evening, the younger Weaver, Jered, takes on the Twins and Boof Bonser. It Jered a while to return to form after his injury, but in his last six starts he's posting a 2.10 ERA. Poor run and bullpen support, however, means his record is just 2-2 over that time. Boof's ERA might be even higher than his 4.68 mark except he's been very good with runners in scoring position, allowing just a .208 BA.

Enjoy!

The Yankees go for a sweep of the Blue Jays this afternoon as Chien-Ming Wang takes on Dustin McGowan. Dustin match up well against the Yankees as left-handed batters slug .487 against the righty. In his third season, Wang is off to an impressive start for his career. He owns a .712 winning percentage and has allowed a .316 OBA and a .371 slugging percentage. His .365 opposition slugging this season is the lowest of his career.

The Sox will win today as Chicago comes to Boston. Javier Vazquez battles Daisuke Matsuzaka in the battle of the great Scrabble names. Vazquez year seems pretty typical for him, but his ERA is lower to a .204 batting average allowed with runners in scoring position. Dice-K is coming off two rough starts in which he allowed 19 hits and 10 runs in 11 innings pitched.

The best pitching matchup of the day takes place in San Diego where Cole Hamels faces Chris Young. Hamels comes into the game third in strikeouts and second in wins, but could finish the day first in both. Young, however, leads the NL in ERA with a 1.97 mark. The main difference between the two is the hits allowed. Batters are hitting just .192 against Young, .258 against Hamels.

Finally, in LA, Glavine goes for career win 299 vs. Derek Lowe in a matchup of first place teams. Tom is just 9-9 at Dodger Stadium in his career, with a 4.09 ERA. He's won his last three starts at the park, however.

Enjoy!

The Reds go for a sweep of the Braves today as ace Aaron Harang takes the mound against returning ace John Smoltz.

Carlos Zambrano got off to a slow start this season, but since 6/6, he's 6-2 with a 1.55 ERA. A win today gives him the NL lead with 12. He'll face Matt Cain, probably the best 3-10 pitcher you'll ever see.

Once again, the three latest games offer fine pitching matchups. Andrew faces Johan Santana as the Twins try to keep from falling out of the AL Central race.

Erik Bedard takes on Jarrod Washburn in Seattle. Bedard comes into the contest with 16 straight scoreless innings.

And the Mets ace, John Main faces one of the all-time greats in San Diego, Greg Maddux.

Enjoy!

The Twins dispatched a wild card rival over the weekend, and now they go after the division leader as the Tigers come to town. One thing in the Tigers favor is Detroit's offensive strength is the Twins pitching weakness. The Tigers hitters are second in the league in home runs hit, and the Twins pitchers are second in the AL in most home runs allowed. The Tigers send Nate Robertson to the mound, and he's a pitcher who can be hit. He brings a .300 BA allowed with a .360 OBA into the game. For the Twins, Matt Garza makes his second start of the season for the Twins. So far, in two relief innings against the White Sox and six innings starting against the Yankees, he's yet to allow a run. A sweep of the three game series would pull the Twins to three games behind the Tigers.

Jeremy Guthrie found a home in Baltimore, and he'll take his 3.07 ERA against the Mariners and Felix Hernandez. After a great June, his ERA is on the rise as he's allowed 12 earned runs in his last 17 2/3 innings. He's only allowed 18 hits, but five of them were home runs. Hernandez's last start was bend but don't break effort as he allowed ten hits but just two runs as the Tigers were just 2 for 11 with men in scoring position against King Felix.

The Mets and Padres battle again tonight, and it won't be easy for New York to get their offense going as they face Jake Peavy. About the best you can hope for against Jake is to get his pitch count high so he starts issuing walks. He's issued sixteen walks in his first 75 pitches, seventeen after that. Orlando Hernandez will try to out pitch Peavy. The Padres don't run much as a team, but with Hernandez giving up thirteen stolen bases in fifteen attempts, it might be a good night to try.

Enjoy!

The Blue Jays and Yankees, hanging on at the edge of the pennant race, meet today for the start of a four game series. Each team really needs to take at least three out of four, not only to improve their standings against the other but to keep pace with the Red Sox who go into Kansas City for a three-game series. Tonight's game may end up a high scoring one as Josh Towers faces Kei Igawa. Towers problem is lots of hits. He's only issued eleven walks in 71 innings, but he's given up 81 hits. On top of that, nine of the twelve home runs he's allowed came with men on base. The Kei to getting to Igawa is the two-strike pitch. Opponents are batting an amazing .309 (34/110) against Igawa with two strikes in the count. He's not putting batters away.

The Diamondbacks and Brewers offer a possible playoff preview as the meet in Milwaukee. Micah Owings takes the hill for Arizona, and he's getting pounded by left-handed hitters in 2007. The Brewers can put five lefties in the lineup against a pitcher who allowed a .547 slugging percentage to that side this year. Bush is doing everything right with strikeouts, walks and home runs allowed, but the opposition is still hitting him well and running up his ERA. He's another pitcher who doesn't handle the two-strike situation well, allowing a .247 batting average in that situation.

The other possible playoff preview pits the Padres against the Mets in San Diego. Jorge Sosa comes off the disabled list to face suspension appealing David Wells. All six of Sosa's home runs allowed this season were solo shots. Wells is getting hit this season and we may finally be seeing his swan song. He's allowing a .309 BA, a .349 OBA and a .468 slugging percentage. He's given up 115 hits, and 40 of those went for extra bases.

Enjoy!

It's all Weavers for the AL West coast games today as Jeff challenges his original team and Jered faces the improving Rangers. Jeff pulls the tougher challenge as the Tigers send Justin Verlander to the mound. Verlander's ERA is a run lower on the road than at home, based mostly on a .318 road slugging percentage allowed. Since returning from the DL, however, Jeff Weaver is 2-0 with a 1.67 ERA in six starts, and even recorded a complete game shutout. He's 1-3 against his former team in four starts.

Farther south in Anaheim, Jered Weaver hosts Brian McCarthy and the Texas Rangers. McCarthy got off to a rough start, allowing 22 earned runs in April, but only 16 since. Jered isn't showing the same control as 2006. Last year he walked 33 batters in 123 innings. So far, he's walked 30 in 76.

The Diamondbacks go for a sweep of the Padres as they send Brandon Webb against Justin Germano. Justin hasn't won in his last four starts, a period in which he's allowed four home runs in 22 2/3 innings. He's only given up seven on the season. Webb's control is the reason he's not having another Cy Young type season. In 2006 he walked 1.9 batters per nine innings. This season, that's up to 3.2 per 9.

Finally, the Phillies go for their fourth win in a row as they try to hold off losing their 10,000th game. If they lose tonight, the whole country gets to see it in HD as ESPN carries the game against the Cardinals. So far, avoiding the milestone inspired the team to play better as they've outscored their opponents 31-11 in the three games.

Enjoy!

Cole Hamels tries to tie Carlos Zambrano for the league lead in wins and pass Jake Peavy for the league lead in strikeouts as the Cardinals face the Phillies this afternoon. A win by Hamels will also stave off Philadelphia's 10,000th loss. Despite the hitter friendly dimensions of CBP, Hamels has allowed a lower batting average and slugging percentage there, mostly because he allows fewer doubles. Mike Maroth takes the hill for the Cardinals. They're polar opposites in walks and strikeouts. Hamels has struck out four times as many batters as he's walked, Maroth walked four more batters than he struck out.

The Dodgers try to drop the Giants 11 1/2 games out of first place as they send Derek Lowe against Matt Morris. Brad Penny was supposed start but a blister will keep him out of action until Monday. Lowe is only 8-8 despite a 3.12 ERA. Poor run support and poor luck landed him in that spot. He's lost games this year by scores of 1-0, 2-0, and 3-0. Morris continues to be tough with men in scoring position, allowing just a .219 batting average this season in that situation.

The Texas Rangers are pitching much better as of late, but the offense hasn't helped. Texas sports a 2.91 ERA in July, but a 5-4 record. They are only scoring just 2.9 runs per game. And they'll face another tough pitcher tonight as Kameron Loe faces Kelvim Escobar. Lowe is part of the Rangers mound resurgence as he's posted a 1.60 ERA in his last five starts. Escobar has pitched well all season as he goes for his eleventh win. His 0.47 HR per 9 is second in the AL to Chad Gaudin.

Enjoy!

A nice matchup of left-handers in Baltimore tonight as Mark Buehrle pitches for the first time under his new contract, facing Erik Bedard. Buehrle does a great job of keeping the running game in check. The opposition only managed two steals in five attempts against Mark this year. No one has attempted a steal against Buehrle on the road. Bedard is coming off the best game of his career, a two-hit, fifteen K game. In four of his last five starts, he's allowed two runs or less.

The Reds and Mets match aces tonight as John Maine hosts Aaron Harang. The Mets Maine man has pitched at least seven innings in his last four starts, allowing two runs or less each time. Aaron's cut down on his extra-hits allowed this season. His slugging percentage allowed (.370)is about sixty points lower than his career mark (.432).

Pittsburgh is the only National League team with a 7-3 record over their last ten games, and they try to keep the hot streak going with Ian Snell facing Tim Hudson. Snell is doing a great job against left-handed batters this season, holding them to a .312 OBA and a .358 slugging percentage. Hudson is even better vs. lefties at .309/.335.

Lenny DiNardo's ERA is 2.72, 0.03 lower than his opponent tonight, Johan Santana. But with a 2-3 record, Dinardo suffers from both poor run support and poor defense. One third of the runs scored against him are unearned. For the sixth year in a row, Santana struck out more batters than he pitched innings. That's one batter an inning the defense doesn't worry about.

Detroit and Seattle continue their series with Jeremy Bonderman taking on Jarrod Washburn. Bonderman made two quality starts at Safeco, although his record there is just 1-1 with a 2.30 ERA. Washburn lost his last five starts to the Tigers.

Enjoy!

There's only six games on the schedule today. Toronto tries to climb back into the AL East race as they open a four-game series in Boston. It's an important stretch for the Blue Jays as they follow the Red Sox series with ten games against wild card rivals New York, Seattle and Minnesota. Toronto sends ace Roy Halliday against Tim Wakefield. Roy's been getting great run support lately, as the Jays won two games in which Roy allowed five runs. Tim hasn't pitched well at Fenway this season, posting a 5.01 ERA there vs. 3.88 on the road. He's simply giving up more hits.

The best matchup of the day takes place on the west coast as Felix Hernandez hosts the Tigers and Andrew Miller. I'm not sure that Miller's ERA is for real. His walk and strikeout numbers aren't impressive, but he doesn't allow many hits. Look for his luck to change. In three of Hernandez's last four starts, he went eight innings, allowing two runs or less. On top of that, the two teams are both trying to top Cleveland for a playoff berth!

Enjoy!

There's not a lot of great matchups today as teams head into the All-Star break, so let's look at the best pitchers going today. Daisuke Matsuzaka has been living up to expectations since the start of June. Dice-K stuck out 51 in his last 42 innings, allowing just six runs on twenty six hits. He's taking on the Tigers, the best offense in baseball.

Yusmeiro Petit faces the Reds ace Aaron Harang in Cincinnati. The contenders for the NL West title lost the first two games of the series to the last place Reds. Petit has walked just two in his 12 1/3 innings of work. Harang is having his best year at keeping the ball in the park since joining the Reds.

Enjoy!

Cleveland and Toronto get the day started with Fausto Carmona facing Shaun Marcum. Although becoming a master of the no decision, Marcum is 3-0 with a 2.02 ERA in ten starts. He's cut his home runs per nine innings in half since moving out of the bullpen. Fausto suffered through a rough June, posting a 5.82 ERA, although it looked more like his defense than his pitching. He struck out eight in six innings in his first July start, however.

John Lackey goes for his twelfth win as he takes on the Yankees and Roger Clemens. This will be Lackey's seventh start in the Bronx, and he's alternated wins and losses for a 3-3 record there. He's due for a loss. Roger Clemens only struck out four batters in his last fourteen innings. Although he pitched a great game in his last start, a big falloff in his career K per 9 rate could spell the end of Roger's comeback attempts.

It's good, young pitcher's day in Oakland as Felix Hernandez faces Rich Harden. Each dominated the other team in the first series of the season, before injuries interrupted their progress. Felix posted two outstanding outings in his last three starts, while Harden hasn't allowed a hit in three bullpen appearances since returning from the DL. He makes his first start since April 15.

Out in Los Angeles, the worms are running for cover as Derek Lowe hosts Sergio Mitre and the Marlins. The NL average for ground balls is 43%. Mitre tips the scales at 51%, and Derek Lowe blows away the average at 67%.

Enjoy!

There's a possible playoff matchup in Detroit tonight as the Red Sox visit the Tigers for the last series before the All-Star break. Julian Tavarez faces Andrew Miller. Tavarez holds a 4.39 ERA, which is terrific for a fifth starter. For example, both Barry Zito and Dontrelle Wills have higher ERAs this season. Righties hit Miller very well, and the fact that he walks a lot of batters should play to a Red Sox strength.

I guess the opposite of Boston at Detroit would be Tampa Bay at Kansas City.

Jeff Weaver visits Oakland and Dan Haren later tonight. Weaver has pitched like Haren since returning from the DL, allowing six earned runs in 32 2/3 innings, walking just six and allowing one home run. Opponents are slugging just .307 vs. Dan in Oakland. That's the third best home slugging in the AL and the sixth best in the majors!

Enjoy!

The day starts off at 12:30 with two good pitching matchups leading the way. The Pittsburgh send all-star hopeful Tom Gorzelanny against Milwaukee's Ben Sheets as the Pirates try to play spoiler in the NL Central. If Pittsburgh can take three out of four from the Brewers, they'll reduce their deficit to under ten games. Sheets is having an amazing year against left-handed batters, as they are batting 100 points lower than righties against him (and that carries through to OBA and Slugging percentage). I'd guess it's one of the most extreme splits for right-handed pitcher I've ever seen. Gorzelanny has only allowed eight home runs in 112 innings, and six of those were solo shots.

Cleveland and Detroit play the rubber game of their series with C.C. Sabathia taking on Justin Verlander. The two sport nearly indentical ERAs with Verlander two points better at 3.18. June was his best month, posting a 2.65 ERA and a 4-1 record. Sabathia is in the sweet spot where he's not only pitching extremely well, but his club has scored more than twice as many run as he's allowed when on the mound.

Chris Young took over the NL ERA lead by fractions of a run. His teammate Jake Peavy and rival Brad Penny each try to take back the lead today. Six innings of no earned runs by Peavy against the Marlins takes him under 2.00. He's already pitched six games like that this season, once against the Marlins. Penny needs any amount of shutout innings, or just one earned run with five innings pitched or more. He's facing Tim Hudson of the Braves who's posting a 2.25 ERA and 4-1 record away from home. This is a game Penny could pitch well and still lose.

Enjoy!

There's lots of early action today as games start as early as noon today. The Cubs try to put more pressure on the Brewers as they kick off the first game of the day against the Nationals. Rich Hill takes the mound against Matt Chico. Hill posts a 2.91 ERA on the road, and struck out 60 in 58 2/3 away innings. Chcio owns an odd home/road split. His ERA is a run higher at home, but he's 0-4 on the road.

Johan Santana invades Yankee Stadium to face Mike Mussina. This is only Johan's fourth regular season appearance in the Bronx, and the first three went very well. He's given up one run in sixteen innings while walking three and striking out eighteen. Mussina is 0-2 in four day time starts this season with a 5.82 ERA. The ball seems to fly out of the park on Mike with the sun out.

Garrett Olson makes his major league debut as he'll start for the Orioles vs. Jose Contreras and the White Sox. Olson's had a fine minor league career, reaching AAA for the first time this season. His fine strikeout and walk numbered continued, but he's allowed a few more home runs. Contreras is having his best year in terms of home runs allowed, but his worst in terms of overall hits allowed. So while his slugging percentage is down from his career avereage, his OBA allowed is up.

The biggest matchup of the day takes place in San Diego where 6' 7" Josh Johnson takes on 6' 10" Chris Young. Johnson hasn't pitched well since returning to the rotation, allowing 22 hits and 12 walks in just 10 2/3 innings. Meanwhile, Young just mows down batters, allowing a .197 BA overall and a .164 BA at PETCO.

Enjoy!

The Devil Rays and Red Sox play for the first time this season, and it's a good matchup as Scott Kazmir faces Daisuke Matsuzaka. Dice-K goes for his tenth win of the season. With the Sox right at the halfway point, it's still possible for the rookie to win twenty games this season. He's coming off a very good June in which he posted a 1.59 ERA, but managed to go just 2-2. Kazmir's handled the Red Sox well in his career, going 5-2 with a 2.60 ERA in eleven starts.

With the Indians leading the Tigers by two games (but just one in the AFILC), the Tribe makes their way to Detroit to defend their lead. The pitching matchup isn't great, but these are the two best offenses in the majors so watch for a lot of runs tonight. The teams post nearly indentical OBAs, .352 for Cleveland, .351 for Detroit. But the Tigers slugging percentage is about thirty points higher, accounting for their half run lead per game over the Indians.

Enjoy!

The Tampa Bay/Cleveland game matches up two interesting young pitchers. Andy Sonnanstine takes the hill for the Devil Rays. He's posted a pretty impressive strikeout to walk ratio so far. In 32 1/3 innings, Andy struck out 27 and walked just three. In general, I'd think someone with those numbers was having a pretty good year. But Sonnanstine allowed seven home runs, and he's getting pounded by left-handed batters. Carmona strikes out a batter only every other inning. He's given up seven of his ten home runs allowed with men on base.

The McLaren era starts in Seattle with the Mariners facing their old teammate Gil Meche in Kansas City. Gil made the All-Star team with his 3.28 ERA, due in part to his success against left-handers. Felix Hernandez is still working his way back to being a dominant starter. If McLaren can get him back on track it will have been worth the managerial move.

Lefties battle in Chicago as Erik Bedard faces Mark Buehrle in what may be his last start in a White Sox uniform. Bedard's improved his ERA for the fourth straight season and deserves better than his 6-4 record. Buehrle is coming off a June in which he posted a 2.75 ERA but only a 3-2 won-loss record. He walked just six in 36 June innings.

Finally, the Braves visit the Dodgers with John Smoltz facing Derek Lowe. The Braves are four games behind the Mets in the NL East but only three games behind the Dodgers for the Wild Card. Smoltz struck out 25 and walked just 2 in the month of June, although he never pitched past the sixth inning. Lowe is another starter tonight with a good ERA but a poor record. At home this season he sports a 2.34 ERA but just a 3-2 record in six starts. Maybe the Dodger should work the rotation so he pitches in LA a little more often.

Enjoy!

The Yankees were one-hit by the Athletics second best starter yesterday, and today they face the A's best. Dan Haren brings his 1.91 ERA to the Bronx as he takes on Andy Pettitte. Haren is just the kind of pitcher who should be successful against the Yankees; a righty who mows down lefties. The A's should probably put all their lefties in against Pettitte as they are hitting .302 off Pettitte this year.

Down the road in Baltimore, there's another great pitching matchup as John Lackey faces Jeremy Guthrie. Lackey ranks fifth in the AL in ERA. Despite calling a pitcher's park home, Lackey's record is better on the road this season where he has a 2.41 ERA. In a pretty impressive month for ERAs, Guthrie ranked fourth in the majors with a 1.69 mark in June.

The Mariners are depending on Jeff Weaver to keep their winning streak alive. Despite his high ERA, Weaver's pitched well since coming off the DL, going 2-0 with a 1.82 ERA in four starts. Shaun Marcum tries to end the streak. He gives up more hits on the road, but only half the home runs.

Enjoy!

The Twins continue to try to gain on the wild card leading Tigers as they send Kevin Slowey against Andrew Miller. Both are rookies, but so far Andrew is having the better year. In four starts he's posted a 2.70 ERA, although his K/BB/HR look worse than that. Andrew's been a killer with runners in scoring position so far, with opposing batters collecting just three hits in twenty four at bats. Slowey is a right-hander who is getting pounded by right-handed batters. Even though he's seen more lefties at the plate, seven of the nine home runs he's allowed have come off right-handed bats.

The Cubs try to make it two in a row against the Brewers as Chicago tries to fight back into contention in the NL Central. Sean Marshall hosts Ben Sheets. Marshall keeps free passes to a minimum, and he's a lefty that handles righties very well. Sheets returned to his role as ace of the staff. Like Marshall, his strengths are keeping his walks very low and handling batters with the platoon advantage very well. Righties are hitting .283 against Sheets, lefties .204.

Although they're not facing each other, Sabathia and Beckett each go for their twelfth win tonight. Given that they're facing last place teams (Tampa Bay and Texas), they should have a good shot at the W.

Finally, stay up late to watch two of the top three leaders in ERA battle in Los Angeles. Brad Penny leads the NL with a 2.04 ERA. Jake Peavy trails his teammate Chris Young 2.1414 to 2.1429, good for third in the NL ERA race. Penny and Peavy each garnered eleven decisions, Brad picking up ten wins to Peavy's nine. The differ by 2/3 on an inning pitched. Peavy in general looks like a slightly better pitcher. He strikes out more batters. He's walked two more batters than Penny, but has given up just one home run to Penny's two. It should be a tremendous battle, especially with the Dodgers trailing San Diego by one game.

Enjoy!

The Mets and Phillies open a four game series with a double header this afternoon and this evening. It's not every day a pitcher with a 94.50 ERA gets included in Games of the Day, but J.D. Durbin gets the start for the Phillies vs. Orlando Hernandez this afternoon. Durbin allowed seven runs in 2/3 of an inning in his only appearance this season. Durbin's had a long minor career, not bad but not great. But in his very short time in the majors he's simply been wild and hit hard, never a good combination.

The night cap might be the best matchup of the day as John Maine takes on Cole Hamels. Maine faced the Phillies twice this season, both times in New York, and came away with a 3.09 ERA. He did not get a decision in either outing as the Mets spilt the games with the Phillies. Hamels is tied for most HR in the NL with Woody Williams, and he's pretty evenly split the long balls home and road. With his low OBA allowed, however, most of those home runs have been solo shots.

The other candidate for best pitching matchup of the day goes to Minnesota at Detroit where Johan Santana faces Justin Verlander. I suspect there will be a few strikeouts in this game. The Twins are six games behind the first place Tigers, so this is a chance to gain some ground before the second half of the season starts. Johan walks fewer and strikeouts more per nine innings, but Verlander gives up fewer long balls, and hence the better ERA. Johan is 10-3 in his career against the Tigers, although for most of that career the Tigers weren't very good. He's 3-2 since the start of 2006.

And a big series starts on the west coast as the Padres visit the Dodgers. The team are separate by just .001 in the standings, with the Padres in first place. Tonight's matchup appears to favor San Diego as Chris Young visits Hong-Chih Kuo. Kuo's 6.33 ERA appears high for his stats. That's because opponents are hitting .400 against him with runners in scoring position. Young is tough to hit in any situation. Since joining the Padres at the start of the 2006 season, Chris has allowed a .201 batting average overall, and .180 with runners in scoring position.

Enjoy!

This is the rare day when I'm not crazy about any of the games. My Rangers-Tigers comment holds up from yesterday, but the most important game of the day has to be Los Angeles at Arizona. The Diamondbacks need the game to earn a split of the four game series and stay ahead of the Dodgers. Randy Johnson comes off the DL to pitch. He's pitched well but not often. He's only averaging six inning per game, which means he's going to put pressure on the bullpen. He's also allowed all six of his home runs this season in Arizona. On the bright side, his strikeouts and walks are back to their former levels.

He'll face Randy Wolf. Wolf is interesting in that his high strikeout rate hasn't led to a low opposition batting average. That's especially true away from Dodger stadium. On the road in 2007, Wolf allowed 17 extra base hits versus 16 at home. That may not seem like a big difference, but there have been 100 fewer at bats against him on the road this season. We could have a bit of a slugfest on our hands this afternoon.

Enjoy!

Kenny Rogers faces his replacement, Kevin Millwood, as the Rangers try to make it three out of three against the Tigers. Rogers hasn't allowed a run since his last appearence of 2006. He's gone through the post season and his first start of 2007 with nary a run allowed. Kevin Millwood doesn't have that problem. With lefties slugging a convenience store against him (.711) Millwood allows plenty of runs.

San Diego and San Francisco are set up for another close game as Greg Maddux takes on Matt Cain. Maddux is not effective on the road this season, posting a 4.89 ERA away from San Diego. Matt Cain is one of the big hard-luck pitchers of 2007. The Giants have lost nine games this season in which Cain allowed three runs or less.

The Dodgers took the first two games of their series with Arizona to lead the NL West, but the Diamondbacks can move trade places with the Dodgers with a win. Brandon Webb gets the call as he tries to defeat Derek Lowe. Lowe does an excellent job of keeping the bases empty as he's allowed a .266 OBA with no one on. The Dodgers might want to stack their lineup with lefties as seven of the eight home runs hit off Webb came off left-handed bats.

Enjoy!

The Yankees return from the west coast not to Yankee Stadium but Camden Yards as Andy Pettitte faces Jeremy Guthrie. Pettitte is the poster child for the Yankees bad luck this season as he's one game under .500 despite the offense scoring 63 runs for him while he's allowed 41. Guthrie is only 4-1 despite a 2.42 ERA mostly due to bullpen failure and a lack of support. Lefties hit him better than righties, although still not well, which should give Yankees a bit of an advantage.

The Athletics have three more games against the Indians in this series, and they'll need to win all three if they are going to gain on Cleveland for the wild card. The matchup tonight favors the A's as league leader Dan Haren faces the disappointing Cliff Lee. Haren is pitching great, but as his FIP shows, he's greatly outperforming his stats. Cliff Lee has the reverse platoon working in full force. Left-handed batters are slugging .612 against the south paw.

Rodrigo Lopez tries to maintain his perfect record against Ted Lilly and the Cubs. This is only Lopez's third road start, but his ERA drops over a run away from Coors. Lilly's home ERA is almost 2 1/2 runs lower than on the road.

Out west, Felix Hernandez comes off his first well pitched game since hitting the disabled list. He pitched a complete game on-hitter against the Red Sox at Fenway in April, and Boston is arriving just in time to catch the second wave of King Felix. He'll face Kason Gabbard who hopes to keep rolling along on the same path as his first emergency start. He's filling in for Schilling right now. Back on May 20, he pitched five innings against the Braves, striking out seven and walking one. This could easily be the matchup of the evening.

Enjoy!

Chad Gaudin was running second to his teammate Dan Haren until he ran into the Astros and Reds in consecutive starts. He's allowed nine runs in his last eleven innings to raise his ERA from 2.43 to 3.05. He'll face good offense and a good mound opponent as he takes on the Indians and C.C. Sabathia. At age 26, C.C. is having his best year in terms of walks allowed. His BB per 9 this season is 1.35 vs. a career mark 3.13.

Jason Bergmann gets to improve his ERA against the hapless Atlanta Braves offense. He's done well against them so far this season with a 1-0 record and a 0.64 ERA in two starts. He's struck out eighteen Braves in just fourteen innings of work. Tim Hudson as the exact same ERA against the Nationals, but he's stuck out eleven in his 14 innings of work. He may need to pitch a shutout tonight to win.

The Astros and Brewers sport opposite records, but if Houston is going to climb back into the NL Central race, tonight's a good night to start. Jason Jennings faces Ben Sheets. Jennings walks a batter once every four innings, but allowed a home run every eight. He'll be on the road tonight, however, where he hasn't allowed a long ball all season. Sheets is keeping runners off base. He's only been in one bases loaded situation all season, and that resulted in a HBP.

The Dodgers trail the Diamondbacks by 1 1/2 games as Los Angeles visits Phoenix for a four game series. Brad Penny gets first crack at the DBacks lineup as he faces Micah Owings. Penny's control keeps getting better every month. In June, he's walked just three in 27 2/3 innings. Despite giving up all five of his home runs at home, Owings' ERA is almost two runs better in Arizona.

Enjoy!

The best pitching matchup of the day asks the political question, "Can Kennedy carry Maine?" The Patriarch faces one of the Mets best young pitchers as Joe Kennedy faces John Maine. Maine has allowed a meager .178 batting average with runners in scoring position this season. Kennedy posts a good ERA despite walking more batters than he strikes out.

The best bet for a slugfest takes place in Tampa Bay. Edwin Jackson is getting into rare territory as he approaches an 0-9 record. With a 7.85 ERA, and that measure getting worse every month, it's just a matter of time before he finds himself in the minor leagues. Only eleven pitchers have finished a season 0-9 or worse. The last was Edgar Gonzalez in 2004. Hong-Chih Kuo comes in with a 6.65 ERA in just six appearances. He's allowed 36 base runners in 21 2/3 innings.

Enjoy!

Update: Apologies. Somehow I missed Beckett vs. Peavy when I ran through the game earlier. That game could easily see each pitcher go eight innings without allowing a run.

Chien-Ming Wang and Matt Morris face off with identical 7-4 records and nearly identical ERAs in San Francisco this afternoon. Wang should prove a challenge for Bonds as the Yankees righty owns the lowest HR per 9 IP in the majors since the start of 2005. Morris matches well against the predominantly left-handed Yankees lineup, as he's allowed a mere .287 OBA against left-handed batters this season.

The more successful New York team sends Orlando Hernandez against Oakland's Joe Blanton later on the opposite coast. Blanton's hits allowed go way up when he leaves Oakland, accounting for his 5.22 road ERA. Hernandez pitched much better than his 3-3 record, but the Mets have only score 25 runs when El Duque is in the game.

There's always the chance for a good pitching matchup in Anaheim, and the Pirates and Angels don't disappoint. Ian Snell brings his 2.63 ERA to town. He's another righty that shuts down lefties, and they have an OPS of .601 against Ian. Kelvim Escobar also enters with an ERA under three. He's allowed just four home runs in 88 innings this season, tied with Chad Gaudin for best HR per 9 in the American League.

Enjoy!

It's old man Friday as five pitchers age 40+ take the mound tonight. Kenny Rogers returns to action after nearly half a season on the DL against fellow quadragenarian John Smoltz. Rogers was last seen not allowing a run in three post season starts. Smoltz, a month over 40 continues to do what he's done for most of his career, strike out a ton of batters while not walking many.

If younger stars are your style, you might like the Cleveland/Washington matchup featuring Fausto Carmona and Micah Bowie. Bowie keeps the opposition's batting average low (.214) but allows a good number of home runs (7 in 47 2/3 innings). Carmona is showing his best control of the season this month, walking just three batters in 27 June innings.

Masters of movement meet mere miles from Mexico as Matsuzaka and Maddux match mound mettle. Dice-K is putting it all together in June, posting a 1.80 ERA in three starts. Unfortunately, he's been stuck with a 1-2 record. Maddux takes full advantage of Petco Park. He's 5-1 there with a 2.75 ERA.

Enjoy!

The majors scheduled just five games for today. Ted Lilly takes on the Texas Rangers and Vicente Padilla. Padillia pitched much better at home this year, posting a 3.93 ERA in Texas vs. 9.00 on the road. Lilly's had trouble away from Wrigley, posting a 5.04 ERA on the road, but he still has a 2-1 record.

Roger Clemens gets to toil in the thin air of Colorado vs. the undefeated Rodrigo Lopez. Roger pitched well over his three starts at Coors. He gave up four home runs in 16 2/3 innings, but managed a 3.78 ERA. Lopez has only allowed four home runs in his seven starts, but all four came at Coors.

Erik Bedard takes on former Orioles pitcher David Wells..(Is there a team Wells hasn't pitched for?) David gives up a lot of hits now, but he makes up for that with few walks and home runs. Bedard this season holds righties to a lower OBA than lefties, .301 to .326.

After two blowouts of each other, the Dodgers and Blue Jays play the rubber game of their three game series. Chad Billingsly is one reason the Dodgers are able to sustain so many pitching injuries. He's making his first start of the year, but is 4-0 out of the bullpen with an excellent strikeout rate. Shaun Marcum moved into the Blue Jays rotation earlier in the year because of injuries and is 3-0 with a 2.38 ERA in seven starts.

Finally, the Pirates take on the Mariners in Seattle. John Van Benschoten makes his second start of the year. He needs to do better than 3 walks in 5 2/3 innings. Felix Hernandez just hasn't recovered from his early season injury, allowing 25 earned runs in 37 1/3 innings since his return.

Enjoy!

Dan Haren tries to subtract from his league leading ERA today as he faces the Cincinnati Reds in Oakland. Dan continues to dominate left-handed batters, who post a .215 OBA and slugging percentage against Haren. The Reds send Matt Belisle to the mound. Matt does a great job of keeping batters off base via the walk, but he ends up allowing too many hits, and two many long hits.

In Arizona, two good young pitchers face off as the Devil Rays send James Shields against Micah Owings. Shields has been hit a bit harder lately, giving up five home runs in 20 1/3 June innings. Owings has allowed just four home runs all season, and they've all come at Chase Field.

Last night Mussina and Fogg duel in Colorado, and today Pettitte and Francis may give us another one. Pettitte did not make it to Coors with the Astros, but his one time starting there for the Yankees did not go well. Francis got off to a rough start, but he's 5-2 since the start of May with a 2.27 ERA.

Finally, the JG-Men battle it out in San Diego as Jeremy Guthrie takes on Justin Germano. The undefeated Padres pitcher allows his defense to help him out as he strikes out few and walks fewer. Guthrie is becoming the new poster child for no-decisions. In nine starts, he's posted a 1.71 ERA, but only has a 2-1 record to show for it.

Enjoy!

Shea Stadium holds the matchup of the day as Johan Santana faces Jorge Sosa. Shea is the kind of ballpark that should suit Johan perfectly. Santana strikes out a ton of batters while not walking many, and Shea should hurt the long ball a bit. Sosa has as many wins as Santana in only eight starts. He doesn't strikeout batters like Johan does, but Jorge is stingy with walks and doesn't allow too many home runs. It should be a good battle.

Two pitchers with histories against their opponent from time in the other league take the mound in Atlanta. Josh Beckett is 5-7 against the Braves in his career despite a 2.62 ERA against Atlanta. He lost four games in which he pitched well but the defense or offense let him down. Hudson is 3-8 against Boston in his career, and deservedly so. The Red Sox are very selective with Tim as he's issued nearly five walks per 9 innings to Boston batters. He's lost all three starts with the Braves against the Red Sox and five in a row (regular season) overall.

J.P. Howell is another youngster that looks like part of a solid future rotation for the Devil Rays. The lefty is allowing just a .304 OBA to right-handed batters. He'll face Arizona's Doug Davis. Doug was meant to be a stabilizing force in the Diamondbacks rotation. And with a 3.70 ERA, he should be doing much better than a 4-8 record. But the Arizona offense scored just 28 runs when Doug's in the game. In five of the games he started, the DBacks scored two runs or less.

Enjoy!

Two of the highest scoring teams in the majors face off in Cleveland as the Phillies visit the Indians. The Phillies rank fifth in the majors at 5.1 runs per game, the Indians third at 5.4. However, the pitching matchup of Cole Hamels versus Cliff Lee looks like it favors the Phillies. Lee is on pace to give up 40 home runs in 200 innings pitched. Hamels also has a tendency to give up the long ball, but 13 of the 16 he allowed came with the bases empty.

The best pitching matchup of the day pits Chris Sampson vs. John Lackey. Sampson, despite giving up many balls in play, does a good job of not giving up two many hits. Lackey looks to increase his major league leading win total to eleven. He's very tough at night, with 9 of his 10 wins coming under the lights and an ERA two runs lower than during the day.

Enjoy!

Justin Verlander makes his first start since his no hitter as he faces Adam Eaton and the Phillies. After giving up seven runs in five innings against the Indians, Verlander is on a sixteen inning consecutive scoreless inning streak. Eaton also pitched well over his last two starts, defeating the White Sox and the Mets and only allowing two run in 13 innings.

The Red Sox go for a sweep of the Giants with Matt Morris taking on Tim Wakefield. The Red Sox outscored the Giants 11-2 so far, winning both a blow out and a 1-0 game. Morris isn't the strikeout pitcher he once was but this season he's keeping his walks and home runs down. Wakefield's run support is low as the Red Sox have scored two fewer than Tim's allowed.

Greg Maddux ventures onto the Wrigley mound today to face up and coming Rich Hill. Maddux has yet to win on the road this season, posting a 4.95 ERA away from the friendly confines of PETCO. Hill's been very good this season keeping the ball in Wrigley, having allowed just three home runs at home but nine on the road.

Finally, ESPN brings us the rubber game of the Mets-Yankees series. Orlando Hernandez would like to repeat his performance at Yankee Stadium last June 30th, but with a win instead of a 2-0 defeat. He's been tough to hit as opponents hold a mere .188 batting average against him. Wang continues to survive in the majors with a low strikeout rate. He walks on average one batter every four innings and he's only allowed 25 home runs in over 400 innings for his career. Plenty of pitcher give up that many in one season.

Enjoy!

Chris Young and Carlos Zambrano go head-to-head in Chicago this afternoon as the Padres and Cubs play the NL game. Zambrano is coming off his best start of the season. He's been controlling the long ball better lately. After giving up home runs in 10 of his first eleven starts, he's only allowed one in his last three. Young only allowed three home runs all season, all three to left-handers on the road. Maybe Zambrano can take Young deep. His twelve home runs this decade are second only to Mike Hampton's fifteen.

Matt Cain takes on Daisuke Matsuzaka in Boston this afternoon. The pitchers experienced opposite sides of the lucky coin this year. Cain posts a 3.31 ERA on the strength of five home runs allowed. But that's only earned him a 2-6 record as the Giants are 1-10 in one and two runs games when Cain pitches. Matsuzaka owns a winning record despite a high ERA. And for some reason, he doesn't strike out batters at Fenway:

Matsuzaka 2007	Home	Road
Innings	41 2/3	44
Strikeouts	27	58
Strikeouts per 9	5.83	11.86

Could it be a better hitter's background at Fenway?

Enjoy!

I'm interested to see the reaction Bonds gets in Boston tonight. Red Sox fans can be quite abusive, and there's not much room between a player in the on-deck circle and the expensive seats. Barry has the chance to add Julian Tavarez to pitchers against whom he's homered and Fenway Park to venues in which he's homered.

The Mets visit Yankee Stadium tonight as Oliver Perez faces Roger Clemens, with the Mets 1-9 in their last 10 and the Yankees 9-1. My good friend Jim Storer called to tell me today he heard the Mad Dog on WFAN say the Mets have a higher probability of being swept than they do of winning one game in the series. That's only true if you consider the last ten games as a meaningful representation of the winning percentages of the two teams. If you take their season winning percentages as more accurate, the highest probability is that the Mets take two out of three.

Jeremy Bonderman takes his undefeated record against the hot Phillies and Jon Lieber tonight. Opponents hit Lieber well in Philadelphia, with Jon giving up 130 points more in slugging percentage than on the road. Bonderman is walking less than two per nine innings, over a walk better than his career average.

One of the best pitching matchups of the day takes place in Colorado where James Shields shares the thin air with Rodrigo Lopez. Batters are hitting for power against Lopez in Denver, but he's only issued three walks in his four starts there, somewhat mitigating those extra-base hits. Shields yields a good number of home runs, but he also keeps base runners to a minimum with a .259 OBA against.

Finally, the Angels get to play in the city that bears their name as they travel to Los Angeles proper to face the Dodgers. Only Vicente Padilla owns a worse road ERA than Santana among pitcher with 30 innings away from home. Lowe's had the bad luck of pulling better starters than him lately. Despite a 2.31 ERA since May 1, he's lost two quality starts in that time and another in which he allowed four runs in eight innings.

Enjoy!

There are six games this afternoon and six games this evening as it's getaway day during interleague play. The best pitching matchup in the afternoon takes place in Houston where Chad Gaudin faces Jason Jennings. In five starts, Jennings owns a 2.70 ERA, although with Houston's weak offense he's yet to earn a win. He's walked just seven in 30 innings. Gaudin ranks second in the AL in ERA, almost a run behind teammate Dan Haren. Chad strength rests in his three home runs allowed, the second lowest HR per 9 in the AL.

Also this afternoon, former Cardinal teammates Jeff Weaver and Jason Marquis meet at Wrigley as the Mariners and Cubs finish up their series. Weaver managed to get through four innings against the Padres without blowing up in his first start back from the DL. Maybe he should just face National League teams. Since his complete game shutout of the Pirates on May 9th, Marquis pitched more bad games than good ones, going 0-2 with a 5.10 ERA. He's only struck out one more than he walked in that time.

Tonight, two of the best pitchers of their generation face off in Minnesota as Tim Hudson and the Braves battle Johan Santana and the Twins. Johan's been vulnerable at home this season, posting a 4.11 ERA at the Metrodome. His walks, strikeouts and home runs are good home and away, it's simply 20 more hits allowed at home. Hudson greatly cut his home runs allowed vs. 2006. Last season he allowed a little over 1.0 per nine innings. In 2007, he's cut that by more than two thirds, down to 0.29 per nine.

Enjoy!

If you like lots of runs, tonight looks like a good night for them. There aren't many great pitching matchups on tap for today. The most extreme mismatch takes place in Tampa Bay, where Jake Peavy faces Edwin Jackson. Jackson brings an 0-7 record with a 7.39 ERA to the mound. He's an interesting pitcher, because his FIP is much lower than his ERA. He walks a lot of batters, but he really gives up a ton of hits. This really may be an example of someone who loses it when he gets in trouble. Batters are 7 for 11 against him with the bases loaded this season, and his slugging percentage allowed goes up 100 points with men on base. In contrast, Peavy's slugging percentage goes down with men on base.

The Athletics and Astros send out Joe Blanton and Chris Sampson, each pitching well but each just one game over .500. Sampson survives despite a high number of balls in play. His strikeout rate is extremely low, but his walk rate is lower. Blanton has an extreme home/road split. He's a Cy Young candidate in Oakland with a 1.91 ERA, but he's bring up the rear away with a 5.44 mark. It's all in the hits allowed, making me wonder if for some reason batters don't see his pitches well in Oakland.

The best matchup of the day take place in Los Angeles as two one-loss pitchers face off. Jorge Sosa comes into the game with a 6-1 record and 2.64 ERA. He's holding batters to a .256 OBA. Brad Penny turns up for the Dodgers. He was finally tagged for two home runs, but his slugging percentage allowed is a mere .320.

Enjoy!

A nice mid-western rivalry returns to the Motor City tonight as the Brewers face the Tigers. Jeff Suppan takes the mound against Justin Verlander. This is a good opponent for Suppan as Detroit lacks left-handed batters, who hit Jeff well. The Brewers, on the other hand, can stack five left-handed hitters against Verlander. Lefties are slugging 150 points higher than righties against the young Tiger starter.

Double W's take the mound at Yankee Stadium as Brandon Webb battles Chien-Ming Wang. Webb has yet to allow an earned run in June. He's also a road warrior, bringing to the game a 4-1 record and a 2.34 ERA away from Phoenix. All three home runs Wang allowed this season came at home, however.

Generations clash in Tampa Bay as Greg Maddux takes on Scott Kazmir. Greg is keeping left-handed batters off balance this season as they're managing just a .276 OBA against him. Kazmir owns a strange home/road split. His ERA is a run lower at home, but his record is 0-2 there vs. 4-1 on the road. The Devil Rays are averaging less that four runs per game in Kazmir's seven home starts.

Enjoy!

In the middle of interleague baseball we get a day with an AL game, two NL games and two interleague games. The Mariners and Indians make up the second of their April rainouts. Seattle is rolling, having won eight of their last ten. Unfortunately, the Angels are 7-3 and Oakland is 8-2 over the same stretch. The offense is on fire, scoring sixty six runs in that time. Amazingly, they've done it with just five home runs. But the team is batting .317 with twenty doubles. This is exactly the kind of offense that should do well against Paul Byrd, who allows a high batting average but makes up with it by walking few batters. The Mariners don't walk much anyway.

Houston and the Chicago Cubs also make up a rain out. With Woody Williams and Carlos Zambrano on the mound, this came could easily turn into a slugfest. This is one time the Cubs need Zambrano to step up and go the distance, as their bullpen is worn out after 13 2/3 relief innings the last two days.

The best pitching matchup of the day takes place in Los Angeles as the Mets and Dodgers send Orlando Hernandez and Randy Wolf to the mound. Over 51 innings, opponents are hitting just .173 against Hernandez, and only .111 with runners on base. Wolf has an extreme OBA platoon difference. Lefties get on base at a .214 clip, righties .343.

Enjoy!

It's the battle of Ohio aces as C.C. Sabathia and Aaron Harang battle in Cincinnati. C.C. tries to become the majors first ten game winner. The Indians support him well, scoring seventy runs in his ninety innings on the mound, almost double the amount he's allowed. Harang, with a higher ERA is 6-2. The Reds are scoring many runs for Aaron as well as they've outscored opponents 60-43 with Harang on the mound.

The Seattle-San Diego game offers an excellent matchup of good, young pitchers as Felix Hernandez faces Chris Young. Hernandez was unhittable before the arm injury, but since returning opponents knocked out 42 hits in 25 2/3 innings. Meanwhile, for the season, opponents are hitting a mere .202 vs. Young.

The game to look forward to most is Boston at Arizona as Daisuke Matsuzaka takes on the legendary Randy Johnson. Dice-K is turning out to have a severe home/road split, with a 5.62 ERA at Fenway and a 3.55 ERA away. His strikeout rate looks like the difference. The Big Unit is back in Arizona and his strikeout rate is returning to the levels last seen when he wore that uniform, putting down 61 in 47 2/3 innings via the K.

Enjoy!

It's almost time to get back to reunion activities, but here's a quick games of the day.

The Mets at Detroit features two of the best teams in baseball, both involved in tight pennant races.

Homer Baily debuts for the Reds against cross state rival Cleveland and Cliff Lee. Lee's pitched poorly, which gives Homer a better chance to get his first win.

Boston at Arizona features another matchup of excellent teams. Josh Beckett makes his second attempt at going 9-0.

Chad Gaudin takes his gaudy 2.41 ERA to San Francisco as the Athletics face Tim Lincecum. Oakland pitchers hold the 1-2 spots in the AL ERA race and rank four pitchers in the top sixteen.

Enjoy!

I'm off to commencement, but here are the games to watch.

Boston at Oakland, Schilling vs. Blanton. The Athletics are doing a good job of shutting down the Red Sox offense.

Philadelphia at New York Mets. Hamels vs. Maine presents a matchup of good young pitchers. A sweep puts the Phillies just five games out.

And late, Jake Peavy continues his Cy Young season against the Dodgers. Jake is competing with Hamels for the NL strikeout lead.

Enjoy!

Kevin Slowey makes the second start of his career after a fine first outing against the Oakland Athletics. He'll take on the LAnaheim Angels and John Lackey. Slowey allowed just five hits in his first start, and only one with runners in scoring position in nine at bats. Lackey tries to become the first ten-game winner in the majors. He's recorded a decision in all twelve games he's started. John's posting the lowest OBA and slugging percentages of his career in 2007.

Is it just me? If I were Charlie Manuel, I'd find a way to avoid throwing Adam Eaton against the Mets. Move Hamels and Garcia up a day? Anyway, Mets most likely get to see their offense go wild today.

I'm still waiting for Matt Morris to revert to form. He's been lucky this year given his strikeout rate to hold such a low ERA. He'll take on the Diamondbacks and Brandon Webb. The defending Cy Young award winner is off to a good start in June, holding the Mets to one unearned run in eight innings his last time out.

Enjoy!

Andy Sonnanstine makes his major league debut for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays against the Toronto Blue Jays tonight. He's posted excellent numbers in the minors, and his 2007 line is consistent with his career. He strikes out a lot of batters and walks very few. I like what's happening with the Tampa pitching staff. Kazmir, Shields, Howell and now Sonnanstine do a lot of things right, and have plenty of time to mature. This could turn out to be a very formidable staff in the not too distant future.

Andy's first start won't be an easy one, however, as he faces Roy Halladay. Roy's been striking out batters without many walks for years. His 5.00 K/BB ranks third in the American League.

The Phillies are eight games behind the Mets as the two start a three game series with their veteran lefties on the mound. Jamie Moyer's allowed four fewer home runs in ten more inning on the road than at home this year. Tom Glavine, meanwhile, is giving up hits at a higher rate at home, accounting for an ERA two runs higher than on the road.

The big game of the night is the battle for the NL West between the Dodgers and Padres. Los Angeles returns Jason Schmidt to the mound, but may lose Saito to a tight hamstring. Chris Young battles for the Padres. He's only allowed two earned runs and sixteen hits in 27 1/3 innings at Petco this season.

Enjoy!

The Royals finish up in Tampa Bay today as Gil Meche takes on James Shields. Shields emerged as the Devil Rays ace this season, despite a multitude of no decisions that kept his record at 4-0. The Devil Rays lost three games in which Shields allowed two runs or less, including nine shutout innings against the Orioles. After a great start, Meche looked like he was reverting to his Seattle self against the Mariners and Rockies, but came back with a solid start against Baltimore his last time out.

The Marlins are not quite out of and not quite in the NL East race at nine games back. They get a chance to gain on the second place Braves as Sergio Mitre visits Tim Hudson. Both of Sergio's wins came on the road this season where he's only allowed one walk and one home run in nineteen innings. Hudson continues to take advantage of the decrease in power this year, cutting his home run rate by a third compared to 2006.

Boof Bonser faces Jered Weaver in Anaheim this evening. Over his last seven starts Bonser's ERA is 2.16 and he's striking out more than a batter an inning. Weaver struggled in his last two starts, throwing 193 pitches combined in just 9 2/3 innings.

The Red Sox start a west coast trip with their worst starter going against Oakland's best. Julian Tavarez may not be pitching that well, but the Red Sox won the two games he started against the Yankees, which makes his holding a place for Jon Lester worthwhile. Dan Haren has allowed just one home run to a left-handed batter this year, and the group is slugging just .201 against him.

Enjoy!

The Dodgers and Pirates send two very good pitchers to the mound this afternoon as Brad Penny faces Tom Gorzelanny. The Pittsburgh lefty gives up nearly a hit an inning, but most of those hits are singles and he issues very few walks. He hasn't allowed a home run with men on base this season. Penny is now 70 innings into the season without allowing a home run. He's shutting down left-handed power, as opponents from that side of the plate are slugging just .258 against him.

There's another nice pitching matchup in Oakland today as Johan Santana takes on Chad Gaudin. Johan's been devastating on the road this season, racking up a 1.85 ERA and a 3-1 record. Maybe it's the playing surface in Minnesota, but fewer hits get through for Santana on the road. Gaudin takes advantage of the big park in Oakland and hasn't allowed a home run at home this season.

Finally, weather permitting, the Yankees and Red Sox meet for the last time for almost three months tonight in Boston. Pettitte and Beckett not only share names with double-ts, but ERAs in the mid 2.00s. The big difference in won-lost record comes from their bullpen support. Pettitte's relievers earned a 7.92 ERA, while Beckett's firemen are at 2.70.

Enjoy!

The Braves and Cubs continue their series in Chicago with Chuck James and Rich Hill on the mound. There's no word yet on how the Cubs are going to discipline Barrett and Zambrano, but we'll probably hear before the game starts. Rich Hill's been equally effective against lefties and righties, with both hitting .200 against him, and both with nearly identical (and low) OBAs and slugging percentages. James allows just a .245 batting average with runners in scoring position.

The Giants put up thirteen runs last night, but they'll be hard pressed to do that again vs. Cole Hamels. Cole trails Jake Peavy by six strikeouts in the NL race for that title. He'll face Noah Lowry, which means that a win for Cole isn't a given. However, Lowry's OBA allowed goes up 60 points on the road.

Enjoy!

Just a quick hit today:

Yankees play at Boston with Wang facing Wakefield. The Yankees need to sweep to make a comeback reasonable.

Jake Peavy pitches against Washington's Matt Chico in Washington. Jake might be able to lower his 1.47 ERA further.

The Diamondbacks send Webb against the Mets' Maine. It's a battle of first place teams as there is a three way tie in the NL West this morning.

Kevin Slowey makes his major league debut for the Twins tonight as he faces the Oakland Athletics and Joe Kennedy. Slowey is being compared to Brad Radke. Like Radke, he doesn't issue many walks. Unlike Radke, he strikes out a ton of batters. In the minors this season, he sports an 11 to 1 strikeout to walk ratio.

Enjoy!

The Tigers arrive in Cleveland to try to avenge the Indians sweep in Detroit last weekend. They'll start with a great matchup as C.C. Sabathia hosts Justin Verlander. The home/road dynamic favors both pitchers. Verlander posts a 1.30 ERA on the road, while Sabathia is 4-0 with a 2.70 ERA at home.

The Dodgers staff comes into tonight's game against Washington with 21 consecutive scoreless innings. Mark Hendrickson tries to keep that going. He's pitched poorly in May, however, posting a 5.14 ERA. The Nationals send Micah Bowie to the hill. Micah's a reverse lefty this season, shutting down right-handed batters but getting clobbered by lefties.

Roy Halladay returns to the Toronto rotation, recovered from his abdominal surgery. He's only walked nine batters in 57 2/3 innings. He'll face no-hit Mark Buehrle and the White Sox. Buehrle is doing a good job against right-handed batters this season, holding them to a .293 OBA.

Enjoy!

The Twins try to move past the White Sox for third place in the AL Central this afternoon as Jon Garland faces Scott Baker. In his two starts, Baker held opponents to .216 batting average, but five of his eleven hits allowed went for extra-bases. Garland is pitching well in may, allowing just seven walks and one home run in 28 innings of work.

Paul Byrd and Daisuke Matsuzaka sport very good records with slightly high ERAs. Byrd makes up for all his hits allowed by not walking batters. He's issued three all season. Dice-K baffles left-handed batters with the movement of his pitches, but righties seem to hit him just fine. There have been a number of lefties like this in the past, where they throw a pitch than moves away from righties but into the zone against lefties. Matsuzaka may be doing the opposite. Should teams stack their lineups with righties, I wonder?

James Shields continues to develop as the Tampa Bay ace. He strikes out as many batters as Scott Kazmir, but without all the walks. He'll try to stop the Detroit Tigers and Nate Robertson. The Tiger left has yet to allow a home run on the road this season.

The pitching match up of the day takes place in Anaheim, with Felix Hernandez faces Jered Weaver. Since his return from his injury, Hernandez continues to strike out batters at a high rate, but he's also giving up many more hits. It took Weaver a while to recover from his injury as well, but he's 3-1 in May with a 2.93 ERA, along with 30 K in 30 2/3 innings.

Enjoy!

Josh Beckett returns to action tonight against the Cleveland Indians, his skin tear healed. Beckett kept the ball in the park this season (compared to 2006) so he home runs allowed tonight are something to watch. He faces Jeremy Sowers, who survives or not on his defense. With only thirteen strikeouts in 48 2/3 innings, lots of balls are falling for hits, accounting for his 6.29 ERA.

Brad Penny takes his homerless streak into Washington tonight, and RFK is a good park for him to continue to keep his HR total at zero. Even if Brad reverts to his career average of 0.85 HR per 9, he'll only give up about 11 on the season. Jason Simontacchi takes the Hill for the Nationals. He's done a good job shutting down left-handed hitters this season, allowing just a .216 batting averages without the platoon advantage.

The Giants visit Queens as Oliver Perez host Tim Lincecum. The rookie is devastating right-handed hitters, but lefties have touched him for power so far. Perez is stingy with extra base hits to both sides of the plate, as batters are slugging just .316 against him.

And there's a nice matchup of youngsters tonight as John Danks takes on Boof Bonser. Danks handled the Twins well so far, allowing a 2.84 ERA in two starts. Bonser made one start against the White Sox, giving up one run in seven innings but not getting the decision.

Enjoy!

Before you can reach second place, you need to reach third, and that's what the Twins try to do today as they send Johan Santana against Jose Contreras and the third place Chicago White Sox. Contreras has been two different pitchers home and away this season. He's on the road today, where he sports a 1.91 ERA, sixth in the AL. Santana, nearly unbeatable in Minnesota in the past, is only 2-3 with a 4.35 ERA in the dome this season.

Note you should blame too much of the Twins bad fortune on the loss of Joe Mauer. Mike Redmond filled in very well in his absence.

A possible playoff preview takes place in Boston tonight as Cleveland comes in for a visit. Cliff Lee faces Curt Schilling, but a more interesting matchup might be the rightfielders. The Red Sox replaced Trot Nixon with J.D. Drew, but Nixon owns the higher batting, on-base and slugging averages. And while Trot isn't exactly setting the league on fire, Drew's OPS is a low .677, way off his career average of nearly .900.
That's the impressive thing about the Red Sox, however. They've built a big lead with sub-par seasons from both Manny Ramriez and J.D. Drew. Both are likely to start hitting at some point, which makes the team even better. That's one reason I believe this team will hold its lead.

Seattle gets to show if they are for real in the AL West as they open a three-game series with the LAnaheim Angels. The Mariners trail the Angels by 4 1/2 games. Miguel Batista takes the hill for Seattle. He's 4-4 despite a 5.61 ERA. The reason isn't his run support, which is actually poor. He's either been blown out or pitched great, and in the majority of starts he's pitched very well. Batolo Colon takes the hill for the Angels. His record does stand on the Angels offense, as he's received 40 runs in support during his 43 1/3 innings of work.

Enjoy!

Mike Mussina host John Lackey as the Angels go for a sweep of the Yankees. By losing the first two games to LAnaheim, the Yankees gave back the ground they gained in the Boston series. Today's matchup bodes well for an Angels sweep. Lackey throughout his career neutralized the power of left-handed batters, and in 2007, no lefty has homered off him so far. With seven lefties in their batting order, John matches up well vs. New York.

Mike Mussina's strikeout rate plummeted this year, and his ERA rose in concert. Mike so far struck out 12 in 29 innings. In his career, Mike has struck out 7.2 per nine innings. K'ing under 4.5 per nine shows how much Mike is off his game. On top of that, his five home runs allowed would put him on a pace to give up over 30 in 200 innings. His career high is 31, and that came in 243 innings. At this point, Mussina might be the club's biggest worry. He's not an extreme ground ball pitcher like Wang, so if his K's don't come back, he might be unusable.

The Phillies go for a sweep of the Braves as they try to inch closer to second place in the NL East. Cole Hamels faces Kyle Davies in Atlanta. Davies cut his walks and home runs down in May, and saw his ERA drop with those compared to April. Hamels leads Jake Peavy by one in the NL strikeout race. In his four starts against the Braves, Hamels averages 11.2 K per 9, but also allowed five home runs.

The aforementioned Jake Peavy hosts Jeff Suppan in San Diego as the Padres try to make it three wins in a row. Lefties are hitting 90 points better than righties against Suppan, and the Padres should be able to get four in the lineup against Jeff. It's interesting to note that base runners are stealing well but not often against Jake. Runners are 5 for 6 in stolen base attempts when Peavy is on the mound, but that's less than an attempt per start. Because Peavy is involved in such low scoring games, this is something the opposition should exploit more.

Enjoy!

Mike Mussina host John Lackey as the Angels go for a sweep of the Yankees. By losing the first two games to LAnaheim, the Yankees gave back the ground they gained in the Boston series. Today's matchup bodes well for an Angels sweep. Lackey throughout his career neutralized the power of left-handed batters, and in 2007, no lefty has homered off him so far. With seven lefties in their batting order, John matches up well vs. New York.

Mike Mussina's strikeout rate plummeted this year, and his ERA rose in concert. Mike so far struck out 12 in 29 innings. In his career, Mike has struck out 7.2 per nine innings. K'ing under 4.5 per nine shows how much Mike is off his game. On top of that, his five home runs allowed would put him on a pace to give up over 30 in 200 innings. His career high is 31, and that came in 243 innings. At this point, Mussina might be the club's biggest worry. He's not an extreme ground ball pitcher like Wang, so if his K's don't come back, he might be unusable.

The Phillies go for a sweep of the Braves as they try to inch closer to second place in the NL East. Cole Hamels faces Kyle Davies in Atlanta. Davies cut his walks and home runs down in May, and saw his ERA drop with those compared to April. Hamels leads Jake Peavy by one in the NL strikeout race. In his four starts against the Braves, Hamels averages 11.2 K per 9, but also allowed five home runs.

The aforementioned Jake Peavy hosts Jeff Suppan in San Diego as the Padres try to make it three wins in a row. Lefties are hitting 90 points better than righties against Suppan, and the Padres should be able to get four in the lineup against Jeff. It's interesting to note that base runners are stealing well but not often against Jake. Runners are 5 for 6 in stolen base attempts when Peavy is on the mound, but that's less than an attempt per start. Because Peavy is involved in such low scoring games, this is something the opposition should exploit more.

Enjoy!

The Indians and Tigers continue their battle for supremacy in the AL Central as C.C. Sabathia faces Justin Verlander. C.C. gives up home runs, with nine hit against him so far, but with so few walks allowed most of those were solo shots. Like Sabathia, Verlander tallied just one loss this season. He's 2-2 lifetime vs. Cleveland, but with a 4.60 K/BB.

Two pitchers with good ERAs but losing records face off in Baltimore today as Joe Kennedy takes on Brian Burres. Brian makes his fourth start of the year, but his hits allowed skyrocketed when be moved out of the bullpen. The opposition's batting average against Kennedy drops 100 points when he's on the road, but he's trading some of those hits for walks as his OBA allowed goes down about 50 points.

The Nationals at the Cardinals doesn't boast great teams or a great pitching matchup, but Washington is hot. They've won four in a row and eleven of their last fifteen. They're third in the NL in runs per game since the start of the period on May 11th. One of the stars for the Nats in that time frame is Ryan Zimmerman, who despite not hitting for average is bashing the ball, picking up just thirteen hits but nine for extra bases.

Finally, the Astros face the Diamondbacks with Brandon Webb hosting Chris Sampson. Both sport good ERAs and .500 records. Sampson's been tough with runners in scoring position, allowing a .231 BA in that situation. Webb's walk rate rose this season. He's walked 27 versus 50 in 2006 in just 1/3 the starts.

Enjoy!

There are so many good games to choose from today, making it tough to whittle the choices down to a manageable number. The biggest game from a division race view point takes place in Detroit where the Indians face the Tigers. The teams are even in the loss column, with Cleveland holding one less win. The are nearly even in runs scored, with the Tigers holding a slight lead, both at the top of the majors. Both are middle of the road in ERA. I'm not surprised that the Indians are winning that way, but I thought Detroit's offense would just be enough to support the pitching, not the strength of the team. But Ordonez, Guillen and Granderson are pounding the opposition, with Sheffield proving needed support at DH.

Paul Byrd faces Nate Robertson tonight. Byrd's only walked three batters in 45 2/3 innings. His control means, however, that the ball is in the strike zone and opponents hit seven home runs off the veteran. Robertson's strength is keeping the ball in the park. He gives up hits, but keeps hitters slugging percentage below .400, so they don't move runners very far with their hits.

The Marlins and Phillies were in a fighting mood last night, but they'll be rooting for each other as Florida hosts the Mets and the Phillies gallop to Atlanta. A weekend sweep by both teams would make a very tight NL East race. Orlando Hernandez comes off the disabled list to start for the Mets. He posted a 2.53 ERA before his shoulder problems, including ten strikeouts in seven innings against the Marlins. Serigo Mitre has yet to win at home this season, despite a 2.16 ERA in Florida.

The Phillies send left Jamie Moyer to the mound against Tim Hudson. Tim's cut off his opponent's power, especially against lefties. Left-handed batters only record one home run vs. Hudson so far, and own a mere .307 slugging percentage against him. Moyer's been hurt by his home park this season. His ERA drops to 3.38 on the road due to a better home run rate.

There are plenty of other interesting matchups as well. Weaver vs. Clippard, Matsuzaka vs. the improving McCarthy, Shields vs. Buehrle all should be fun, but Felix Hernandez against Gil Meche provides the most drama. Hernandez wasn't quite back to his pre-injury self in his last start, so we'll look for improvement there. Meche did not allow an earned run (he gave up three unearned) in his first start back in Seattle. Another good start against his former team and Mariner fans will wonder why Hernandez-Meche isn't their 1-2 punch.

Enjoy!

The Pirates try to move ahead of the Cardinals this afternoon as Tom Gorzelanny faces Braden Looper. Tom's pitched well on the road this season, picking up four of his five wins away from Pittsburgh. Looper's become the staff ace with the injury to Carpenter, but is coming off his worst start of the season. He did shutout the Pirates for seven inning back in April, however.

In his last two starts, Jeremy Guthrie received either no bullpen support or no run support. He'll try to keep the Orioles in third place today against the Blue Jays. Since moving permanently into the rotation, Guthrie is walking less than a batter per nine and hasn't allowed a home run. He should be 3-0. He'll face Shaun Marcum, also recently added to the rotation. In his two starts, he's struck out 13 in 12 innings and allowed a mere 1.50 ERA.

The "Battle of the Golfing Buddies" takes place in Atlanta as the Mets and Braves play the rubber game of their three-game series. John Smoltz and Tom Glavine face each other for the third time this season. Tom is 0-1 with a 3.97 ERA, while John pitched one good game and one bad one, making him 1-0 with a 6.17 ERA.

The day ends with the Padres going for a sweep of the Cubs as Jason Marquis visits Chris Young. Marquis is unhittable over the first three innings this season, giving up 16 hits in 95 at bats. He stays tough throughout the game, as well. Marquis will need to stay tough tonight, as Young only allowed one earned run in three starts at home.

Enjoy!

There's a good veteran pitching matchup in The Bronx tonight as Curt Schilling faces Andy Pettitte. Both are pitching well, but Schilling has more to show for his success on the mound. Pettitte seems to be pitching backwards this season. He's finding more success against right-handed batters and away from Yankee Stadium. Schilling's doing the same, as far as left-right matchups go. Lefties are getting on base at a .282 clip against him, righties .353. With a heavily left-handed lineup, the Yankees might be at a disadvantage in this game.

The White Sox try to make it five wins in six attempts versus the Athletics this season as Chad Gaudin takes on Jon Garland. Chicago is hitting .341 against Oakland with runners in scoring position while allowing a .268 BA in the same situation.

The Brewers and Dodgers play the rubber game of their series tonight with Brad Penny hosting Chris Capuano. Penny is the only ERA qualifier in the majors not to allow a home run this season. He'll be challenged by the Brewers power to keep that number intact. Capuano's held the opposition to a .216 BA with runners in scoring position this season.

Enjoy!

For the third day in a row, most of the good pitching matchups are on the west coast. Farther east, however, there are some good series starting that may allow teams to move up in the standings. The Orioles lead Toronto by 1/2 game in the AL East, but the teams are heading in opposite directions. The Blue Jays season looked over when appendicitis felled Roy Halladay, but the team is 6-3 since that day. Meanwhile, the Orioles lost six of their last eight, including two late innings meltdowns by the bullpen. A.J. Burnett faced Daniel Cabrera. With a high strikeout rate, Cabrera is keeping opposition hits down, but he hurts that strength with too many walks. Burnett handles lefties extremely well this season, but doesn't do so well when he holds the platoon advantage. If he can keep lefties at bay while improving against righties, he should pitch up to the standards of his contract.

In the NL East, the Phillies lead the Marlins by one game. It's a chance for Florida to move up in the standings, but they'll have to go through 6-1 Cole Hamels. Keep your eye on the NL strikeout battle as Hamels trails Jake Peavy by one for the NL lead, and both pitch tonight. The Marlins send Scott Olsen, who tends to get hit early. Twenty two of the fifty nine hits he allowed came in the first two inning of work.

And while the Phillies and Marlins battle for third, the Mets and Braves contest first place in the NL East. Former Braves pitcher Jorge Sosa is off to a good start for New York, allowing just nine hits in twenty innings of work. His opponent, Kyle Davies walks too many batters, and is hittable when he comes in the strike zone.

The top three NL Central teams find themselves on the west coast together, facing three good pitchers. The Cubs send Rich Hill against Padres ace Jake Peavy. Both pitchers send a lot of batters back to the dugout without making contact, but Rich's May hasn't lived up to his April promise. The strikeouts are still there, but batters and picking up more hits when they do make contact. Jake's only allowed one home runs this season. Among pitcher with at least 45 innings, only Brad Penny allowed fewer.

Finally, Roy Oswalt takes on Tim Lincecum in San Francisco. After a rough first start against the Phillies, Lincecum last seven innings against the Rockies and these same Astros, striking out sixteen in total. Oswalt bested him for those seven, allowed no runs, but the Giants won the game late 2-1. This should be the duel of the night.

Enjoy!

There's an abbreviated schedule in the majors today with only eight games scheduled for tonight. The biggest one take place between the Red Sox and the Yankees as Boston send Tim Wakefield to the mound against Chien-Ming Wang. Wakefield holds a huge advantage against the Yankees as his knuckleball this season is particularly difficult for left handed batters. With seven left-handed hitters likely in the Yankees lineup, that could be a huge factor in the game. Wang, on the other hand, is being stroked for extra-base hits by lefties, who are slugging .527 against him. Wang's ground ball percentage is down slightly this season, which is one reason for the extra extra-base hits.

Milwaukee travels to Los Angeles for a battle of first place teams. Jeff Suppan faces Brett Tomko. Suppan's ERA is good, but his run support just okay, which is why he's just a game above .500. Tomko's ERA looks a lot worse than his stats. It turns out he's getting creamed with runners in scoring position, allowing a .390 batting average and a .610 slugging percentage in that situation.

The best pitching matchup of the day goes to Houston at San Francisco as Noah Lowry hosts Chris Sampson. Chris' ERA suffers away from Houston as he posts a 5.23 mark on the road. Lowry's pitching in a place where he succeeds, with his 2007 OBA allowed 100 points lower in San Francisco than away from the bay.

Enjoy!

Like yesterday, most of the good pitching matchups are on the west coast. But a former west coast pitcher returns to Fenway as Tim Hudson faces the Red Sox. During the regular season, Tim hasn't fared well in Boston, going 1-4 in five starts with a 7.92 ERA. Kason Gabbard makes his 2007 debut in place of Josh Beckett so Tim Wakefield can start tomorrow against the Yankees. Gabbard pitched okay during his cup of coffee in 2006. He walked too many, but his minor league numbers say that shouldn't continue. He's yet to allow a home run in the major leagues.

Hudson's old team goes for a sweep of the Giants in Oakland as Matt Morris faces Joe Kennedy. Both pitchers are in the midst of saving their careers as they continue to post good ERAs. Morris continues to survive by keeping base runners from scoring. He's putting lots on, but he's also stranding lots. Still, a well timed extra-base hit can wipe all that away. Kennedy works efficiently, throwing 14.7 pitches per inning.

Felix Hernandez makes his second start since coming off the disabled list. He's holding righties to a .128 batting average so far this year. The Padres counter with Justin Germano, who in two starts only struck out five, but he's also allowed no home runs and just one walk in 13 innings.

Enjoy!

I was looking forward to the Smoltz-Matsuzaka matchup, but according to Fox Dice-K is pitching the afternoon game and Smoltz remains scheduled for the evening. Smoltz is coming off a dislocated pinkie, so we'll see how he fares later today.

One of the best pitching matchups of the day takes place in the only National League game as Micah Owings faces Tom Gorzelanny. Tom ranks fifth in NL ERA with a 2.36 mark. He's issuing few walks and few extra base hits. Owings main weakness so far is issuing walks to left-handed batters, and when lefties do get hits against him, they tend to fall for extra bases.

The Dodgers try to even their series with the Angels after LAnahiem handed Brad Penny his first loss of the year. Mark Hendrickson takes on Jered Weaver. Since moving to the rotation, Hendrickson started walking batters. He allowed just one in eleven innings working in relief, but eleven in 27 innings as a starter. Weaver is pitching well overall, but lefties are pounding him. So far, that's balanced by Jered's domination of righties.

Finally, after beating up on Barry Zito, the Athletics try to do the same to Matt Cain. Matt issues a lot of walks, and the A's are second in the majors in drawing them. On top of that, the Giants face AL ERA leader Dan Haren. He a right-hander holding lefties to just a .158 BA and a .237 slugging percentage. His matchup against Bonds should be interesting.

Enjoy!

I was looking forward to the Smoltz-Matsuzaka matchup, but according to Fox Dice-K is pitching the afternoon game and Smoltz remains scheduled for the evening. Smoltz is coming off a dislocated pinkie, so we'll see how he fares later today.

One of the best pitching matchups of the day takes place in the only National League game as Micah Owings faces Tom Gorzelanny. Tom ranks fifth in NL ERA with a 2.36 mark. He's issuing few walks and few extra base hits. Owings main weakness so far is issuing walks to left-handed batters, and when lefties do get hits against him, they tend to fall for extra bases.

The Dodgers try to even their series with the Angels after LAnahiem handed Brad Penny his first loss of the year. Mark Hendrickson takes on Jered Weaver. Since moving to the rotation, Hendrickson started walking batters. He allowed just one in eleven innings working in relief, but eleven in 27 innings as a starter. Weaver is pitching well overall, but lefties are pounding him. So far, that's balanced by Jered's domination of righties.

Finally, after beating up on Barry Zito, the Athletics try to do the same to Matt Cain. Matt issues a lot of walks, and the A's are second in the majors in drawing them. On top of that, the Giants face AL ERA leader Dan Haren. He a right-hander holding lefties to just a .158 BA and a .237 slugging percentage. His matchup against Bonds should be interesting.

Enjoy!

Interleague play gets underway today with the first set of regional series, or at least a close approximation in some cases. I'm not sure why St. Louis plays Detroit instead of Kansas City, except that the games feature a rematch of the 2006 World Series. And since the Phillies were once called the Blue Jays, they get to play Toronto. Does the Washington-Baltimore series get broadcast on both MASN and MASN2 so fans can pick their favorite announcers?

The White Sox head north to visit the Cubs with Mark Buehrle taking the hill against Ted Lilly. We'll see if Derrek's Lee neck is healed enough to allow him to play tonight. Buehrle's kept the opposition batting average low (he threw a no-hitter, after all), but the hits he does give up tend to find the gaps. Fifteen of thirty five hits fell for extra bases. Versus both lefties and righties, Lilly's kept opposition slugging below .300.

In the Big Apple, another battle of lefties as Oliver Perez hosts Andy Pettitte. Keep your eye on the Pettitte/Delgado matchup, as lefties are hitting well against Andy this season, and Carlos is hitting better against lefties. In 2007, Perez is pitching superbly against hitters from both sides of the plate.

On the west coast, Barry Zito returns to Oakland to take the opposition mound against Chad Gaudin. Chad made the transition from reliever to starter effectively, posting a 2.93 ERA. He's pitching less than six innings per start, however, which is one reason he's 2-1 in eight starts despite a fine ERA. For his career, Zito is 51-30 at the Coliseum with a 3.66 ERA.

Enjoy!

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.

The Brewers are suffering through a short losing streak, and it won't get any easier for them today as they send Jeff Suppan against Cole Hamels. A win by the Phillies brings them back to .500. They've been getting good production Greg Dobbs as he fills in for Ryan Howard. Philadelphia will put at least four lefties in the lineup against Suppan this evening, and he's allowed a .322 batting average to left-handed hitters this season. Hamels collected more strikeouts than hits so far this season, but his hits allowed seem high for that few balls in play. Opposition batting are hitting .376 when they make contact with Hamels, including seven home runs. Maybe the Phillies defense isn't playing well behind Cole.

The Cubs and Mets continue their series at Shea with Rich Hill facing Jorge Sosa. Both are off to excellent starts. The Mets and Cubs rank first and third respectively in starter's ERA in the NL, and these two pitchers contributed to those rankings. In two starts, Sosa is holding opponents to a .255 OBA, mostly by keeping his hits allowed low. Hill brought his home runs allowed under control this year, lowering his ERA with it.

Out on the west coast, Jake Peavy goes for his fifth straight ten-strikeout game as he faces the Reds and Bronson Arroyo. Over the stretch of four games, Jake's allowed just three earned runs in twenty eight innings. Arroyo is doing a great job of limiting the opposition's power. He ranks sixth in the NL in slugging percentage allowed at .285. Peavy is first at .220. Given PETCO Park's damping effect on offense, expect a close, low scoring game tonight.

Enjoy!

Another good matchup in Boston as Justin Verlander faces Tim Wakefield. Verlander is on a pace to allow about ten home runs over 200 innings. He allowed 21 in 2006 in 186 innings. Wakefield tries to match Dan Haren's performance of last night to reclaim the AL ERA lead. Lefties who make contact against Wakefield are doing a poor job this year, batting just .155 when not striking out.

The Twins find themselves four games back of the second place Indians as the two teams open a series in Cleveland. Ramon Ortiz takes the hill against Paul Byrd. Ortiz, a pitcher with good control during his career, lowered his walk rate to a more Minnesota like one every five innings. His strikeouts, however, are also very low, meaning he's very dependent on the Twins defense. Byrd's even more extreme in his free passes, issuing one every 10 innings.

And in probably the most important start of the night, Felix Hernandez returns to the mound to face Kelvim Escobar. Let's hope this goes better than Liriano's return in 2006. In that one, Francisco needed Tommy John surgery after two innings. So far this season, righties are just 1 for 32 against Hernandez. Escobar is hot in May, allowing just one run in sixteen innings and averaging eight in his two starts.

Enjoy!

Correction: Fixed Verlander's first name.

The top two teams in the American League square off tonight in Boston as Nate Robertson faces Daisuke Matsuzaka. Robertson comes off his first poor start of the season. He allows a high number of balls to be put into play, and it didn't pay off against the Mariners. Matsuzaka continues to pitch better than his ERA. He's dominating lefties, who are batting .215/.311/.316 against him. Despite an ERA close to five, the Red Sox should be happy with their investment in the pitcher.

Two former Braves face each other at Shea as Jason Marquis takes on Tom Glavine. Marquis's 1.70 ERA sits third in the National League. Coming into tonight, opponents post a lower slugging percentage than OBA against Marquis. In a year with home runs down, Glavine's allowed seven, but five of those came with the bases empty, limiting the damage.

The pitchers ranked two and three in AL ERA oppose each other in Oakland tonight. Meche and Haren hooked up five days ago. Both pitched well but neither figured in the decision. In sixteen games (15 starts) against Oakland, Meche is just 2-7 with a 4.34 ERA. Haren is another righty who is dominating lefties this year. The group is hitting .168 against Dan with a .218 OBA.

Enjoy!

The Brewers and Mets play the rubber game of their series at Shea as Oliver Perez hosts Chris Capuano. Chris brings a 5-0 record into the game, and the Brewers won all seven games he started. This is Capuano's third road start of the season, and he's allowed just one earned run in his previous two. Oliver's only walked twelve batters this season, but ten of them have come at Shea.

Josh Beckett goes for his eighth win in eight tries as he faces the Orioles and Jeremy Guthrie. Left-handed batters have little trouble with Jeremy as they're batting .429 against him. Beckett gets lefties and righties out equally well. Both are batting close to .215 against the righty.

If you're looking for a game with lots of home runs, LAnaheim at Texas looks like a good bet. Ervin Santana allowed eight dingers so far, and Mike Wood gave up two in just over twelve innings. And balls like to jump over the fence in Arlington.

Finally, Cliff Lee takes on Chad Gaudin in Oakland. Lee came back strong from his injury, pitching a complete game three hitter in his second start. He's allowed just three walks and a .267 OBA. Over the last two seasons (2006-2007), Gaudin's cut down on this home runs allowed, and his ERA has followed suit.

Enjoy!

The second place Orioles take on the first place Red Sox as Steve Trachsel faced Curt Schilling. Baltimore holds a four game winning streak which moved them up in the division. Trachsel's pitched well this year, although he's walked more than he's struck out. However, he's kept lefties off base, which helps when you're facing the Red Sox. Schilling's done the same, as lefties post a .221 OBA against Curt, righties, .360.

The Diamondbacks look to hold onto second place in the NL West as Livan Hernandez visits Houston and Roy Oswalt. Roy walked 17 batters in April. Before his first start in May he reviewed video tape, fixed the problem, and walked just one in each of his two May starts. Livan allowed just one home run so far, but his strikeouts are way down, below his walks allowed. If those two number stay that way, I expect his ERA to start to rise. Right now, however, the reduction in home runs compensates for the other weaknesses.

The Braden Looper experiment continues to succeed, and he'll face Chris Young tonight in San Diego. He's kept his walks and home runs low, and he's even striking out a reasonable number of batters. He's made the transition to starter seamlessly. In what appears to be a theme today, he also does a better job of keeping lefties off base than he does against righties. In two starts at PETCO this season, Young's opponents are 7 for 50 and have yet to score a run.

Enjoy!

The Brewers and Mets meet this evening at Shea, as the team with the best record in the NL meets the team with the best run differential in the NL. It's the battle of the J.S. as Jeff Suppan faces Jorge Sosa. Suppan sports a 2.63 ERA, and although lefties are hitting .342 against him, he's yet to allow a home run to batters from that side. In his career, Sosa's only pitched 19 innings against the Brewers, but he's held his ERA to 0.95 in that time.

The Cubs, trying to catch the Brewers, catch Cole Hamels and the Phillies in the city of brotherly love. The Cubs send their own star to the mound in Rich Hill. Rich is nearly flawless on the road this season, posting a 1.23 ERA and allowing just 11 hits 22 innings. Hamels struck out 52 in 47 2/3 innings. He trails Jake Peavy by four in the NL K race, and stands third in strikeouts per nine. So far he's been durable, averaging nearly seven innings per start.

Peavy pitches later on the west coast against the Cardinals and Kip Wells. Jake goes for his fourth 10 K game in a row. He's allowed zero or one earned run in five of his seven starts. Kip Wells made three good starts before hitters figured him out. He's allowed seven earned runs in each of his last three starts.

If the AL is more your flavor, check out Cleveland at Oakland. Like the Brewers and Mets, the team with the better record isn't the team with the best run differential. C.C. Sabathia visits Joe Blanton. Mililiter is issuing a minuscule number of walks, just 9 in 47 innings. Blanton's susceptible to the long ball at home, allowing three in 15 2/3 innings in Oakland this season.

Enjoy!

There's lots of afternoon baseball today, so set up your radio at work! We might be seeing Jeff Weaver's last start for the Mariners as he faces Justin Verlander and the Detroit Tigers. Weaver almost pitched a good game against the Yankees, but fell apart in the sixth inning and ended up allowing six runs. His ERA sits at 15.35. He's not fooling anyone as the opposition hits .435 against him. His walks are low, but that's because the pitches he's serving are so phat. With King Felix scheduled to return soon, someone has to go.

While Verlander has pitched well overall, he's run into trouble at Comerica this season. He's given up eight extra-base hits at home, just two on the road.

The only great pitching matchup of the day takes place in Toronto where Tim Wakefield faces Roy Halladay. The Blue Jays ace tries to stop Toronto's eight game losing streak. They've been outscored 64-27. That's an average score of 8-3. Four times the Jays allowed nine runs or more. Roy served up nine runs in his last outing. Overall, however, his stats look good, especially his walks and strikeouts. Wakefield continues to baffle left-handed hitters, who are hitting just .125 off the knuckleballer.

Enjoy!

John Maine brings his league leading ERA into San Francisco this afternoon as the Mets face Matt Morris and the Giants. Maine mostly pitched on the road this season, where his ERA is a stellar 1.00. Away from Shea, batters hit just .138 and slug .195. It's tough to explain Morris' good ERA. With few strikeouts, he's allowing a high BA and OBA. But he's kept the power down, which seems to be working so far.

There's a battle of old lefties in Arizona as Jamie Moyer faces Randy Johnson in a late afternoon start. The soft stuff still works for the Moyer as he's walked just 14 and allowed one home run in 41 innings pitched. He's even struck out 27, a respectable number. His former teammate has not fared well in three starts. His strikeouts are still high and the control is there, but Johnson's allowed five home run in just 18 innings so far. When Randy makes a mistake these days, it gets hit a long way.

Dasiuke Matsuzaka and Tomo Ohka come into the game with ERAs in the mid fives, but they get there differently. Matsuzaka posts good strikeout, walk and home run numbers, indicating a bit of bad luck. His fielding independent ERA is 3.26. Ohka, with a low strikeout rate and a high number of home runs allowed, pretty much deserves his high runs allowed.

Old teammates Greg Maddux and John Smoltz meet in Atlanta tonight as the Padres take on the Braves. Both are six inning pitchers now, but both retain their control which makes them so effective.

At the start of the season I would have thought it unlikely that a Tom Gorzelanny vs. Jason Marquis matchup would make games of the day, but they face each other with sub-3.00 ERAs. Gorzelanny's success comes from lowering his walk rate from one every two innings to one every three innings. Marquis is doing a great job against lefties, allowing a .172 batting average to hitters with the platoon advantage.

The best matchup of the day, however, takes place in Kansas City where Dan Haren, leading the AL in ERA takes on Gil Meche, ranked third. Dan keeps runners off base, allowing few hits and fewer walks. The opposition's OBA stands at .235. On top of that, he's allowed a .118 BA with runners in scoring position. Meche has been almost as tough, allowing a .167 BA with men in scoring position.

Enjoy!

Update: Fixed a typo.

Two teams headed in opposite directions face off in Toronto as the Blue Jays host the Red Sox. Since taking a two-game series in Boston, the Blue Jays are 3-8 and lost five games to the 8-3 Red Sox. The pitching matchup favors that trend continuing as Josh Beckett takes on Victor Zambrano. Beckett's 6-0 record is well deserved. He posts high strikeouts and low walks. In addition, only one home run flew off a bat against him. He certainly benefited from the reduction in long balls this season. Zambrano makes his second start after six relief appearances. The results in both roles are bad, as the league hits .353 against him with a .489 OBA.

In Chicago, two pitchers who are better than their .500 records square off as the Pirates visit the Cubs. Ian Snell allowed 10 runs in six starts, but the Pirates only scored 11 with him on the mound. Lilly's allowed 14 and the Cubs scored 17. Both allowed just two home runs this season. For both, that's a big drop from their normal home run rates.

Jorge De La Rosa emerged as the number two starter for the Kansas City Royals. For the first time in his career his walks are under control, lowering his ERA almost two runs from his career average. He'll host Chad Gaudin, who's helping take up the slack from the loss of Rich Harden. Chad limits the power of the opposition, giving up just nine extra-base hits this season for an opposition slugging of .336.

Finally, it's the old versus the new as Tom Glavine faces Matt Cain. Glavine sits in the bottom 20 (majors) in home runs allowed per 9 IP, but four of the six went for solo shots, so damage has been minimal. Cain ranks second in the majors in walks per 9. We'll see which team is better at exploiting the weakness.

Enjoy!

The Day by Day Database is up to date.

Darrell Rasner takes over for Philip Hughes. He's made three starts, but his ERA is much better than his stats would suggest, possibly because three of the nine runs he's allowed in 14 innings were unearned. His strong suit is controlling walks allowed, his weak spot is the long ball. He'll host Jarrod Washburn, posting excellent number so far this season. Jarrod doesn't strike out a lot of batters, but he keeps his hits and walks allowed low.

Over his last two starts, Jake Peavy struck out 26 batters in 14 innings while allowing just three runs. He's 0-1 as the Padres lost both games by a score of 3-2. He'll take on the offensively strong Florida Marlins and Scott Olsen. Despite a 5.63 ERA, Olsen's record is 3-1 thanks to 20 runs scored in his support. The Marlins lead the NL with 5.6 runs per game, second only to the Yankees in the majors. If they can get their pitching back to where it was last season, they'll contend for a playoff spot. Right now, the Marlins own the highest ERA in the NL.

Brian Burres makes the first start of his career for the Orioles against C.C. Sabathia and the Cleveland Indians. Burres, in 21 1/3 career relief innings posted a 1.69 ERA. He's struck out 21 and walked 9. We'll see if that holds up as a starter. Milliliter is posting the best strikeout rate of his career, with 44 K in just 40 innings pitched.

Shawn Hill is only 2-3, but he's been tough to hit. He's held both righties and lefties under .225. Angel Guzman makes his first start of the season for the Cubs. He's pitched well in relief, getting his walks under control.

Mark Buehrle and Bartolo Colon go head to head in Anaheim this afternoon. Mark's been tough on righties this season, allowing a .245 OBA and a .364 slugging percentage. Colon's recovery from his injury appears to be complete as he's striking out about nine times the batters he's walking.

And finally, a good young matchup as Cole Hamels faces San Francisco and their up and coming star Tim Lincecum. Tim makes his major league debut after allowing just 12 hits in 30 innings pitched at Fresno. Hamels given up a few home runs, but his control's been great, striking out 43 and walking just 12 in 40 2/3 innings.

Enjoy!

It's Jon vs. John as the White Sox Garland takes on the Angels Lackey. With a weak offense behind him, Garland suffers from a lack of run support. He's allowed 16 runs this season, but Chicago scored just 14 while he's in the game. Lackey stands third in the league in ERA at 2.19. He's given up more hits than innings pitched, but most of those came with the bases empty, including both home runs.

The Yankees hold a 5.92 ERA in The Bronx this season, and Chien-Ming Wang is close to that with a 5.84 overall ERA. The Mariners send out former Yankee Jeff Weaver, who averages over 2 earned runs per inning. I'd say the slugfest from last night has a good chance of continuing today.

Tim Hudson tried to regain his NL lead in ERA against Derek Lowe and the Dodgers. John Maine kept his lead last night with six innings and one earned run against the Diamondbacks. Hudson is nearly unhittable at the start of the game. In the first four innings this season, Hudson has allowed five hits in 73 at bats, an .068 batting average. Lowe doubled his walk rate over 2006, and it shows in an ERA that's a run higher than last year.

Enjoy!

Update: Corrected Maine's outing from last night.

Two of my favorite pitchers face off in Florida tonight as Greg Maddux visits Dontrelle Willis. The opposition is loading up on righties against Dontrelle and they're hitting him hard this year, posting a .354 BA and a .569 slugging percentage. The move to southern California appears to have cured Maddux of the home run woes that plagued him the last few seasons. He's only allowed one so far.

Atlanta and Los Angeles are both in first place, and they lock horns in Atlanta as Brett Tomko takes on John Smoltz. Tomko's ERA seems a bit low for the quality of his pitching. He's giving up a high batting average with men on base, but little power. Smoltz hasn't done that good a job of putting away hitters with two strikes on them. Opponents are batting .235 against John in that situation. The Braves staff as a whole, .178.

The Twins are losing ground to the hot Indians and Tigers. They'll host the Red Sox tonight as they send Carlos Silva vs. Tim Wakefield. The knuckle ball is keeping opponents off balance, as they've managed a mere .210 batting average against Tim. Silva is both striking out a few more and walking a few more than last year, and it seems to be paying off in a better ERA. His walks were so low last season that he can afford to bring them up a bit and still be good, especially if it gets batters to swing at pitches out of the strike zone.

Enjoy!

Gil Meche enters today with an ERA of 2.18, tied for second in the AL ERA race. So far, Meche is earning his salary. He cut his walks in half vs. 2006, and his ERA fell with it. He'll host Jered Weaver. It took Weaver three starts to get back in the groove, but last time out he pitches 5 2/3 scoreless innings, striking out five and walking none.

The Yankees and Rangers play a double header to make up last night's rainout. Mike Mussina starts one of those games, his first start since going on the disabled list. Pettitte starts the other. It will be interesting to see how Torre manages the bullpen today, since they are rested, and Mussina is unlikely to go deep in the game. Will he use someone as a long reliever, or will he go with a bunch of people in Mussina's game and make Pettitte take one for the team in the other?

The Mariners come to Boston to make up an earlier postponement, and they'll face Matsuzaka again. Dice-K pitched well against the team in his second start of the year, but was outdone by Felix Hernandez. Ichiro went 0 for 5 in that game, but Johjima knocked out two hits.

Out west, it's something old and something new as Tom Glavine takes on Micah Owings. Players are getting on against Glavine, but he's held opponents to a .154 BA with runners in scoring position. Owings returns from an hamstring injury. In his short major league career, he's shown the control that made him such a coveted prospect, striking out 14 and walking six in 15 1/3 innings.

Enjoy!

After the Cubs and Pirates finish their suspended game, the regularly scheduled game presents a good matchup as Jason Marquis faces Ian Snell. The big change for Jason this season is the longball. He's allowed just one home run in 30 2/3 innings. Last season, opponents took him deep 35 times. Snell also cut way down on his long balls. In addition, he's also cut his walk rate, which leaves him fourth in the NL in ERA.

The Marlins go for a sweep of the Mets at Shea this afternoon. Anibal Sanchez throws a lot of pitches early, so he's been limited to five innings in most of his starts. That wasn't the case last season when he routinely went seven. His high number of walks may have something to do with it. Oliver Perez started four games and issued seven walks, all in one game. If he can keep the majority of his starts walk-less, he'll continue to perform just fine.

Mark Hendrickson continues to fill in for Jason Schmidt today as he faces Doug Davis and the Arizona Diamondbacks. A good outing by Mark this afternoon puts him in among the NL leaders in ERA. Davis is also up there, but mostly due to timing. With no runners on, batters are reaching base at a .446 clip, but hitting just .237 with men on base.

Andy Pettitte tries to break the injury streak tonight. Karstens broke his leg Saturday, Wang broke a nail on Sunday, and Hughes pulled a hamstring last night. Pettitte's pitching well against right-handed batters this season, holding them to a .327 OBA and a .357 slugging percentage. Robinson Tejeda takes the hill for the Rangers. Tejeda is vulnerable to the long ball, but otherwise is pitching well. He's putting up good strikeout and walk numbers.

Finally, Roy Oswalt tries to break the Astros out of their slump against Kyle Lohse and the Reds. Lohse holds opponents to a .291 OBA on the strength of issuing just four walks this season. Oswalt, on the other hand, shows shaky control this season. He's already walked 17 in 2007 after giving up just 38 walks in all of 2006.

Enjoy!

Ryan Langerhans debuts for the Oakland Athletics in Boston tonight as Joe Blanton faces Curt Schilling. It's an even matchup as Blanton dialed up his strikeout rate this season. Coming into 2007, Blanton struck batters out at a rate of 5.1 per 9 innings. So far in 2007, that's up to 7.4 K per 9. Schilling's performances stretch to extremes. He's put up three starts where he allowed 1 or fewer runs, and two in which he's been tagged for five.

The Phillies wasted a good performance by Jon Lieber last night in their quest to catch the NL East leaders. Cole Hamels might have an easier time tonight as he challenges Mark Redman. Hamels is doing everything right, except balls are falling for hits against him. The Phillies have a low .663 DER behind Cole. Redman's ground ball percentage is way down from previous seasons, which may be a reason he's getting hit so often.

Carlos Gomez breaks down the changes in Phil Hughes' delivery at the Hardball Times. With Hughes and the Yankees facing Kameron Loe in Texas, this could be the slugfest of the day. Lefties give Loe trouble, and the Yankees have plenty of those.

Colon versus Greinke rounds out the evening. Bartolo's showing great control since his return from the DL, striking out twelve and walking just one in 14 innings. Grienke gets out lefties much better than righties. Given the number of switch hitters on the Angels, that might work to Zack's advantage.

Enjoy!

The Phillies start a three-game series with the Braves, trailing Atlanta by four games for second place in the NL East. The Braves send their big gun to the mound as Tim Hudson faces Jon Lieber. Since moving into the starting rotation, Lieber's been nearly as good as Hudson, posting a 1.54 ERA and striking out 10 in 11 2/3 innings. Hudson's allowed just one run in his fourteen innings of work in Atlanta this season.

The Cubs try to catch the Pirates tonight as Rich Hill gets the start after yesterday's postponement. Hill's been nearly untouchable on the road, allowing just one run and five hits in fifteen innings this season. He'll face Zach Duke, who's been inconsistent. He's pitched three good games and two very poor ones. And although he's only struck out six in 26 innings, he's walked even less, just five.

Finally, Arizona opens a three game series at Los Angeles, trailing the Dodgers by 1/2 game. Brandon Webb takes the hill for the Diamondbacks. Webb has everything working, high strikeouts, low walks and home runs. Against everyone but the Rockies, he pitching like a defending Cy Young Award winner. Randy Wolf is good at two of those three items. He is allowing home runs however, leading to a few more runs.

Enjoy!

Slugfest of the day is a tough choice, but I'm going with Texas at Toronto as Brandon McCarthy faces Tomo Ohka. Brandon's big problem comes from left-handed batters. They're slugging .735 against the righty. Ohka is a righty who can't get righties out. Righties are posting a .361 OBA against him, while lefties are getting on at a .270 clip.

Paul Maholm comes off a three-hit shutout of the Astros as he faces Aaron Harang and the Reds. Maholm shows good control this season walking just six in twenty five innings. Harang will try to end April 4-0. He's not only showing good control like Maholm, but he's adding a high strikeout rate as well.

In the battle of 23-year-old lefties, the veteran Scott Kazmir visits the rookie Dallas Braden. Dallas handled the Orioles easily in his major league debut, striking out six and walking just one in six innings of work. Scott's main problem this season is five home runs and a tendency to give up hits with men in scoring position.

The Cubs and Cardinals appear on National TV tonight. The teams are tied for last in the NL Central with Houston, so one of them will move up a spot after tonight. Rich Hill takes the hill for the Cubs. He's third in the majors in ERA based on incredible work against right-handed batters. They're hitting just .127 against Rich with a .207 OBA and a .215 slugging percentage. After three good starts at the beginning of the season, Kip Wells allowed eleven earned runs in his last two appearances.

Enjoy!

Update: Sorry, I just saw the Cardinals game was postponed due to the death of Josh Hancock. Please see the next post.

I'm on the road today, so here's a quick and dirty games of the day:

Minnesota at Detroit. The only good pitching matchup of the day pits a rejuvenated Carlos Silva vs. a just plain juvenated Justin Verlander.

Boston at New York. Tim Wakefield is tied for 2nd in the AL in ERA. The Yankees own the third worst record in baseball.

Florida at Philadelphia. Dontrelle Willis is always fun to watch, and the two teams are tied for third in the NL East. Plus, two shortstops off to great starts go head to head.

San Francisco at Arizona. Matt Cain looks like he's out acing Barry Zito this year.

Enjoy!

WABC in New York showed a movie every weekday afternoon at 4:30 when I was young. Every so often Monster Week would pop up with a bunch of 'Godzilla vs." flicks. So it's with a bit of nostalgia that Godzilla vs. Matsuzaka comes to New York this evening, weather permitting. There's only a small history between the two:

The two Japanese mega-stars have a little history. In the 2002 Japan Series, Matsui went 0-for-3 against Matsuzaka. In the 2001 All-Star Game at Yokohama Stadium, Matsui hit a two-run home run off Dice-K.

Meanwhile, the comeback last night against Baltimore gave Boston the biggest division lead of any first place team, and set the losing Yankees further into last place. Another sweep by the Red Sox and New York finds itself 8 1/2 games out of first place.

Last year's playoff entries from the AL Central face off in Detroit as Ramon Ortiz takes on Nate Robertson. Two things are helping Ortiz pitch well for the Twins. He's lowered his walk rate to less than one per 9 innings, and the Twins defense is posting a .765 DER behind him. With lots of balls in play, turning 76.5% into outs is extraordinary. Robertson reduced his home run rate by about a factor of three. That puts his ERA at 2.05, fifth in the AL.

Roy Oswalt looks to stop Houston's six-game losing streak as he faces Chris Capuano and the first place Brewers. One problem Roy faces this season is left-handed batters getting on base. They're doing so at a .354 clip. Coming into this season, Oswalt held lefties to a .307 OBA. Capuano's striking out about 1.5 batters more per nine than in his previous two seasons. Combine that with a higher percentage of ground balls and Chris' ERA took a tumble.

Enjoy!

Shawn Hill takes on Cole Hamels this afternoon in Philadelphia. Hill holds the best ERA among the Nationals starters at the moment. He averaging six innings a start and only allowed one home run so far. He's two days short of his 26th birthday, so a win today would be an early present. Hamels comes off the first complete game of his career. Note that this season, Cole's pitch counts are 110, 97, 110 and 115. There doesn't appear to be a 100 pitch limit with Cole as there are with so many young pitchers. Whether this turns out well is yet to be determined. I hope it does, because I'd like to see starters stay in games longer, especially when they are pitching well.

Boston finishes its series with Baltimore as Josh Beckett faces Adam Loewen. Both pitchers are undefeated. With Beckett on the mound, the Red Sox outscored their opponents 32-8. It helps that Josh holds opponents to a .267 OBA. Loewen holds a good ERA despite walking a ton of batters, almost one per inning. The Red Sox are the kind of team that can take advantage of his wildness.

Philip Hughes makes his debut for the Yankees against A.J. Burnett of the Blue Jays. With the rainout last night, the Yankees didn't want to push him back a day to start his career against the Red Sox, so Pettitte goes tomorrow. Burnett is uncharacteristically wild so far this season. He has, however, been very good against left-handed batters, which is important whenever a team faces the Yankees.

Enjoy!

The Reds try to make it two in a row against the Cardinals as Bronson Arroyo takes on Braden Looper. With Carpenter out of action, Looper emerged as the staff ace, pitching the only decent start in the last eight games for the Cardinals. Braden keeps the ball on the ground, and induced five double plays so far this season. Arroyo pitches better than his 0-2 record indicates. His strikeouts are high and his walks and home runs are low. It may just be he's being left in the game too long. Eight of the fourteen runs against him came from the seventh inning on.

In a matchup of potential Cy Young candidates, Jake Peavy faces Brandon Webb in Arizona. Peavy's been too different pitchers at Chase Field. Early in his career, the ball flew out of the park against him as he allowed 10 home runs in his first 15 innings there. But since, he's controlled the long ball and posted a 2.18 ERA at the park. Webb strikes out better than a batter per inning, but the DER behind him is exceptionally low this season. Given that his line drive percentage is up this year, that's not all the fault of the defense.

Finally, Noah Lowry and Randy Wolf battle in Los Angeles as the Giants and Dodgers continue their series. Noah is suffering from a lack of run support as San Francisco scored a mere five runs in his 20 innings pitched. Mr. Wolf's strike out rate represents a career high for him, and the Dodgers make life easy with generous run support. They've scored 28 runs in his 24 innings pitched.

Enjoy!

Correction: Fixed Lowry's first name.

It's debut day in the majors and we start off with Dallas Braden taking the hill for the Athletics. Before I looked at his minor league numbers I had a pretty good idea what I wold see; high strikeouts, low walks and low home runs. On top of all that, a 23-6 record in the minors. So far in 2007 he's struck out 20 in 18 innings while walking just four. Seems he has little left to prove at that level. Dallas starts in Baltimore against Jeremy Guthrie. This is Guthrie's first start of the season and second of his career. The problem throughout his short career is control. He's walked 27 batters in 45 major league innings.

Down in Tampa, the Devil Rays try to drop the Yankees into last place in the AL East. Standing in their way is Chien-Ming Wang, making his 2007 debut. Wang pitched dismally vs. Tampa Bay in 2005, but owned them in 2006. The Yankees need the latter type of performance tonight. Scott Kazmir takes the hill for Tampa Bay. Scott's ERA is high despite good strikeout and walk numbers. His downfall came from hits with runners in scoring position. The opposition is 8 for 22 in that situation, a .364 batting average.

Finally, Diamondbacks fans welcome Randy Johnson back to Arizona. The Big Unit struck out 14 in 18 rehab innings while walking just two. Johnson is 57-27 lifetime at Chase Field with a 2.70 ERA. He'll face another old lefty, David Wells. Boomer still controls the strike zone as he's walked just two in sixteen innings. Like Kazmir, however, his ERA is high due to lots of opposition hits with runners in scoring position.

Enjoy!

The Red Sox continue their two week stretch against the injured Blue Jays and Yankees as they host Toronto Monday night. So far, Boston took five of six games against the AL East rivals to secure first place in the AL East. The Jays send Tomo Ohka against Tim Wakefield. Ohka's allowed the highest HR per 9 IP in the majors this season (15 IP). Given the Red Sox home run performance Sunday, that's a worry. Meanwhile, Tim Wakefield leads the American League in ERA with a 1.35 mark. He's yet to allow a home run, and batters are hitting a mere .167 against Tim. What's even more impressive is those 12 hits came on 61 balls in play, a .197 BABIP. Even when batters are making contact, they're not hitting the ball hard.

Chris Sampson of Houston is another pitcher at the top of the early season ERA leaderboards. Like Wakefield, he's not striking out many batters, but his BABIP is just .208. We'll see how long that lasts against a Phillies team that appears to be coming out of their offensive doldrums. Adam Eaton takes the mound for Philadelphia. He's pitched better than his ERA, but Adam gave up both his home runs this season with men on base.

The pitching matchup of the night throws Mark Buehrle against Gil Meche in Kansas City. Buehrle comes fresh off his no-hitter and has allowed a mere .127 batting average this season. With the Royals batting just .240 as a team, he might have a shot at another. Meche is controlling his walks well this season, helping him to a .315 OBA allowed.

Enjoy!

Tom Glavine comes into today with a 3-1 record, his only loss coming in a game against his former teammate, John Smoltz. Both pitchers allowed two earned runs in that game, but the Mets defensive miscues led to three unearned runs. Despite Glavine's low ERA, two things bother me about the pitcher's stats. He's walking more than he's striking out, and righties are hitting him much better than lefties. When Glavine is right, he's the kind of pitcher who gets right-handed batters out. Smoltz is doing a better job of keeping the ball in the park this season compared to 2006. He's only allowed two home runs in 26 innings.

Runs could be plentiful in the Cleveland/Tampa Bay matchup. The Devil Rays score at a rate of 5.18 per game, third best in the majors. Add to that Jake Westbrook's 12.08 ERA and you have a slugfest in the making. Jake's already been taken deep five times in just 12 2/3 innings. He'll face James Shields, who also allowed five home runs. His are over 20 innings, however. James is also pitching very well against left-handed batters, allowing a .209 OBA against the group.

Houston and Milwaukee continue their battle for first in the NL Central with David Bush hosting Roy Oswalt. Bush appears to be pitching in a bit of bad luck. His strikeouts, walks and home runs are all great, but he's putting a lot of leadoff hitters on. Eight of seventeen leadoff hitters reached by a hit or walk. Roy Oswalt allowed just four extra-base hits so far this season, and none with men on base. He's making it tough for runners to advance a long distance.

Greg Maddux allowed home runs in each of his last five starts at Coors field, eight in all. His record there is way out of whack with the rest of his career, and it's the long balls that hurt him. The Jason Hirsh trade looks good for the Rockies so far. He's posting a 3.38 ERA and only allowed one home run in 18 2/3 innings so far.

And tonight, in glorious HD, Daisuke Matsuzaka takes the mound against the New York Yankees. The should be good news for Chase Wright, since all of Matsuzaka's opponents pitched well so far.

2007	Matsuzaka	Opposing Starter
Innings	20	22 2/3
Walks	5	3
Strikeouts	24	16
Home Runs	1	1
ERA	2.70	0.79

Enjoy!

Jeff Karstens faces Josh Beckett as the Yankees and Red Sox continue their weekend series. Karstens career is starting out in a similar fashion to Chien-Ming Wang's. In the minor leagues, Jeff posted very good walk numbers and decent strikeout numbers. But in the majors, the strikeouts fell, although he remained stingy with the free passes. The results are a good number of hits, but an ERA below 4.00. Hitters only slammed one home run against Josh Beckett so far this season. Last year, he allowed six in April. His ERA reflects that. At 1.50,his ERA is fifth in the American League. With a win, he'll become the first four game winner in the majors.

A nice matchup in Milwaukee tonight as Chris Capuano host Wandy Rodriguez. The lefty Capuano keeps lefties and righties off base with equal excellence in 2007, but righties do hit him for power. Opponents are hitting just .209 off Rodriguez, 70 points lower than his career average. The Astros only scored four runs for him so far, however, which is why he hasn't picked up a win.

San Diego at Colorado wins the nomination for slugfest of the day. Clay Hensley sports an ERA over 12 and is averaging less than five innings per start. Righties pound Jeff Francis, and they've accounted for about 70% of the at bats against him.

Finally, Ian Snell faces Brad Penny in a matchup of sub-2.00 ERAs. Snell is striking out a batter per inning, helping him hold opponents to a .181 batting average. Like Beckett, a win puts Penny at 4-0. Brad's put men on base this year, but opponents are only 1 for 14 against him with runners in scoring position.

Enjoy!

It's a New York state of mind today as the teams from the Bronx and Queens battle for first place in their divisions. The Yankees are in Boston, trailing the first place Red Sox by one game. Andy Pettitte faces the Red Sox for the first time since Sept. of 2003. He's 13-5 against Boston for his career with a 3.01 ERA. Since arriving in Boston, Schilling holds a 6-3 record against the Yankees, but with a 4.35 ERA. He tends to pitch very well against New York, but sometimes gets hammered.

The Yankees are leading the majors with 6.5 runs per game, almost 2 more per game than the Red Sox. But Boston leads the AL in ERA with a 2.58 mark, about a run better than New York.

The team with the second highest runs per game in the majors plays in Queens. Their 6.21 runs per game is matched by their MLB leading 2.40 ERA. They host the Braves this evening as Tim Hudson faces Mike Pelfrey. The Mets lead the division by 1/2 game. Hudson is off to a great start as batters are hitting just .157 against him. He's faced a scoring position situation just 8 times and only allowed one hit, accounting for his 0.86 ERA. Walks hurt Pelfry. In his short career, he issued sixteen free passes in 27 innings pitched. Luckily for him, the Mets bullpen is very strong, allowing just a .181 BA and a .281 OBA so far this season.

Enjoy!

The best pitching matchups of the day are in the western afternoon games. Livan Hernandez and Jake Peavy go head-to-head in San Diego. Livan is walking lots of batters, but so far his hits allowed are low, and no balls left the park against him. Low numbers of home runs isn't his forte, so those walks may eventually come back to bite him. Peavy's not producing his usual high rate of strikeouts, but batters are having a tough time hitting him. He's allowed a .157 oppositions batting average so far, with an great .221 OBA. None of the hits he allowed went for extra bases.

In San Francisco, Kip Wells continues his recovery from a blood clot against Noah Lowry. Left-handers find Kip tough to hit this season, as they're just 3 for 30 against the righty. Lowry comes into today's game with 6 walks and five strikeouts in 13 innings. Still, his OBA allowed is in the mid .200s, a fine place for any pitcher.

Seattle sends Jarrod Washburn against Johan Santana as they await word on Felix Hernandez. Although not a strikeout pitcher, Washburn does well against the Twins in that category, striking out 57 and walking 15 in 71 2/3 innings during his career. With 25 K in 20 innings, Johan Santana comes in with the best K per 9 in the AL.

Enjoy!

The Orioles and Devil Rays matchup this afternoon with two under-performing aces on the mound. Erik Bedard enters the game with a 2-1 record but an ERA over five. He's struck out batters and kept his walks low, but balls in play are falling for hits or landing out of the park. Scott Kazmir suffers from the same problem. He's already allowed four home runs in 20 innings pitched. This could turn out to be a high strikeout, high scoring game.

In Oakland, another battle of aces as John Lackey battles Dan Haren. Dan owns the lower ERA, but John picked up two wins while Dan was saddled with two losses. The faced each other on April 7th, the difference being an unearned run in a 2-1 Angels win.

Dontrelle Willis takes on the Mets and John Maine this evening. Lefties are just 1 for 18 against Dontrelle, helping to compensate for the fact that right-handed batters are hitting .356 against him. The best way to describe Maine so far in 2007 is wild but unhittable. Despite walking eight in 11 2/3 innings, his opposition OBA is just .292 as he allowed just six hits.

Rodrigo Lopez is doing a great job of keeping batters off base so far this season. He'll take on a Dodgers team tonight that sports a .326 OBA. That seems low, but this season it's in the middle of the league. He'll face Derek Lowe who is putting men on base at a .337 clip but limiting them to one base at a time.

Finally, the rejuvenated Carlos Silva faces the best pitcher in the majors so far this season, Felix Hernandez. The King comes into the game with 17 scoreless innings. He's given up just four hits and four walks. Silva's close, having allowed just one run in two starts, but somehow that translated to an 0-1 record. Loading up on lefties against Carlos appears to be a good strategy this season.

Enjoy!

The day starts off at 1 PM EDT with a battle of good, young pitcher as Tom Gorzelanny faces Adam Wainwright. The Pittsburgh lefty issued just one walk so far this season while striking out nine. Wainwright's wilder, issuing seven walks, but he's been tough with runners in scoring position. Both bring ERAs under 2.00 into the game.

In New York, Chase Wright makes his major league debut for the Yankees:

Wright made great strides in the past couple of seasons. A third-round draft pick in 2001, he went 13-21 with a 4.80 ERA between 2001 and 2004. Wright excelled in 2005-06, going a combined 22-7 with a 2.90 ERA. In spring training this year, he had a 2.84 ERA in four games.

"He's gotten command of the fastball," Cashman said, "and he has a pretty special changeup."

Andy Pettitte, another homegrown lefthander, was nearly 23 when he made his Yankees debut April 29, 1995. Wright is a little older than that, but Pettitte still had advice.

"The big thing is you just can't change what you've been doing if you've been successful," Pettitte said.

Of course, Ron Guidry was another Yankees lefty who was really a late bloomer. He earned cups of coffee at ages 24 and 25, then became a full time starter at 26. His career worked out just fine. Wright takes on Jake Westbrook, who is issuing a high number of walks this season. That's never a good idea against the selective Yankees lineup.

The Red Sox start an important run against two injury riddled AL East opponents as they send Daisuke Matsuzaka against the Blue Jays and Gustavo Chacin. The unusual movement in Dice-K's pitches might best be reflected in his platoon stats. Left-handed batters are hitting just .227 against the righties, while right-handers are batting .300. Chacin may be around the plate too much this season. He allowed just one walk so far, but four home runs.

Sammy Sosa visits one of his old haunts, the south side of Chicago as the Rangers play the White Sox:

Tonight, when the Rangers start a three-game series at the White Sox, Sosa will be appearing in Chicago for the first time since he reportedly left early from the Cubs' season finale in 2004. The appearance will be fleeting - Sosa isn't expected to start against right-hander Jon Garland, so he'll only be on the field for batting practice - but it might be just enough to raise the ire of Chicagoans who are still miffed at the one-time king of the city.

"I don't know what to expect," said Sosa, who is expected to play Wednesday against lefty Mark Buehrle. "I don't want to know. I'm just looking forward to it. Hopefully, they'll realize the effort I've put into trying to come back. We'll see what happens."

Two years is a long time to hold a grudge.

Jered Weaver makes his first appearance of 2007 as the Angels visit the Athletics. Oakland is just 7 for 51 against Weaver, all in the Coliseum. Chad Gaudin takes the mound for Oakland. His starts have been short, but he's only allowed three earned runs in 10 2/3 innings while striking out nine.

Enjoy!

Correction: Fixed the location of the Yankees game.

With two weeks of the season nearly in the books, no one is running away with a division. All three AL divisions offer races where four teams are less than two games out of first place. All three NL divisions find three teams less than two games out of first place. The Orioles and Brewers own the longest current winning streaks at three games. Almost every game is meaningful.

Three games are already underwater. The Red Sox, Mets and Phillies all postponed their games. The Marlins and Braves are scheduled to play, and a win by the Fish creates a three-way tie for first play in the NL East. Scott Olsen takes on Tim Hudson. Olsen is suffering from unusual wildness early, as he's walked nine and struck out five in 10 1/3 innings. Hudson's doing a great job of keeping opponents off base, allowing a .111 BA and a .216 OBA so far this season.

Ben Sheets tries to extend the Brewers winning streak against the Cardinals Braden Looper. So far, the switch from reliever to starter worked out well. Looper comes into the game with a 2.08 ERA, but I still worry that the lack of strikeouts will eventually catch up with him. Sheets in fifteen innings still hasn't walked a batter, although his lack of strikeouts also makes me wonder if he's returned to full strength yet.

The Yankees and Athletics play the rubber game of their series with Andy Pettitte facing Rich Harden both with sub-2.00 ERAs. Both pitchers are likely to be pushed to go deep in this game, with the two previous extra-inning games taking a toll on the bullpen. Harden will need to go after the selective Yankees lineup to stay efficient.

And finally, the Padres and the Dodgers celebrate Jackie Robinson day on the National stage. Chris Young and Randy Wolf get the call tonight. Young wrote his senior thesis at Princeton on Jackie Robinson. He's holding opponents to a .288 OBA so far this year. Wolf's been having trouble with right-handed batters this season, allowing all four of his walks to that side of the platoon.

Enjoy!

Update: Baltimore postponed their game with KC, and Pittsburgh postponed both ends of their double header with the Giants.

The Nationals and Mets offer a compelling pitching matchup this afternoon as Shawn Hill faces Orlando Hernandez. Hill's minor league career was best described by his minuscule walk and home run rates. So far this season, he's showing that form in the majors. He just needs a little run support. Hernandez sports a 1.38 ERA in his two starts despite doing the opposite. He's allowed walks and home runs, but he's kept the hits down with opponents batting just .175 against him.

Cole Hamels earned his 1.38 ERA by pitching great in all aspects of the game. Now he just needs the Phillies offense to help him get a win. He'll oppose Woody Williams and the Astros. Williams is taking pitching to contact to the extreme this season as he's only struck out two batters in 10 2/3 innings. As one might expect, with all the balls in play, his hit totals are up.

If you're looking for a high scoring game, something might give in Pittsburgh today as Barry Zito (8.18 ERA) matches pitches against Tony Armas (13.50 ERA). Neither of these teams were high scoring until they combined for 13 runs yesterday. Or, if you prefer AL action, Edwin Jackson (6.35 ERA) visits Sidney Ponson (12.71 ERA). The Devil Rays are just 1/2 game behind the Yankees and Orioles for third place in the division.

Yesterday I found a place to buy a pack of Topps baseball cards, and the best card in the pack was Jake Peavy. He'll match up against the Dodgers' hired gun Jason Schmidt. The eight hits Jake allowed so far all fell for singles, making his slugging percentage allowed lower than his OBA allowed. Half of the hits against Schmidt fell for extra bases, negating his otherwise good pitching numbers.

Enjoy!

The Reds visit the Cubs this afternoon as the two staff aces face off at a freezing Wrigley field. Aaron Harang's done every thing right so far this season, keeping the ball in the park, keeping his walks low, and accumulating a high number of strikeouts. Zambrano pitched poorly against the Reds in his first start but better against the Brewers. He's already allowed four home runs on the season.

Two first place teams continue their series as Bonderman and the Tigers face Halladay and the Blue Jays. Bonderman's given up four of the five runs he's allowed this year in the first inning. So far this season, Halladay is dominating left-handed batters, as that group is just 4 for 26 against the righty.

If you like left-handed strikeout artists, tune in to the Devil Rays and Twins tonight as Scott Kazmir faces Johan Santana. The big difference between the two is control and stamina. Eleven of Kazmir's fifteen strikeouts came in the first three innings this season. Santana is pretty consistent inning to inning.

Enjoy!

LAnaheim and Cleveland finish up their series in Milwaukee today, where snow is kept out by the roof on Miller park. Dustin Moseley faces Jeremy Sowers. Jeremy doesn't strike out a lot of batters, but he was unusually wild in his first start, walking five in six innings of work. Moseley was just the opposite, striking out four in his six innings with no walks.

Weather looks bad for a number of scheduled games, but it looks like the Nationals get to play the Braves tonight as Washington tries for a second win. It's going to be rough for them as John Smoltz takes the mound for Atlanta. Smoltz was a bit wild against the Met in his last start, but Washington doesn't have the selectivity of the New York hitters. With Jason Bergman on the mound for the Nationals, this looks like another lopsided loss for Washington.

Enjoy!

Boston hosts the pitching matchup of the day as Felix Hernandez and the Mariners face Daisuke Matsuzaka and the Red Sox. Both pitched outstanding game in their first starts, combining for 15 innings, 3 walks and 22 strikeouts.

Of course, the even bigger matchup comes when Dice-K faces Ichiro. It's the stuff of legend in Japan, as the indispensable Matsuzaka Watch tells us:

Daisuke Matsuzaka is the same kind of person for the Japanese. He transcends mortal man in a way, because he has forged his own legend on the biggest stages in baseball. Koshien, Rookie of the Year, the Sawamura Award, the Japan Series, and finally the World Baseball Classic. All that remains is a Cy Young and a World Series championship. Matsuzaka has the potential to mean as much to Japan as Ichiro. Ichiro was the pioneer and the trailblazer, but Matsuzaka is the Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Yamato. He walks the path that Ichiro cleared, but he does it as an anointed national treasure. A kind of royalty.

The upcoming series between the Red Sox and the Mariners carries with it a significance that perhaps will not be understood until both heroes have retired. I was at the first meeting between Ichiro and Matsui, and it was electric at Yankee Stadium. This meeting, in contrast, is a direct confrontation, where the Yankees and Mariners series was merely a sideshow act. When Matsuzaka takes the mound in the top of the first and stares down Ichiro it will be watched by more people that you can possibly imagine. It will be scrutinized more than any at bat has ever been scrutinized in the history of the sport, perhaps. Japanese television will run the highlights, not for days, but forever. This will be the Japanese people's living and breathing irresistible force meeting the flesh and blood immovable object.

He includes video of the first meeting between the two in Japan. Ichiro struck out three times in the that game before drawing a walk.

Meanwhile, down in New York Oliver Perez sees if he can continue to shake off the last two years of lousy pitching against the hapless Phillies (it's too bad someone can't bottle and sell hap.) Despite years in the NL, Eaton only pitched at Shea twice, stopping the Mets both times with impressive numbers.

And out in Arizona, two rookies face each other after impressive debuts. Matt Belisle held the Pirates to one run on one walk and six strikeouts, while Micah Owings one-hit the Nationals for five innings. He's yet to allow a run.

Enjoy!

I'm not sure if the Boston Red Sox are playing the final home opener of the season or the penultimate one. Cleveland fell one out short of playing their first home game before the snow wiped out their weekend, so they did go through opening ceremonies and such. But playing their first official home game in Milwaukee is hardly a home opener. Nonetheless, Boston hosts the Mariners, who haven't played since last Wednesday. For some reason, the Seattle scheduled Jeff Weaver for tonight, instead of trying to get an extra start out of Felix Hernandez. (However, we do get Hernandez vs. Matsuzaka tomorrow!) Jeff faces Josh Beckett, who turned in five solid innings against the Royals in his season debut. Fenway treats Weaver poorly, as Jeff amassed a 6.28 ERA in eight appearances there, mostly on a 1.88 HR per 9 IP.

And as mentioned, Cleveland is home on the road as they face the Angels in Milwaukee. It's Magic Santana vs. Milliliter Sabathia in a faux home opener for the Tribe. C.C. cruised in his first start as the Indians scored early and often against Jose Contreras. Santana pitched a stellar game in his debut, holding the Rangers to 4 hits and 1 walk over seven innings.

Zack Greinke hopes for more support from the Royals tonight as he face the Blue Jays and Josh Towers tonight in Toronto. Greinke pitched an excellent game against Matsuzaka, striking out seven and walking just one. The Royals need a lot more performances like that from Zack to have a chance at being decent this season. He's can't do it alone, however, and the Royals managed just 19 runs in their first seven games. Towers isn't likely to have that problem, as the Blue Jays are averaging seven runs per contest in their first six games.

Enjoy!

The Mets open the penultimate season at Shea Stadium today with a good matchup of young pitchers. Cole Hamels and John Maine both sport 0.00 ERAs after one start. The two pitchers both worked seven scoreless innings in their 2007 debuts, with low walks and hits and a good number of strikeouts. Mets fans should be in for a treat this afternoon.

The Pirates open their ballpark tied for first place in the NL Central, and they'll host the defending division champions the St. Louis Cardinals. It's a game in which both offenses are struggling. Pittsburgh batters are getting on base at a .286 clip, while the Cardinals are only slightly better at .288. The big difference in the teams is the distribution of runs on the pitching staff. The Cardinals starters are good, but the bullpen bleeds runs. The Pirates starters hold a high ERA, but the bullpen's been untouchable. Ian Snell faces Braden Looper this afternoon.

And out west tonight the Athletics open at home with their best pitcher, Rich Harden, taking on the White Sox and Jose Contreras. The two pitched completely different first starts. Harden dominated the righties in the Mariners lineup as they went 0 for 15 with seven strikeouts. The only hits and walks against Rich came off the bats of the lefties. Eight of twelve batters reached base against Contreras, and in 1+ innings of work he allowed a cycle.

Enjoy!

Zach Segovia debuts for the Phillies today against Scott Olsen and the Marlins. Since returning from Tommy John surgeryy, Segovia's hits, walks and home runs allowed in the minor leagues are very good. We'll see if he can translate that to major league success today.

John Danks pulls a tough assignment for his major league debut. He'll face Johan Santana in a very cold Chicago ballpark this afternoon. Danks struck out more than a batter per inning in his minor league career, something Johan Santana's done in his major league career.

And if the Indians can get in a second game against the Mariners, Fausto Carmona takes a spot in the Indians rotation against Felix Hernandez. Fasusto gained some infamy last season when he blew all three of his save opportunities as the Indians tried to use him as a closer. However, as a starter in 2006, he had a tendency to give up the long ball. Hernandez pitched eight fantastic innings in his first start. Wedge make want to stack his lineup with lefties as LHB reached base four times against Felix in his first start, and he only allowed five base runners.

Enjoy!

Update: The Indians postponed the double header once again. They'll try to play two tomorrow afternoon at 4:30. At some point, they'll need to find a mutual off-day for the two teams to make up the games, I assume in another double header.

The Cubs and the Brewers get the action started early with a matchup of aces. Carlos Zambrano faces Ben Sheets, and the two are coming off very different opening day starts. Sheets was nearly perfect, tossing a complete game two-hitter, while Zambrano was wild, walking five in five innings.

It was a good week for Japanese players as Matsuzaka and Iwamura showed they can play in the major leagues. Today, Kei Igawa debuts for the New York Yankees. He'll try to be the first Yankees starter this year to complete five innings of work. The Orioles send Steve Trachsel against him. Trachsel doesn't strike many people out, and I'm not sure you want the Yankees offense putting lots of balls in play against you.

Gil Meche tries to repeat his opening day success against the Detroit Tigers and Mike Maroth. The Detroit lefty missed most of the 2006 season with an injury, but was posting the best ERA of his career when he went down.

Tom Glavine and John Smoltz face each other as starters for the second time since Tom left Atlanta, the first time at Turner Field. Smoltz still strikes out batters as he approaches his 40th birthday, and that continues to make him a valuable pitcher. Glavine hasn't fared well against his former team, going 3-9 with a 5.68 ERA against Atlanta in his time with the Mets.

And Felix Hernandez is scheduled to pitch the night cap against the Indians. Hernandez was magnificent in his 2007 debut, striking out 12 while walking 2. He'll face Jason Davis, making his first start since 2005. Davis allows about the same (high) OBA as a starter and reliever, but his low slugging percentage allowed from the pen rockets as a starter.

Enjoy!

Micah Owings makes his major league debut for the Arizona Diamondbacks today as he faces Jerome Williams of the Washington Nationals. Owings is most famous as the pitcher the Yankees didn't get in the Randy Johnson deal, but in his 1 1/2 seasons in the minor leagues he's gone 17-3. His great strength is keeping the ball in the park, as he's allowed just 8 home runs in 184 innings. Having him make his first start against the Nationals in Washington is also a good idea, as Washington is not the best offensive team in the league. This is a chance for him to build confidence with a win.

The St. Louis Cardinals move Adam Wainwright out of the bullpen and into the rotation tonight as they travel to Houston to face the Astros and Wandy Rodriguez. Wainright showed impressive control as a reliever in 2006, striking out 72 and walking just 22 in 75 innings. Rodriguez hasn't been a magic Wandy for the Astros in his brief career. While his pitching lines aren't outstanding, they don't look as bad as his ERA. That's because once men get on, hitters really start teeing off on Rodriguez.

Finally, the Mets and Braves meet in Atlanta in a battle of undefeateds. Oliver Perez is the latest reclamation project for Rick Peterson. If he can return the lefty to his 2004 glory, the Mets will end up with a real steal. Mark Redman takes the hill for the Braves. He was a last minute replacement when Mike Hampton went down with an injury. He hasn't pitched well since his 2003 season with the Marlins, as his strikeouts plummeted.

Enjoy!

Every once in a while there's a game that stands out among all others, and today that game takes place in Kansas City. Daisuke Matsuzaka makes his major league debut. Matsuzaka Watch examines the hype:

The way people are talking about the Matsuzaka debut, it's as if we're about to witness the prophecy of the Archangel Gabriel's "end of days", or at least the coming of the Nazgul to the American Midwest. Spring Training has been very exciting and a lot of people have come to know Daisuke Matsuzaka a bit better for having seen him firsthand. You'd have thought that the mythical version of his background would have subsided just a bit with a closer personal experience with the pitcher, but in fact it has grown. To paraphrase Verbal Kint:

He's become a myth, a spook story that managers tell their hitters at night. Don't take your swings, and Daisuke will get you. Ty Cobb always said 'I don't believe in God, but I'm afraid of him. Well I believe in God, and the only thing that scares me is Daisuke Matsuzaka.

Mike even offers a prediction for today's line, and it's very good. He believes the veteran will take advantage of the Royals young hitter with his fastball, and fool the veterans with the change. If he comes anywhere near the predicted game, a legend will be born.

And Mike also notes with the lack of sleep in the country, tomorrow would be a good day to invade Japan. :-)

Not to be lost in all this, however, is another important debut. Zack Greinke makes his first major league start since leaving the Royals last year to deal with his depression. He made three relief appearances at the end of 2006, but this is totally different. I'm not sure if it's genius or lunacy to put him on the mound this afternoon. The Matsuzaka crush means most of the media won't be interested in Zack. But then again, he's performing on a world stage today, and you'd think that would bring some pressure. It looks like the former is holding for now, as the Kansas City Star wrote nothing about Greinke on their Royals page today, although they quote him in the long Dice-K article:

"I'm amazed that every single question revolves around him," says Zack Greinke, who will start for the Royals in Matsuzaka's debut this afternoon.

It's two unknowns facing each other today. Both potentially great, but one drawing all the attention. I can't wait to see what happens.

Enjoy!

Andy Pettitte returns to Yankee Stadium in a Yankees uniform this afternoon as New York hosts Tampa Bay. For his career, Pettitte owns a .730 winning percentage at The House that Ruth Built, going 81-30 with a 3.46 ERA. He'll face Jae Seo, a pitcher who performed well for the Mets in 2005, but lost the control that made him so good that year in 2006.

It's a battle of H's in Philadelphia as Tim Hudson tries to bounce back from the worst season of his career vs. young Cole Hamels. Hudson upped his strikeouts in 2006, but, in a reversal of logic, increased his hits allowed. If that's a function of luck, maybe Tim will bounce back in 2007. Hamels struck out more than a batter per inning in 2006, and three times more than he walked. If he can bring his home runs down a little bit, he'll contend for the Cy Young award.

Tomorrow is Bronson Arroyo's anniversary of his Reds debut. He homered against the Cubs in that game, and gets another chance today as he faces one of the new Cubs millionaires, Ted Lilly. After an off year in 2005, Arroyo found his strikeout pitch again and kept his walks low to become one of the better #2 starters in the league. Back in the early part of the decade, Lilly was a pitcher with some potential. It turned out he's a .500 pitcher with an ERA in the low 4.00s at best. It's earned him a nice payday, but at age 31 he's really unlikely to ever be better than that.

A pitcher with plenty of potential is Brandon McCarthy, makes his Texas Rangers debut against Ervin Santana and the LAnaheim Angels. In his brief career, McCarthy's pitched better as a starter, allowing a .287 OBA, about 30 points lower than as a reliever. Santana is a different pitcher in Anaheim than on the road. His batting average and OBA are about 60 points lower at home, and his slugging percentage drops about 160 points.

Enjoy!

The last opening game takes place this afternoon as the San Diego Padres travel to San Francisco to take on the Giants. Bruce Bochy manages against a team he knows well, although there are plenty of new faces in the Padres dugout. It's ace against ace as Jake Peavy faces Barry Zito. Jake seems to be recovered from a shoulder problem that caused his ERA in 2006 to be half a run higher than his career average. He racked up plenty of strikeouts during spring training. Zito gets to face pitchers regularly for the first time in his career. We'll see if his strikeout number go up this season as a result.

And Barry Bonds begins his chase of Henry Aaron's all-time home run record. Barry's popped three dingers off Peavy in 28 at bats, somewhat better than Bonds' career home run rate. I wonder how the fans of San Francisco (his biggest supporters) will react to him since the amphetamine revelations of the winter time?

As other teams number two pitchers take the mound, I can't say I'm all that impressed. The Hernandez brothers both pitch, with Orlando and the Mets facing Kip Wells and the Cardinals. Kip suffered from a blood clot in 2006, limiting him to nine unspectacular starts. Of course, he was also unspectacular in 2004 and 2005. Orlando Hernandez had his health problems, too. Don't expect him to go deep in games, especially with a shortened spring training.

Livan Hernandez leads the Diamondbacks against the Rockies and Jeff Francis. The move to the Diamondbacks seemed to rejuvenate Livan a bit as he managed to give Arizona almost an inning more per start than he did with Washington. Francis almost met my Cy Young qualification last year (any Rockies pitcher with an ERA under 4.00 deserves a vote for the award) with a 4.16 ERA. He was particularly good at home in 2006, posting a low 4.30 ERA at the tough pitcher's park.

Enjoy!

Happy Opening Day! It's the best day of the year and for some reason still isn't a national holiday. Every game is big today, but here's the best of the best.

The Yankees open in the Bronx with the most unlikely pitcher on mound, Carl Pavano. He last pitched on June 27, 2005 in Baltimore. Injuries major and minor forced the Yankees to alter their rotation, putting Carl in the spotlight. It's a chance for him to prove to jaded Yankees fans that he really wants to pitch in New York. He'll face Scott Kazmir, a pitcher the Devil Rays hope anchors their staff for years to come. He also always reminds New York Mets fans of the trade they wished they never made.

Jeremy Bonderman takes the mantle of Tigers ace today as he makes the opening day start. His record, ERA and innings pitched improved every year since he was a rookie during the Tigers terrible 2003 season. At age 24, he's reached the top. He'll face perennial Cy Young contender Roy Halladay. Roy's always had great control, with nearly a K/BB of nearly 3 for his career. With the Tigers a team that doesn't draw many walks, Roy's strength plays against the Tigers' weakness. Gary Sheffield makes his debut in a Tigers uniform, and we'll see if his selectivity can make a difference in that aspect of the Detroit game.

After two seasons of fighting injuries, Ben Sheets returns as the ace of the Milwaukee Brewers. He'll face Derek Lowe, as free agent hire Jason Schmidt does not get the number one assignment. When Ben is right he's among the best pitchers in the league, and the good Dodgers lineup will be an excellent test for him.

The two defending Cy Young winners each get to start today. Brandon Webb travels to the Mile High City to face Aaron Cook and the Colorado Rockies. Brandon's pitched very well at Coors during his career, with a 3.88 ERA in ten starts. Cook's 2006 was successful despite a poor strikeout rate. He only allowed 17 homers however, and limited damage due to walks.

The AL champion, Johan Santana, faces someone who might be poised to challenge the lefty for this year's Cy Young award, Erik Bedard. Santana is the complete package of power power and control. Bedard made a big move in that direction last year, cutting down on his walks without sacrificing his strikeouts.

There's plenty of other great matchups out there. Tom Bridge offers his opening day credo. Enjoy the day and may your favorite team win!

The 2007 baseball season gets underway tonight, although Monday is still opening day in my mind. But the Mets visit the Cardinals on ESPN, and the game counts. It's a rematch of last year's NLCS. Glavine faced Jeff Weaver twice in that series, but tonight he draws Cardinals ace Chris Carpenter. Over the last three seasons, Carpenter's ERA ranks third in the majors behind Clemens and Santana (300 IP minimum). He hasn't faced the Mets much in the regular season, however, since joining the Cardinals. His one start against the men from Queens resulted in seven shutout innings and seven strikeouts in 2005.

Tom Glavine ranks 16th on that same ERA list, posting a 3.66 ERA over that same three-year time span. He starts this season 10 wins shy of 300, trying to become the third of his generation to reach that plateau.

Glavine's facing Pujols resulted in mixed success for the pitcher. Albert banged out nine hits in twenty at bats vs. Tom, but all fell for singles. Not a great performance, but he minimized the damage as much as possible.

It's a perfect matchup for opening night, the World Champions vs. the league runner up. Enjoy!

In what could be the penultimate day of the regular season, the most important games take place in Atlanta and St. Louis. The Astros are in a must win situation as they start the day off in Atlanta. Once again, Sampson is the scheduled starter. I don't think he'll bring Oswalt back on two days rest. Sampson gave the Astros 3 2/3 solid innings in the makeup game at Philadelphia. He seems to be the logical choice.

The Braves counter with John Smoltz. Smoltz had a great year at home, striking out 124 in 123 1/3 innings and posting a 3.06 ERA. Lefties gave Smoltz trouble this year, however, and Houston is likely to have four in the starting lineup.

In St. Louis, the Cardinals don't need to win today, but it would prevent a makeup game tomorrow. They send their best to the mound, Chris Carpenter. La Russa left him in too long in his last start, leading to six runs in seven innings. Starting today also means he won't be able to go until game 2 of the NLDS on Friday, if the Cardinals get in. If the rotation holds up and the Cardinals don't clinch today, it looks like Reyes pitches against the Giants on Monday and the if needed, Marquis in Houston on Tuesday. Cardinals fans better hope they clinch this afternoon.

Also in competition with Carpenter is Brandon Webb of the Diamondbacks. Webb goes for his 17th win, which would give him the NL lead. He's also number one in ERA, and that combination should be a powerful reason to vote him the Cy Young award. If you need another reason, he's posted 22 win shares, the most among NL pitchers. He'll try to spoil the Padres bid for home field in the first round of the NL playoffs. He hasn't pitched his best against San Diego this year. In four starts, he's allowed a 3.81 ERA against the Padres. They are one of only three teams to hit more than one home run off Webb.

Enjoy!

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It's must win day for the Phillies and the Reds. Philadelphia plays early, and if they lose, both the Padres and Dodgers are in the playoffs. Randy Wolf attempts to shut down the Marlins today. He's done a poor job of shutting down any team this season, allowing a .371 OBA and a .498 slugging percentage. Olsen finishes up a fine rookie season today. He ranks 7th in strikeouts per 9 in the NL. He just needs to improve his control and home runs allowed some.

St.Louis hosts Ben Sheets and the Brewers as Jeff Suppan tries to reduce the Cardinals magic number to one. Sheets seems to be back to his old self as he's struck out 38 while walking just three in September. Suppan is one of the few bright sports for St. Louis in September, as he's 2-0 with a 2.05 ERA.

Greg Maddux takes on Matt Cain in San Francisco. Cain is nearly unhittable at home, allowing a .193 BA and a .276 OBA at AT&T Park. Since joining the Dodgers, Maddux gives up hits (.275 BA allowed) but that's it (.306 OBA allowed).

David Wells hasn't won since joining the Padres, but one today is all San Diego needs from the tattooed wondered. His walk and home run number are great with SD, but he's been hit for a .315 BA. We'll see if the Diamondbacks can get to him early.

The Astros hope Chris Sampson's hair is long and strong today as they face the Braves and Lance Cormier. Cormier has not fared well in Atlanta this season, allowing a .342 BA at home. Sampson's BA away from the Juice Box is a meager .212. If the Cardinals win early, this becomes a must win for the Astros.

Finally, the Reds and Pirates face off in Pittsburgh. The weather report is for cold, which might help Bronson Arroyo as it's tougher to hit in lower temperatures.. Even if they are eliminated by a Cardinals' win early, Bronson can set a career high in wins with a victory tonight.

Enjoy!

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Roger Clemens, for the third time in his career, may be making his last regular season start. He'll face Chuck James and the Braves. Roger came back to get the Astros into the playoffs again, and a win tonight with a St. Louis loss and the Astros control their own destiny.

The Reds take the Astros place in Pittsburgh and send their ace Aaron Harang against the Pirates. Harang, in 25 innings against the Pirates this season walked three and struck out 32. All the games are must win for the Reds at this point.

Two weeks ago it looked like the final series between the Phillies and the Fish would be a battle for the wild card. Now, the best the Marlins can do is spoil Jamie Moyer's last start of the regular season. Ryan Howard's gone six games without a home run and is still two short of 60. He's hit three in five games at Florida this year.

It seems like Chris Capuano vs. Jeff Weaver would favor Milwaukee. Capuano features great strikeout and walk numbers, but you can homer off him. Weaver just keeps the walks down. Weaver's September features good starts in four of his five appearances. But he doesn't go deep in games, and the St. Louis bullpen is shaky.

The Padres just need to keep winning, and they'll send Hensley vs. Hernandez tonight in Arizona. Hensley sports a 2.63 ERA since the all-star break, upping his strikeouts and cutting down on his home runs.

And the day ends with a big rivalry as the Dodgers visit the Giants. It's Kuo vs. Lowry in the first game of the weekend set. Batters are hitting just .159 against Kuo with runners in scoring position. Lowry's ERA is three runs better at home.

Enjoy!

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There's a lot of rain over Pittsburgh right now, but I suspect the Astros and Pirates will wait a long time to get today's game finished. The Astros better take the lead early for a change, as they may not get to play pass the fifth this afternoon. Houston has the pitcher on the mound they need to extend their winning streak in Roy Oswalt. He's 4-0 in September with a 2.21 ERA.

If the Dodgers are going to be part of a four-way tie, they need to lose and who better than Brad Penny to start the losing streak. He's been giving up home runs since the All-Star break, and Coors is a perfect place to see the long balls fly. He'll face Byung-Hyun Kim who's pitched great at Coors this season, striking out 73 and walking just 29 in 82 2/3 innings.

Jon Lieber takes on Mike O'Connor in Washington as the Phillies try to gain in the wild card race. O'Connor gives up lots of home runs, but at RFK his rate is cut in half. Lieber is one player I tabbed as needing to step up for his team to win, and he hasn't allowed a walk in September.

The Brewers travel south to St. Louis to play the spoilers in the NL Central race. They'll send Doug Davis to the mound to face Jason Marquis. Davis owns a high ERA but received excellent run support from the Brewers this season. Marquis has averaged barely five innings per start over the last two months. With the Cardinals bullpen in bad shape, he needs to go deep in this game.

Finally, the Padres finish the season in Arizona as Jake Peavy challenges Miguel Batista. Despite too few strikeouts and too many walks, Miguel sports a winning record for the Diamondbacks, thanks to great run support. Jake's been pitching lights out the last two months, but only has a 5-4 record to show for it.

Enjoy!

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The Phillies try to get back to winning as they send young ace Cole Hamels against Pedro Astacio in Washington. Hamels has been especially effective in keeping the bases empty, allowing just a .280 OBA with no one on. Astacio is terrible with men on base. Opponents are slugging .568 with men on. That will drive in a lot of runners.

Houston goes for their eighth straight win as they play the role of the 1964 Cardinals and St. Louis takes the place of the 1964 Phillies. The Astros send Jason Hirsh to face Shawn Chacon. This strikes me as the type of game that will be settled by the bullpen. Houston's relief ERA is 3.99, the Pirates 3.98.

Chris Michalak makes his sixth start of the season for the Reds. This really isn't the time of year to trot out a pitcher who doesn't strike out many batters and walks quite a few. His job is even tougher as he faces Anibal Sanchez of the Marlins. Anibal is tough to beat at home where opponents are hitting just .172 against him.

As long as San Diego keeps winning, they earn a spot in the post season. Chris Young proved to be an excellent off season acquisition, and he'll take the mound in St. Louis against Anthony Reyes. Young's batting average allowed is a mere .209. However, you can run on the starter, as the Padres thwarted only four of forty three steal attempts against him. Reyes' main problem is his tendency to give up home runs. Not only is his rate high (1.7 per 9), they tend to come with men on base (8 of the 15).

Finally, the Dodgers try to maintain their wild card lead as Aaron Cook hosts Derek Lowe in Colorado. Lowe's allowed 8 runs in 11 2/3 innings at Coors this season. Cook actually pitches better in Coors than on the road, allowing both a lower batting average and slugging percentage in Denver.

Enjoy!

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The Washington Nationals survived a train derailment this morning, and tonight they'll try to derail the Phillies playoff chances. Brett Myers faced Ramon Ortiz. Myers turned his ERA around in September after being hit hard in August. He's allowed 21 fewer hits in four fewer innings this month. Ortiz doesn't strike out enough batters to be effective, hence his over 5.00 ERA the last two years.

Houston moves from one end of Pennsylvania to another as they take on the Pittsburgh Pirates. Andy Pettitte visits Ian Snell. Pettitte's done a poor job this season of keeping the table setters off base. Number 1 hitters hold a .398 OBA against him and number 2 hitters get on base at a .363 clip. That may not be a problem against Pittsburgh, whose #1 and 2 hitters have OBAs below .325.

The Reds are still in the race. They'll face Florida in what looked like a wild card battle two weeks ago, but now is a matter of survival for Cincinnati. They'll throw Matt Belisle against Dontrelle Willis. Belisle makes his first start of the year after 28 relief appearances. He's the rare right hander who gets pounded with the platoon advantage. Willis is finishing the year strong, going 6-3 with a 2.76 ERA since August 1st. He's only allowed five home runs in that span.

The Cardinals are doing their best 1964 Phillies imitation as the Padres try to extend the St. Louis losing streak to seven. It's former Cardinal Woody Williams against defending Cy Young award winner Chris Carpenter. Both pitchers are putting up great numbers in September. Williams is undefeated with a 1.99 ERA, while Carpenter sports a 3-1, 2.82 mark.

Greg Maddux takes the hill for Los Angeles in Colorado. Maddux has only made seven starts at Coors, most likely because he sports a 6.17 ERA there. But he's also 5-1, indicating his teams hit well behind him.

In the AL West, the Athletics get another chance at clinching at least a tie with a win over the Mariners. Rich Harden makes his second start since coming off the DL. His last was short but sweet, striking out seven in three innings. He's going to throw around 75 pitches tonight.

Enjoy!

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The Cincinnati Reds still hold slim playoff hopes as they send Bronson Arroyo to the mound against the Cubs Wade Miller early this afternoon. Bronson's pitching in September as he did in April, going 4-1 with a 2.65 ERA. He's hit two home runs this season, both against Chicago. We'll see if he makes it three today.

The Astros travel to Houston for a makeup game before rolling down the road to Pittsburgh. The Astros can't really afford to lose if they are going to make the playoffs. The undefeated Randy Wolf takes on winnless Matt Albers. Albers, in 15 innings, has allowed seven walks, all to lefties. Randy's received outstanding run support this season. He's pitched 49 1/3 innings, and the Phillies scored 48 runs while he was on the mound.

The Padres travel to St. Louis to take on the reeling Cardinals. This is a possible first round matchup in the NL. David Wells disappointed so far, going 0-2 with a 4.43 ERA since his pickup. He's just giving up too many hits. Suppan, along with Carpenter, is pitching well down the stretch, posting an ERA of 1.00 in four September starts. Despite that, he's only 2-0.

Enjoy!

Correction: The Astros are going to Pittsburgh, not Washington. The Phillies are heading to Washington next.

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Justin Verlander takes the mound for Detroit today as the Tigers try to clinch their first playoff spot since 1987. A win for a Chicago White Sox loss and Detroit is in. Verlander's been close to perfect against the Royals this season. He's yet to allow a run, and he's given up just seven hits and three walks in sixteen innings while striking out thirteen. A great game today will be a positive for the Rookie of the Year voters. Offense shouldn't be a problem as Runelvys Hernandez has allowed a .384 OBA and a .504 slugging percentage this season.

The Athletics take their second shot at clinching as Dan Haren host the Angels and Ervin Santana. If you can get runners on against Magic, you can score as he's allowed a .304 batting average with runners in scoring position. Haren's only allowed 10 of his 28 home runs at home this season.

In the NL, the Phillies keep phighting for the wild card. Their pickup of Jamie Moyer is proving a help as he's posted a 3.79 ERA since joining Philadelphia. He went from issuing a walk every four innings with Seattle to one every thirteen innings with the Phillies. The Marlins Scott Olsen will try to spoil Philadelphia's wild card hopes. He's posted a 3.63 ERA against the powerhouse offense in three starts this season.

The Dodgers find themselves two games down in the AFILC this morning, so they not only need a win, they need a San Diego loss. The latter is out of their control, but they'll try to pick up the victory by sending 1-5 Hong-Chih Kuo to the mound. Four of those losses came in relief, however. As a starter he's struck out 21 in 17 1/3 innings while walking just five. Livan Hernandez opposes him for the Diamondbacks. Livan's ERA is a run lower with the DBacks than with the Nationals, but his record is below .500 at 3-5. He's allowed 29 runs, but Arizona scored just 32 for him.

If the Padres keep winning, they make the playoffs. Today, they try to keep the streak going with Clay Hensley facing Marty McLeary. The Pirates rookie and former San Diego property makes the first start of his major league career. Since the All-Star break, Hensley brought the long ball under control, and he's posted a 2.72 ERA in that time frame.

The day ends with a great game on ESPN. The Astros go for the sweep against the Cardinals. Jeff Weaver takes on Roger Clemens, the latter coming back on three days rest to pitch the must win game. The two only started against each other twice in their career, Clemens going 1-0, Weaver 1-1. Clemens has a career 4.74 ERA on three days rest, so we'll see if this is a good idea. He can't go deep in game anyway, so the Astros may only get five innings from him. The Cardinals won Weaver's last three starts, scoring 24 runs in the three games.

Enjoy!

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The Oakland Athletics can clinch the American League West today with a win over the LAnaheim Angels. The Angels staff pitched extremely well in September, positing a 3.32 ERA so far to set the team up for a big run at the Athletics. But the offense scored just 61 runs, a little over 3 per game. Still, LAnaheim managed a 12-7 record, which is impressive for that level of scoring. A few more runs they might have been 15-4, and still in the hunt for the division.

John Lackey faces Joe Blanton today. Lackey holds a solid 3.73 ERA but sports just an 11-11 record as run support just hasn't been there for him. Blanton, with an ERA one run higher is going for his 17th win.

The Twins magic number to make the playoffs is four, but it won't be an easy game for them today as they face the Orioles' Erik Bedard. At 2.68, only Johan Santana owns a better ERA in the AL since the All-Star break. Erik brought the long ball under control, allowing just three home runs in that time, compared to twelve before hand.

Houston continues on it's quest for a last week comeback as they send Roy Oswalt vs. Anthony Reyes. Reyes's problem as a pitcher is the long ball. He allows 1.7 home runs per 9, giving away nearly two runs per game by the long ball. Oswalt's only allowed three home runs in his last nine starts.

Enjoy!

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The Florida Marlins get a chance this weekend to make a last gasp run at the wild card as the visit the Philadelphia Phillies. Ricky Nolasco faces Cole Hamels. Nolasco's pitched well against Philadelphia this year, allowing just one home run in ten innings to the power hitting team. Since the start of August, Hamels allowed more than 2 runs just once.

Most of the important action is on the west coast tonight. The Pirates take their spoiler road show to San Diego as Chris Young hosts Tom Gorzelanny. The Pirates won five of their last six against playoff contenders, out scoring them 29-24 over those six games. Gorzelanny keeps the ball in the park, giving up just 2 home runs in 49 2/3 innings pitched. PETCO should help those numbers. Young owns a strange home/road split for PETCO Park. He's 6-0 on the road with a 2.50 ERA, 4-5 at home with a 4.89 ERA. PETCO is where the home runs go.

The Dodgers welcome the Diamondbacks as Vargas takes on Lowe. Derek is coming off his season high in strikeouts in his last outing, a 2-1 loss to the Padres. Vargas allows fewer hits away from Chase Field, but a higher percentage of them go for extra-bases.

And in the AL, the Angels travel to Oakland. The Athletics magic number is four , so two wins this weekend and the West is won. They may have a tough time tonight, however as Jered Weaver faces Barry Zito. Barry is not getting it done down the stretch, allowing a 7.50 ERA in September. Jered is .01 runs better than Francisco Liriano for best ERA in the majors among pitchers with 100 innings.

Enjoy!

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The Oakland Athletics try to lower their magic number to four as they send oft-injured Rich Harden against C.C. Sabathia. Harden put up impressive numbers in his six starts and for his career. Having him back and healthy improves the Athletics staff for the post-season.

The Tigers face in the Orioles at Camden Yards in a makeup game. Kris Benson hosts Nate Robertson. Watch for the protest at 5:08 PM. Robertson's allowed just two earned runs in twenty two September innings. A win keeps them in first place and reduces their magic number to 10.

Johan Santana tries to eliminate the Red Sox from playoff competition as he faces Josh Beckett in Boston. Santana is producing his typical great second half numbers, going 9-0 with a 2.51 ERA. He's allowed 20 fewer hits + walks than strikeouts.

The Giants open a four game series in Milwaukee, trying to stay alive in the division and wild card races. Tonight's matchup favors the Brewers, as David Bush is pitching much better than Matt Morris down the stretch. Morris is 0-3 with a 7.00 ERA in September, while Bush is posting a 3.10 ERA in the month and hasn't allowed a home run in three starts.

The White Sox need every win they can get the rest of the way and have a chance against the lowly Mariners to pick up a few victories. They've posted a 3.21 ERA against Seattle this season, but have just a 3-2 record to show for it. Mariner pitching held the superb White Sox offense to a .315 OBA this season.

Chris Carpenter keeps pushing for the Cy Young award and faces the Houston Astros tonight. The Astros need a miracle to make the playoffs, but a sweep of the Cardinals would start that off. Taking all four games would put them 3 1/2 back with a week to go.

Carpenter's main competition for the Cy Young award, Brandon Webb, gets a chance to play spoiler against the Padres. He's 2-0 in three starts this year vs. San Diego, but the Padres do a good job of putting the ball in play against Webb. He'll face Woody Williams who's allowed a low .283 OBA at PETCO this year.

Pittsburgh goes for the sweep of Los Angeles as they send Shane Youman vs. against Chad Billingsley. Both rookies walk a lot of batters. The Pirates are 23-14 since 8/11.

The other interesting game that doesn't impact the pennant races takes place in New York where Pedro Martinez faces Anibal Sanchez. Pedro didn't last long in his first outing back from the disabled list. We'll see if he's shaken off the rust tonight.

Enjoy!

Let's look at the games that matter first. The Yankees go for the division title, their ninth straight tonight in Toronto as the AAA pitchers continue the Parade to the mound. Sean Henn gets the chance to pick up the clinching win for New York. In 13 1/3 major league innings, he's walked 11 batters. I'd love to see a start between Henn and Hayden Penn (who is also pitching tonight). It would be 13-12 before the second inning was over. And if Henn married Hayden, he'd be Sean Penn!

Penn tries for the win vs. former Cy Young winner Roy Halladay. Roy's made three starts in September, pitched great, but doesn't have a decision to show for it. He could be going for win 20 tonight. Instead, he'll make another try for 17.

Boof Bonser tries not to goof up the Twins chances tonight as he faces Curt Schilling at Fenway. A win by the Twins and a loss by the Tigers puts Minnesota in first place in the Central. The Twins won Bonser's last three starts, two by the score of 2-1. He doesn't go deep, so they need the bullpen ready, but with Santana pitching on Thursday that shouldn't be a problem. This will be Schilling first start since the end of August. We'll see if the rest did him some good.

The Phillies go from Moyer to Myers as Brett throws against the Cubs. He's 8-1 at home this season, despite a 4.15 ERA. It helps to pitch for an offense that can take advantage of the ballpark. He'll be opposed by Les Walrond. Les is definitely more. His strikeouts are high, his walks are high, his hits allowed are high, and his ERA is very high.

Jeremy Bonderman gets the job of keeping the Tigers in first place tonight. He's not winning down the stretch, however. He's 1-3 since the start of August with a 5.50 ERA. I think this is one of those cases where his defense is letting him down. His strikeout, walk and home run numbers are all good, even very good. Jon Garland is 6-2 in the same stretch, but the only thing he's doing better than Bonderman is walking fewer.

On the west coast, the Padres and David Wells host the Diamondbacks and Edgar Gonzalez. Edgar's posted very impressive strikeout and walk numbers in his 25 2/3 innings of work, but it's not showing up in his ERA. Wells hasn't been a savior for San Diego. His 3.94 ERA is okay, but the Padres are 1-2 in his starts.

Finally, in Los Angeles, the Pirates try to make it five wins in a row, all against contending teams. They'll have to beat Greg Maddux. His ERA with the Dodgers is 3.07, mostly because he's allowed just three homers since joining LA. Shawn Chacon takes the mound for the Pirates. The Yankees castoff has allowed 10 home runs in 34 innings since joining Pittsburgh.

And if you like afternoon baseball, the Clemens/Arroyo matchup should be a good one.

Enjoy!

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The Red Sox still hold a slim hope of winning the wild card, and they'll get a chance to gain in that race tonight as they play the Minnesota Twins. Rookie Matt Garza faces veteran Tim Wakefield. Although Garza keeps the ball in the park, he's been easy to hit this season, allowing a .287 batting average. Wakefield is making his second start since coming off the disabled list. He was rusty in start number one, giving up 10 hits in five innings.

Now that the Mets clinched, Florida may have a chance to win a game against New York. It's an even pitching matchup as Tom Glavine hosts Scott Olsen. Their ERAs differ by .01 runs. Glavine keeps his at that level by limiting extra-base hits with men on base. Olsen strikes out lots of batters, keeping batting average against low.

The Pirates just finished sweeping the Mets, delaying their clinching for a few days. Now they get to take on another first place team as they travel to Los Angeles. Ian Snell tries to quiet the Dodger bats. He does have a tendency to give up the long ball, allowing 28 in 175 innings. The Dodgers send Hong-Chih Kuo out for his third start. His first two starts were grand, allowing just two runs in 12 innings pitched while striking out 13.

Enjoy!

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The Marlins are holding on for dear life as the travel to Shea to face a Mets team looking to clinch the NL East at home. It could be a high scoring affair as Brian Moehler faces Steve Trachsel. Moehler is being hit at a .351 clip on the road, while Trachsel is giving up a .500 slugging percentage at home.

The White Sox trail the Tigers by five as they open a three game series against the Tigers. It's a battle of lefties as Kenny Rogers faces Mark Buehrle. This is a tough series for Twins fans, I would think. You might want the White Sox to win, so the Twins could take over first place. But you might also want the Tigers to win, so the Twins can secure the Wild Card and a playoff spot.

Rogers has shutdown the White Sox this season, allowing just three earned runs in 27 innings. Detroit's had no problem against Buehrle this season, scoring seven runs in 11 1/3 innings against the White Sox ace.

Finally, the Padres and Dodgers finish up their weekend series and 2006 series as Jake Peavy faces Brad Penny. The two pitchers went in opposite directions after the All-Star break. Peavy's brought his ERA down, posting a 3.77 mark since the break. Peavy's main improvement was keeping the ball in the park. Penny, on the other hand, saw his walks and homers allowed go up, and he's been hit for a 5.81 ERA in that same time.

Enjoy!

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Three teams on the edge of the playoffs can use wins today to stay in the race. It's Randy vs. Wandy in Houston this afternoon as the Phillies go for the sweep of the Astros. It's been a disastrous week for Houston, as they lost two out of three to the Cardinals, blowing their chance to gain in the division, and now they've lost the first two to the Phillies, losing a chance to gain in the wild card. Wolf's performance since returning from the DL is mostly mediocre. He seldom pitches more than five innings. Wandy got off to a good start in April, but as the year progressed, his ERA kept going higher.

The Reds and Cubs play the rubber game of their series as Eric Milton faces Carlos Zambrano. Zambrano hurt his Cy Young chances last start when a stiff back led to his shortest outing of the the season. Milton's made a good recovery from 2005. He's pitching more innings per start, giving up fewer hits and many fewer home runs.

The White Sox send the re-energized Jose Contreras against Joe Blanton as Chicago tries to stay close in the AL Wild Card race. Jose is coming off back-to-back eight inning, one run starts in which he's walked a total of two while striking out seventeen. Joe Blanton is one of a number of lousy winners this season. His ERA is 4.78 but he's sitting on a 15-11 record. Randy Johnson, Kevin Millwood and Josh Beckett all fit that description, and even Curt Schilling and Jon Garland might be included. Lots of win for not a lot of great pitching.

In division race action, the Padres can pass the Dodgers for the NL West lead with a win. Young and Lowe take the mound with identical 3.77 ERAs. Young keeps left handers off balance, allowing just a .189 batting average. Lowe doesn't get the strikeouts like Young, but he keeps the ball in the park.

Also note the possibility of a double clinching celebration in New York today. A Mets win and a Yankees double header sweep makes both champions of their divisions.

Matt Morris turned out to be a real disappointment to the San Francisco Giants. He returns to St. Louis today to face his old team. It will be a tough assignment, as the Cardinals send out Cy Young candidate Chris Carpenter. The Cardinals gave Morris trouble in San Francisco, scoring six runs in six innings. Carpenter is sporting a 1.47 at the new Busch Stadium.

The Twins send the rejuvenated Carlos Silva against the always tough C.C. Sabathia in Cleveland today. Silva's hit his stride in September, allowing just five earned runs in seventeen innings. We'll how he does, however, now that the pressure of losing his job is gone with the re-injury to Liriano. Sabathia is posting a 3.05 ERA against the Twins but two of his three starts. He's allowed seven unearned runs against Minnesota, and only eleven all season.

The best pitching matchup of the day takes place in Atlanta where Anibal Sanchez takes on John Smoltz. In Sanchez's one other start at Turner Field, he held the Braves to one run over seven innings. Since the start of August, he's posting a 1.83 ERA. Smoltz looks like he ran out of steam. He's allowed 20 hits and seven walks in his last 13 innings. That's good for an 11.08 ERA.

Enjoy!

Update: I would be remiss if I didn't mention that in their quest to stave off elimination the Red Sox needed to beat a well rested Wang and a big Johnson in double header.

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It's a big night for the Mets as Pedro Martinez returns to the mound and a win will clinch the NL East. Martinez last pitched on August 14th and allowed six runs in one inning. While the Mets are winning just fine without him (19-9 in his absence), a healthy Pedro enhances their chances of winning the World Series. He'll face the Pirates, who are a respectable 12-9 over the last three weeks.

Johan Santana goes for win number 19 as the Twins try to continue their comeback in the AL Central. He faces the Indians and Fausto Carmona. Santana is 7-2 vs. the Tribe in his career, striking out 116 in108 1/3 innings. In other words, typical Johan.

The Yankees magic number to clinch the East is six, and they open a four game series with the Red Sox tonight. If New York and win three out of four, the division is theirs. Beckett takes on Wang. Chien goes for win 18. He was held out of last night's game due to the weather. Beckett pitched a good game vs. the Yankees back in May, but overall his ERA against New York this season is 12.21.

The Astros are teetering on the brink of falling out of the wild card race as they send Roger Clemens against Brett Myers of the Phillies. Clemens earned his money for the Astros. Unfortunately, the rest of the team didn't give him enough support. Despite posting a 2.27 ERA, the Astros are 7-8 in Roger's starts. If the team had gone 11-4, they're in the thick of things. Six times Houston scored two runs or less in a Clemens start.

The Giants hope to gain on both San Diego and Los Angeles this weekend, but they have to do it against the St. Louis Cardinals. Jason Schmidt and Jeff Suppan get the series started tonight. Schmidt's been consistent home and road, but his support hasn't as his record goes from 7-1 in San Francisco to 4-7 away. Suppan is pitching well down the stretch and emerged as the Cardinals #2 starter.

The Oakland Athletics face an AL Wild Card contender for the second series in a row as they work to put away the Angels in the west before next weekend. Two hot second half pitchers face each other as Jon Garland takes on Esteban Loaiza. Since the start of August, Garland is 6-1, Loaiza 5-1.

The most important game of the day is the one scheduled to start last, San Diego at Los Angeles. The walkers and wheelchairs will be ready as old men David Wells and Greg Maddux battle each other. It's a classic fight between pitchers who throw strikes and get hitters to swing at bad pitches. We might be looking at an 1:45 game here.

Enjoy!

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The Padres and Reds finish up their series today with a lunch time start in Cincinnati. It's a good pitching matchup as Clay Hensley faces Aaron Harang. Hensley's allowed just 10 earned runs in 41 2/3 innings in August and September. Harang keeps blowing away his former career high in strikeouts, and his game today will set a career high in appearances and tie a career high in starts.

Boof Bonser's spot in the rotation becomes even more important with the injury to Francisco Liriano. Bonser takes on the Cleveland Indians tonight with Cliff Lee on the mound. Boof seems to have found his stride in September, allowing just two runs in two starts while striking out 11 and walking two.

Chien-Ming Wang goes for win number 18 tonight as he faces the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. The DRays gave Wang some problems in his rookie year, but in 2006 he's posted a 1.11 ERA against Tampa in three starts.

The Phillies so for the sweep of the Braves in Atlanta as they push for the wild card. Chuck James hosts Jamie Moyer. The veteran lefty Moyer is showing Philadelphia fans his great control, walking just three in 27 1/3 innings for the Phillies so far.

Enjoy!

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Seventeen games are on tap in a 13 hour baseball day, including two traditional double headers. The first big game starts a little after 1 PM EDT as Francisco Liriano returns for the Twins against Oakland's Dan Haren. Haren hasn't pitched well on the road this season, allowing 18 of his 26 homers away from Oakland. In his one start at the Metrodome he allowed two long balls in six innings, part of a seven run day. Liriano last pitched on August 7. That was the day of the last Tigers win before their slump. The Twins starters pitched very well in his absence, but only have a 14-12 record to show for it. Still, they eroded the Tigers lead by 8 1/2 games in that time.

Two and one half hours later on the west coast, the White Sox face the Angels in the rubber game of their series. Freddy Garcia takes on rookie Joe Saunders. Garcia's done a very good job against lefty batters this year, but righties just cream him. Despite owning the platoon advantage, Garica gives up a .522 slugging percentage to right-handed batters. Like his rookie partner Jered Weaver, Saunders is great at home, posting a 4-1 record and a 2.95 ERA at the big A.

It's an interesting pair of games, since each team is not only trying to win, but rooting for the opponent's nemesis to win as well.

Atlanta is out of the division but not quite out of the wild card race. A sweep of the Phillies would bring them back a bit. They'll throw Davies and Hudson against Wolf and Lieber.

Justin Verlander recovered from his weak August to allow just one run in two starts in September. He'll try to help Detroit maintain its AL Central lead against the Texas Rangers and Kevin Millwood. Millwood is a perfect example of how luck can swing from year to year. His strikeouts, walks and home runs are nearly identical to last season, but this year his ERA is 1.6 runs higher. The difference? Batters are hitting .338 with runners in scoring position. Last year, they hit .194.

The Mets can eliminate the Marlins from the NL East race with a win today as Scott Olsen hosts Tom Glavine in Miami. So while the Braves may not be Eastern Champs again, Glavine will after a three-year hiatus.

The Padres send a bad pitcher who should be good against a good pitcher who should be bad as Jake Peavy challenges Kyle Lohse. Lately, however, Peavy's 3-4 record is more a case of his supporting cast, as he's posted a 2.70 ERA since August 1st. Since he joined the Reds, Lohse's opposition OPS is nearly a 100 points lower than his career average.

The day ends with the Rockies and Giants battling in San Francisco as Colorado ace Jason Jennings faces Noah Lowry. Jennings is posting a 3.48 ERA on the season; it's amazing he's just 7-12. Lowry is tough on his home turf, where his slugging percentage allowed goes down 130 points.

Enjoy!

Florida tries to stave off NL East elimination once again as they send Josh Johnson to batter Oliver Perez and the New York Mets. Perez is trying to keep his momentum going after a complete game shutout of the Braves. He's pitched a couple of good streaks of two or three games this season, always followed by a run of low inning, high run games. Johnson is fading as the year progresses with his ERA going up in July, August and so far in September.

The Padres and Reds start and important three game series in regards to the wild card race. A sweep by Cincinnati will leave the Reds 1/2 game behind San Diego. Chris Young takes on Eric Milton. Young and Milton both give up many more home runs at home than on the road. That makes perfect sense for Eric given his home park is GAB, but Young plays half his games at PETCO. We'll see how Great American Ballpark treats him tonight.

The Ryan Howard home run watch continues as the Phillies visit the Braves. Howard is 2 for 4 vs. Kyle Davies, but without a home run against him. He's four away from the magic number of 60.

Kirk Saarloos tries to even the series with the Twins as he faces Matt Guerrier. Frank Thomas is the slugger to watch in this game as he trying to homer in seven straight games. A win by the Twins and a loss by the Tigers puts Minnesota just 1/2 game back in the AL Central, and even in the All Freaking Important Loss Column (AFILC).

Jason Bergmann gets the start for Washington against the Diamondbacks tonight. His ERA is 6.66. It would be really cool if his head spun all the way around while he was in the windup. Fernando Valenzuela possessed by the Devil.

Enjoy!

The schedule holds just nine games today, but there are a number of important contests among them. The Mets travel to Miami to try to eliminate one more team from contention in the NL East. The Mets magic number against both Philadelphia and Florida is four, meaning if the Mets win two out of three the Marlins are eliminated from the NL East crown. Florida, on the other hand, is fighting for a wild card berth. Dave Williams gets the call for the Mets. Since joining the Mets, he's lowered his opposition OBA nearly 70 points compared to his time with the Reds. The Marlins send Anibal Sanchez to the mound, fresh off his no hitter. Opposition hitters are batting just .195 off Anibal this year, and his OBA and slugging percentage allowed are both under .300.

Possible playoff opponents Oakland and Minnesota start a three-game series under the dome. Joe Blanton faces Carlos Silva. Silva is making his first start since leaving a game with a stomach ache while he was pitching very well. The Twins lost that contest and Silva apologized. Blanton gives up lots of hits. He survives by keeping them in the ball park and not making the problem worse with a lot of walks. The Athletics offense gives him plenty of support as well.

The Astros trail the Cardinals by five games in the NL Central and get a chance to gain three games as they open a series in St. Louis. Andy Pettitte takes on Cardinals ace Chris Carpenter. Pettitte's made big strides since the All-Star break, logging a 2.75 ERA but just a 6-4 record. He's only allowed 6 of his 24 home runs in that time. Carpenter's been great since the break also, striking out more batters (61) than have hits off him (58).

And for those of you wishing to stay up late for the west coast action, the White Sox battle the Angels, giving LAnaheim a chance to move up in the wild card race. Jose Contreras pitches for Chicago, coming off a season high in strikeouts in his start against the Red Sox. John Lackey takes the mound for the Angels. This might not be a good matchup for him as he tends to give up home runs at home, and the White Sox lead the league in homers.

Enjoy!

You couldn't ask for batter matchups to end the two big series of the weekend. In Florida, Cole Hamels takes on Dontrelle Willis while Jeremy Bonderman faces Johan Santana in Minnesota.

Hamels is on a roll. Since the start of August he's posted a 2.40 ERA, striking out 9.0 per nine innings while walking just 1.2 per nine. He's allowed 2 earned runs or less in seven of the eight starts. The Marlins, needing a win to stay even with the Phillies, send the player who should be their veteran ace to the mound. But Willis pitched poorly against the Phillies twice this year, otherwise the Marlins might be the chased.

What's keeping Jeremy Bonderman away from greatness is his weakness against lefties. The Twins provide plenty of hitters to exploit this, as Bonderman is 0-1 with a 4.22 ERA against Minnesota in three starts this season. And if you want someone great down the stretch look no further than Johan Santana. Take a look at his opposition batting stats by month. From August on he's allowed a .198 BA, a .252 OBA and a .303 slugging percentage.

The third big pennant race game is out in San Francisco as Woody Williams challenges Brad Hennessey. Brad's done a good job against western opponents this season, picking up four of his five wins in the division. Williams and Hennessey share one strength. They both are better at retiring lefties than righties.

And in a game that has more award ramifications than playoff importance, the Blue Jays send Roy Halladay to the mound to face Jered Weaver and the Angels. Roy's handled the Angels well this season, holding them to 12 hits while striking out 13 in 16 innings of work. Weaver's given up more home runs lately (7 or his 9 came since the all-star break), but he's still allowed just one in Anaheim.

Enjoy!

For me, the game of the day is Dodgers at Mets, since I'll be there. I bought a new PDA phone yesterday, so I hope to be able to report from from the game. It's a veteran matchup as Greg Maddux faces Orlando Hernandez. Maddux turned out to be a great pickup for the Dodgers, going 3-1with a 3.32 ERA so far. Orlando's improved since coming over to the Mets, especially in reducing his walks.

The Padres send David Wells to the mound against Giants ace Jason Schmidt to try to even their series with the Giants. This is exactly the kind of game for which the Padres acquired Wells.

Did anyone think Luke Hudson and Josh Beckett would have this much in common? Their ERAs are almost identical (5.21 for Hudson, 5.11 for Beckett) and both own the same winning percentage (14-10 for Beckett, 7-5 for Hudson). The Red Sox try to break their four game losing streak vs. Kansas City.

Enjoy!

The Reds at first glance appear to catch a break this weekend as they play the Pirates at home. But Pittsburgh is playing well lately, going 7-3 over their last 10 and moving past the Cubs in the standings. The Reds over the same stretch are 2-8. Ian Snell takes on Kyle Lohse tonight. Snell hasn't allowed a home run to the power house Reds in two starts this season, covering 12 innings. The National League appears to be catching up to Lohse as he's allowed nine earned runs in his last two starts.

The Phillies and Marlins continue their four game series with Jamie Moyer and Scott Olsen on the mound. Olsen does a good job of neutralizing lefties, so he might give Utley and Howard trouble tonight. Moyer's pitch decently for the Phillies so far, but he's been hit at inopportune times. Opponents are 8 for 20 with runners in scoring position against Jamine in his starts with the Phillies.

Tonight's an important game for Detroit. With a win this evening, they guarantee they'll maintain their lead when they leave Minnesota. Wil Ledezma takes on Matt Garza. Ledezma fit in well to the Tigers rotation, posting a 2.12 ERA in three starts. Garza's yet to win at the Metrodome, despite the Twins' great record there. A 7.04 ERA is tough to overcome.

The big game on the west coast pits the visiting Padres against the Giants. San Francisco is three games back of San Diego for the wild card, and four games back of the Dodgers for the division. A sweep would do the Giants a world of good in their quest for the playoffs. Jake Peavy faces Matt Cain. Except for a bad start in Colorado, Jake's pitched well over his last eight starts, including a complete game against the Reds his last time out. Cain is tough to hit, allowing a .222 batting average on the season. But he gets easier to hit after 45 pitches, when his BA allowed goes up to .250.

Enjoy!

There's a sparse schedule today, but two important series begin tonight. The Phillies travel to Florida to play the Marlins with the NL Wild Card on the line. The teams are tied for second in the NL East and trail the Padres by three games. The pitching matchup appears to favor Florida tonight as Jon Lieber faces Josh Johnson. Lieber's strikeouts are down this season, so while his walks and homers allowed are the same, his hits allowed are up. So is his ERA. Jon's 4.93 mark would be his worst since 1995 when he posted a 6.32 ERA in just 72 2/3 innings. Johnson's given up home runs more often since the All-Star break, and his ERA went up with the long balls.

The other big series is Detroit at Minnesota. A month ago, it looked like the division was settled, but the Twins are just four games back and a sweep of the reeling Tigers puts them into a tie for first. Two young pitchers take the mound tonight as Justin Verlander faces Scott Baker. I find Baker's pitching line extremely odd. Like most Minnesota pitchers he has good control, walking just 14 batters in 68 2/3 innings. He's also struck out 56 in that time, a healthy 7.3 per 9. But he's allowed 92 hits, 15 of them for home runs. His FIP is 5.07, still not good but it indicates he's either been unlucky, the Twins defense played poorly behind him, or when the opposition hits him, he gets hit hard.

Verlander is making a bid for rookie of the year. His ERA is somewhat better than predicted by fielding independent numbers, probably due to his .220 batting average allowed with runners in scoring position.

And in a battle of first place teams, the Mets host the Dodgers (I'm going to the game on Saturday). It's a good veteran matchup as Brad Penny faces Tom Glavine. Penny is not holding up well as the season progresses. In the second half, he's averaged less than six innings per start, walking more batters and allowing more home runs. Glavine makes his second start since a blood clot problem sidelined him and we'll see if he's shaken off the rust.

Enjoy!

Chris Carpenter tries to cement his Cy Young credentials against the Washington Nationals this afternoon. Since July 1 he's posted a 2.89 ERA, good for a 7-2 record. He's striking out 7 batters for every one he walks. Mike O'Connor owns a 5.12 ERA despite a .199 batting average allowed with runners on base. Fourteen of the 27 hits allowed in that situation went for extra bases, however, driving runners around.

Two teams go for the series sweep in an effort to keep their playoff hopes alive. Texas finishes up in Oakland this afternoon with Vicente Padilla facing Joe Blanton. Texas is 20-14 since the start of August as the offense keeps knocking out extra-base hits. The A's are 23-9 in the same period, but a Texas win today puts the Rangers seven games back with 21 to play.

The White Sox try to avoid the sweep by the Red Sox as Jose Contreras challenging Kyle Snyder. Since his shutout of the Tigers on Aug. 11, Contreras has allowed at least five runs in his last four starts, seven runs in three of them. Snyder is coming off his season best start, seven shutout innings against the Blue Jays.

Finally, the Brewers try to play spoiler in the NL West as they go for a sweep of the Dodgers. It an even matchup as Derek Lowe faces Chris Capuano. Lowe's done a great job this year of keeping the ball in the park. He's only allowed 13 home runs this season after giving up 28 in 2005. Unfortunately, that hasn't helped his ERA. Capuano's OBA allowed is under .300 this year as he's walked just 1.65 per nine innings.

Enjoy!

Roy Halladay makes his second attempt at 17 wins as he faces Jeremy Sowers and the Cleveland Indians tonight. Sowers is a lot like Chien-Ming Wang. He gets a lot of ground balls without striking out many batters. He keeps his walks low so the hits don't hurt as much. Only Curt Schilling has a better walks per 9 rate than Halladay. Expect a lot of balls in play in this game, so the defense will be on their toes.

Cincinnati needs a win to stay in the playoff hunt. Matt Morris tries to prevent that as he takes on Bronson Arroyo. Morris pitched one of his two complete games against the Reds this year, a one-run three-hitter. Arroyo is a good pitcher for Bonds to face, as 21 of his 29 home runs allowed were off the bats of lefties.

Johan Santana also goes for his 17th win tonight, facing Jae Seo and the Devil Rays. Seo turned his season around in August, posting a 1.96 ERA in four starts and a 3 to 1 K/BB. Santana, despite better opposition batting stats on the road, is only 6-5 away from the HHH Dome.

Mike Mussina returns to the mound for the Yankees against Jorge de la Rosa and the Royals. de la Rosa's lack of control should play right into the Yankees strength. New York starters had a good stretch without Mike in the rotation, going 7-2 with a 3.32 ERA.

Enjoy!

Arizona is 9-17 versus the NL East this season, a big reason they're falling out of the wild card race. They'll visit the Marlins in Miami this afternoon, winners of 12 of their last 14 games to bring their record to .500. Eight of those 12 wins were by 2 runs or less. Brian Moehler host Enrique Gonzalez. Moehler is one of the few veterans who survived the winter purge, but he's getting hit hard this year. He's striking out less than 4.5 per 9 innings, and the balls in play are finding the gaps and the seats. Opponents are hitting .328 against him with a .527 slugging percentage. The league figured out Gonzalez after the break, as they hit just .219 in the first half against him, but .311 since.

The once and future king face off in Philadelphia this afternoon as Roger Clemens meet Cole Hamels. Cole showed Clemens like control in the minors, and lately he's shown it in the majors. In his last nine starts he's struck out 62 and walked 11. Clemens, at age 44, is posting a K/BB ratio over 4.00.

Texas is 10 games out in the AL West with twenty four games to play, but they have a chance to make a dent in the race as they open a three-game series with Oakland. Robinson Tejeda challenges Barry Zito. Tejada's control problems could be deadly against the Athletics lineup. He's walked more than he struck out. Zito comes into the game with a career record of 101-61. That's a season of games, and most team with 101 wins are going to make the playoffs.

The Reds come home after a 2-8 road trip. They've been outscored at home as they've been on the road, but they have a winning record at GAB. They'll send their best pitcher to the mound against the Giants as Aaron Harang goes against Brad Hennessey. Aaron pitches well at home except for the long ball, as 14 of his 20 home runs were hit in Cincinnati. Hennessey, a righty, handles lefties very well, allowing just a .221 batting average, although 13 of the 29 hits by lefties went for extra bases.

Jon Garland and Chien-Ming Wang both go for their 17th wins tonight, each trying to be the first to reach that plateau. Garland faces the Red Sox, going against Julien Tavarez on short rest. Francona is being creative with the rotation, throwing in a bullpen game after three days of rest. Boston will get Nixon and Varitek back tonight, and according to Tavarez, Manny will play as well. Boston really needs a sweep of the three game series to get back in the race. However, Garland is pitching very well since the start of July, going 9-1 with a 2.89 ERA.

Wang gets a somewhat easier assignment as he faces the Kansas City Royal and Luke Hudson. But the Royals are doing a good job playing spoiler, taking two out of three from both Minnesota and Chicago in their last two series. Wang's been hot since June 1, posting an 11-3 record and a 3.15 ERA.

Enjoy!

I'm on the road this morning, so a very quick and dirty games of the day.

Twins at Yankees -- Twins still on quest for wild card.
Diamondbacks at Nationals double header -- A DBacks sweep gains them at least 1/2 game in wild card race.
Braves at Phillies double header -- If the Braves are going to make the playoffs, a sweep today would help. A Philies sweep gives them at least a tie with San Diego.
Angels at Tigers -- Excellent matchup between rookies Saunders and Verlander.
Marlins at Brewers -- Johnson vs. Sheets. Fish can put final nail in Brewers season.
Reds at Padres -- Great matchup, Lohse and Peavy, a Reds win puts them in first place pending the Phillies result.

Enjoy!

The Twins travel to New York tonight to start a three game set with the Yankees. With five months of the season gone, this series will showcase two of the top players in line for the MVP award, Joe Mauer and Derek Jeter. Through 8/28, Joe Mauer and Manny Ramirez were tied for most win shares in the AL, and most WS above average. But Manny's not playing much lately. Right behind them is Derek Jeter. As you can see, Derek beats Mauer with the bat, but Joe's glove gives him the boost over Jeter. However, if one does clearly better in this head-to-head matchup, it's something voters will remember at the end of the season.

The two are also competing for the batting title in the AL. Mauer holds a 10 point lead over Jeter. If Jeter goes 7 for 16 this weekend, he only raises his BA three points to .343. Mauer could then go 3 for 16 and still keep the lead.

The Braves trail the Phillies by 3 1/2 games and open a four game series tonight in always sunny Philadelphia. Oscar Villarreal faces Jon Lieber in game one. Most of Oscar's nine wins came out of the bullpen, but in three starts he's posted a 2.77 ERA, walking just two in 13 innings. Lieber just gets pounded with men on base. With no one on, batters manage a low .403 slugging percentage against Jon. But that goes up to .576 with men on base. Long hits drive runners a long way around the bases.

The Reds get a chance to go after the team that grabbed the wild card lead from them, the San Diego Padres as Bronson Arroyo faces Clay Hensley. Clay takes full advantage of PETCO, posting a 3.27 ERA at the park and allowing 17 extra-base hits there vs. 28 on the road. Home runs ball have been Arroyo's bane in the second half. He allowed 15 in 130 pre All-Star innings, but 14 in 59 1/3 since.

Enjoy!

The Tigers and Yankees play the rubber game of their series this afternoon, with Jeremy pitching against Randy Johnson. Left-handed batters give Bonderman trouble, and the Yankees can pack those into their lineup. Johnson's fall off in strikeouts this year is impressive. He averaged 8.4 per 9 in 2005, 7.1 in 2006. Both are way off from his 10.8 career number. While we're no doubt seeing the decline of Randy Johnson, it's not clear to me why his ERA this season is so much higher than last year. His opponent batting average and OBA are up, but not a lot. Last I looked a .313 OBA allowed was pretty good. The real difference is batting average with runners in scoring position. Last year it was .251 against Randy. This year it's .348. His strikeouts aren't lower just in that situation, so Randy's poor ERA has to do with poor luck in key situations.

Johan Santana goes for his 16th win of the season vs. Jorge de la Rosa of the Royals. Given the four run difference in ERAs, this should be an easy win for the Twins. They've lost three in a row and are now 1 1/2 games behind the White Sox in the wild card race, so they can use an easy one. Minnesota's only scored four runs in their last three games.

The Marlins and Cardinals also play the rubber game of their series, with Dontrelle Willis facing Jeff Suppan. Dontrelle is one veteran Marlins who is not playing up to expectations. Florida could really use the Dontrelle of 2005 down the stretch as they go for a playoff berth. Willis is posting a 2.91ERA in August, but he's still walking too many batters. Suppan's pitched much better since the All-Star break with an ERA three runs lower due to a 30 point drop in OBA allowed and a 100 point drop in slugging percentage allowed.

Enjoy!

The Tigers and Yankees try again in a split admission double header. Robertson and Wang were discussed yesterday and that should be the better of the two games. In the night cap, Jaret Wright pitches for his job once again. The Yankees may replace him with Pavano even if Carl has a broken leg.

There's a nice matchup of 14 game winners in Oakland as Schilling takes on Zito. It looks like Curt needs to pitch a shutout the way the Boston offense is performing lately.

Cincinnati and LosAngelese send two very good pitchers to the mound as Aaron Harang faces Greg Maddux. Harang allows a .314 OBA and .380 slugging percentage away from GAB. Since joining the Dodgers, Maddux allowed one home run and six walks in 31 innings of work.

Cole Hamels and Roger Clemens are also in action tonight as the Phillies go for another win over Washington in an effort to move into the wild card lead and the Astros try to extend the Brewers losing streak and move up in the race themselves. Clemens is three wins shy of a nice round number, 350.

Enjoy!

The teams with the two best records in the American League meet tonight as the Tigers visit the Yankees. The Tigers are 0.71 runs better in terms of ERA, the Yankees 0.64 better in terms of runs per game. The Yankees appear to have the better pitcher on the mound tonight as Nate Robertson faces Chien-Ming Wang. The big difference between the two pitchers is the long ball. Wang's home run rate is 0.55 per 9, the lowest in the AL. Robertson is twice that, at 1.28. New York trails Detroit by four games for home field advantage throughout the playoffs, so despite opening a big lead on the Red Sox, this is an important series. While Detroit is very even home and away, the Yankees pitching and W/L record is superior at Yankee Stadium.

If Atlanta is going to make the playoffs, one of the team they need to pass is the Giants. They trail San Francisco by three games as the big men visit Atlanta. Jason Schmidt takes the mound for San Francisco against Tim Hudson of the Braves. It appears that Jason doesn't get much support outside of the Bay Area. His 3.14 ERA at home produced a 7-1 record, while his 3.33 road ERA was good for a mere 3 wins in nine decisions. After a rough July, Hudson is posting a 2.97 ERA in August, allowing just one home run in 33 1/3 innings. (There's a whole generation that doesn't know the significance of that number.)

The Brewers and Astros are both in the wild card race, but the big story tonight is Willy Taveras going for game 31 in his hit streak. The pitching matchup favors Willy as he's four for eleven vs. Ohka.

The Marlins try to extend their eight game winning streak and their run at the wild card as they face the Cardinals in St. Louis. If Florida is going to make the playoffs, they'll earn it as their schedule is full of teams they need to beat, including 10 games against the Phillies and three games against the Reds, not to mention seven against the Mets. They start Scott Olsen against Mark Mulder tonight. Among pitchers with 130 innings this season, Olsen ranks 7th in the majors in K per 9. This is Mulder's second start since returning from the DL. The Mets pounded him for nine runs in three innings his last time out. But he's pitched better in St. Louis this season, posting a 3.26 ERA and a 4-1 record at the new Busch Stadium.

San Diego continues its series against Arizona as Chris Young takes on rookie Enrique Gonzalez. Gonzalez has used Chase to his advantage so far, allowing a .191 batting average there vs. .324 on the road. Young is undefeated on the road this season with a 5-0 record and 2.63 ERA. He's less susceptible to the long ball outside of PETCO.

The team that can't seem to win nor lose the wild card, the Cincinnati Reds tries to get back in the win column in a battle of former AL lefties. Eric Milton battles Mark Hendrickson in Los Angeles. Right-handed hitters pounded Milton this season for a .500 slugging percentage. Hendrickson's ERA is nearly a run higher with the Dodgers, despite no designated hitter. Opponents hit .241 against him with the Devil Rays, .302 since joining the Dodgers.

Finally, it's the old Jarrod vs. the new Jered as the Mariners host the Angels. Weaver goes for his 10th win vs. one defeat. Washburn tries not to lose his 13th.

Enjoy!

The Florida Marlins go for the sweep of the Brewers and their eighth straight win tonight as Ben Sheets faces Josh Johnson. Sheets' pitching numbers in August are great, except for his ERA. Ben has thrown 22 innings, striking out 22, walking four and allowing two home runs. But his ERA stands at 5.73. The problem is, the other extra-base hits aren't low. Thirteen of the 24 hits he's allowed went for extra-bases in the month. Johnson, in his first full year in the majors may be hitting a wall. His strikeout rate dropped in August leading to an increase in his ERA as well.

The Diamondbacks are three games behind the Padres, and open a three game series against San Diego tonight. Brandon Webb hosts Woody Williams in the pitching matchup. Webb's done a great job of keeping the ball in the park this year, especially at home. He's allowed just seven long balls at Chase this season and a 2.79 ERA in the park. Williams power distribution is interesting as well. At Petco, he allows home runs but keeps other extra-base hits low. Away from home, doubles are much more frequent, but home runs drop off.

The Reds try to get back on track as they visit another playoff contender, the Los Angeles Dodgers. Chris Michalak takes the mound for the Reds. Michalak was out of the majors for three seasons before getting a chance with Cincinnati. His four strikeouts and eight walks in 17 innings this year may be the reason why. He'll go against Brad Penny, who hasn't been very pretty since the All-Star break. Penny's ERA in the second half is 6.36. He's allowed eight home runs in 46 2/3 innings after allowing just seven in his first 108 1/3 innings.

Enjoy!

The Tigers try for the fifth time to win game number 82, which would give them their first winning season since 1993. They send lefty Kenny Rogers to the mound against Cleveland's Cliff Lee. The Indians finally straightened out their pitching staff this month. The 3.76 team ERA combined with top offensive output helped the Indians to a 15-9 August. A big difference for Cliff Lee this month is the defense behind him. He's lowered his walks and home runs allowed, but in July 10 unearned runs were scored against him. So far in August, that number is 0. Rogers is pitching well in August after a terrible July. He's allowed just 17 hits in 26 innings despite a mere eight strikeouts.

There's a nice pitching matchup in Florida as the Brewers and Marlins vie for the sixth spot in the NL Wild Card race. Florida currently holds a half-game lead over Milwaukee. Chris Capuano tries to move the Brewers up, while it's up to Anibal Sanchez to maintain the Marlins position. Capuano does everything right as a pitcher. He holds good strikeout and home run numbers, and keeps the free passes to a minimum. Sanchez hasn't found his control yet, but he's tough to hit. With men in scoring position, he's allowed just a .196 batting average.

The Twins go for the sweep of the White Sox this afternoon in Chicago. By winning the first two, Minnesota will leave the south side with the wild card lead intact. This may be a high scoring game, however, as neither Sliva nor Buehrle own low ERAs. Silva's control is almost too good as opponents keep putting the ball in play and keep getting hits. He's only struck out six during the month of August. Buehrle's been suffering from the home run bug lately, giving up 16 homers in July and August after allowing just 12 through the first three months.

Meanwhile, former Twin Kyle Lohse keeps performing well for the Reds. He'll take his 1.65 NL ERA against the Giants and Matt Cain as Cincinnati tries to hold on to the Wild Card lead. Cain's doing a great job at home this season, with an ERA 1.80 lower than on the road. It very basic as he gives up fewer home runs and fewer walks at AT&T Park.

We'll see if the new contacts continue to work for Jake Peavy as he faces Aaron Cook in Colorado. In Peavy's two starts with the new lenses, he's allowed 3 runs in 14 innings while striking out 15 and walking 3. All twelve of Cook's home runs allowed this season came at Coors Field. A win by San Diego can give them the lead in the wild card race and/or a tie for the lead in the NL West.

Enjoy!

The Tigers try for the fifth time to win game number 82, which would give them their first winning season since 1993. They send lefty Kenny Rogers to the mound against Cleveland's Cliff Lee. The Indians finally straightened out their pitching staff this month. The 3.76 team ERA combined with top offensive output helped the Indians to a 15-9 August. A big difference for Cliff Lee this month is the defense behind him. He's lowered his walks and home runs allowed, but in July 10 unearned runs were scored against him. So far in August, that number is 0. Rogers is pitching well in August after a terrible July. He's allowed just 17 hits in 26 innings despite a mere eight strikeouts.

There's a nice pitching matchup in Florida as the Brewers and Marlins vie for the sixth spot in the NL Wild Card race. Florida currently holds a half-game lead over Milwaukee. Chris Capuano tries to move the Brewers up, while it's up to Anibal Sanchez to maintain the Marlins position. Capuano does everything right as a pitcher. He holds good strikeout and home run numbers, and keeps the free passes to a minimum. Sanchez hasn't found his control yet, but he's tough to hit. With men in scoring position, he's allowed just a .196 batting average.

The Twins go for the sweep of the White Sox this afternoon in Chicago. By winning the first two, Minnesota will leave the south side with the wild card lead intact. This may be a high scoring game, however, as neither Sliva nor Buehrle own low ERAs. Silva's control is almost too good as opponents keep putting the ball in play and keep getting hits. He's only struck out six during the month of August. Buehrle's been suffering from the home run bug lately, giving up 16 homers in July and August after allowing just 12 through the first three months.

Meanwhile, former Twin Kyle Lohse keeps performing well for the Reds. He'll take his 1.65 NL ERA against the Giants and Matt Cain as Cincinnati tries to hold on to the Wild Card lead. Cain's doing a great job at home this season, with an ERA 1.80 lower than on the road. It very basic as he gives up fewer home runs and fewer walks at AT&T Park.

We'll see if the new contacts continue to work for Jake Peavy as he faces Aaron Cook in Colorado. In Peavy's two starts with the new lenses, he's allowed 3 runs in 14 innings while striking out 15 and walking 3. All twelve of Cook's home runs allowed this season came at Coors Field. A win by San Diego can give them the lead in the wild card race and/or a tie for the lead in the NL West.

Enjoy!

The Day by Day Database is up to date.

The AL Wild Card is up for grabs today as Minnesota travels to Chicago with the two teams separated by 1/2 game in the wild card race. Brad Radke takes the mound for the Twins against Javier Vazquez. While Radke gives up about a hit an inning at home, that goes up by nearly 50% on the road. The Twins dominated Vazquez so far this year, as he's posted a 7.71 ERA against Minnesota. Twenty-five hits allowed in 18 2/3 innings led to 17 runs scored.

The Padres pulled themselves back into the NL West race with a sweep of the Dodgers, and now it's the Diamondbacks turn. Greg Maddux faces Claudio Vargas in the first of a three game series. In four starts for the Dodgers since the trade, opponents collected just 15 hits off Greg in 26 innings. A win tonight gives him 330 for his career and puts him 130 games over .500. Vargas is showing good control lately, allowing just 4 walks in his last 23 1/3 innings.

Aaron Harang leads the Reds against the Giants with a win giving them a chance to move into first place in the NL Central. Harang's been a true road warrior this season, posting a 2.76 ERA and allowing just five homers in 91 1/3 innings. He'll be opposed by Matt Morris. Matt is getting hammered with men on base this year, allowing 11 of his 18 homers in that situation to go along with a .302 batting average against.

Enjoy!

The Detroit Tigers can push their magic number below 30 today with a win over the Chicago White Sox. Freddy Garcia faces Zach Miner. For some reason, Miner strikesout fewer batters at Comerica than on the road. Not surprisingly, he gives up many more hits at home, leading to a 5.35 ERA. Garcia's pitched decently against the Tigers, but allowed four home runs in 19 innings.

There are two good pitching matchups on the west coast tonight. The first involves second year pitchers, Chien-Ming Wang and Felix Hernandez. King Felix hasn't live up to the hype surrounding him. Despite striking out batters at a high rate, he's still hittable, allowing a .260 batting average. Wang's exceeded expectations, amassing 14 wins with a 3.86 ERA. Despite striking out very few, his batting average allowed is .277. He's doing a better job of keeping his hits allowed short than Hernandez, as Wang posts an opposition slugging percentage of .378 while Felix is at .411.

The Padres go for a win in game 2 of the Dodgers series as they try to sweep into a first place tie. Brad Penny will try to shine against Woody Williams. Williams is shutting down left-handed batters this year, allowing just a .238 batting average. Penny, like Williams, is a RHP doing better against lefties, although it's more balanced.

And finally, a loss tonight by Kansas City makes them the first team to be guaranteed to finish with a losing record.

Correction: As one of the commentors pointed out, this is the third game of the Padres/Dodgers series and the Padres will be one game out if they win. I've lost track of time on vacation and thought it was Tuesday.

The Cardinals and Mets face off today in a matchup of first place teams and possible playoff opponents. This will be a good test for New York, as St. Louis is very much fighting for a playoff spot and will put forward their best players. The pitching duel would seem to favor New York tonight, as Jeff Weaver faces John Maine. But Weaver is coming off three decent starts, posting a 2.41 ERA in that time. Maine's been nearly unhittable at Shea, allowing a .187 BA and a .328 slugging percentage.

The Red Sox open on the West Coast against the Angels. Both teams need to win to start to work back into their division races. The Red Sox send Kyle Snyder vs. Joe Saunders. Snyder's improved his strikeout rate tremendously since joining Boston. It was a subpar 4.4 with Kansas City, 8.2 with the Red Sox. Saunders is coming off his first loss and his first bad start. He walked five and gave up five hits in 2 2/3 innings vs. the Rangers. But in Anaheim, he's still undefeated with a 1.29 ERA in 21 innings.

Enjoy!

Corey Lidle attempts to put the last nail in the Red Sox coffin today as the Yankees and Red Sox play a rare Monday afternoon game. With the Yankees Lidle hasn't exhibited the control he did with the Phillies. He's walked 7 in 16 1/3 innings after walking 39 in 125 1/3 innings for the Phillies. He'll face the master of control, David Wells. Unfortunately for David, he's given up more home runs (9) than walks (6) this year.

The White Sox, at 5 1/2 games back still have a shot at the division title. They swept three from the Tigers a week ago, and open a four game series in Detroit today. It's a good matchup, too as Jose Contreras takes on Justin Verlander. Contreras has held the Tigers offense to 2 home runs in 31 innings this season, a big reason for hits 1.45 ERA against Detroit. Verlander, on the other hand, gets knocked around by Chicago. He's 0-3 with a 9.88 ERA, giving up 27 hits in 13 2/3 innings.

The Dodgers visit San Diego with a four game lead over both the Padres and Diamondbacks. The Friars really need a three game sweep here, as time in the season is starting to run short. Chad Billingsley starts off for LA against Chan Ho Park. Billingsley strikes me as a pitcher waiting for his ERA to catch up with his abilities. He had a good outing in his last start, but for the season he's still given up more walks than strikeouts. Chan Ho Park defeated his old team twice in three starts this season, but is posting a 4.76 ERA against them.

Enjoy!

Alert the network, we're going long! Randy Johnson faced Josh Beckett today as two tired teams face two supposed aces with ERAs around five. Fox better be prepared for another very long game. Johnson's overall stats are pretty good, but he's getting creamed with men on base. The opposition is hitting .311 with runners on and .339 with men in scoring position. Beckett's pitched very well in day games this season, posting a 5-0 record in seven starts and a 2.98 ERA. He's only allowed four of his 31 homers in his day starts.

The Diamondbacks and Padres are tied in the standings, one game out of the wild card and three games back in the west. The Padres might be more deserving of the position, as they've outscored their opponents by 4 runs, while the Diamondbacks have been outscored by 9. Arizona's taken five out of seven head-to-head so far.

They'll be watching the Pirates/Reds score. The Pirates are playing okay since the All-Star break, posting a 3.87 team ERA and a 17-15 record. That ERA ranks them third in the NL in that time. The Reds are an all or nothing at all team in August. Their batting average of .230 ranks last in the NL for the month, but they lead the league in home runs with 32.

Like the Yankees and Red Sox, the White Sox and Twins send two pitchers to the mound with great records but bad ERAs. Jon Garland visits Brad Radke as the Twins look to move into a lead for the AL Wild Card. Garland appears to be turning around his season in August as his ERA sits at 2.89 for the month. But appearances can be deceiving as he's giving up a .329 batting average and a .566 slugging percentage. He's kept his walks down, which helped some, but batters are hitting .250 with runners in scoring position against the White Sox righty. Most of the damage done against Radke is on the road. In the Metrodome, his averages allowed are about 100 points lower.

The best pitching matchup of the day pits Greg Maddux against Brad Hennessey in San Francisco. Maddux showed how masterful he can be last Sunday as he shutout the Giants for eight innings on just 68 pitches. Hennessey is a right-hander who gets out lefties. The sinister batters are hitting just .178 vs Brad with a .276 OBA and a .308 slugging percentage.

Enjoy!

Given today's pitching matchups in the Yankees/Red Sox split admission double header, it seems the team are trying for the split. Wang vs. Lester and Ponson vs. Johnson would be better matchups if one team wanted to go for the sweep. Given the ERAs of the starters, I'd say the Yankees have a better shot at game one, while the Red Sox should be favored in the night cap. If the matchups where switched, the odds of winning either game would be closer to 50/50. I guess they just couldn't resist a duel between Wang and Johnson.

Meanwhile, second place in the AL Central and a shot at the wild card is up for grabs in Minnesota this weekend as the White Sox visit the Twins. Freddy Gracia takes on Boof Bonser in game one of the three-game series. Garcia's beaten the Twins twice this year, walking just two in 13 1/3 innings. Boof's been boffed for eleven home runs in just 45 1/3 innings so far this season.

On the West Coast, the last place Giants try to make up for last week's sweep by the Dodgers as they take on Los Angeles in San Francisco. It's a great matchup as Brad Penny faces Jason Schmidt. The Dodgers baby Penny to keep him healthy, as he's averaging just six innings per start. As long as he keeps his .309 OBA allowed, that's just fine. This is Schmidt's fifth start against Los Angeles this season. He's posted a 2.33 ERA, but just has an 0-2 record to show for his troubles.

Enjoy!

Today's the perfect day to take a very long lunch, find a sports bar with MLB Extra Innings and lots of screens and enjoy some pennant race baseball.

The Yankees and Orioles finish up their three game series this afternoon. It's an important game for New York as a victory puts them 2 1/2 games ahead of the idle Red Sox going into a five game series against Boston. Rodrigo Lopez take the mound for Baltimore against Jaret Wright. Lopez simply gives up too many hits. The league is batting .307 against him while slugging .516. He doesn't give up many walks, but I wonder if it's because he throws up so many juicy pitches that hitters can't help but swing! After struggling for four months, Wright improved his pitching in August. He's 3-0 this month with a 1.65 ERA. Don't think he's turned the corner just yet, however, as he's walked 9 in 16 1/3 innings this month.

The Phillies try to reach .500 and sweep the Mets at the same time as John Maine faces Scott Mathieson in a battle of rookies. The Phillies outscored the Mets 27-4 in this series, most of the Mets offense coming on three Jose Reyes homers. They have a chance against Mathieson who's given up 35 hits this year, more than half for extra bases. Maine's made one start against Philadelphia this year, shutting them out for six innings.

The Twins send Matt Garza to the mound against the Indians after a disastrous first start against the Blue Jays. Minnesota is just one game behind the White Sox in the Wild Card race. His opponent, Paul Byrd, carries a 3.88 road ERA into the game, but he's just 3-4 away from Jacobs Field.

The Royals are doing a good job of playing spoiler in the AL, sweeping Boston and taking two in a row from the White Sox. They'll try to make it three today as Odalis Perez takes on Mark Buehrle. Mark's been battered with men in scoring position this season, allowing a .326 batting average. Perez is even worse, as opponents have hung a .421 BA on him in that situation in 2006.

And the games keep coming. The Reds and Cardianls play the rubber game of their series with the rejuvenated Kyle Lohse facing the mercurial Jeff Weaver. Lohse struck out 16 and walked 1 in 12 1/3 innings since joining the Reds. Weaver's struck out 15 and walked 11 in thirty innings for the Cardinals. He's pitched great and badly for the team. The Cardinals need him to be great today.

The Diamondbacks send their best, Brandon Webb against the Rockies Josh Fogg. Often, a 4.59 ERA would be considered great on Colorado, but Fogg is just their fourth starter this season. Webb is leading the league in ERA after a rough outing by Josh Johnson yesterday. The way Coors field is playing this season, he might be able to come out of today's game with an even lower number.

We finish the afternoon with the Giants and Padres as Matt Cain faces Jake Peavy. Peavy carried the Padres staff this year, and his falloff is a big reason the Padres aren't in first place. It's home runs, as he's already allowed more than all of last year. Cain's strikeouts are rising as he's K'd 23 in 18 innings in August. His 5.00 ERA in the month seems out of line with six walks and 2 homers allowed in those same number of innings.

Enjoy!

The Dodgers try to keep their streak alive this afternoon against the NL leader in ERA, Josh Johnson. Although he owns identical 5-3 records at home and on the road, Johnson's been tough to hit away from Miami, allowing a .203 batting average. Former Devil Ray Mark Hendrickson takes the mound for Los Angeles. He's simply not pitching well for the Dodgers, allowing a .379 OBA and a .439 slugging percentage so far.

Another potential Cy Young candidate takes the mound tonight as Justin Verlander faces David Wells and the Boston Red Sox. Verlander hasn't done much to help his cause in August, allowing eight runs in 10 innings. But a win tonight ties him with Roy Halladay for the major league lead. Wells simply hasn't pitched that much this season, but his six homers allowed in 20 innings at Fenway has to be a concern.

Bronson Arroyo makes another attempt to gain his tenth win of the year, and this time it counts. :-) He's up against the Cardinals and Anthony Reyes as the Reds try to even the series with St. Louis. Since the last win, Arroyo's walks and strikeouts are fine. It's the home runs that are killing him.

Enjoy!

The AL East holds two of the top games once again tonight. The Tigers and Red Sox kick it off with Jeremy Bonderman facing Curt Schilling. The two own nearly identical ERAs. Bonderman strikes out more, but Schilling walks fewer. The big advantage for Bonderman is in the home run column, where he's allowed .74 per 9 compared to Schilling's 1.35.

The Yankees start a three game series with the Orioles, sending ex-Baltimore ace Mike Mussina against the current number one, Erik Bedard. He's only allowed one home run in five starts since the All-Star break after giving up 12 in the first half. Mussina makes his third try at 14 wins. He's given up six earned runs in 11 innings trying for that so far.

The Reds and Cardinals start a three game series that will help decide the NL Central, and the teams will start it with their best. Chris Carpenter host Aaron Harang in St. Louis. They met on August ninth, with both pitchers giving up long balls in an eventual 8-7 Reds victory. Both are in a ballpark tonight will home runs should be less of a problem. Carpenter's allowed 1/2 the homers at home as he has on the road, and Harang's homers go down by 1/3 away from the GAB.

San Francisco's played two 1-0 games in a row, losing to the Dodgers but winning against the Padres. The Giants offense has another tough test tonight as they go against Chris Young. The Princeton grad doesn't give up many hits (.226 BA allowed) but the few the opposition gets go a long way (46 of 59 have gone for extra bases). Matt Morris will try to continue the Giants starters good pitching. After a fine stretch in June and July, Morris settled back into mediocrity, posting a 6.57 ERA in his last seven starts.

Enjoy!

It's the sweepee versus the sweeper in Boston tonight as the Tigers face the Red Sox. Detroit lost three at the hands of the White Sox, while Boston took all three games from Baltimore over the weekend. Nate Robertson tries to stop Detroit's slide while Josh Beckett attempts to continue the Boston winning streak. Robertson's lowered his ERA every year in the majors, mostly by pulling down his slugging percentage allowed every year. Beckett's 13 wins are more a function of his 6.7 runs per 9 in support than his 4.92 ERA.

An even better supported pitcher is Randy Johnson. The Yankees are getting the Big Unit 7.66 runs per 9, making him a winner despite a 5.03 ERA. Runs may be tough to get this evening as the Yankees face John Lackey. The Angels starter ranks sixth in the AL in ERA at 3.33. The Yankees have a history of doing well vs. John, at least in the regular season. Even in the post season, New York manages to draw a good deal of walks against him.

It's the old version of Pedro vs. the young version of Pedro as Martinez faces Cole Hamels in Philadelphia this evening. Since returning from the DL, the strikeouts were not there for Pedro in two of his three starts. Meanwhile, Hamels struck out 37 while walking just seven in his last four outings.

The Astros are five games back in the NL Central and 3 1/2 back in the wild card as they send Roy Oswalt to the mound to host Carlos Zambrano and the Cubs. Houston is 8-4 in August as they try to make another late run at the playoffs. The offense is scoring over five runs per game while the staff is posting a 3.31 ERA. The Cubs offense is doing a great job of getting on base lately, but the pitching staff OBA allowed is going up as well.

Finally, the Dodgers try to make it 16 of 17 tonight as Dontrelle Willis faces Derek Lowe. Willis took a huge step backward this year as he's having his worst season in terms of issuing walks. Meanwhile, Lowe has not issued a walk in August, and only three in his last five starts.

Enjoy!

It's the youngsters early and the veterans late today. The Angels and Yankees play game three of their four game set with Jered Weaver facing Chien-Ming Wang. Wang's never faced the Angels before, but it should be an interesting contest. The Angels philosophy is to put the ball in play. In the past, this played havoc with the Yankees, since it took away the ability of the New York staff to strike out batters, negating that strength. But Wang approach is to get the other team to put the ball in play, just weakly on the ground. It's strength against strength here.

After winning his first seven starts, Weaver's faced tougher opponents lately. And while he hasn't lost, his strikeouts are down and his hits allowed are up. He'll be facing the #2 offense in the league, after seeing 3 and 4 in two of his last three starts.

Later, on the west coast, the Dodgers go for a sweep of the Giants at Chavez Ravine. Greg Maddux hosts Jason Schmidt. Maddux is giving the Dodgers solid innings since the trade, allowing just two runs in twelve innings so far. He's also reigned in the home run bug that hurt him for a couple of months. In his last 44 innings, he's allowed just 1 long ball.

In three starts against the Dodgers this year, Schmidt posted a 3.32 ERA but and 0-2 record. The Dodgers drew 11 walks in 19 innings against the usually in control Schmidt. Twice the Giants lost his starts by a score of 3-1.

Enjoy!

If you like offense, this is shaping up to be a good day. Twenty five of the 32 pitchers going today hold ERAs over 4.00. The only game with both starters under 4.00 is Florida at Arizona where Scott Olsen faces Brandon Webb. Olsen ranks fifth in the NL in strikeouts per 9 with a rate of 8.65. Webb is second in the league in ERA, mostly because he walks the fewest batters per 9 in the NL.

It's tough to pick a slugfest of the day, but game 2 of the Royals/Indians double header looks pretty good. Jorge de la Rosa starts for Kansas City. His strikeout rate is great as he's fanned 38 batters in 37 2/3 innings. But he's also waked 28 and allowed 45 hits. Opponents are hitting .381 when they put the ball in play vs. de la Rosa. He'll face Jeremy Guthrie, who's walked 9 in 13 2/3 innings while allowing 17 hits. He's also struck out nine, meaning opponents hit .370 when they put the ball in play against him. It should be an exciting game, with lots of Ks and lots of hits.

Enjoy!

The Angels visit the Yankees as rookie Joe Saunders takes on new acquisition Cory Lidle. The Angels started the season with a bit of a youth movement, but their original young players are gone, supplanted by the likes of Quinlan, Napoli, Kendrick, Jered Weaver and Joe Saunders. Joe's proved tough to hit so far as the league is batting just .164 with a .233 slugging percentage against him. Lidle is undefeated since the All-Star break, but has allowed six home runs in 27 2/3 innings in that time, accounting for 8 of his 11 runs allowed.

The Phillies are just three games behind the Reds in the Wild Card race as the two teams meet in Philadelphia tonight. It's a good matchup of sluggers in a hitter's park as Ryan Howard and Adam Dunn go head-to-head. The big difference between the two is hits vs. walks. Dunn's reached base more (191 times vs. 179 for Howard), but Howard's knocked out more hits, raising his slugging percentage 67 points higher than Dunn. He moves runners farther than Adam in a given at bat, which shows up in their RBI percentage.

If Toronto is going to stay in the Wild Card race, they need to keep defeating the opponents ahead of them. They go for two in a row this evening as they send A.J. Burnett vs. Matt Garza, making his major league debut for the Twins. I wonder if shoddy defense is hurting Burnett. Since the all-star break he's posting a 5.40 ERA, but look at his K/BB/HR numbers. I'll take my chances with those.

Enjoy!

This afternoon's contest between the Cardinals and the Reds is huge for both teams. A Cardinals win earns them a split and some breathing room in the NL Central. A Reds win moves them to 1 1/2 games of first place. Anthony Reyes faces Bronson Arroyo. Reyes is susceptible to the long ball, not a weakness that fits well at the GAB. Arroyo has the same problem since the All-Star break, allowing 8 home runs in his last 33 1/3 innings.

Javier Vazquez makes his first start against the Yankees since leaving New York. He'll be up against Mike Mussina. Mike attempts to join the 14 win club today as he's going for his first 20 win season. Mussina is tough on lefties in 2006, allowing just a .263 OBA to batters with a platoon advantage. I'm somewhat surprised at Vazquez's 5.18 ERA. Given his walk, strikeout and home run numbers are pretty good, you'd expect something lower. The Hardball Times puts his fielding independent ERA at 4.02. That's either a lot of bad fielding or a lot of bad luck. Or it's just the fact Javy gets hammered with men on base. He's allowing a .468 slugging percentage with men on base. That means runners get moved a long distance. On top of that, 9 of the fifteen homers he's allowed came with men on base.

Enjoy!

There are some dandy pitching matchups on this thirteen hours of baseball day. We'll start at 12:30 EDT with Erik Bedard taking on Roy Halladay. Bedard's turned his game around. Since 6/21 he's posting a 1.30 ERA while striking out more than 1 per inning. He's only allowed three homers in that period; he's given up 13 on the season. Halladay is coming off a tough loss against the White Sox in which he allowed 10 hits in six innings despite striking out seven.

The Twins and Tigers go at in again in Detroit in the rubber game of their series as Johan Santana face Jeremy Bonderman. The Baroque Rocker is 3-0 since the All-Star break despite not pitching well. His ERA in his last five starts is 4.31 and he's walked 11 in those 31 1/3 innings pitched. He walked about one every five innings before the break. Bonderman is allowing 0.77 home runs per 9 innings in 2006. He's lowered that mark every year in the majors. However, Bonderman's allowed seven of his 13 homers since the All-Star break.

The Cardinals and Reds send two of their best to the mound tonight as Chris Carpenter takes on Aaron Harang. Carpenter owns an ERA 3 runs higher on the road, but it's not clear why. He gives up a few more hits, walks and homers, but his numbers are still good. Harang's ERA goes up 2 1/2 runs at home, but it's clear that he simply gives up many more home runs in the hitter friendly GAB.

On the West Coast, the Rockies try to end the Dodgers winning streak with Cy Young candidate Jeff Francis visiting Derek Lowe. Francis is pitching well, posting a 2.03 ERA in his last seven starts, walking just 10. Lowe's having a tough time since the ASB, with the league batting .331 against him.

Enjoy!

There's a nice matchup of first-year rookies in Cleveland as Jered Weaver faces Jeremy Sowers. Sowers is making his sixth start at home vs. only two on the road. He's holding opponents to a .256 OBA in Cleveland and a .325 slugging percentage. His main strength so far is not walking batters, just one every five innings. Weaver walks a few more, but his high strikeout numbers keep the hits down. Opponents are batting just .192 against him with a .246 OBA.

The Yankees visit Chicago in a game with implications for both the AL Wild Card and the AL East. Freddy Garcia hosts Chien-Ming Wang. Garcia is susceptible to the long ball on the south side, giving up over two per game at his home park. Wang keeps saving the Yankees bullpen, averaging over seven innings over his last eleven starts. He also comes into he game with 18 consecutive scoreless innings pitched.

Enjoy!

It's Civic Holiday in Canada, so the Orioles and Blue Jays are playing an afternoon game starting at 1:07 EDT. Why they celebrate a Japanese car in Canada is beyond me, but any excuse to have a Molson, eh? It also would have been nice to have Roy Halladay pitch instead of Ted Lilly. Actually, Civic Day is like Labor Day in the US. They hold it in August because summer ends a month earlier up there. (Sorry for all the jokes. Some of my best friends are Canadian.)

The Twins are 20 games over .500 but 9 1/2 games back in the division. They get a chance to closer that gap this week as they take on the Tigers in Detroit. Francisco Liriano faces Zach Miner. Detroit's the one team that's given Liriano trouble this year. Early in the season he pitched poorly in relief against the Tigers twice, but was quite good the last time he started against Detroit. Miner's been faltering lately. Over his last four starts, he's allowed just one home run but walked almost as many as he struck out.

The Reds trail St. Louis by 3 1/2 games but open a four-game series at home tonight. The Cardinals trot out Jeff Weaver to take on Elizardo Ramirez. The ability to strike out batters totally abandoned Weaver when he joined the Cardinals. He's K'd just five batters in 18 2/3 innings with St. Louis. Ramirez's last four starts at home look fine from a K/BB/HR view, but 31 hits have fallen in against him in just 20 2/3 innings. Poor defense behind him? This one has the makings of a slugfest.

The Rockies trail the Dodgers by 1 1/2 games as the two teams open a four game series in Los Angeles. It's Fogg vs. Penny in game one. Fogg posts a 3.44 ERA on the road, and only four of his 16 homers allowed came away from Coors. The Rockies haven't figured out Penny this year as Brad defeated them three times so far, allowing just 1 run in 19 1/3 innings. He's walked three and struck out 17 in those starts.

Enjoy!

The Boston Red Sox start the day out of the AL playoff picture, trailing the White Sox by 1/2 game in the wild card race and the Yankees by one game in the east. They're game against the Devil Rays is setting up to be the slugfest of the day as Jason Johnson faces J.P. Howell. For his career, J.P.'s allowed a .370 OBA and a .448 slugging percentage. He's given up 9 hits in 3 2/3 innings so far this season. Johnson held a 5.96 ERA when the Indians let him go. He's managed to pitch worse than that so far with the Red Sox, allowing 12 earned runs in 13 2/3 innings for a 7.90 mark.

Joe Saunders host Adam Eaton in Anaheim in a battle of recent callups that pitched well. Saunders is a rookie who pitched two quality starts in his two appearances this year. He very good with two strikes on a batter, as opponents have gone 0 for 18 with 2 walks so far in that situation. Eaton recently returned from the DL. His first start was a rough one against the Yankees but he followed that up with six shutout innings against the Twins for his first win of the season.

Enjoy!

The Phillies go for their fifth win in a row as they face the Mets again in Shea this afternoon. The Phillies are 7-1 since Abreu's last game with them, while the Yankees are 4-0 with Bobby in the lineup. I guess it's a trade that helped both teams! Tom Glavine's ERA is on the rise. The first two months of the season, he posted a 2.59 ERA while striking out 7.4 per 9. Since 9 strikeout game of 5/27, Glavine's ERA is 5.45, and he's only striking out 4.1 per 9. While he pitched at least six innings in every start in the first 1/3 of the season, he's had six starts since in which he didn't complete six innings.

The hottest team in baseball right now is the Dodgers, winners of seven in a row. They take on the Marlins again in a battle of youngsters as Chad Billingsley (I wonder if he ever worries about the Beaver?) faces Josh Johnson. Johnson has something in common with Jon Lester, the ability to get out of a tight situation. With the bases loaded in 2006, opponents are just 1 for 16 against Josh with 8 strikeouts. Billingsley's major handicap is that he's allowed more walks than strikeouts in his 50 1/3 innings pitched, 38-28. Those runners don't advance very far, however, as Chad's allowed a .186 batting average with runners in scoring position. Will both continue to be lucky in these situations?

Enjoy!

The four team AL West race sees the teams seeded tonight as 1 plays 4 and 2 plays 3. The Oakland Athletics kept Barry Zito at the trade deadline, and he'll try to help them on their way to a division title as he faces Jarrod Washburn in Seattle. You need to get to Barry early; over his first 30 pitches, batters hit .292 against him. After that, it's just .229. Washburn and Zito have something in common this year; they've had better success against righty batters than lefties.

Down in Anaheim, Vicente Padilla takes on John Lackey. Lackey's coming off a July in which he was named AL Pitcher of the Month. He struck out 50 in just 43 1/3 innings. Padilla is also coming off one of his better months, in which he walked just seven in 31 1/3 innings.

Enjoy!

This is one of those great days when there will be games played for 12 straight hours. The Pirates start us off at 12:30 EDT, and the Angels finish with a 10 PM EDT start in Anaheim.

Cory Lidle makes his Yankees debut against the Toronto Blue Jays as New York goes for the sweep. He'll face Shaun Marcum. The Toronto right-hander beat New York earlier this season despite giving up six runs in six innings. He has trouble on the road and against left-handed batters, so facing the Yankees in The Bronx could spell trouble for him. The bullpen for New York is rested after Wang's performance last night, so the Yankees are looking to get six decent innings from Lidle in his start today.

There's a traditional double header scheduled in Chicago today, making up for last night's rainout. Ernie Banks would be proud, although there's rain forecast today as well. It could be a very long day at Wrigley. Then again, there's a lot of things worse than a long day at Wrigley.

The Mets and Marlins present the pitching matchup of the day as Pedro Martinez takes on Dontrelle Willis. Given his great strikeout, walk and hits allowed numbers, it's amazing Pedro's allowed an ERA over 3.00. Part of it is that while right-handers aren't hitting Pedro for average, they are hitting him for power. Nineteen of the thirty nine hits he allowed to right-handers have gone for extra bases. Willis' ERA goes up and down with the month this year. He's coming off a July in which he posted a 5.52 ERA. We'll see if August returns him to the level we expect.

The Rangers open a four game series in Anaheim against the Angels, trailing LAnaheim by 1 1/2 games. It's going to be a tough first game as they send Kevin Millwood against Jered Weaver. Millwood is a road warrior in 2006, posting a 7-1 record and a 2.96 ERA away from Texas. He's struck out 21 more batters and walked 16 less on the road than at home in the same number of innings. Weaver's only made two starts in Anaheim, but he's yet to allow an earned run in the ballpark.

Enjoy!

The Seattle Mariners are still in the thick of the AL West race, and they send their young potential star Felix Hernandez against one of the best pitchers of July, Eric Bedard. Left handers and road ballparks give Hernandez trouble this year, so today isn't a great combination for Felix. Bedard's cut way down on his home runs allowed. After giving up through May, he's only allowed two since.

The Dodgers can pull within three of the wild card with a second win against Cincinnati. Brad Penny faces Elizardo Ramirez. The Red Lizard's main problem is power. He's allowed a low OBA of .324 to batters, but they slug .430 against him. Penny's only allowed one home run on the road all year, helping him to a 5-2 record away from LA.

Enjoy!

The Blue Jays and Yankees face each other in New York tonight, with the Blue Jays once again needing wins to climb back in the division and wild card races. They took three out of four against the Yankees in Toronto recently, but then went 2-5 vs. Seattle and Oakland while the Yankees took five out of six from Texas and Tampa Bay. It will be a battle of oft-injured free agents as A.J. Burnett faces Jaret Wright. With both teams getting a day off yesterday, the bullpens should be rested.

The pitching matchup of the day is in Cincinnati as Aaron Sele takes on Bronson Arroyo. Sele's ERA is rising as the year goes on. He was hit for a 6.17 mark in July. Arroyo suffered his first winless month of the year in July, going 0-3 with a 5.45 ERA. It was the home runs, as 8 of the 20 he's allowed came during the month.

Enjoy!

It's a clash that will help decide the AL West race as the Oakland Athletics travel south to face the LAnaheim Angels in a three game set. Dan Haren and Ervin Santana get the call in game 1. Haren is pitching better than his 7-9 record. At 1.92 walks per 9, he ranks seventh in the AL in that category. The things working against him are getting hit with runners in scoring position and a lack of double plays. Last season, Haren induced 26 GDPs; 2/3 through 2006 he's only induced 9. Haren's been lit up by the Angels in his four starts against them.

Ervin Santana does his best work in Anaheim, posting a 6-1 record and a 2.86 ERA there. He keeps the ball in the park at home, allowing just 2 of his 11 home runs at Angels Stadium. For his career, he's pitched well against the A's no matter where he faces them, collecting a 4-0 record with a 1.54 ERA in five starts. Most impressively, he's allowed just one home run.

Enjoy!

Correction: Changed NL to AL.

The Tigers go for the sweep in Minnesota as Jeremy Bonderman faces Johan Santana. The Boston Globe published a story today about how experts pick the Twins as the one team they don't want to face in the playoffs. But if the Tigers win today, they'll run their record to 10-2 against the Twinkies and have won games started by both Francisco Liriano and Johan Santana. It's about time the Tigers start moving higher on that list.

If the Cubs could play the Cardinals in Chicago all year, no one would be concerned about Dusty Baker's job status. St. Louis is 0-6 in Wrigley this season, They've been out hit .286-.227, out slugged .471 to .314, but only outscored by 13 runs. Three of the games were decide by one run. The two teams send their best to the mound as Chris Carpenter takes on Carlos Zambrano. Chris is undefeated at Wrigley Field and only walked 2 in 41 1/3 innings there. Carlos is 3-3 vs. the Cardinals at Wrigley, but over the last two seasons has allowed just 2 earned runs in 21 innings there against St. Louis.

Roy Halladay tries to become the first 14 game winner in the majors as he faces the Oakland Athletics. Halladay is undefeated in July with a 2.55 ERA. He been alternatively good and bad in Oakland, and he's on schedule for a bad outing. :-) Shane Komine makes his major leauge debut for Oakland. He's pitching well in July at Sacramento after a pretty good June.

If Halladay's not the first to 14, it might be Curt Schilling as he takes on John Lackey and the LAnaheim Angels under the lights of Fenway. Did you know since the start of the 2005 season, Schilling has not allowed an unearned run? Lackey is second in the AL in ERA on the road with a 2.18 mark. Schilling is fourth in home ERA at 2.71.

Enjoy!

Correction: Changed earned to unearned.

By far the best pitching matchup of the day takes place in Boston where Jered Weaver faces Josh Beckett. With Jon Lester's loss last night, both teams find themselves 1/2 game up in first place in their respective divisions. The Red Sox will look to return the favor of ruining a rookie's perfect season. Weaver is 7-0, winning all seven starts he's made. He's pitched at least six innings in every start, never allowing more than two runs. His splits are amazingly consistent. No matter the situation, he's been excellent.

Although Beckett's ERA keeps climbing, he keeps winning. Despite a 5.13 ERA since June 1st, Beckett won six games, tied for 10th in the majors.

With the trading deadline fast approaching, we may see the last starts by Barry Zito and Greg Maddux for their current teams today. I don't quite understand why teams are interested in Maddux at this point. Look what he's done the last two months. Maddux can no longer fool batters into striking out, and he's getting hit. And it's likely not just the Cubs defense. Opponents are slugging .494 vs. Greg; that tells me they're hitting the ball hard. It appears to be wishful thinking at this point that Maddux can help a contender.

Enjoy!

The White Sox are reeling and they travel to Baltimore to face a red hot pitcher. Erik Bedard looks to finish July 5-0. He's doing everything well, striking out 28 batters in 28 innings in the month while allowing just seven walks and two homers. Meanwhile, Freddy Garcia's ERA in July is over 5.00, He's been pounded by the bottom hitters in the opposition's order.

The Angels visit the Red Sox as both teams are involved in tight division races. Kelvim Escobar faces rookie Jon Lester. (Too bad it's not Weaver against Lester in a battle of undefeated rookies.) Lester is having great success against righties. They draw walks (.351 OBA) but can't get the hits to score those runners (.228 BA, .329 slugging percentage). Escobar's main problem his season is run support, as the Angels score less than 4 runs per nine innings when he's on the mound. He's also had plenty of miscues behind him as 16 of his 65 runs allowed were unearned.

Atlanta gets a chance to gain on the Mets this weekend, but they'll have to go through a rested Pedro Martinez. He'll face Horacio Ramirez at Turner Field this evening. It's not clear if Chipper Jones will be back for the contest.

Another second place team that's far back will host it's division leader tonight. The Tigers send Zach Miner to the mound against rookie sensation Francisco Liriano. Miner's coming off two bad starts in a row in which he's allowed 10 runs in 6 2/3 innings. Most tellingly, he's only struck out one batter in those two starts. In contrast, Liriano's struck out 17 in his last two starts, covering 13 2/3 innings.

Enjoy!

I'm calling St. Louis at Chicago the slugfest of the day despite the fact the Cubs are playing in the game. With Jeff Weaver on the mound for the Cardinals, I figure there's a good chance the Cubs can score some runs. Jeff's given up 7 runs in 9 2/3 innings since joining the Cardinals. He'll face Rich Hill. Hill is the Albert Pujols of pitchers. The league is hitting .315 against him with a .418 OBA and a .644 slugging percentage.

With the rest of the AL West off, the Oakland Athletics can move back into first place with a win over the Blue Jays. Former Oakland lefty Ted Lilly takes the mound against Joe Blanton. In his last year with the A's (2003), Lilly walked 2.9 per 9. Since joining the Blue Jays, that number is 4.2 per 9, and 4.4 this year. Blanton is 3-1 in July despite a 5.11 ERA. The offense outscored his opponents 21-14 while he's been in the game this month.

Enjoy!

If you'd like to take a long lunch today, there's a good pitching matchup at noon as Justin Verlander faces C.C. Sabathia. Verlander attempts to become the fourth AL pitcher at 13 wins. Given that there are eight AL pitchers with 12 wins or more with more than two months left in the season, we might be looking at a bumper crop of 20 game winners this year. Sabathia is coming off a poor start vs. the Twins, but overall he's had a good July, posting a 3.38 ERA, striking out 24 in 26 2/3 innings while walking just seven.

For those of you who prefer a National League lunch, Mark Prior tries to get his career back on track against the Mets and John Maine. Prior's strikeouts are still there, which gives one hope. But he's walking a batter every other innings instead of every four innings, and he's on a pace to allowed 40 home runs in 200 innings. Opponents are having trouble hitting Maine (.211 batting average allowed), but when they do hit him, the ball goes a long way. Ten of the nineteen his he's allowed this season went for extra bases.

The Twins go for a sweep of the White Sox as Carlos Silva faces Mark Buehrle. The White Sox pounded Silva in his first two starts against them, collecting 21 hits and 15 runs in nine innings. Buehrle is 0-4 in July with a 11.39 ERA. This one could be a slugfest.

Enjoy!

The Florida Marlins trail the Atlanta Braves by 1 1/2 games as they open a three game series in Georgia. It's a battle of undefeated pitchers tonight as Anibal Sanchez visits Chuck James. (Did you ever notice how lots of comic book heroes have two first names? Clark Kent, Bruce Wayne, Barry Allen, Hal Jordan, Peter Parker.) It seems you need to homer off James to score a run. Eleven of the sixteen runs he's allowed were driven in homers this season. Sanchez is coming off consecutive starts of seven shutout innings. The Astros and Nationals garnered just three hits in those two games.

Minnesota tries to edge closer to the Wild Card in the pitching matchup of the day. Johan Santana faces Jose Contreras in Chicago. Santana is just shutting down right-handed batters, as they are hitting .205 against the lefty with a .243 OBA. After going 3-0 with a 6.21 ERA in June, Contreras is putting up a much more respectable 3.04 ERA in July. Unfortunately, the team support isn't there as that's been good for just a 1-2 record.

Adam Eaton returns from the disabled list to make his first start for the Texas Rangers. He'll host Mike Mussina. The strength of both pitchers is keeping men off base via the walk. That will be tough for Eaton against a selective New York lineup.

Enjoy!

It's the fight for the AL Wild Card as the Twins open a three-game series in Chicago against the Wild Card leading White Sox. Three games separate the two teams with the Yankees sandwiched in between. A sweep by the Twins puts them into a tie for second place in their division, and quite possibly gives them a share of the WC lead. They'll start by sending Brad Radke against Javier Vazquez. Radke's turned around a disasterous season, going 4-1 with a 2.54 ERA in his last 10 starts. Vazquez's season is the opposite of Radke. After starting off strong, he's 3-2 with a 6.98 ERA over his last nine starts.

The Athletics play their second division winner in a row as they host the Red Sox. Josh Beckett and Barry Zito go head-to-head. The A's pounded Beckett two starts ago. He keeps winning, but his ERA keeps inching higher. Zito's pitching well in July despite his strikeouts being way down. In fact, his two best months in 2006 (May and July) are his two worst for Ks.

San Diego gets a chance to bury the Dodgers. Chris Young takes the mound in LA. As Ducksnorts points out, the Padres hurler pitches better on the road than at supposedly pitcher friendly PETCO. That can't be good news for a Dodger offense that can't buy a run lately. He'll face Derek Lowe, who's ERA is over a run better at home.

Enjoy!

Some of the majors best young pitchers are on display today. It starts with Francisco Liriano facing Jake Westbrook in Cleveland. The Indians handled a tired Liriano the day after the All-Star break, scoring five runs on five hits and three walks off the lefty. Westbrook last faced the Twins in early April when the team couldn't win on the road, allowing just 2 hits over 7 1/3 innings for the win.

Roy Oswalt and the Astros face the Mets rookie Mike Pelfry. Pelfry bends without breaking so far. He's given up 12 hits and 7 walks so far in 11 innings, but only four earned runs. Only one hit went for extra bases (a double), and he's tougher with men on base than with the bases empty. On top of that, the Mets scored 23 runs with him on the mound, so he hasn't needed to be that fine. Oswalt would love to have some of that support. The Astros so far scored 68 runs for Roy all season.

Eric Bedard and Scott Kazmir try to bring the offenses under control in Tampa today. Bedard owns the best ERA in July, and Kazmir is among the leaders as well (just look at the young pitchers in this list!). Both are striking out lots of batters while walking very few.

Jon Lester is also on that list, and he'll face the Seattle Mariners in the Jarrod Washburn in the rubber game of the west coast series. Lester's proven adept at extricating himself from tight situations, allowing a .192 BA with men on base, .171 with men in scoring position, and an 0 for 8 with the bases loaded.

Also on the west coast, Jered Weaver gets an easy assignment as he hosts the Kansas City Royals. Weaver doesn't put men on in the first place, allowing a .216 OBA with the bases empty. He's only been in 20 situation this season with a man in scoring position, allowing two hits and one walk.

Enjoy!

Brandon Backe is back. He'll make his first start since April against the Mets and Orland Hernandez this afternoon. The Astros are not showing the second half push that brought them to the playoffs the last two seasons. The offense is in the dumps, hitting .235 and slugging .335 since the all-star break. Meanwhile, the Mets offense keeps rolling as their 5.4 runs per game leads the National League.

The Blue Jays look to climb higher in the wild card race as they try to take three in a row from the Yankees. The Yankees current bright you star Chien-Ming Wang faces from Yankees bright young star, Ted Lilly. Over his last eight starts, Wang is posting a 2.78 ERA. He continues to have great success despite an extremely low strikeout rate. Lilly's at the opposite end of the strikeout spectrum. He's in the top 20 in the majors in terms of K per 9, while Wang is at the very bottom of the list.

There could be a new leader in the NL West tonight as Woody Williams of the Padres takes on Jason Schmidt of the Giants. Williams is showing good control since returning from his injury, walking just two over 17 1/3 innings in his three starts. Schmidt's been deadly when he's hosting this season, allowing just a .212 BA, a .294 OBA and a minuscule .318 slugging percentage.

Enjoy!

First plays first as the Oakland Athletics visit the Detroit Tigers. It's a nice matchup of young pitchers as Dan Haren faces Justin Verlander. Both pitchers show excellent control. Haren walks 1.9 per 9 and Verlander 2.7. Justin does a better job of keeping the ball in the park, however.

There's also a battle of second place teams as the Rangers invade Chicago to take on the White Sox. With every one waiting for the Tigers to fade, it's the White that went into a slump, losing seven of their last nine. They're still hitting for power, but not much else during the stretch. On top of that, they're hitting is very poor with runners in scoring position. Texas isn't much different, but managed to go 6-5 in the same time period.

Finally, the Giants attempt to gain ground on the division leading Padres as the 1-2 teams in the NL West go head-to-head. Jake Peavy visits Matt Cain. Peavy is in the middle of a disappointing season, but he's 2-0 vs. the Giants with a 1.80 ERA this year. Cain sports a better record but a worse ERA than Jake. He's struck out 11 Padres in the six innings he pitched against them this season.

Enjoy!

I'm going on the DL. It really hurts to type today, so I'm going to be blogging as little as possible in hopes this gets better. Please visit the many fine blogs on the blog roll. This is going to be an abbreviated Games of the Day.

New York plays Cincinnati with Glavine facing Arroyo.

White Sox and Tigers play the rubber game of their series with top veterans Contreras and Rogers on the mound.

The Yankees visit the Blue Jays with Halladay hosting Mussina. The Blue Jays need to take at least three of four to get back into the AL East race.

Enjoy!

It's not often that 300 game winners matchup against each other, but tonight Roger Clemens faces Greg Maddux in Chicago. Roger, despite a 2.96 ERA is 1-3. He's given up 12 runs, but the Astros only scored 8 for him during his 27 1/3 innings of work. After a great April, Maddux's good starts are few and far between. He's giving up a lot of hits because he's not striking out a lot of batters.

Bill James and I disagree on the pitcher of the 1990s. James, based on Clemens' fielding independent numbers picked Roger. Maddux was my pick based on efficiency and durability. Yes, with more balls in play, Maddux was helped quite a bit by his defenses. But the fewer strikeouts allowed him to throw fewer pitches, leading to more innings, leading to a bigger defensive context for Maddux's numbers. Over their full careers, I'll take Clemens, but for the decade from 1990 to 1999, I'd rather have Greg.

The Chicago White Sox visit Detroit for a three-game series starting tonight. It's a chance for Chicago to pull back in striking distance of the division lead and for the Tigers to put the division in their pocket. The opening matchup appears to favor Detroit, as Nate Robertson hosts Jon Garland. Garland comes into tonight's matchup with a 1.08 Ground ball/Fly ball ratio. Last year, that number was 1.44. This is a big difference for the White Sox staff in general. The number of ground balls they are inducing is down; with that, GDPs are down. In 2005, the White Sox induced 143 GDPs, the second most in the AL. This year, despite more runners on base, they've induced 65, the second lowest number in the AL. This leads to a bigger difference in their base runners allowed than shown in OBA alone, since they're removing fewer base runners.

Nate Robertson posted a good ERA of 2.70 against the White Sox this season, but all he has to show for it is a loss. Too many walks and homers in his 13 1/3 innings led to just enough runs to stay out of the win column.

There's a fun matchup in Minnesota tonight as Scott Kazmir takes on Francisco Liriano in a battle of young, left-handed strikeout artists. No need for air conditioning as the both team should be generating a breeze with their whiffs. Tonight's starters are 1-2 in strikeouts per 9 in the American League with Liriano at 10.4 and Kazmir at 9.7 per 9. Liriano might see that number go up as the Devil Rays batters are third in the AL in strikeouts, while Minnesota owns the second fewest.

Enjoy!

The NL's two hottest teams for the month of July meet face to face in St. Louis tonight as the Braves battle the Cardinals. Horacio Ramirez takes on Jeff Weaver in Weaver's Cardinals debut. In July, the Braves are 9-3, 1/2 game ahead of the Cardinals at 9-4. The Braves are winning with offense. They've scored 98 runs in their 12 games (10 or more in each of the last three) while allowing 64. The Cardinals are keeping the opposition barely under five runs a game (61 runs allowed in 13 starts), but they're winning the close ones, going 5-2 in one and two runs games. Watch for Chipper Jones to go for the record of 15 straight games with an extra-base hit.

The hottest team in the majors is the LAnaheim Angels, 11-1 in July. As expected for a team that good, they're delivering on both sides of the ball, scoring 76 runs (6.33 per game) and allowing just 29 (2.4 per game). The team is led by Guerrero and Rivera in this stretch, although pretty much everyone is getting on base. They'll face the Indians and Jake Westbrook. Hafner and Martinez are getting the job done in July, but they need more support from the rest of the regulars.

Enjoy!

In order for the Dodgers to get a win against St. Louis, starter Brad Penny may need to pitch a shutout. On the other side, Anthony Reyes hopes to continue the Cardinals domination of the Dodgers offense. Although Reyes allows a lower batting average against righties, he actually does better against left-handed batters, allowing both a lower OBA and slugging percentage. Penny's received a great deal of support from his team. They've scored twice as many runs as he's allowed while in the game (72 to 35), and Brad's given up zero unearned runs this year.

Chuck James battles Jake Peavy in San Diego later today. James won all three starts since leaving the bullpen, but he's gotten progressively worse in each one. He only managed one strikeout in six innings against the Cardinals on 7/5. Maybe the long rest will do him good. Peavy is trying to turn around a disappointing season. His strikeout and walk numbers are still very good, but his home runs allowed returned to their 2003 level, along with his ERA.

Enjoy!

You almost can't go wrong with a pitching matchup today. There's Buehrle vs. Mussina in New York, Glavine vs. Zambrano in Chicago, Cook vs. Arroyo in Cincinnati, Haren vs. Schilling in Boston, Moyer vs. Halladay in Toronto and Capuano vs. Webb in Arizona. Let me concentrate on the Santana matchups.

The musical one pits "Key of C" C. Sabathia vs. Johan "Sebastian Carlos" Santana. Given their relative youth, this is a matchup we can enjoy for years to come. Sabathia's pitches as well to righties as lefties this season in terms of keeping them off base. I find it interesting the Twins used the All-Star break to break up the Santana and Liriano going back to back. They were effective pitching together; I'm not sure that putting Radke between them helps the lefties, although it may help Brad.

In Anaheim, basketball is the theme as two ten game winners take the mound when Ervin "Magic" Santana hosts Scott Kazmir. Scott's been deadly with men in scoring position, allowing a mere .164 batting average. Santana is great early in the game, allowing a .196 batting average over the first three innings.

Enjoy!

Barry Zito pitches against the Red Sox tonight in Boston. If you're going to scout Zito for a trade, this seems a good game to select. Success against the Red Sox would make him look more desirable to the teams chasing the AL East leader. I doubt, however, that Zito will be traded, especially with the Athletics in the pennant hunt. Beane's M.O. with his stars is to play out the season, let them go to free agency, and take the draft pick. That's the most likely scenario, in my opinion.

The Yankees get a weekend to try to narrow the wild card race. Trailing the White Sox by six game, they host the defending World Champions for a three game series. Jose Contreras faces Randy Johnson tonight. Contreras was wild in his last start Sunday, but the White Sox came back to take the 19-inning game and keep Jose's winning streak alive. Johnson walked none in his last outing. A week off from pitching means he should be fresh, and maybe some of his injuries had a little extra-time to heal.

The Rockies and Reds go at it again as they jockey for positions in their respective divisions and in the wild card standings. It's a good matchup this evening as Jason Jennings faces Aaron Harang. Both deserve accolades for pitching well having to play in hitter friendly parks. Jennings manages to be effective both home and away, keeping his slugging percentage allowed under .400. Harang's allowed 10 of his 13 homers at home.

Enjoy!

Rather a light schedule for the day after the All-Star break. Only fourteen teams in action as most get a four day break this year. The big game of the day pits two first-place teams against each other as the Oakland Athletics travel to Boston to take on the Red Sox. It seems strange that the best Oakland can do in this game is Esteban Loaiza. He's only made three good starts all season. On the other side is Jon Lester, undefeated at 4-0. Lester makes another good case for what's wrong with Win Probability Added. Note that in a very short time, Lester is ranked second on the Red Sox among starters. He ranks high, because he keeps putting himself in difficult situations, then pitches out of them. This makes for dramatic moments, but also for an ERA that much lower than it should be. Twenty walks in 32 1/3 innings is nothing to get excited about.

Houston at Florida offers the pitching matchup of the day as Roy Oswalt faces Dontrelle Willis. The Astros lost three starts this year in which Oswalt allowed 1 run or less. Willis is terrible at Dolphin stadium this year, posting a 6.92 ERA there based on a .345 batting average allowed.

Cleveland doesn't get an easy assignment as they try to right the ship in the second half. They travel to Minnesota to face Francisco Liriano. In running out of superlatives for his performance so far, let me note that he has almost 40 more strikeouts than hits allowed.

Enjoy!

The Red Sox go for the sweep of the White Sox this afternoon, with Curt Schilling and Jose Contreras going head-to-head in Chicago. Contreras is on a 17 game win streak. In his six no-decisions, he's pitched well twice, so this could easily be 19 games. Four times, he's been bailed out the the Chicago offense. Schilling comes into a park where you can see him having a rough day. He's given up seventeen of eighteen home runs on the road this year, and Chicago is a good home run park.

Apart from the pitching, these two teams are 1-2 in the majors in runs per game. Interestingly, both are tied for most runs created per game at 5.9. While the White Sox hit that mark exactly in reality, the Red Sox are under-performing that estimate. The White Sox stats with men in scoring position are much better than the Red Sox, which may make the difference. As a team, they hit for tremendous power in that situation, meaning they do a great job of moving the runners on base home.

The Giants try to take two out of three from the Dodgers in Los Angeles, pinning their hopes on Jason Schmidt. Jason's returned to his 2002-2004 form, years in which he was tough to hit. His batting average allowed is down to .212 this year after rising to .246 in 2005. He'll take on Aaron Sele, who is experiencing a rival of his own. He's 5-0 with a 1.67 ERA at Dodger Stadium. For some reason he strikes out a lot more batters at home (6.0) compared to the road (2.5).

Enjoy!

Correction: Correction, Dodger won Friday night. I thought I read an article this morning that the Giants won two in a row, but I must have mis-read that.

It's rookie pitcher Saturday! The Mets throw two today as they face the Marlins in a double header. John Maine, with 13 K in 10 IP starts the first game, and New York follows up with the major league debut of Mike Pelfry. If you look at Mike's stats this year by month, you see he did great in A-Ball in April, had some problems at AA in May, but made the adjustment quickly and dominated June. He also batted over .500 at AA.

The Cardinals Anthony Reyes faces Roger Clemens in Houston. Both have great ERAs, both have losing records.

Scott Kazmir comes off his complete game against the Red Sox to try to shut down Wang and the Yankees. Scott is 5-1 at home with a 1.94 ERA.

Francisco Liriano and John Rheinecker face off in Texas in a battle of lefties. Once again, a good, long outing by Liriano puts him in the AL ERA lead. He has 81 innings pitched and the Twins have played 84 games. Rheinecker is lucky to have an ERA under 4.00 with the pounding he's taking from right-handed batters. They're hitting .353 against him with a .500 slugging percentage.

Jered Weaver takes his 5-0 record into Oakland, trying to follow up Lackey's great outing of last night. Weaver's gone at least six inning in all five starts and has yet to give up more than 2 runs.

Finally, Zach Miner faces Seattle with a five game winning streak and a 2.68 ERA. His ERA is 2.12 since his first start and only loss.

Enjoy!

There are seven teams within two games of the NL Wild Card spot. All five NL West teams are in contention for the division title, and four NL Central teams are in contention for the title there.

Milwaukee faces a tough challenge to keep it's winning streak alive as they face Carlos Zambrano of the Cubs. Zambrano is not only pitching well, he's hit three home runs and driven in eight runs this year. One of those homers came in his last start against Milwaukee. The young Zach Jackson takes the mound for the Brewers. His control is fine (6 walks in 28 innings), but he's also allowed six homers in that time, or about 2 per nine innings.

The Astros host the reeling Cardinals again. Jason Marquis faces Wandy Rodriguez. Marquis holds a 7.78 ERA since the start of June, but managed to go 3-2. Rodriguez posts a 6.69 ERA over the same period. Look for the offenses to rule this game.

The best pitching matchup of the day is in the AL where the battle of the Sox takes place in Chicago where the Red and White meet for the first time since the ALDS. Jon Lester faces Mark Buehrle. The Red Sox are doing a good job of getting Lester out off the mound before too much damage gets done. Since his first start, he hasn't given up more than two runs in a game. He just doesn't last long. Lester's ERA could be a lot worse, but opponents are 0 for 8 with just two RBI with the bases loaded. If he's keeps playing with fire, however, he's going to get burned.

Buehrle's been nearly unbeatable in Chicago this year, posting a 5-1 record and a 2.81 ERA there. The difference is hits allowed. The opposition is hitting .224 against him at US Cellular Field, .332 away. Does the defense have a home field advantage?

Enjoy!

The Devil Rays go for a four-game sweep of the Red Sox today as James Shields hosts Tim Wakefield. Shields made five good starts and two bad ones this season. His 4.39 ERA strikes me as a bit high for his strikeouts, walks and home runs allowed. In 41 innings, he's allowed just one dinger. For a knuckleballer, Wakefield's control is superb this year, walking just 37 batters in 110 2/3 innings.

The Brewers host the Cubs tonight as Milwaukee tries to extend their winning streak to four. Greg Maddux faces Chris Capuano. Capuano is the defacto ace of the Brewers rotation. He's 6-1 at home and allowing a mere .280 OBA at Miller Park. After a pitcher of the month performance in April, Maddux is 2-8 with a 6.72 ERA. He's still not walking batters, but he's giving up a lot of long balls.

The Angels, four games out in the AL West, open a four game series with the first place Athletics. Tonight's matchup favors LAnaheim as Kelvim Escobar faces Esteban Loaiza. Esteban's strikeouts disappeared this year, and it shows in his hit totals allowed. Escobar is suffering from poor defensive and run support as he's allowed almost one unearned run per start and the Angels are scoring under five runs a game for him.

Enjoy!

A number of teams are getting out the brooms today. The Oakland Athletics send Kirk Saarloos to the mound to try to take three from the Detroit Tigers. It's a tough assignment as he'll face Tigers ace Kenny Rogers. Rogers experienced great success in this ballpark, collecting a 24-4 record in fifty-five games and posting a 3.40 ERA. The opposition hit Saarloos often and hard this year. He's given up a .285 batting average and a .483 slugging percentage.

The Indians outscored the Yankees 24-3 in the first two games of the series. Mike Mussina will attempt to tame this offense and give the bullpen a rest. Mike is coming off a short outing due to a rain delay, so expect him to have the stamina to go deep. Meanwhile, the Yankees offense will try to solve Paul Byrd. Byrd held the Yankees to one run in seven innings during his one start against them this year.

The Devil Rays send rookie pitcher Tim Corcoran against the Red Sox and Jason Johnson. Corcoran's pitched well in two starts this year, allowing a 0.75 ERA in 12 innings. He does walk too many, but he balances that with strikeouts and few hits allowed. Johnson is getting hammered by lefties this season, allowing a .397 BA and a .623 slugging percentage.

The Brewers try to continue their rise in the division and wild card races as they go for the sweep of the Reds. Elizardo Ramirez takes on Carlos Villanueva. Carlos allowed five home runs in twenty two innings so far this year, not the kind of pitcher I'd expect to do well against the power packed Reds. Poor run support and errors hurt Ramirez this year. He's allowed seven unearned runs, and the Reds only scored 28 in his 72 1/3 innings pitched.

The Cubs/Astros matchup favors a Houston sweep as Roy Oswalt faces Sean Marshall. Oswalt's ERA is almost two runs lower. The difference is walks; Marshall's allowed almost twice as many as Oswalt.

The Angels are taking Seattle down a peg, and try to pull within one game of them for first place tonight. Bartolo Colon looks for his first win of the year vs. the ageless Jamie Moyer. Colon is simply hittable this season, allowing a batting average almost 100 points over last year's. Moyer's given up 13 home runs, but only 10 came with men on base.

Finally, the real Los Angeles team goes for it's third win in the series against the Diamondbacks. Brad Penny takes the mound with an excellent ERA but a lack of innings. He's averageing less than six per start. The Diamondbacks are 10-22 in June and July, but still just 3 1/2 games out of first place.

Enjoy!

Tom Glavine tries to break a bad streak by Mets starters as he faces the Pirates at Shea this afternoon. In their last nine games they've averaged less than five innings an outing, and posted a 9.15 ERA. Steve Trachsel picked up the only two wins credited to a starter in that streak, and he didn't pitch all that well in either game. Glavine's high strikeout rate disappeared in June. He averaged 3.9 K per 9 for the month after averaging 7.4 per 9 in April and May.

The Mets face Zach Duke, whose low strikeout rate caught up with him this year. Opponents are hitting .300 against the lefty.

The Tigers and Athletics continue their battle of first place teams as Justin Verlander takes on Dan Haren. Verlander's road ERA is 2nd in the AL behind Mark Hendrickson, but with Mark's departure to the National League, Verlander should take over the top spot soon. Given Haren's ERA and his run support, you might expect a better record. However, the A's blew five saves in his starts and the bullpen supports him with a 7.32 ERA. Dan needs to stay in the game longer.

Finally, two of my favorite pitching names go at it in Kansas City. Boof Bonser tries to extend the Twins winning streak to 12 games. He's coming off his best outing of the year, 6 1/3 shutout innings vs. the Cubs. Jimmy Gobble cut his walks and upped his strikeouts compared to last year, and with it came an ERA two runs lower.

Enjoy!

The Milwaukee Brewers open an important three game series with the Cincinnati Reds this afternoon as Aaron Harang faces David Bush. The Brewers trail the Reds by 4 1/2 games in the wild card race (7th overall) so this is a chance for them to gain ground on a playoff spot. Harang is pretty unhittable on the road this year. His batting average, OBA and slugging percentage allowed are all under .300. His 1.57 road ERA is the best in the majors. Bush pitches very well at home, so this should be a good pitching duel.

The Angels visit the surging Mariners and it's a battle of the future stars as Jered Weaver faces Felix Hernandez. Weaver is making his first start since June 13, and the first as the replacement for his brother, Jeff. Jered's done everything right so far, striking out 22 and walking just four in 26 1/3 innings. Felix also has excellent strikeout and walk numbers, but the two differ when it comes to homers allowed. Hernandez allows 1.3 per nine innings, Weaver, 0.7.

Enjoy!

January, 1984 will be well represented in the Boston/Florida game today as both starting pitchers were born in that month. Jon Lester is undefeated in four starts and sports a 2.95 ERA. He's tough to hit; with 24 strikeouts in 21 1/3 innings he's allowed just a .221 batting average. But he's walked 14, so a selective hitter can reach base against him. Josh Johnson comes into the game with a 2.20 ERA. He needs to pitch five innings today to qualify for the ERA leaderboard tomorrow. His greatest strength this season is his three homers allowed in 73 2/3 innings. Facing the Red Sox, he'll be put to the test in that category.

Interstate rivals the Twins and the Brewers finish up their three game series, with Minnesota sending Francisco Liriano to the mound as they go for the sweep and a ten-game winning streak. If Joe Mauer goes 4 for 4, he'll raise his batting average over .400. Standing in their way is rookie Zach Jackson. Jackson shows Twins like control on the mound, walking just three so far in 23 innings pitched. But he leaves the ball hanging a bit too often as he's given up five homers in that time.

The White Sox and Cubs send their aces to the mound as Mark Buehrle opposes Carlos Zambrano. Buehrle's ERA is nearly a run higher away from home, and given that the opposition is hitting .311 against him in White Sox road games I'm surprised it's not higher than that. Zambrano continues to be the only dependable starter on the Cubs staff. With his two homers and six RBI, he's even contributing to the weak Cubs offense. Let's just hope the fans keep the garbage in the stands today.

Enjoy!

Two pitchers are off to new starts with new teams in new leagues today. The Diamondbacks were willing to pay Russ Ortiz lots of money not to pitch, but his old coach Leo Mazzone was willing to take a flier on the righty. He'll make his first start for the Orioles today against his old team, the Atlanta Braves. Ortiz was 26-16 under Mazzone, but with a high ERA (3.97) and a lot of walks (4.6 per 9). In 68 starts for the Braves, he received 80 runs more than he allowed. That's great support.

Mark Hendrickson goes from last to second as he joins the Dodgers after toiling for the Devil Rays. He's having a good year, greatly reducing his hits allowed. For his career, opponents are hitting .291 against him; this season, .241. Neither the Dodgers nor the Devil Rays have great defensive efficiency, so maybe Mark's doing something to throw hitters off kilter this year. He'll face the Angels. Mark is 5-2 against LAnaheim with a 3.92 ERA for his career.

Enjoy!

It's the last weekend of interleague play, and there's a number of city and state rivalries taking place. It all starts with the White Sox heading north to visit the Cubs. The big story here is the return of Michael Barrett. He's not fanning the flames, however:

"We don't have much to say at this point," Barrett said. "We're both mature and professional enough to put it behind us and play the game.

"There will be a time when things settle down for both of us to sit down and talk about it and hang out. That's down the road. I think the last thing on their mind right now is that incident. I think they're more concerned about the Cubs, not Michael Barrett."

The Mets travel to the Bronx for a three game set with the Yankees. It's a good pitching matchup this evening as Orlando Hernandez faces his former team and Mike Mussina. Although El-Duque's ERA hasn't improved much moving from the DBacks to the Mets, he's walking fewer batters than he did with Arizona. Mussina is finishing up a poor June in which he's posted a 5.58 ERA. Opponents hit .407 against Mike with runners in scoring position during the month so far.

Kansas City visits St. Louis with the teams going in opposite directions. The Royals won 7 of their last 9 games, out scoring their opponents 63- 48. The Cardinals are 1-8 in their last 9, having been outscored 72-33.

Finally, the real Los Angeles visits LAnaheim as Brad Penny of the Dodgers takes on Bartolo Colon of the Angels. Penny could be the Dodger ace, but his lack of stamina hurts him. He's averaging less that six inning per start. Of course, the Dodger would rather have Brad pitch five innings than spend time on the DL. Colon's return from the DL hasn't given the Angels staff the boost they sought. While he's struck out 9 in 12 2/3 innings since healing, he's also allowed 17 hits.

Enjoy!

If you like good, old pitchers, today's your luck day. It's starts out with Jose Contreras trying to extend the Pirates losing streak vs. Zach Duke. Contreras last lost a game on 8/15/2005, when he gave up four runs vs. the Twins. Since that time, he's gone 16-0 with a 2.73 ERA. He's been very effective in this time at limiting the heart of the opposition's order, shutting down the 4-5 hitters and giving up very little power to the #3 hitters. Duke is going through a bad stretch with his team. In his last three starts, he's allowed 14 earned runs 15 1/3 innings.

The Red Sox go for a sweep of the Mets tonight as Curt Schilling host Tom Glavine. Schilling's been nearly perfect at Fenway this season, going 5-0 while allowing 0 home runs and just two walks in 42 innings. While the slugging percentage against Glavine goes up 150 points away from Shea, only four of his fourteen home runs came with men on base this season. The opposition only managed seven extra-base hits with men on base this year against Tom, meaning he's not letting runners advance very far once they're on base.

Enjoy!

Pedro Martinez makes his return to the Fenway mound this evening as the Mets and Red Sox square off in game 2 of their three-game set. He'll face Josh Beckett, Fenway pitcher extraordinaire. Pedro's never faced the Red Sox before. He was pretty unstoppable at Fenway, however, going 58-18 with a 2.67 ERA during his tenure with the Red Sox. At 34, Pedro still does everything right. He's striking out better than a batter per inning, not walking many, and giving up a reasonable number of home runs.

Pedro received a much warmer welcome than Johnny Damon. Last night, he popped his head out of the dugout to wave to the fans and the gave him a standing ovation.

Josh Beckett adjusted to his new ballpark quickly. He just hasn't figured out how to pitch in other AL parks. In his six starts at Fenway, Beckett's allowed just two home runs vs. 16 on the road. That's led to a difference of four runs between his home and road ERAs. He's been particulary effective against left-handed batters at Fenway. They're hitting just .150 against him with a .282 OBA and a .250 slugging percentage.

Enjoy!

The Marlins are hitting on all cylinders tonight. They've scored eight runs, six of them off Scott Kazmir despite his eight strikeouts in five innings of work. Olivo went deep twice, and Cabrera hit his 12th of the season. Ricky Nolasco lasted into the seventh, but gave up three solo shots to the first four batters he faced before being lifted for a reliever. The Fish lead 8-3 in the bottom of the seventh.

This is one of those great days where almost any contest holds some interest. The Mets travel to Boston to celebrate the 1986 World Series, one that was Shakesperian in it's tragedy and Capraesque in it's optimism. Two rookies get the call in game one as John Lester faces Alay Soler. Lester's most impressive ability so far is to limit the power of his opponents. They have a lower slugging percentage (.283) than OBA (.310) against the lefty. Soler's been great away from Shea, allowing just one run in 16 innings on the road.

Meanwhile, the pitcher who started game 6 of the 1986 World Series takes the mound in Detroit. Note that it's the city of Roger's second 20 K, 0 BB game. Since he has one of those every ten years, why not tonight! :-) He'll face Nate Robertson, who's already equaled his 2005 win total. Robertson is benefiting from two changes from last year; he's allowing a much lower batting average with men in scoring position (.202 vs. .266) and much better run support (5.61 vs. 3.66 per 9 innings).

Tampa Bay and Florida continue to show off their good, young pitchers as Scott Kazmir face Ricky Nolasco. Nolasco is having an excellent June, posting a 2.25 ERA while averaging one walk per start. Kazmir leads the AL in strikeouts per nine with a 9.44 mark, just ahead of Johan Santana.

A superb pitching matchup in Minnesota pits Derek Lowe against Francisco Liriano. Lowe's low ERA comes from matching up well with lefties this season, allowing them a paltry .204 batting average and a .311 OBA. Liriano manages to dominate righties, allowing them a .218 BA and a .287 OBA.

Anthony Reyes tries to stop the Cardinals losing streak. He's coming off the best pitched loss of the year (Game Score 82) against the White Sox. He'll face C.C. Sabathia, who is sporting a 10.24 ERA in June.

Update: Reyes game score of 82 just tops Eric Milton's 81 loss against the Diamondbacks on 5/26.

Finally, the Atheltics and Padres meet as two of the top teams in the Western division battle. Barry Zito faces Chris Young. Zito has the reverse lefty mojo working for him, as he's pitched much better against right-handed batters this season. Young's allowed just five runs in June while striking out 28 in 24 2/3 innings.

Enjoy!

The Astros are following in the Cardinals footsteps. After barely avoiding a humiliating sweep at the hands of the White Sox, Houston enters "A terrain so rugged, so treacherous, no country will claim it." Detroit. The Tigers and White Sox dominated interleague play so far, going 10-2 each.

Correction: The Astros were not swept by the White Sox, as originally stated. It just seemed that way.

Wandy Rodriguez gets the call for the Astros. He's pitched well away from the juice box, giving up more power but countering that by allowing fewer runners on base. He'll face Zach Miner. The young righty is benefiting from not seeing too many lefties so far. Only one third of the at bats against him so far had the platoon advantage. That could continue tonight as Berkman and Lamb are the likely lefty batters against him.

The battle of Florida moves to Miami as the Devil Rays face the Marlins. If you want to see some good, young pitching, these two teams seem to be the place to stop. James Shields is doing everything well a pitcher should do well. In 30 innings, he's struck out 27, walked 10, and allowed no home runs. Six good innings from Josh Johnson tonight puts him in the ERA lead for the NL. Johnson's been impressive with the bases loaded, striking out five in nine at bats while allowing just one hit.

Enjoy!

Jeremy Sowers makes his major league debut today for the Cleveland Indians. Sowers was originally drafted by the Reds out of college, but wanted to attend college. The Indians picked him up three years later. He'll face face the Reds today. As you can see here and here, Sowers pitched very well at AAA this season. The one home run allowed is very impressive. Sowers, like so many Cleveland pitchers, however, doesn't strike out many batters, making him very dependent on the skill of the defense.

He'll be opposed by Elizardo Ramirez. Ramirez's ERA of 3.69 is much better than his 2-6 record. He's been hurt by two things.

1. Twenty two percent of runs scored against him are unearned.
2. The Reds only scored 24 runs with him on the mound, or 3.54 runs per 9.

Better play on both sides of the ball from his fielders would easily turn that record around.

The pitching matchup of the day takes place during game 1 in New York (weather permitting) as Dontrelle Willis face Mike Mussina. The Yankees won 15 of 21 games started by an opposition left hander this season, trailing only Detroit (they've won 16 of 22). Willis pitches lights out on the road this year, posting a 2.39 ERA away from Dolphin Stadium, but a 7.83 ERA at home. Mike Mussina is on a bit of a slide right now. Over his last four starts, Mussina's ERA increased by a run. The one thing that stands out in the month of June for Mike is that balls are falling in for hits. He's allowing a .296 batting average this month vs. .212 the first two months. And they're long hits, too. He allowed just 17 extra-base hits in April and May, 13 in June.

The Astros get one more chance to try to win a game from the White Sox. They'll send staff ace Roy Oswalt to the mound against newcomer Javier Vazquez. Oswalt's given up just one home run on the road this season, but given the ballpark and the opposition, that may change tonight. Vazquez so far solved his home run problem. In equal number of starts home and road, he's given up just two of his seven home runs in Chicago.

Enjoy!

The Phillies and Red Sox offer the best pitching matchup of the day as Brett Myers faces former Phillie Curt Schilling. The arrest of Brett Myers and a National telecast just adds to the drama. How will Boston fans treat him? Well, these are the same fans who cheered Wade Boggs after it the Margo Adams affair, but my guess is they'll be brutal. Schilling, like Josh Beckett, has been nearly unhittable at Fenway this season. Curt's allowed a .226 BA in Boston this season. In addition, he's issued just one walk and no home runs.

Violent pitcher day continues as the Cardinals try to end their four game losing streak against Kenny Rogers. The lefty doesn't allow much power at Comerica as his slugging percentage allowed (.252) is lower than his OBA allowed (.255) at the park. Jeff Suppan takes the mould for the Cardinals. Suppan's been hammered on the road this season. His .652 slugging percentage away from home is the fourth highest in the majors this year among pitchers with 100 batters faced on the road.

Enjoy!

For once, the manager pairing makes a game interesting to me. Joe Girardi bring the Florida Marlins into the Bronx to face his mentor, Joe Torre. The rookie manager rides into town with one of the hottest teams in baseball. Given that the talent was stripped away just after Girardi took the reigns, the fact that the Marlins are in third place in the NL East and six games out of the wild card is an impressive accomplishment. Joe Torre is also facing a challenge to his skills as two thirds of his starting outfield went down for most if not all of the season. Some thought the team might collapse, but Joe's used his replacements well, and the Yankees are still in the heat of the division race, although nowhere near the best team in the league.

One advantage for the Marlins in this game is Girardi's experience with the Yankees. He knows the hitters and the pitchers from coaching in New York last year. We'll see if he can use that to his advantage.

The Cardinals move from the frying pan into the fire as they travel to Detroit. (Obligitory Kentucky Fried Movie Reference:

Dr. Klahn: The CIA thinks they can infiltrate the Mountain of Dr. Klahn!

CIA Agent: You can't scare me, you slant-eyed yellow bastard.

Dr. Klahn: Take him to... Detroit!

CIA Agent: No! No, not Detroit! No! No, please! Anything but that! No! No!)

After getting Busch whacked on the south side of Chicago (now you're all singing Jim Croce), the Cardinals send staff ace Chris Carpenter against Justin Verlander. It's tough to pick an ace on the Detroit staff. The way the five are pitching right now is more reminiscent of the Braves of the mid 1990s. Carpenter's been stellar since returning from the DL, posting a 1.89 ERA in three starts. Good offensive clubs give Verlander trouble, as the White Sox and Yankees combined to score 17 earned runs in three starts against him.

Enjoy!

Roger Clemens returns to the majors this evening, and Richard Justice is happy:

The hope is that with your return, the Astros will return to the formula that worked last season. If Roy Oswalt stays healthy and Pettitte can get straightened out, the rotation will be as good as almost any.

Is it good enough? Who knows? The Mets and Cardinals are going to get two of the four National League playoff berths, probably leaving the Astros in a scramble with the Reds, Phillies and maybe even the Marlins for the wild card.

In truth, none of us experts really knows how good the Astros are. If you and Andy are solid, the team is good enough to go back to the playoffs. We know just one thing for sure: The chances got a lot better today.

To make it better, his opponent in his return is the up and coming star, Francisco Liriano. The Twins lefty is sporting very Clemens like numbers this season. He's striking out 10.3 per 9 while walking just 2.6 per 9. Since moving to the rotation, he's allowed just one home run in 36 innings. That's lead to a 1.50 ERA as a starter.

Clemens has a long history against the Twins. He's made 42 starts versus Minnesota and complete 1/7 of them with two shutouts. He's 23-12 in those starts with a 3.01 ERA. His strikeouts are a bit low compared to his career (7.9 per 9 vs. the Twins, 8.6 overall) but he's only allowed 16 home runs against them in 299 1/3 innings.

Enjoy!

It looks like they decided to put all the good pitching matchups on Wednesday this week. Almost any game you tune into today has a pair of fine hurlers in opposition. If you like youngsters, try Washington vs. Boston tonight. Shawn Hill faces John Lester. After getting a cup of coffee in 2004, Hill is earning a place in the Washington rotation with four solid starts. In his brief major league career he's been good at keeping the ball in the park, allowing just two home runs in 35 innings. Lester makes his third start tonight. He's striking out batters, but his control is lacking so far. Call this the futures game.

While their teams aren't very good, Carlos Zambrano and C.C. Sabathia are pitchers in their primes who should put on a good show this evening. Zambrano is death to right-handed batters as he allows just a .139 batting average to them, the best in the National League. Righties aren't very good against the lefty Sabathia, either, hitting just .239 with the platoon advantage.

Joe Mays makes his first start for the Reds tonight after being pulled off the Kansas City scrap heap. He's pitched seven good innings for the Reds in relief. He'll face Alay Soler. The opposition is hitting just .118 vs. Alay with men on base.

Brandon Webb comes off his worst outing of the year to face James Shields of the Devil Rays. Shields struck out 22 so far in 23 innings. With Kazmir, Hendrickson and Shields, is a rotation starting to take shape for the Devil Rays?

Finally, Chris Young returns to Texas as arguably the best starter on the Padres staff. He'll face replacement ace Kevin Millwood. In Young's last four starts he holds an ERA of 1.00. He's struck out more batters than he's allowed to reach base (29-21). Millwood does not find the confines of Texas friendly. He's allowed a 6.65 ERA at home vs. 2.44 on the road.

Enjoy!

It's not often you get to see a 1-8 pitcher challenge a 1-9 pitcher, but that's the matchup in Atlanta tonight as Josh Towers faces Jorge Sosa. Towers has lots of balls put in play against him, and they either leave the park or fall for hits. He's given up 73 hits in 45 innings pitched! That's just amazing. That works out to a .363 batting average against. His home run rate would lead to well over 50 in 200 innings. He can't even hold runners as base stealers are 10 for 11 against him.

Sosa, with the worse record, is actually pitching better. But like Towers, the ball keeps leaving the park. Among pitchers with 60 innings, only Carlos Silva allowed more home runs per 9 innings. This is a good bet for a high home run game.

Enjoy!

Arizona makes a one day trip to Pittsburgh to make up a rain out from earlier in the season. The good news is that someone's losing streak will end. The Diamondbacks are losers of five in a row, while the Pirates dropped four straight. Pittsburgh sends Zach Duke to the mound, the last Pirate to win a game. Duke is now at the same point he finished last season, 14 games pitched. His ERA is almost three runs higher. Batters are more selective against the lefties, drawing twelve more walks than last year. They've also done a better job of hitting the ball out of the park as they've launched 10 home runs vs. 3 in 2005. My big concern about Duke was his low strikeout numbers. They're even lower this season, and that's led to more hits and a higher batting average allowed.

The Diamondbacks counter with Claudio Vargas. Vargas is interesting in that better opposition batting on the road hasn't lead to a better ERA there. One reason might be his performance with runners in scoring position. On the road, batters are hitting .350 in that situation with a .700 slugging percentage.

The Reds haven't been able to take advantage of Albert Pujols' absence since their sweep of St. Louis. They're 2-8 since that series and now trail the Cardinals by five games. They'll take on the Mets this evening as Bronson Arroyo faces Orlando Hernandez. Arroyo's gotten the long ball under control as he's only allowed four home runs in May and June after giving up five in April. In four starts with the Mets Orlando Hernandez filled the gap in the Mets rotation adequately. His 4.30 ERA isn't great, but it's better than the 6.11 mark he had with the Diamondbacks.

The Giants and Angels meet for the first time since the 2002 World Series. Kelvim Esobar will try to keep the Giants cold, while Matt tries to raise some Cain. Escobar's improved his control this year, walking a batter about every four innings. Cain hasn't been the same since his 120 pitch complete game against the Oakland A's. The longest he's lasted in his last four starts is 5 2/3 innings. He's been walking a lot of batters, which leads to high pitch counts and short outings.

Enjoy!

The Blue Jays try to salvage one game from their series with the Marlins as they send ace Roy Halladay against Josh Johnson. Johnson might very well qualify as the Marlins ace right now, given the poor season by Dontrelle Willis. He has the best ERA, K per 9 and HR per 9 of any Marlins starter. Halladay ranks 15th in the majors in batting average allowed with runners in scoring position, one reason he's been so tough this season.

Detroit goes for a sweep of the Cubs with their ancient ace Kenny Rogers, but all eyes will be on Mark Prior's return. Unless the Cubs can start scoring runs, however, Prior will need to pitch shutouts if he wants to win. Rogers is close to where he was in 2005 at this point. Last year he had a 9-2 record with an incredible 1.98 ERA through June 17. His home runs are up this season, leading to a higher ERA, but the Tigers must be happy with his 9-3 record and the 10-4 record in games he starts.

Finally, ESPN brings us the battle of the ageless wonders as Curt Schilling and the Red Sox go for the sweep of the Braves against John Smoltz. A perfect game to try out the new HD TV your received for Fathers Day! Although their ERAs aren't that different, (Schilling 3.59, Smoltz 3.78) their run support is. Smoltz allowed 42 runs so far while getting 54 while he's on the mound. The Red Sox gave Schilling 68 runs in support of the 38 he's allowed.

Enjoy!

Detroit at Chicago offers a nice matchup of young pitchers as Justin Verlander faces Carlos Marmol. The Cubs rookie has posted 13 strikeouts in 10 innings so far this season while walking just three. In his first start, he faced a powerful Reds team at GAB and allowed just one run in six innings. Verlander is enjoying success on the road this season. His 2.34 ERA away from home ranks sixth in the majors among pitchers with 30 road innings.

Kris Benson starts against his former team tonight and draws the ace, Pedro Martinez. Benson is shutting down lefties this season, allowing just a .310 OBA and a .333 slugging percentage. But he's making up for that by not getting righties out very well as they're getting on base at a .350 clip and slugging .472. There's been no Anna sightings so far. Batters are not hitting Pedro well from either side of the plate, although his home runs allowed are up this season. Most of those came away from home, however. At Shea, he's only allowed 3 dingers in 33 2/3 innings.

Enjoy!

The Phans of Philadelphia finally get to see their wunderkind Cole Hamels after four starts on the road. They'll send the rookie against the lowly Tampa Bay Devil Rays. It's a good matchup for his home debut, as Tampa Bay is near the bottom of the league in runs. The Devil Rays trot out a pretty good rookie of their own, James Shields. Sheilds gives up hits, but his strikeout and walks rates are good, and he's yet to allow a home run. He needs to become a bit more efficient so he can get past the sixth inning.

Another interesting pair of youngsters go in the Twins/Pirates game as Ian Snell hosts Francisco Liriano. Snell's last three starts produced three wins and a 1.40 ERA. He's been up and down this season, however, with a bunch of bad starts followed by a bunch of good ones. Liriano's had almost nothing but success since moving into the rotation. He's allowed zero runs in three of his five starts and has yet to allow a home run since moving into the rotation.

Enjoy!

It's a good day to take a long lunch at your local sports bar as there are a plethora of afternoon getaway games today. Mike Mussina goes for his ninth win as the Yankees go for a sweep of the Cleveland Indians. The Indians managed just one run against New York in the first two games, and now they're facing the best pitcher in the rotation. Mussina continues to have great success against lefties, allowing a .253 OBA and a .349 slugging percentage against them. Cliff Lee takes the hill for the Tribe. His ERA is up over a run from last year. He's allowing more hits, and with the larger number of hits come more home runs.

Chad Billingsley makes his major league debut for the Dodgers today against red hot Padres Chris Young. I wonder if Billingsley speaks jive? He's struck out 72 batters in 65 2/3 innings this season. He's 35-17 in his minor league career. Chris Young's been unhittable in his last three starts (that doesn't mean he can't be hit), allowing just 8 safeties while striking out 24. The Padres trail the Dodgers and Diamondbacks by just one game in the NL West.

If prime time baseball is your thing, the White Sox and Rangers play the rubber game of their series with Mark Buehrle and John Rheinecker taking the hill for their respective teams. Rheinecker is keeping his ERA low so far by being tough with men in scoring position. The opposition is just 4 for 20 in that situation. Buehrle's seen his K/BB deteriorate each month, and so far in June he's walked 8 while striking out just six. His ERA is going up with the decline in his control.

Enjoy!

It's the battle of the Johnsons in New York tonight as Jason draws swords against Randy. Right now, Jason holds the bigger ERA, but not my much. The two rank 11th and 13th worst in ERA in the majors. The winner of tonight's contest could come down to which Johnson goes deeper in the game. Neither is lasting six innings on average.

After last night's duel, Minnesota fans are likely to be treated to a slugfest tonight as Matt Clement faces Brad Radke. Clement is 5-4; despite a 6.68 ERA, he's only allowed two more runs than the Red Sox scored with him on the mound (47-45). Radke's pitched somewhat better at home this season. He's allowed a .309 BA in the Metrodome vs. .394 on the road.

Roy Oswalt returns to the Astros rotation and is lucky enough to get the Cubs as his first challenge. Chicago is averaging just 4.0 runs per game this season. He'll get to face Greg Maddux who posted a 7.48 ERA over his last five starts. In what has to be a sign of doom, Maddux walked more than he struck out over this period.

If you're looking for good pitching, stay up late for Brad Penny vs. Mike Thompson. Penny's 2.34 ERA ranks third in the National League. He's doing a great job keeping left-handed batters off base, allowing them a .288 OBA. Thompson's been great at PETCO so far, allowing 10 hits and 2 walks in 13 innings there.

Enjoy!

The New York Mets travel to Philadephia to take on the second place Phillies in a series that might determine if there is a race in the NL East this year. Paul Lo Duca wants to bury the Phillies. That's good. The Mets have a chance to put the division away, and they should go in all guns blazing. However, the Phillies have held their own with New York, splitting the first six games played, and they've actually outscored the Mets 28-15.

The pitching matchup certainly favors the Queensmen as Tom Glavine faces Ryan Madson. Glavine is coming off his worst start of the year in which he allowed six runs to the Dodgers. The Mets, however, scored 9 to take the win. Madson is 6-3 despite a 5.71 ERA. His last start, however, was one of his better ones this season. He went deeper into the game than any other start this year and did not walk a batter for the first time in a start in 2006.

The best pitching matchup of the day takes place in Minnesota where Johan Santana hosts Curt Schilling. Opponents hit 13 home runs off Schilling this season, all on the road. HIs batting and on-base averages are low away from Fenway, it's just that the ball tends to leave the park. Santana possesses a massive reverse platoon differential this season. Opposing managers might want to think about starting lefties against him.

Enjoy!

MLB scheduled just six game this evening, but all it turns out sport good pitching matchups, many involving the next generation of stars. Possibly the best is Tampa Bay at Detroit where Scott Kazmir faces Justin Verlander. The Tigers offer a good match for Scott, as they are hitting poorly against left-handed pitchers this season. Verlander holds a better ERA than Kazmir despite trailing Scott in strikeout, walk and home run rate. His fielding independent pitching numbers indicate he's been a bit lucky this season.

As far as division races go, the second place White Sox visit the first place Rangers as Jose Contreras faces John Koronka. Koronka's strength is his low number of home runs allowed, which is negated by playing at home. Six of the seven long balls hit against him came in Texas. Contreras, on the other hand, allowed just one of his five home runs on the road this season.

Enjoy!

Shawn Hill takes the hill near Capitol Hill this afternoon as the Washington Nationals host the Phillies and Cole Hamels. Hill's made two starts and sports a 2.77 ERA, although given the batting numbers against him that's a bit low. He's been deadly against righties so far, which might split up the hits against him enough so they're not that effective. Hamels is making his fourth start, all on the road. He's been tough to hit (.158 batting average allowed) and because of that the eleven walks he's issued still allows him to sport a good opposition OBA (.286). Left-handed batters are 0 for 19 against the rookie.

Despite their six game losing streak, the Diamondbacks are still tied for first place in the NL West. The chances of stopping the streak are slim as Pedro Martinez faces off against Russ Ortiz. Pedro, despite a 3.01 ERA hasn't won a game since April, and the Mets are 2-5 in his starts from May on. Ortiz is interestingly bad this year as he's walked more than he's struck out and while lefties hit him for average, righties are very close in slugging. So when a right-hander gets a hit off Ortiz, it's most likely a double!

Enjoy!

C.C Sabathia and Mark Buehrle meet for the fourth time this season. The Indians hit Buehrle hard so far, sticking him with an 8.04 ERA and collecting 25 hits in 15 2/3 innings. Sabathia's done twice as well vs. the White Sox, with many fewer hits allowed in his 13 1/3 innings.

Game 1 at Fenway today pits two promising left-handers against each other. John Rheinecker allowed just four runs and one walk in his first three starts. He's shutting down right-handed batters, allowing a mere .242 OBA against them. Jon Lester makes his major league debut for the Red Sox, and he's being compared to John Tudor. Lester's struck out 43 in 46 2/3 innings at AAA this year. He seems to have short starts, however, as he's made 11 so far.

And the battle of the first place teams continues in the west as the Mets send Alay Soler against Brandon Webb. Soler is coming off a very strong outing at Dodger Stadium. Webb leads the NL in ERA, but five of his six home runs allowed came at home this year.

Enjoy!

The Phillies and Nationals face off again tonight with Brett Myers facing Tony Armas, Jr. Myers held the Nationals to two runs, three hits and two walks in their last meeting on May 30th. He's pitched into the seventh inning in each of his last eight starts. RFK and Armas do not get along this season. Tony's been lit up for a .314 batting average and a 4.68 ERA in five starts at home. The park fits Alfonso Soriano just fine, however. He's slugging .772 there vs. .556 on the road.

The Devil Rays play the Royals tonight. It could be a fun game because these teams are so evenly matched. The pitchers favor Tampa Bay, since Mark Hendrickson opposes Mark Redman. One problem with Redman this year is that 80% of his opposition hitters are righties, and they're getting on base at a .438 clip against him. At this point, a better role for Redman would be in the bullpen as a LOOGY. Hendrickson is seeing an even higher percentage of right-handed batters, but they're hitting just .253 against the tall lefty.

Finally, a nice pitching matchup on the west coast as Ricky Nolasco takes on Chris Young. Ricky's posted a 2.38 ERA in four starts. Young's allowed just three hits and three walks in his last 16 innings, and no runs to go with it.

Enjoy!

The Phillies and Nationals face off again tonight with Brett Myers facing Tony Armas, Jr. Myers held the Nationals to two runs, three hits and two walks in their last meeting on May 30th. He's pitched into the seventh inning in each of his last eight starts. RFK and Armas do not get along this season. Tony's been lit up for a .314 batting average and a 4.68 ERA in five starts at home. The park fits Alfonso Soriano just fine, however. He's slugging .772 there vs. .556 on the road.

The Devil Rays play the Royals tonight. It could be a fun game because these teams are so evenly matched. The pitchers favor Tampa Bay, since Mark Hendrickson opposes Mark Redman. One problem with Redman this year is that 80% of his opposition hitters are righties, and they're getting on base at a .438 clip against him. At this point, a better role for Redman would be in the bullpen as a LOOGY. Hendrickson is seeing an even higher percentage of right-handed batters, but they're hitting just .253 against the tall lefty.

Finally, a nice pitching matchup on the west coast as Ricky Nolasco takes on Chris Young. Ricky's posted a 2.38 ERA in four starts. Young's allowed just three hits and three walks in his last 16 innings, and no runs to go with it.

Enjoy!

First place in the Central Divisions tonight rests in the hand of the Chicago teams.

Bronson Arroyo faces Glendon Rusch for the third time this season. Arroyo homered off the Cubs pitcher in their first two meetings. Rusch travel back and forth between starting and relieving for the Cubs this year. He's given up 11 home runs in 27 1/3 innings as a starter, just two in 14 2/3 innings in relief. Arroyo continues to impress as a member to the 240 club. That's both his ERA and his batting average allowed. If he can pick up his 8th win of the season, the Reds pass the idle Cardinals for first place in the NL Central.

The White Sox go for a sweep of the Tigers and first place in the AL Central tonight. The pitching matchup favors Detroit, as Kenny Rogers enters the game with an ERA 2 1/2 runs better than Jon Garland. Garland, a right-handed pitcher, is getting hammered by right-hand batters even more than lefties. Rogers, however, gives up home runs on the road; 8 of his nine came away from Detroit this year.

Enjoy!

The Angels and Devil Rays play a late afternoon game in Tampa, your chance to watch Jered Weaver over dinner. Jeff's younger and better brother impressed in his first two starts, striking out 13 in 13 1/3 innings while giving up just seven hits and three walks. He'll face Seth McClung, a pitcher with more walks (39) than strikeouts (31).

The Tigers and White Sox offer the best pitching matchup of the day. Justin Verlander tries to move the Tigers lead back to 2 1/2 games against Jose Contreras. Verlander is unhittable on the road this year, allowing opponents a mere .180 batting average, good for a 1.73 ERA. That's the best road ERA in the AL this year. Contreras is just as good at home, allowing a .181 batting average and a 2.27 ERA.

Enjoy!

This is one of those days with so many good games it's tough to choose just a few. We'll start with the cage match in Chicago where the Tigers and White Sox meet to battle for first place in the AL Central. The Tigers lead by 2 1/2 game, but neither team played well over their last ten games. Nate Robertson opposes Freddy Garcia. Nate's opposition batting number are worse on the road, but his ERA is better. Garcia's allowing extra-base hits, but he's keeping batters off base in general, so the two are balancing things outs.

Chris Carpenter returns from the DL tonight to host the Reds and Eric Milton. Milton had problems in his first start after coming off the DL, but in his last two he's allowed just 3 runs in 15 2/3 innings, walking none. The Cardinals record was 8-7 in Carpenter's absence.

In the second of what we hope are many battles between two promising young pitchers, Francisco Liriano faces Felix Hernandez in Seattle. Liriano prevailed in the May 26th battle 3-1. Both make batters miss; Liriano's strikeouts per 9 is 11.03, Hernandez 9.1 this season.

Finally, Pedro Martinez battles Derek Lowe in Los Angeles. They're ranked 3rd and 7th respectively in the NL in ERA, despite being separated by just 0.18 runs. It's a tight race for the NL ERA lead this season. Pedro's generating his number with lots of strikeouts and few walks. Lowe is keeping the ball in the park and batters off base backed up by a good defense. Lowe's been especially tough with two out and men in scoring position.

Enjoy!

The Red Sox enter the Bronx tonight 1/2 game ahead of the Yankees. It will be a battle of aces in game one of the four game set as Josh Beckett faces Mike Mussina. While Beckett is the ace in wins, his 4.46 ERA is two runs higher than Mussina's. In what has to be the strangest pitching split I've seen, Beckett is great at Fenway, posting a 2.16 ERA there in four starts, while he's miserable on the road. He's allowed all 14 home runs away from Fenway, helping to lead to a 5.77 ERA. Mussina is pitching very well against lefties this year. Although they've touched him for some power, he's kept them off base with a .243 OBA, lower than the .253 he's allowed to righties.

One problem with both of these aces is that they don't go that deep into games, seldom past the seventh inning. Mussina, however, is coming off a very efficient complete game against Detroit.

The Reds find themselves three games back of the Cardinals, and now is the time to make a move on the other red team. Cincinnati tries to take advantage of the absence of Albert Pujols to gain some ground in the NL Central. Keep your eyes on Austin Kearns and Adam Dunn. Kearns pounded the the Cardinals so far this year with a .476 batting average. Dunn hasn't hit much, but all four of hits hits are for extra bases, including three home runs. Albert Pujols hit four homers against the Reds this season. The Red have kept Edmonds and Rolen in check so far this season.

Finally, Brandon Webb tries to extend his 25 scoreless inning streak against the Phillies in Arizona. He's only allowed 1 hit in 29 ab bats with men on base in this streak, and that was a single with a man on first.

Enjoy!

Chris Young of the San Diego Padres is starting on normal rest as the Padres used the day off on June 1st to give Jake Peavy some extra rest. Young is coming off a one-hitter against the Rockies and hopes for similar success against a hot Pirates offense. He'll face Victor Santos. Victor's been hit hard at home, giving up a 6.04 ERA and a .307 batting average in Pittsburgh this year. He'll need the offensive support today.

John Rheinecker makes his third start of the Rangers today at the home of the White Sox. In a battle of lefties, he'll face Mark Buehrle. Rheinecker is making opponents earn their way on. He's given up eleven hits in his 12 1/3 innings pitched, but only one walk. Buehrle uses a low walk total to keep all the balls in play against him from hurting him too much. Buehrle does a great job of stopping the running game, as only three stolen bases were attempted against him this year.

With Albert Pujols likely gone for an extended period, the other NL Central teams have a chance to pounce. Two contenders for the division meet in Houston as Cincinnati sends Elizardo Ramirez against Roy Oswalt. After a prolonged offensive slump the Reds scored 21 runs in their last two games. Oswalt, however, has been tough with runners in scoring position this year, allowing a .238 batting average and no extra base hits.

The Phillies and Dodgers offer the best pitching matchup of the day as Brett Myers faces Aaron Sele. Myers weakness this year is home runs, but seven of the ten he's allowed came in Philadephia. Sele isn't striking out many batters, but he's baffling them nonetheless as he's allowed a paltry .218 batting average and a .268 OBA.

Enjoy!

Seventeen games today and not many stand out as classic matchups. The best game of the day might be the one no ones sees, as Arizona and Atlanta send Enrique Gonzalez and John Smoltz to the mound. Enrqiue made a strong major league debut against the Reds in Cincinnati, allowing just one run on a solo homer. He walked one and struck out four through six innings. Smoltz has a slightly longer track record, but a big difference between this season and last for Smoltz is that lefties are getting to the veteran. In 2005, left-handers batters .252 with a .301 OBA against John. This year those numbers are .273 and .354. With the switch hitters in the Arizona lineup, there could be seven lefties facing Smoltz this afternoon.

Roy Halladay faces Mark Hendrickson in a rematch of their May 23rd tilt. Hendrickson pitched well in that game, giving up two runs in six innings as the Rays took a 4-1 loss. Pitching the best ball of his career, Mark's only received 15 runs of support in his 52 innings pitched. The Blue Jays on the other hand, give Roy more than twice the runs he allows. Not surprising, since the Jays have the penultimate offense in the league while the Rays are second to last.

Enjoy!

It's a battle of first place teams tonight in Detroit as the Boston Red Sox send Curt Schilling to the mound against Kenny Rogers. Except for an impressive start against the Yankees, Schilling's been less than impressive, posting a 5.12 ERA in six starts. A lot of that came from two bad starts in which he gave up 3 homers in each. His strikeouts and walks are still excellent. And the Sox are scoring enough to keep Curt on the winning side of the ledger. Maybe part of it is the Red Sox defense?

Rogers is not seeing very many lefties, despite lefties having better numbers than righties against him this year. I suspect the Red Sox will start Ortiz, who is hitting lefties well this year. That should be a fun matchup.

The Padres are hitting and pitching better away from PETCO this year. They visit the Pirates in Pittsburgh, where the Pirates are on a roll. While the team doesn't hit away from PNC, they're generating good offense at home, and have a 16-12 record at the source of the Ohio. Unfortunately, for the Padres, Chan Ho Park isn't one of the pitchers who is better on the road. Opposition hitters are batting .301 against the righty away from PETCO. Oliver Perez is coming off three good starts in a row, striking out 18 in his last 20 innings. He's still needs to get his walks down, however, as he's walked 11 in that time.

Enjoy!

The Indians and White Sox face off this evening as Cleveland tries to take 3 out of 4 from Chicago. They're in for a tough battle as Jose Contreras takes the mound for the White Sox. Lefties are batting just .209 vs. Jose with a .291 slugging percentage. Paul Byrd is enjoying tremendous run support. The Indians scored 53 runs while Byrd is in the game vs. 37 allowed by the pitcher. It seems he should be doing better than a 4-4 record.

The Yankees go for a sweep of the Tigers this evening after a complete game by Mike Mussina last night gave the Yankees pen a much needed rest. Chien-Ming Wang takes on the hot Justin Verlander. Wang's translated his terrific support into a 5-2 record. The Yankees scored 56 runs for the righty while he's allowed 39. Verlander is third in the AL in ERA at 2.55. Six of the seven home runs against him came with the bases empty, and the opposition is hitting just .200 with runners in scoring position against Verlander. In his four game winning streak, he's allowed just four earned runs 30 1/3 innings, a 1.19 ERA.

And for those of you with time to watch or listen this afternoon, Jose Castillo took up where Jason Bay left off and homered in five straight games. The Pirates face the Brewers at 12:35 EDT.

Enjoy!

One game really stands out on this Wednesday. The Diamondbacks and Mets send their aces to the mound in New York and Brandon Webb faces Pedro Martinez. Webb is 8-0 in eleven starts. His batting average allowed is about the same as last year, but he's lowered his OBA allowed about 25 points. He's walked just 9 in 82 2/3 innings. But that's not the whole story. With the great defense behind him, he's already induced 14 ground ball double plays after getting 30 last season. The few runners reaching base against him often get wiped out, effectively lowering his OBA allowed.

After winning his first five starts, Pedro is 0-1 in his last five. He easily could have won them all. Pedro's ERA over the first five starts was 2.94. Over the last five it's been 2.65 with a higher strikeout rate, a better walk rate and fewer home runs. He needs more support from his offense and bullpen.

The man who hung the loss on Pedro last time out was Josh Johnson of the Marlins who gets another test today as he faces Jason Schmidt of the Giants. In 107 at bats against Johnson, the only extra-base hits opposing players have garnered are two doubles. Schmidt is going deep in games, averaging over 7 1/3 innings per start. He's walking a few too many, but hits against him are rare so the free passes aren't hurting him too much.

Enjoy!

The pitching matchup of the night takes place in Cleveland where lefties Mark Buehrle and C.C. Sabathia meet for the third time this season. The teams spilt the first two games as Milliliter left opening day early with an injury, then returned from the DL to pitch five strong innings against the White Sox. Sabathia's been the only consistently good starter on the team. Buehrle, with lots of balls in play, has allowed 8 unearned runs, or his ERA could be much higher.

Two pitchers used mostly out of the bullpen go at it in Detroit as the Tigers host the Yankees. Aaron Small and Roman Colon make starts to fill in for injured pitchers. Small's already allowed more home runs than he did all of last year, so it's a good night for Detroit's offense to break their streak of 18 scoreless innings.

The Dodgers are just 1/2 game out of first place, and they send a rejuvenated Aaron Sele to the mound. Sele's ERA hasn't been under 5.00 since 2002, but he's posting a 1.69 ERA on the strength of a very low batting average allowed. Its' been over .300 the last two seasons, but it's down to .200 in 2006. He'll face the Braves and Jorge Sosa, who enters the game with a 1-6 record. Sosa is getting hammered by lefty batters this year. Last year was his only good year against southpaws, and the only great ERA he's posted.

Enjoy!

The Indians are off to a poor start in trying to climb back into the AL Central race. They lost two out of three to the Tigers, now face the White Sox for four games at home. Javier Vazquez and Cliff Lee take the mound today. Given his great home run and walk numbers, I'm surprised Vazquez has an ERA over 4.00. But he's allowed a .341 batting average with runners in scoring position. Lee is looking to end May on an up note after allowing 43 hits in 29 2/3 innings in the month.

The Tigers get another test on the road to the playoffs today as they face the Yankees in Detroit. New York sends the disappointing Randy Johnson to the mound. The good news for Johnson is that he struck out 8 in his last start. The bad news is he also gave up 9 hits in just five innings. Detroit starts their own disappointment, Jeremy Bonderman. Like Javier Vazquez, Bonderman is pitching better than his ERA. However, four of his five home runs allowed came with men on base. Hank Waddles notes that this is the first time since 1995 that the Tigers entered a series with the Yankees holding a better record.

The Red Sox enter Toronto with a 3 1/2 game lead on the Blue Jays and their rotation a question mark. Matt Clement starts off the three game series against Roy Halladay. Clement just gets worse the more men move around the bases. He's allowing a .439 batting average with runners in scoring position. Halladay is devastating left-handed batters this season. They're hitting just .183 with a .230 OBA against him.

The Diamondbacks meet the Mets in a battle of first place teams. The Diamondbacks are second in the NL in runs per game by a hair. The Dodgers lead 5.36 to 5.35 runs per game. The Mets are tied for second in the NL in ERA. With Vargas and Trachsel on the mound, however, the offense might win out.

Enjoy!

Bronson Arroyo takes to the hill to prevent a Diamondbacks sweep of the Reds. Cincinnati needs to score some runs to help. They've been held scoreless the last 21 innings. Enrique Gonzalez is scheduled to make his major league debut for Arizona. Gonzalez comes with very good strikeout and home run numbers in the minor leagues.

A very good pitching matchup takes place in San Diego where Mark Mulder faces Jake Peavy. Mulder's lower his ERA 0.7 runs over his last four starts as he's posted a 3-1 record with a 2.70 ERA. He's only allowed one homer in that stretch. Peavy's ERA seems to be much higher than you'd expect from his stats. Usually there's a reason, like home runs with men on or a high batting average allowed with men in scoring position. But Peavy's great at both. Must be bad luck.

Enjoy!

Curt Schilling goes for his 200th win tonight against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Schilling has a pretty good shot at the win tonight. In his career against the Devil Rays he's 5-2 with a 3.89 ERA. He's averaging 8 K per 9 with 1.5 BB per 9. He'll face Seth McClung, who's allowed a .380 OBA this season. That's playing into a Boston strength.

Sidney Ponson returns to the mound for the Cardinals this afternoon as he takes on Chan Ho Park of the Padres. Ponson is pitching well after a tumultuous year in Baltimore. He last pitched on May 7th but left after three innings with a muscle strain in his pitching elbow. We'll see how that holds up today. Park pitches much better at PETCO. His 2.97 ERA at home goes to an evil 6.66 on the road.

Enjoy!

David Wells returns from the disable list tonight. He gets a tough assignment, as he faces Scott Kazmir and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Kazmir is pitching great in May, posting a 4-0 record and an 0.65 ERA. His walks are under control. He gave out 15 free passes in April, just six so far in May. He's yet to allow a homer this month, after giving up six in April. With a win tonight and another start on Wednesday, Kazmir could go 6-0 in May.

The Indians find themselves 9 1/2 games out of first place as they start a seven-game stretch against the Tigers and White Sox. It's a chance for the Indians to gain a lot of ground or be buried in the division. They'll send Jake Westbrook to the mound in Detroit against Nate Robertson. Both hold 4-2 records; Robertson is giving up fewer hits per 9 innings, while Westbrook gives up fewer walks and so far that's giving Robertson a better ERA. The location favors Robertson, too, as he's pitching well at home but Westbrook struggles on the road.

If you're interested in the future stars of pitching, Seattle at Minnesota offers Felix Hernandez vs. Francisco Liriano. Liriano pitched well last time in his first start of the year, striking out 5 and allowing just two hits in five innings. Hernandez, despite a high ERA, is still blowing away batters. But when they make contact, the balls are falling for hits. He's given up 61 hits in 49 1/3 innings in 2006; that's how many he allowed in 84 1/3 innings last year. On top of that, nine have gone for home runs, while just five left the park in 2005.

In San Francisco, Barry Bonds gets challenged by one of Colorado's Cy Young candidates, Jeff Francis. He's posting a road ERA of 2.81 and a May ERA of 1.63. This will be his first time facing Barry. Jason Schmidt takes the mound for the Giants. He's 5-2 with a 2.24 ERA against the Rockies at AT&T Park.

Enjoy!

The Kansas City Royals trot out a starter with a good ERA today as Denny Bautista hosts Mike Maroth. Bautista is looking for his first win. He's done a good job of keeping the ball in the park this year, allowing just one home run in 24 innings. He also pitches well against left-handers, allowing just a .292 OBA and a .341 slugging percentage so far. Maroth lost 21 games in 2003. Since then he's cut down on his ERA and his winning percentage is on the rise. The main difference between now and that disastrous season is his home run rate. In 2003, he allowed 1.58 home runs per nine innings. That's down to 0.94.

The Athletics and Rangers battle for first place in the tight AL West. No team is playing that well out there, so if a club can get on a hot streak, they could open a big lead in the division. Brad Halsey faces Kevin Millwood. Halsey's struggled as a starter, allowing all five of his home runs in that role. Kevin been mostly very good. Of his ten starts, seven were exactly what one would expect from the ERA champion. But the other three were so bad that his ERA sits at 4.26. Still, with the potential of the Texas offense, the should win Millwood quite a few games.

Enjoy!

Chris Carpener and Noah Lowry face off this afternoon in San Francisco as one tries to stop Barry Bonds and the other Albert Pujols. Bonds has one home run against Carpenter in six at bats. Pujols is 0 for 3 against Lowry. Carpenter is coming off his worse start of the year in which he allowed six runs to the Royals. Lowry is coming off his best start. Ironically Carpenter got the win in his game, Lowry the 1-0 loss.

It's a night for rising stars in New York as Cole Hamels takes on Alay Soler, who is making his major league debut (the article says Lieber is pitching tonight, and so does MLB.com). Soler's been eclipsing both left and righties so far this year. If Hamels pitches, he should benefit from a stadium that favors a high strikeout pitcher.

Update: Hamels hurt his shoulder last night playing long toss.

There's lots of good matchups involving the west coast teams tonight, the best being the battle of the Aarons as Cook faces Sele. Right now, the Cy Young race looks like a battle between Aaron Cook and his teammate Jeff Francis. Cook's ERA is 3.28 and Francis is even better at 3.07. Fantastic numbers for Rockies pitchers.

Enjoy!

It's not exactly a stellar night for pitching matchups. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays send Mark Hendrickson to the mound against Roy Halladay in what's probably the best of the evening. Hendrickson looks like Randy Johnson but throws like Tom Glavine, and it's working for him this year. He's holding right-handed hitters to a .210 batting average and a .387 slugging percentage. Halladay is giving up a few more hits and walks than he did last year, but his offense is making up for it with terrific support. The Blue Jays have outscored their opponents 42-20 with Halladay in the game.

If the Twins are going to climb back into the playoff race they need to pass Cleveland first. The two teams open a series tonight in Minnesota as the Indians send Cliff Lee to face Johan Santana. Lee and Santana are going in opposite directions in May. Cliff saw his April ERA of 2.97 jump nearly three runs to 5.84 in May. Santana is 2 1/2 runs better, dropping his ERA from 4.45 in April to 1.85 in May. Lee is allowing many more hits; Santana is keeping the bats off the ball with more strikeouts.

Kerry Wood gets his second start of the year, this time against the Florida Marlins. If you want to ease a pitcher back into the rotation, giving him two starts against Washington and Florida is the way to go. He'll be opposed by Scott Olsen. The left-hander has not allowed a home run at Dolphin Stadium this year, but 14 walks and 12 hits there led to 12 runs in 12 innings.

Enjoy!

It's Victoria Day in Canada, so the Blue Jays are playing an afternoon game at the Rogers Center to celebrate. Wouldn't it make more sense, however, to invite the Royals rather than the Devil Rays? Victoria Day reminds me of one of my favorite jokes from Mad Magazine. They were doing the history of sex, and got to the Victorian era. They said, "There was no sex during the Victorian era. This is Queen Victoria. Now you know why."

The Jays and Rays have a chance to gain on either the Yankees or Red Sox tonight as those teams go head-to-head at Fenway. Chien-Ming Wang takes the mound vs. Curt Schilling. Schilling's been declining since his 133 pitch start in Cleveland, so we'll see if that continues. Wang is keeping his walks and home runs under control this season, allowing just three free passes in his last three starts.

Frank Thomas returns to Chicago for the first time as an opponent as the Oakland Athletics take on the White Sox. Zito is recovering from a disastrous April. He's only allowed 2 runs in his four May starts, but still managed to lose a game. He'll face Jon Garland, who is getting hammered by right-handed batters this season. Righties are slugging 100 points higher against Garland than lefties. For his career, righties slug about 20 points lower.

Don't expect a lot of O's in Phoenix tonight as Oliver Perez and Orlando Hernandez take the mound with identical 6.98 ERAs. We're looking at the high scoring game of the night as Perez allowed 14 walks in his last three starts and Orlando pitched just 11 1/3 innings in his last three.

The Dodgers can tie the Rockies with a win tonight. It's not an outstanding pitching matchup. Jae Seo has yet to win at Dodger Stadium, thanks to a 6.95 ERA at the park. Byung-Hyun Kim pitches worse on the road, as Coors results seem to be upside down this year.

Finally St. Louis visits the Giants. The big story here is Bonds and Pujols. I'll have more on this in a separate post later.

Enjoy!

Jose Contreras returns to the White Sox rotation today, and he'll face a tough test in Carlos Zambrano. Despite his stint on the DL, Jose has enough inning to still lead the American League in ERA at 1.41. He's been nearly unhittable, allowing just a .179 BA and a .263 slugging percentage. The only two home runs he's allowed were solo shots. Zambrano found his old form in May after a rough April. In his three starts in the month, he's allowed just one earned run in 23 innings while striking out 24.

Boof Bonser is the latest piece in the remake of the Twins rotation, and he'll face Chris Capuano and the Milwaukee Brewers this afternoon. Bonser is a striking out artist with less than perfect control, and he's named Boof. Capuano, on the other hand, is an established pitcher having a great season. His strikes, walks and home runs allowed are all excellent, and it's reflected in his 2.80 ERA. As a lefty, he's doing a good job shutting down right-handed hitters, as they're hitting just .213 with a .298 slugging percentage.

Enjoy!

There's likely to be a good pitching matchup on your Fox game this afternoon. We'll start off with a great matchup in a great rivalry as Mike Mussina faces Pedro Martinez in game 2 of the Yankees-Mets series. Pedro is undefeated, although he's seen no decision in his last three starts. Martinez is a bit susceptible to the long ball this year, having allowed eight home runs in eight starts after allowing just 19 all last season. But he's improved his strikeout rate, back to better than one per inning. Mussina pitches for Pedro's daddy, and Mike's been extremely effective against left-handed batters this year, holding them to a .196 BA and a .248 OBA. Don't expect a lot of free passes in this contest.

The Giants and Athletics send out two pitchers with nearly identical ERAs, Jason Schmidt and Brad Halsey. After a shaky start to the season, Schmidt found his groove in his last four starts, posting a 1.41 ERA and walking just five in 32 innings. Halsey's lost both his starts since moving to the rotation, allowing 13 hits and seven walks in 10 innings.

By the way, why isn't this game on National TV? I know there are a lot of people who don't care, but I'd at least like the opportunity to see Bonds hit 714. There's no reason FOX can't make the game available via MLB Extra Innings and black it out in markets were it's being shown over the air. It's not that difficult to do.

Eric Milton returns to the Reds rotation and gets to take on Mike Maroth, second in the AL in ERA. The Cincinnati starters posted a 4.15 ERA in the 28 games Milton missed. It was 5.09 with Eric starting.

Enjoy!

It's natural rivalry weekend, and while I'm sure you're all looking forward to the Marlins/Devil Rays Game, there are other interesting matchups out there.

The best pitching matchup of the day takes place this afternoon as the Cubs drive south to play the White Sox. Greg Maddux faces Mark Buehrle. The Cubs so far are not emulating the Red Sox and White Sox championship seasons of the previous two years. Maddux, however, is winning games as he keeps the ball in the park (3 HR allowed) and free passes to a minimum (9 walks). Buehrle is devastating at home so far this season, allowing a .208 batting average and a 2.77 ERA.

Francisco Liriano moves into the Twins rotation tonight, and you should expect a lot of swings and misses by the Brewers. In his short major league career, Liriano struck out 65 batters in 46 innings. He'll face lefty Doug Davis, who's shown control problems when facing right-handed batters. He's walked 33 in 173 righty batters faced for a .382 OBA.

And Barry Bonds will be back in action tonight, facing cross bay rivals the Oakland Athletics as a DH. Bonds is 0 for 4 against Haren with a walk. In 22 games in Oakland, Bonds hit 7 home runs with a .648 slugging percentage.

Enjoy!

The Brewers go for a sweep of the Phillies today. Standing in their way is Cole Hamels, making his second big league start. The rookie only allowed 1 hit in his five innings against Cincinnati, although he did walk five. Today, he'll face the team leading the majors in home runs with 60. The Phillies aren't giving Cole easy assignments to start his career. He'll face Dana Eveland, also making his second start of the season. Eveland did not have the success of Coles in his first outing, allowing seven hits and six runs. The Brewers have won three straight in their final at bat.

The Chicago Cubs held the Washington Nationals scoreless over the first two games of this series, and now Kerry Wood gets to try to do the same. Sean Marshall and three relievers held Washington to one hit and four walks last night. Along with Carlos Zambrano, the Cubs staff did a good job of softening up Washington's for Wood's debut. He'll face Ramon Ortiz. Nothing is going right for Ortiz this season. He's given up many more hits than innings pitched and walked more batters than he's struck out. His 6.30 ERA looks like a ticket out of the rotation.

The only late game of the day features the best pitching matchup of the day as Roy Halladay and the Blue Jays play the rubber game of their series against John Lackey and the LAnaheim Angels. Roy's 2.74 ERA sits fifth in the American League. He's showing great control, walking one batter every six innings. Lackey's continued his success of last year, which came with a big jump in his strikeout rate. He's maintained that pace and his effectiveness.

Enjoy!

The Twins send their only reliable starter to the mound tonight to try to earn a victory against the Detroit Tigers. Johan Santana faces Justin Verlander in a battle of 4-3 pitchers. Santana's been on fire in May, striking out 30 while walking just two in 21 innings pitched. Verlander hasn't pitched well at home, allowing a .338 BA at Comerica.

On the west coast, it's a battle of lefties as Jamie Moyer takes on Barry Zito. Both have good ERAs; neither has good record. Moyer's allowing a .149 BA with runners in scoring position, Zito .206. Both pitchers only received 14 runs in support this year, however.

Enjoy!

Two teams with tenuous leads on first place battle tonight as the New York Mets visit the St. Louis Cardinals. Veteran left-hander Tom Glavine take the mound for New York. Glavine is currently fourth in the NL with a 2.19 ERA. Tom's been very good at keeping himself out of trouble. Of 216 batters faced this year, only 47 have come up with runners in scoring position, 22% (compare to 27% for the team as a whole). The Cardinals send Jeff Suppan in opposition. Jeff's been the beneficiary of great support this season, getting 6.86 runs per nine innings, second in the National League.

The Padres and Diamondbacks go at it again tonight, with the winner holding first place in the NL West. Padres ace Jake Peavy faces the struggling Orlando Hernandez. Since pitching a poor start vs. Arizona on April 25th, Peavy is 2-0 with a 1.29 ERA in three May starts. And since a superb start against the Padres on April 26th, Hernandez is 0-1 in two May starts with a 13.50 ERA.

Enjoy!

A battle of first place teams takes place in The Bronx tonight as the Texas Rangers face the New York Yankees. The Rangers took two days off due to weather in Boston, so they should be well rested for tonight's contest. My probables show Kevin MIllwood facing Mike Mussina. Millwood put together a streak of five fine outings before being pounded by the Twins his last time out. That game raises Kevin's ERA 1.6 runs. Millwood is hittable, allowing 59 safeties in 47 1/3 innings. Mussina's 2.56 ERA is third in the American League entering today's action. Mike is doing a great job fooling left-handed batters this season, as they're hitting just .187 against him.

The Padres and Diamondbacks open an important series in Arizona as Chan Ho Park faces Brandon Webb. Arizona finds itself 1 1/2 games behind San Diego, so they have a chance to move into first with a sweep. Park is a pitcher who did not seem to be hurt by pitching in the WBC. His ERA hasn't been this low since his last season with the Dodgers, although much of that is attributable to his pitching the majority of his innings at PETCO. However, his control is much better than last year, having walked just 11 in 45 1/3 innings. The way to beat Webb is to stack your lineup with lefties, but the Padres don't have many left-handed bats to put in the lineup. Left-handed opponents are batting .313 vs. Webb, righties, .231, with similar differences in OBA and slugging percentage.

Enjoy!

The best pitching matchup of the day takes place in Atlanta where Tony Armas faces John Thomson. Thomson leads the National League in ERA with a 1.88 mark. He's a reversed righty this season; he's pitching better against left-handed batters than right-handed batters (these types of pitchers are coveted in simulation games). Note, however, that John's fielding independent ERA is 3.58, which indicates he's been a bit lucky this year. Batters are just 3 for 32 against him with runners in scoring position.

Tony Armas comes into this game with a 3.58 ERA, much more in line with his FIP of 4.07. He's pitched better away from RFK this season, posting a 3-1 record with a 3.13 ERA on the road, only allowing 1 home run in 23 innings.

We'll also keep our eye on Randy Johnson as he faces Dan Haren in New York. Johnson's mechanics were off last time. See if his right shoulder flies open today and if he's able to put weight on his knee on his landing.

And of course, Bonds is still trying to tie Babe Ruth. He Seo wants to tie the Bambino! Barry is 0 for 2 with a walk against Dodgers starter Jae Seo.

I hope someone is counting pink bat homers today. :-)

Enjoy! And spend some time with your mother, too.

Brad Halsey returns to the Bronx for the first time since his trade to the Diamondbacks. He'll lead the Athletics into battle against Jaret Wright. Halsey's been more effective as a reliever this year. Batter have exactly 44 at bats vs. Brad as a starter and reliever, and all five extra base hits the lefty allowed came as a starter. Wright is coming off a good six-inning start, in which he allowed just five base runners, but one home run. His strike out rate remains low; it's tough to say he's recovered from his injuries until that works it's way back up.

The Padres moved into a tie for first with their win yesterday and the Rockies' loss. They send former Ranger Chris Young vs. 300-game winner Greg Maddux. Young is 2-0 with a 2.29 ERA on the road this year, mostly because he's kept the ball in the park. Maddux, after a great start, gave up 19 hits and 12 earned runs in his last 8 2/3 innings.

Aaron Sele is put on Bonds watch today as he faces Noah Lowry. Lowry pitched very well in his comeback start last time out, allowing the Astros just two runs. Sele also pitched well in his call up from the minors, limiting the Brewers to just 1 run. Bonds is 0 for 3 with a walk against Aaron in his career. I think Dusty Baker did the league a favor by pitching to Bonds this week. Eventually, managers will realize you don't need to issue the intentional walks, you can get Barry out at a pretty good rate.

If you prefer evening baseball, the Tigers and the Indians go at it again in Cleveland. Jeremy Bonderman gets the call against the Indians C.C. Sabathia. Sabathia posts a 2.35 ERA while the rest of the Indians starters are at 5.72. Bonderman is shining despite a 4.40 ERA. His 39 strikeouts and 10 walks in 45 innings will bring that number lower as the season progresses.

Finally, Aaron Cook and Roy Oswalt oppose each other as the Rockies play the Astros. Cook holds an impressive ERA for a Rockies starter, 3.51. I've always said if a Colorado pitcher can keep his ERA under 4.00 for a season, he deserves the Cy Young award. Oswalt tries to recover from a beating by the Giants. He ERA went 0.8 runs after allowing six earned in 4 1/3 innings against San Francisco.

Enjoy!

The Cleveland Indians try to climb back into the AL Central race as they host the Tigers this evening. Cliff Lee faces Kenny Rogers. Lee is one of the few bright spots on the Cleveland staff this year, but even he's given up seven earned runs in his last 11 2/3 innings. Rogers is giving the Tigers the ace they sought. He's actually pitching better against righties than lefties (.614 OPS vs. Righties, .641 OPS vs. Lefties).

The Phillies plan to put Cole Hamels on the mound tonight against the Cincinnati Reds. You can see Cole's AAA numbers here. A 36/1 K/BB ratio is impressive at any level. His on-base + slugging allowed is .310. He goes up against the lizard, Elizardo Ramirez. Ramirez's slugging percentage allowed jumps from .311 on the road to .542 at home.

In a game that actually might get played, the surprising Diamondbacks take on the St. Louis Cardinals. Juan Cruz has adjusted well to his starter's role, striking out 10 in 10 innings while walking only two. Like his old teammate Tim Hudson, Mulder's strikeouts are falling. Maybe Beane got rid of both at the right time.

Enjoy!

The Diamondbacks and Pirates get off to a 12:30 EDT start in Pittsburgh. It's a game that represents how to and how not to build a team. Arizona put together an offense that's not great, but no one's bad. Together, they're an above average offense. I'm not sure how Pittsburgh built their offense, but I can guess they didn't ask the question, "Can this player get on base?"

It's also an important start for Oliver Perez. There's sort of an unwritten rule in baseball that if your ERA is over 7.00, you're not long for the starting rotation. Do they send him back down to triple-A to work out his problems? Send him to the bullpen? Right now Tracy is staying positive:

"Instead of putting the guy's head in a noose, I think Oliver needs to know that his manager, his coaches and his teammates are behind him," Tracy said. "I don't think he needs to be reading in the paper that he might be losing his spot in the rotation. He needs to be reading that we're all pulling for him to go out and have a good start."

Okay. But sometimes, "If you don't pitch well today, you're going to the minors," is a good motivator.

The Cubs and Giants play an afternoon game, so people on the east coast don't need to stay up late to see if Bonds hits 714. He'll face Sean Marshall, a pitcher not seen by players on the Giants. Marshall's only allowed three homers in 34 2/3 innings this year.

The Braves face off against the Marlins with a pair of struggling stars on the mound. Tim Hudson comes into the game with a 5.09 ERA. This season sees a continuation in the decline of Tim Hudson's strikeouts that started in 2004. He's only getting 4.5 per nine this season. Dontrelle Willis is saddled with a 5.15 ERA. His numbers are good, however, as his 3.09 FIP shows. I'm guessing he's suffering from having a AA defense behind him. That's what always strikes me as the biggest difference between the minors and the majors; the ability to catch the ball.

Enjoy!

The Cleveland Indians are facing a sweep at the hand of the Kansas City Royals this afternoon. Jake Westbrook tries to salvage a victory against Scott Elarton. Last year at this time, the Indians problems were offensive. This year, they're scoring plenty of runs but the pitching and defense aren't holding up. They don't seem to have a way to stop left-handed batters who are hitting .324/.402/.501 against the Tribe's staff. On top of that, opponents are running with abandon, stealing 31 bases in 35 attempts. The face Scott Elarton, who's ERA is way out of line with his pitching numbers. He's not striking out batters, walking a ton, and giving up homers. He's simply not giving up hits with men on base.

The pitching matchup of the day pits two veterans experiencing comeback seasons on the big stage of Yankee Stadium. Curt Schilling and Mike Mussina are both 5-1, both striking out tons of batters, both showing great control and keeping the ball in the park. They're pitching like their younger selves this year.

And the Bonds watch continues. Carlos Zambrano gets the call for the Cubs tonight against Matt Cain. Bonds hasn't seen Carlos much, as he's 0-1 with two walks against the Cubs ace. Zambrano's already issued 28 walks this season as he's had control problems, so don't be surprised if he actually does walk Barry. It's also clear that the umps treat Barry like Ted Williams; if the pitch is on the outside corner and Bonds doesn't swing, it's a ball. There's a lesson there. Selectivity helps a batter get the good call. If you show the umpire you know the strike zone, he'll give you the benefit of the doubt on the close pitches.

Enjoy!

It's a big night for New Yorkers as the Yankees and Mets both battle the second place teams in their divisions. The stadium in the Bronx hosts the Red Sox as Randy Johnson faces Josh Beckett. Neither is pitching well lately. Beckett's walked 10 and allowed 18 runs in his last sixteen innings, covering three starts. Johnson's pitched badly in three of his last four starts, only striking out 5.1 per nine while posting a 7.43 ERA. Thanks to the Yankees offense, he's 3-1, however. What both pitchers have in common over their slumps is they faced the Blue Jays twice and were hammered both times. That has to be a huge positive for Toronto fans.

The two hitters who caused the big MVP argument last year are also in slumps. David Ortiz is a mere five games. He's 1 for 20 with two walks over those games, but still managed to drive in four runs. A-Rod hit just one home run in his last 15 games, posting a .232 BA. But he's showing signs of coming out of that as well as he's 5 for 13 with six RBI in his last three games.

Also, note that the Yankees efforts to improve their defense worked better than the Red Sox efforts so far. They Yankees come into the game with a .710 DER versus .705 for the Red Sox.

The Mets visit Philadelphia as the best team in the NL faces the hottest team in the NL. Undefeated Pedro Martinez takes the hill for the Mets. Pedro's allowed just nine hits in sixty nine at bats on the road this season. Pedro's danger zone is the sixth inning, where the batting average against him jumps to .273 and slugging jumps to .545. Brett Myers opposes the Mets for the home team. Myers this year allowed a high number of walks and home runs at home. However, overall he's kept batters off base, so his 3.50 home ERA is quite good for the that ballpark.

Of course, on the West Coast, Barry Bonds sits on the edge of tying Ruth for second place on the all time home run list and first among left-handed batters. Rich Hill gets the call for the Cubs, and they've never faced each other. The fact that Hill has allowed five home runs in 27 2/3 major league innings bodes well for Barry.

Enjoy!

The Astros make a brief visit to San Francisco on their way to Los Angeles to make up a rainout against the Giants. Roy Oswalt gets a chance to be the victim of home run 714. Bonds has an impressive line against Roy; 4 for 4 with 4 walks and a home run. In fact, all four hits went for extra bases.

Roy is opposed by Noah Lowry, making his first start his injuring himself on April sixth. Lowry's had very good luck with the Astros, going 2-0 with a 0.56 ERA in his two starts. He's limited them to just six hits in sixteen inning while striking out 15.

Greg Maddux attempts to pitch well enough for the Cubs offense to win tonight as Chicago visits San Diego. Greg's strong point this season comes from his ability to induce failure among left-handed batters. The group's OPS is a mere .542 versus the ageless pitcher. Chris Young takes the mound for San Diego. He's the strikeout artist the Padres hoped for, but he's also allowing longballs, mostly at PETCO. That might actually be a good sign, as I don't expect that result to be maintained throughout the season.

The Rockies visit St. Louis in a battle of surging teams. Both are on three game winning streaks and both are climbing in the standings. In the NL, only the Mets possess a better road record than the Rockies, and only the Astros own a better home record than the Cardinals.

Enjoy!

The two best pitching matchups in the National League are early today and involve three young pitchers. Zach faces Mike O'Connor in the rubber game of the Pirates/Nationals series in Washington. Both lefties control left-handed batters well, but O'Connor, in his brief time in the majors baffles righties as well. He seems to take the "I'd rather walk the guy than allow a hit" approach. He's allowed just four hits to righties in thirty three at bats, but issued six free passes. Duke is coming off a shutout of the Cubs, and four consecutive starts of at least six inning with three runs or fewer allowed.

The other good matchup involves Sidney Ponson visiting the Florida Marlins and Scott Olsen. Ponson is not striking out many; his opposition batting averages are good but not great. Sir Sidney, however, spreads those hits out well, with opponents hitting just .154 with men on and .111 with runners in scoring position. Olsen's ERA is in the low threes, depite walking more men than he struck out. Like Ponson, he survives by getting outs with men in scoring position. How long this success will last for either is anyone's guess.

In the AL, the big matchup is between Mike Maroth and Johan Santana. It's been Maroth, however, who is up among the AL Leaders in ERA. Maroth has a good road ERA despite allowing more hits than inning pitched and walking more than he strikes out away from home. He's done a good job, however, of getting the first out as batters are just 1 for 22 with a walk and HBP leading off an inning against Mike on the road. That limits the damage from hits late in the inning. Lefties seem to have figured out Johan this year, as they're hitting .293 with a.488 slugging percentage against him.

Enjoy!

The Kansas City Royals try to make it three in a row on the road as they send Runelvys Hernandez against Javier Vazquez of the White Sox. Whatever program the Royals used to whip Hernandez into shape appears to have worked. He's allowed just eight hits and one walk in 13 2/3 innings of work since returning to the rotation. That translates to a .180 OBA allowed. Vazquez appears to have solved his career long home run problem. He's allowed just one in 33 innings pitched this season; last year he gave up 35 in 215 2/3 innings.

Bronson Arroyo attempts to become the first six-game winner in the majors against the hot Arizona Diamondbacks. Arroyo's success comes from his effectiveness against left-handed batters. They're getting on base at a .222 clip and slugging just .303 against the right-handed pitcher. Bronson faces Claudio Vargas. Claudio's ERA of 4.32 seems higher than it should be given the low number of walks and home runs he's allowed. He has a very extreme home/road split; he's been unhittable away from Chase Field, at hitters dream at home.

Enjoy!

The schedule gives us three games today where first place or near first place teams battle each other. The Yankees travel deep in the heart of Texas to play the Rangers. Mike Mussina battles Vicente Padilla in the game. This isn't a good matchup for Vicente, as he struggles with left-handers, and the Yankees can pack their lineup with them. On the plus side, Padilla's kept the ball in the park in Texas, not allowing a homer in a home game. Mussina saw his strikeout rate deteriorate over the last couple of seasons, but it's rebounding well in 2006. He's struck out 37 in 39 innings.

The first place Reds continue their west tour with a visit to Phoenix. They'll face the Diamondbacks best as Brandon Webb hosts Elizardo Ramirez. That's a great name. There's not much on Ramirez, but he's putting batters away when he gets to two strikes; he's allowed a .130 BA in that situation. Webb's been particularly good against the top of the order, allowing a .261 OBA to #1 hitters and a .227 OBA to #2 hitters.

The Astros, only 1/2 game behind the Reds in the NL Central, travel to Colorado to see if runs can still be scored at Coors. They'll send Taylor Buchholz to the mound to try to sew up a victory. Taylor's been unhittable so far (that doesn't mean he can't be hit) allowing a .158 BA to lefties and a .188 BA to righties. Byung-Hyun Kim makes his second start of the year for the Rockies. His nine strikeouts in his first 6 2/3 innings is an encouraging sign for Colorado.

Enjoy!

The Angels and Tigers battled in a pitching duel last night and might do so again today. Kevin Gregg gets promoted to the starting rotation due to injuries. He's been great in relief this year, striking out 11 in 10 2/3 innings while walking just 3. Justin Verlander is one of four Detroit pitchers in the top 15 in ERA. He's done an excellent job of keeping batters off base, allowing just a .280 OBA to his opponents.

Felix Hernandez is not living up to the hype of 2005, especially on the road. (Compare to his home starts.) He'll face the undefeated Jose Contreras in Chicago this afternoon. Left-handed batters gain about 60 points of batting average vs. Jose, but they're still just hitting .220 against the White Sox righty.

Both Chris Carpenter and Andy Pettitte put up Cy Young worthy numbers in 2005. The two will meet in Houston tonight as the Cardinals try to keep pace with the Astros. Carpenter continues his impressive performances, posting a 1.80 ERA so far. Pettitte, however, is getting crushed by the home run ball. His career high is 23 in 221 innings. That was in 1996. At his current rate, he would allow 43 homers in the same number of innings.

Enjoy!

Sometimes, when I'm scanning the schedule for the day, one game pops out as being head and shoulders above every other game out there. Today is one of those days. Kansas City visits Minnesota as Joe Mays faces Brad Radke. First of all, it's Mays' first time back in the Hubie Dome against his old team. Secondly there's an irresistible force/immovable object feeling about this game. These two starters are terrible. Radke's allowed 43 hits in 26 1/3 innings. Mays has walked 14 and struck out 8 in 20 1/3 innings. This game looks to be a slugfest.

But the offenses are terrible. The Twins and Royals are 13-14 in the AL in runs scored respectively. They rank 12 and 13 in OBA, 13 and 14 in slugging percentage. So I must ask the question, if good pitching stops good hitting, does bad pitching stop bad hitting?

Enjoy!

C.C. Sabathia returns from the DL today in a rematch of opening night. He faces the White Sox and Mark Buehrle, this time in Cleveland. Buehrle is pushing the envelope of how few strikeouts one can allow while still finding success. Sabathia hopes to improve a starting staff currently posting a 5.35 ERA.

Brad Halsey moves into the Athletics rotation due to injuries, getting his first start of the season vs. the Angels' John Lackey. The Admiral has not allowed an extra-base hit in forty four at bats this season. Lackey is shutting down left-handed batters, allowing just a .111 batting average and a .111 slugging percentage against hitters with the platoon advantage.

The Yankees see Josh Beckett for the first time since game 6 of the 2003 World Series. Shawn Chacon take the hill for the Yankees. Both have 3-1 records and ERAs around 4.50. Chacon comes in with a better K per 9, BB per 9 and HR per 9, however.

Enjoy!

There are a number of good divisional matchups today, but the best pit teams tied for first place against each other. The New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox meet for the first time this season, and people seemed more concerned about how the fans are going to react to Johnny Damon than any damage Damon might do to the Red Sox. He's off to a good start with a .300 BA, 400 OBA and .500 slugging percentage, all you could want from a leadoff hitter. He's also played well as a visitor at Fenway, although he's never homered there in an away uniform. With Wakefield on the mound for the Red Sox tonight, keep an eye on the passed balls by Josh Bard. He's on a record setting pace.

The Cardinals and Reds are tied for first place in the NL Central and bump heads in Cincinnati tonight. The Reds are playing long ball (36 home runs, 2nd in the NL) and small ball (23 for 27 in stolen base attempts) well. They're also winning the close ones with a 6-2 record in one run games. The Cardinals send Mark Mulder to the mound to try to stop that offense. St. Louis boasts a 3.35 ERA, second in the NL. We'll find out tonight if good pitching stops good hitting on both sides, as Reds ace Bronson Arroyo takes the hill for Cincinnati. Cardinals Diaspora writes a colorful post on this game and the series.

Plenty of other good action as Cleveland welcomes back Jim Thome and the Chicago White Sox to Jacobs Field, Toronto and Baltimore vie to stay close in the AL East, and Houston travels to Milwaukee in an important NL Central matchup.

Enjoy!

The Mets go for a sweep of the Braves in Atlanta today as Steve Trachsel faces Kyle Davies. The Mets aren't hitting all that well against the Braves this season; Paul Lo Duca is the best with an 8 for 16. Andruw Jones is doing the damage against the Mets, with four home runs in five games against the New Yorkers.

The Reds try to sweep the Astros in Cincinnati this afternoon and extend the Cincy win streak to seven games and the hot streak to 10 of 11. Taylor Buchholz gets the nod for Houston against Elizardo Ramirez. The opposition has just nine hits against the Houston rookie in 20 innings of work. Ramriez's problem in his short big-league career is the home run ball. He's allowed eight in 44 1/3 innings over three seasons so far.

Scott Kazmir lost his awe for Curt Schilling over recent comments the veteran made about Scott hitting batters. The two go head-to-head this afternoon in Tampa Bay. Schilling is back to his old self, striking out lots of batters while walking very few. He did throw over 130 pitches in his last outing, however, so we'll watch to see if that has any effect. Kazmir has the strikeouts, but his walks and homers need to come down to reach Curt's level of achievement.

Enjoy!

The American League East is very tight this morning, with three games separating the Toronto Blue Jays on top from the Tampa Bay Devil Rays on the bottom. The Blue Jays try to hang onto first place today with another win over Randy Johnson. The Big Unit was hammered by Toronto on April 18th, allowing seven run in 3 1/3 innings. Johnson's record is 0-3 with an 8.50 ERA against Toronto since joining New York in 2005. Tower pitches well against the Yankees, he just doesn't win. In his career, his record against the Yankees is 1-6, despite a 3.88 ERA.

Kevin Mench goes for his eighth straight game with a home run tonight against the Indians and rookie Fausto Carmona. (I hope Carmona's nickname is "Doctor.") Fausto's allowed a .545 slugging percentage in his brief major league career, so Kevin has a shot.

The best pitching matchup of the day is in Anaheim where Jose Contreras and the White Sox take on Kelvim Escobar and the Angels. Jose leads the league with a 1.55 ERA. He's taken advantage of the White Sox defense to allow just 19 hits in 29 innings. It's a good matchup for Jose as the Angels like to put the ball in play. Kelvim controls the strike zone well, allowing just a .311 OBA to his opponents. His mistakes come with runners in the scoring position, where he's allowed a .400 batting average.

Enjoy!

For those of you with time this afternoon, take a long late lunch and watch Greg Maddux battle David Bush as the Brewers visit the Cubs. Maddux is leading the league in ERA by nearly one run at 0.99. Bush found his strikeout pitch this season, something he lacked last year, and his ERA is down with that.

The Reds host the Astros in a battle for first place in the NL Central. The upper hand belongs to Houston based on the pitching matchup as Roy Oswalt faces Brandon Claussen. Roy is attempting to go 5-0 in April, while Claussen is coming off a shellacking by the Brewers. Houston batters are having a field day with left-handed pitchers this year, sporting a .412 OBA and a .574 slugging percentage.

If Toronto is going to win the AL East, they need to beat the Yankees and Red Sox in head-to-head matchups. They're 4-2 vs. Boston this year, and hope to be 2-1 against New York after tonight's game. The starters favor Toronto as Roy Halladay takes on Jaret Wright. Halladay pitched well against Boston in his first start off the DL, allowing one run in five innings. Wright is simply getting hit. He's struck out four in five innings, but with 11 hits allowed, opposing batters have no problem reaching base when they connect.

It's Pedro vs. Smoltz in Atlanta. It's always fun to see two great pitchers going head-to-head. Smoltz, however, is getting creamed by right-handed batters this year while getting lefties out with ease. Pedro is getting plenty of run support, and has struck out 19 batters in his last 13 2/3 innings.

And in San Francisco, it's Bonds against Batista. Barry's hit four home runs in twenty-six at bats against Miguel.

Enjoy!

Johan Santana is winless so far in 2005, and if he can't beat Kansas City today there's something wrong. He'll face Mark Redman. Santana is walking batters at twice the rate of his career. However, the Royals don't walk much, just 45 times in 19 games. That should help Johan this afternoon.

Do you think the Indians should invite Morris Day and the Time to perform when Paul Byrd pitches? Byrd takes on Josh Beckett on getaway day. Josh is chewing up lefties so far; they're hitting just .167 off the righty. Byrd, however, is getting hammered by the sinister hitters. They hit him at a .424 clip with 9 of their 14 hits going for extra bases.

A Boston loss this afternoon give the Blue Jays a chance to move into first place tonight. They're send Casey Janssen to the mound to make his major league debut against Kris Benson and the Orioles. Through 2005, Janssen posted great minor league numbers. Benson's averages are pretty blah this season. Given his walks, home runs allowed and strikeouts, I'd say his 3.70 ERA is better than it should be. He's not great, he's not terrible. He's pretty much the definition of a .500 pitcher.

Enjoy!

The Tigers send Mike Maroth to the mound this afternoon against John Lackey of the Angels in an effort to go 6-3 on this west coast swing. Maroth holds a 0.49 ERA, but needs to go deep in a game to keep himself in the ERA lead for a whole pass through the rotation. As part of the Tigers road warrior crew, Mike's allowed just a .136 batting average away from Detroit. Lackey's been tougher at home this year, allowed a .167 BA in Anaheim vs. .262 on the road.

The Astros offense is sputtering a bit, scoring just 21 runs in their last six games. Odalis Perez takes the mound for the Dodgers to see if he can keep the Astros from scoring. Wandy Rodriguez stands in his way in this battle of 3-0 pitchers. Perez is keeping righties off base, allowing just a .302 OBA to batters with the platoon advantage. Wandy is keeping everyone off base, with batters collecting a .305 OBA against him.

Enjoy!

Curt Schilling attempts to become the major's first five-game winner tonight as the Red Sox visit Cleveland and Jake Westbrook. Schilling is pitching as well as he did in 2004, and is giving up fewer hits to boot. Is it a combination of Schilling velocity and control returning plus a better defense? Batters are getting on base at a .212 clip against the old man, vs. .271 in 2004. Westbrook started strong, but his last two starts saw him hammered for 21 hits in 10 2/3 innings. They hit him so well that he didn't have time to issue a walk.

One reason the Devil Rays gave the Yankees fits last year was their ability to get on base. The Tampa Bay batters posted a .356 OBA vs. New York, well over their .329 mark for the year. They also hit .318 with 20 extra base hits against New York with runners in scoring position in 2005. Mike Mussina tries to put the Yankees back in the win column vs. Tampa as he faces Scott Kazmir. Mike is back to striking out batters, and Kazmir never lost the ability.

In the NL, Dontrelle Willis faces the Cubs and his old friend Juan Pierre.

Monday, the Marlins got their first look at him in Cubs attire. Today, he will face best friend Dontrelle Willis for the first time. The two had breakfast Monday and discussed going head-to-head. Pierre would sometimes catch Willis during the offseason, an exercise he anticipates will serve him well.

"I told him I was going to get him," Pierre said. "I said, `You think I was catching you just for your benefit? I was waiting for this day, too.' It's going to be weird, a guy you went to battle with and played behind so much, being on the other side trying to get hits off him."

Dontrelle is either very good or very bad against Chicago. In four of his six starts he's allowed 1 run or less. In the other two, he's allowed 14 runs in 6 1/3 innings.

Enjoy!

Oliver Perez and the Pirates visit St. Louis and Chris Carpenter tonight. Both pitchers are coming off wins vs. tonight's opponent. Carpenter shutout the Pirates for eight innings on the 19th, while Perez held St. Louis to three runs in 6 2/3 innings for his first win of the season. Perez's big problem this year is walks; 16 in 20 innings means he's allowed a .402 OBA in 2006. Carpenter's only allowed six free passes in 27 innings and his opposition OBA stands at .248.

The Tigers try to continue their road domination tonight as the travel to Anaheim for a tilt with the Angels. Detroit is allowing a .596 OPS on the road, while hitting for at .845 rate. Kenny Rogers allowed just 1 home run in 26 2/3 innings so far. He'll be opposed by Ervin Santana who does a good job keeping batters off base but allowed four dingers this season in just 18 1/3 innings.

Two first place teams face off in San Francisco as the Mets visit the Giants. Tom Glavine appears to be drinking the same water as his old teammate Greg Maddux, as Glavine recorded 26 K in 26 innings so far this season. For his career, Glavine's K per 9 innings is 5.4. Matt Cain is also striking out batters at a good clip, but the Ks are coming mostly against right-handed batters. Lefties are hitting Cain at a .355 clip, with 6 of the 11 hits going for extra bases.

Enjoy!

Two former Braves face off against each other in St. Louis today as Greg Maddux and Jason Marquis take the mound for the Cubs and the Cardinals. Greg is pitching like the Maddux of old, keeping the ball in the park and dispatching batter efficiently. Marquis comes into the game with the same 3-0 record as his opponent. He's doing an excellent job vs. LHB, holding them to a .310 OBA and a .357 slugging percentage.

The Tigers send Justin Verlander to the mound against Felix Hernandez of the Mariners as Detroit goes for the sweep in Seattle and a 5-1 record on the west coast. Verlander is striking out plenty, but his four home runs in 16 2/3 innings is costing him. The same can be said of Hernandez; whoever keeps the ball in the park is likely to come up with the win tonight.

Enjoy!

The Cubs and Cardinals continue their series this afternoon with Glendon Rusch facing Sir Sidney Ponson. Rusch allowed seven home runs in fifteen innings so far this season and gets to face Albert Pujols, who's hit three home runs in 38 at bats against he lefty. Ponson's is somewhat effective vs. lefties this year. Although he allowed both his homer to left-handers, he's kept them to a .227 batting average and a .261 OBA.

The Mets and Padres need their starters to go deep tonight after the Friday marathon. Pedro Martinez faces Chris Young. Pedro need to work more efficiently than in his last performance when he used 108 pitches to finish 6 2/3 innings. Young's innings are going up with each of his starts. More importantly, the control the Padres need from the former Ranger is there. Look for a lot of strikeouts between these two tonight.

Enjoy!

So many good matchups, so little space! Wait, this is the internet, I have all the room in the world!

It the battle of the former Marlins in Toronto tonight as Josh Beckett faces A.J. Burnett. Beckett is certainly making his bid for ex-Marlin of the year with a 3-0 record and 1.29 ERA. His strikeouts are below his career norms, but he's making up for it with a great performance with runners in scoring position. Burnett's problem in his first start came from the gopher ball, otherwise he pitched well in his Toronto debut.

Kris Benson returns to New York tonight, trying to help the Orioles defeat the Yankees and Chien-Ming Wang. Benson's problem so far this season is putting batters away with two strikes. Opponents are batting .241 against him in that situation vs. an American League average of .202. Wang finally showed some of his minor league strikeout ability in his last outing, striking out eight Twins in seven innings.

Bronson Arroyo and Ben Sheets meet in Milwaukee. Arroyo is all about power this year. He's hit two home runs, but eight of the 18 hits he's allowed went for extra bases. Sheets pitched well in his return as far as walks and strikeouts go. A couple of well timed hits by the Mets ruined what was otherwise a fine performance as he struck out 6 in 5 innings without walking a batter.

In the heartland, the Twins and the White Sox send their aces to the mound as Johan Santana takes on Mark Buehrle. Santana is off to a rough start, having walked six in 17 1/3 innings so far. Buehrle's ERA may be deceptively low as he's only allowed 1 hit in 10 at bats with runners in scoring position.

And for you on the west coast, a good game by Mike Maroth would leave him in the lead for AL ERA. He comes into the game against the Mariners with a 0.73 mark.

Enjoy!

The best pitching matchups are in the afternoon today. The Indians and Orioles used up a lot of offense last night, and Fausto Carmona and Erik Bedard may be the beneficiaries of the tired teams. Bedard is off to a 3-0 start and hasn't seen a ball leave the park in 20 innings. Carmona was very tough on righties in his first major league appearance as they were a mere 1 for 12 against him.

Barry Zito and former Athletic Jeremy Bonderman face off in Oakland. Both start the season with high ERAs, but Bonderman is pitching well. He's struck out 20 and walked three in 17 1/3 innings. That's a formula for success. Zito is also pitching better than his record indicates, although his six walks in 14 1/3 innings has hurt him.

And for those interested in evening baseball, the Mets visit the Padres to face San Diego ace Jake Peavy. Lefties have Jake's number this year. The sinister batters are 10 for 35 with eight extra-base hits against Peavy in 2006. The Mets lefties can use a break, as they are only hitting .213 as a unit in April.

It's a good afternoon to take a long lunch at the local sports bar as a number of day games are on tap. Dontrelle Willis brings his 1.93 ERA to Cincinnati as he takes on Aaron Harang and the Reds. Hitters don't have a home run off Dontrelle at GAB in fifty-five at bats, nor have they even scored a run in 16 innings there.

Mike Mussina tries to move the Yankees back into a tie with the Blue Jays as he faces former New York hurler Ted Lilly. The Yankees pretty much crush their former teammate, as Ted's gone 2-5 with a 6.27 ERA against his old ballclub.

For those of you that like your baseball late, Kenny Rogers faces Joe Blanton in Oakland tonight. Rogers is 23-4 at the Coliseum for his career, although just 8-4 as a visitor.

Enjoy!

I was hoping for a Chacon/Chacin rematch, but the Toronto sophomore draws Randy Johnson instead. While Randy's strikeouts are down a bit so far this season, he's yet to issue a walk in 20 innings. Couple that with a .213 BA allowed and the Big Unit's had an effective three starts. Randy will deal with one of the season's hottest hitters in Vernon Wells, owner of a loud twelve game hit streak.

The Tigers travel to the West Coast to face Esteban Loaiza and the Oakland Athletics. Esteban is off to a terrible start; both lefties and righties are hitting over .400 against him. He's also allowing extra-base hits; given that the Tigers are leading the league in slugging percentage, that's a matchup they like.

Enjoy!

It's Patriot's Day in Massachusetts, the day we celebrate the start of the American Revolution. That means an 11 AM EDT start for the Mariners and Red Sox. Gil Meche takes on Lenny DiNardo, as the lefty moves into the rotation to replace David Wells. DiNardo does what you'd expect from a Red Sox pitcher; lots of strikeouts, few walks and few home runs allowed. Meche showed some wildness in his last start, walking four Indians in four innings, giving him six walks and one hit batter in 9 1/3 innings so far in 2006.

The slumps of two big hitters should be of more concern to the Mariners. Ichiro Suzuki and Adrian Beltre did not carry their great WBC performances into the regular season. Both are batting under .200, and Beltre does not have an extra base hit.

The Mets are the only major league team with a substantial division lead right now, and they'll face the second place Braves tonight at Shea. Four games separate the two teams. It's a bit of a pitching mismatch, as Jorge Sosa faces Pedro Martinez. Sosa has not allowed a home run this season, but that's about the only positive thing you can say about his starts. Opponents have touched him for a .472 OBA and hit .545 with runners in scoring position. Meanwhile, Pedro's allowed just a .159 batting average, so his above average walk rate hasn't hurt him too much. These are the #2 and #3 offenses in the NL right now, so expect some fireworks.

Enjoy!

Ben Sheets comes off the disabled list today and faces a tough challenge as he takes on the Mets at Shea Stadium. He'll be opposed by Brian Bannister. The New York Daily News prints this interesting tidbit on the match up.

Milwaukee's Ben Sheets is expected to come off the DL today to oppose Brian Bannister. The pitchers have crossed paths before. ESPN The Magazine used Bannister's commercial photography studio in Scottsdale, Ariz., for a March 2005 cover shot of Sheets. "I was the third assistant on the shoot. We built the set and everything," said Bannister, who has the cover hanging on a wall at his home.

Maybe Chris Berman will start calling Ben "Contact" Sheets. :-)

Bronson "Babe" Arroyo goes after his third win today against Mark Mulder and the Cardinals in St. Louis. Both pitchers possess batting averages higher than their ERAs, and both have two extra-base hits. We'll see if Bronson can make it three home runs in three games.

My nomination for slugfest of the day goes to the Yankees-Twins game. Chien-Ming Wang allowed 20 base runners in 10 2/3 innings so far this season. Radke's control so good his pitches become hittable. He's allowed four home runs in 13 innings this season.

Enjoy!

A.J. Burnett makes his first start of the year for the Blue Jays, facing the Chicago White Sox and Mark Buehrle. Toronto is averaging 6.6 runs per game, so A.J. should benefit from some run support. Buehrle's not striking out many batters so far this year. He's never been a big K pitcher, but 1.5 per nine is very, very low.

In Atlanta, it's the struggling aces game as Jake Peavy takes on John Smoltz. Peavy is getting hit often and hard. He's given up 15 hits in 11 innings, 8 for extra bases. What's killing Smoltz is a .500 BA allowed with men on base.

Jaret Wright moves into the Yankees rotation as they need a fifth stater for the first time. He gets a tough assignment as Johan Santana takes the mound for the Twins. Johan is another ace struggling early in the season. Cleveland and Toronto worked the lefty's pitch count up, and both were able to chase him in the sixth inning. He's been a bit wild, walking four in 11 innings. Last year he walked a batter about once every five innings.

Enjoy!

Two first place teams battle each other tonight as the Milwaukee Brewers face the New York Mets at Shea Stadium. Chris Capuano is blowing away Milwaukee opponents this year, striking out 14 in 12 1/3 innings. The Mets, however, only strikeout about 16.2% of the time, one of the lower totals in the league.

Tom Glavine takes the hill for New York. Glavine is at his best when he's better against right-handed hitters. So far this year, righties are hitting .345 against him, lefties .071.

At the other end of the scale, the Nationals and Marlins battle for last place in the NL East. It's a good pitching matchup, however, as Ryan Drese takes on Dontrelle Willis. Drese only allowed one earned run in his last outing, but he put plenty of men on base so the error caused greatest harm. Dontrelle is still looking for his first hit of the season. He wouldn't want to let Bronson Arroyo take over the title of pitcher who can actually hit. :-)

Finally, the Giants visit the Dodgers tonight with Jamey Wright going against Brad Penny. Wright has a good history at Dodger Stadium, posting a 3.35 ERA there for his career. Penny's been in total control in his first two starts, striking out 14 and walking just 1.

Enjoy!

Two teams that started hot cooled off quickly against important division foes. The Tigers try to salvage the last game of their series against the White Sox and stay ahead of Chicago in the standings. They send 23-year-old Justin Verlander to the mound hosting verteran Jon Garland. It seemed every ball the Royals put into play against Garland fell for a hit in his first start. The right-handed Verlander was especially tough on lefties in his first start, striking out 6 in 11 at bats.

The Brewers have fallen into a tie with the Cardinals, but can pull a game ahead of the division champs with a win today. The Brewers are waiting for their three young infielders to turn into stars, but meanwhile, Corey Koskie is carrying the infield offensively. With Scott Rolen returning to form after his 2005 injuries, it's a good game to pay attention to the hot corner.

And the best pitching matchup of the day is in Cleveland where Felix Hernandez takes on Jason Johnson. Jason shut down the Twins on four hits in his last start, not allowing a hit with men on base. Hernandez was wild in his first start, walking four and hitting a batter (he hit two in 84 1/3 innings last year). He remained unhittable however, allowing just two in five innings.

Enjoy!

Pedro Martinez takes the mound for the Mets tonight as he faces the Nationals and Tony Armas. Pedro's coming off a game where he was wild. He issued four unintentional walks and hit three Nationals. Pedro's always hit people, but the walks were certainly out of character. Tony Armas pitched a strong outing vs. Houston, but suffered from lack of offensive and bullpen support. Depth is a problem for the Nationals. Even a week into the season, you can see they have a few very good players, but not much behind them.

So will the Nationals throw at Pedro? For all the batters he's hit in his career, Pedro's only been plunked three times.

The Brewers and Cardinals play the second game at Busch tonight with David Bush taking on Jason Marquis. The righty Bush faced a predominantly lefty lineup vs. the Diamondbacks and allowed just one hit in fifteen left-handed at bats while striking out five. Philadelphia lefties, on the other hand, were four for eleven vs. Marquis with two doubles.

Enjoy!

The final six home openers take place today starting with the Yankees hosting the Royals. It's not the most stellar match up as Joe Mays faces Chien-Ming Wang. The Yankees have Mays' number, as he posted a 1-7 record and a 5.54 ERA against the Bronx Bombers.

The Red Sox trot out their off-season prize this afternoon in the battle of the Joshs as Towers hurls against Beckett. The two suffered very different fates in their first outings as Beckett shut down the Rangers while Towers was pounded by the light hitting Twins.

The Nationals play their second home opener, hosting the Mets and the bad blood developed last week. Mets rookie Brian Bannister takes on Ramon Ortiz of the Nationals. Bannister pitched well in his first major league outing, allowing just two hits in six innings, although he walked four. Ortiz was not able to put batters away with two strikes in his first appearance, allowing 4 hits in 13 at bats.

The Marlins open in Miami, and who knows how many more times we'll say that! It's an evenly matched game, as both Florida and San Diego are 1-4. Woody Williams makes his first start of the year after pitching an inning in relief. Sergio Mitre takes the mound for the Marlins. He went six scoreless innings for the Marlins only win of the year.

Two teams going in opposite directions challenge each other at the Metrodome as the Oakland Athletics visit the Minnesota Twins. The A's work the pitcher well, averaging 3.99 pitches per plate appearance, while the Twins see just 3.56. Not surprisingly, Oakland drew more than twice the number of walks as the Twins, 29-12.

The final opener takes place in Arizona where the Diamondbacks host the first place Rockies. This is a rematch of the April 5th game where both starters did an outstanding job in Coors, with Hernandez earning his first win of the season.

Enjoy!

Correction: Josh Beckett wasn't a free agent.

Five more teams open at home today. The biggest one is in St. Louis, where the Cardinals christen the third version of Busch Stadium. As they move into their new building, they'll face the first place Milwaukee Brewers. Strong pitching contributed the most to the Brewers record so far. The staff as a whole allowed just a .203 batting average and a .292 OBA. Tomo Ohka takes the hill against Mark Mulder, and Ohka contributed a .200 BA against to the cause.

A big welcome is expected for the Tigers as they hit Comerica for the first time this season. They're in first place, led by Chris Shelton. The Tigers are leading the majors with 17 home runs, five more than any other team. Shelton alone has more home runs (5) than six teams, including the Red Sox, Giants and White Sox. The Tigers host Chicago today as Freddy Garcia faces Jeremy Bonderman. Jim Thome owns all three of the White Sox homers.

2005 Rookie sensation Zach Duke gets the nod in Pittsburgh as the Pirates come home against Odalis Perez and the Los Angeles Dodgers of Los Angeles. Duke held the Brewers to an 0 for 5 with men in scoring position, continuing his career trend. I do wonder at what point this turns around, and Duke starts pitching closer to what his strikeout number indicate.

Atlanta hosts Philadelphia in the 2006 opener at Turner Field. Chipper Jones injured his ankle yesterday, and there's been no update on his condition. The Braves offense is rolling so far this season, scoring better than seven runs a game. But the pitching staff also allowed 53 runs, 50 of them earned. Normally you'd expect great offense from the Braves to be a bonus, but the hurlers aren't living up to expectations so far.

Finally, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays open a reconditioned Tropicana Field as they take on the Baltimore Orioles. They still need to do some work on the pitching staff. The starters are allowing a .304 batting average, and that's the good news. The relievers are getting hit at a .385 clip. So if you see McClung getting knocked around by the Orioles tonight, remember, it could get worse!

Enjoy!

An intriguing matchup in Texas this afternoon as former Ranger Kenny Rogers takes the mound for the Tigers against Vicente Padilla. Both went six innings, allowing one earned run in their first starts. Both are new to their teams. The difference is the Tigers are undefeated while the Rangers hold the worst record in the American League. The only win by Texas came in Padilla's start.

There's a lot of star power on the mound in Anaheim later as Mike Mussina and Bartolo Colon face off. Since he joined the Yankees, Mussina doesn't get the Angels to strike out much. His 5 K per 9 against the Angels is well below his 7.8 K per 9 average since joining New York. And although his ERA is just 3.44 vs. LAnaheim, his record is just 2-3.

Colon gives Alex Rodriguez hope of breaking out of his slump. A-Rod hit three homers off Bartolo in one game last year, and hit seven for his career of the righty in just 43 at bats.

The first double header of the year takes place in Philly this afternoon, making up the rain out with the Dodgers yesterday. And it's the old fashioned kind, just one admission. Madson and Lieber try to get the starters out of their funk. The starting staff averages just 4 IP per game so far, and have walked almost as many as they've struck out. The bullpen, however, pitched great, posting a 1.80 ERA in 20 innings. But the game's usually lost by the time they get in there.

Enjoy!

It's a good day to watch the young stars on the mound. It starts in New York where Dontrelle Willis faces Tom Glavine. Dontrelle threw 107 pitches in just five innings on Monday. He'll need to be more efficient than that against the Mets. He's had good luck against them in his career, posting an 8-1 record and a 1.85 ERA, including two shutouts.

Oliver Perez tries to build on his fine opening day start. He'll need his strikeout pitch working as it did against the Brewers as he faces Aaron Harang and the Reds in Cincinnati. Harang just can't shake his cold, which should be good news for Pirates fans.

Brandon Webb takes the mound in Milwaukee today as he tries hand the Brewers their first loss of the year. Webb has yet to win in two starts at Miller Park; he appears to be susceptible to lefties there, allowing three home runs in nineteen at bats.

Finally, the Phillies turn to Ryan Madson to push them to their first win. Madson has the power and the control to be a great pitcher, he just needs to keep the ball in the park. He'll try to shut down a Dodgers lineup that's averaging seven runs a game so far in 2006.

Enjoy!

There's three home openers on the schedule today. The Cubs return to a remodeled Wrigley Field to face their arch rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals. Greg Maddux hosts Jeff Suppan. Since joining the Cardinals at the start of the 2004 season, Suppan is tied for eighth in wins in the majors with 32. He's in pretty good company with Pedro Martinez, Dontrelle Willis and Mark Buehrle. It shows what a great offense can do for a good pitcher. Greg turns 40 in a week. His walks remain low, which helps to offset lower strikeout and higher home run numbers. But Maddux needs a good offense behind him to win now.

The Indians bring a 2-1 record into their home opener vs. the Minnesota Twins. Kyle Lohse faces new addition Paul Byrd. Lohse fell below 4.5 K per 9 last season, yet posted the best ERA of his career. We'll see if that holds up for another season. Paul Byrd is in a similar situation. Their low walk totals help hide that weakness.

The Yankees are in town to open the ballpark in Anaheim. Shawn Chacon takes the mound versus Kelvim Escobar. With the Yankees last year, Chacon had a tendency to put men on base, then shut his opponents down once they were in scoring position. That bit of luck may not hold up from one year to another.

Escobar's strikeouts went up when he moved from the pen to the rotation in 2005, although his walks went up at well. Still, if your opponents can't put the bat on the ball, it's awfully difficult for them to score. Keep your eye on the reception Tim Salmon receives tonight. I suspect his return, especially with two homers under his belt, will be very warmly acknowledged.

Enjoy!

The Giants play their home opener this afternoon as they host the Atlanta Braves. Jorge Sosa faces Noah Lowry, but I'm curious to see the crowd reaction to Barry Bonds. I expect it to be good, but you never know.

The move to Atlanta in 2005 made a huge difference in Jorge Sosa's ERA last year. He posted a 5.53 mark in Tampa Bay during the 2004 season, but cut that by more than half in 2005. Fewer baserunners and fewer home runs allowed made the difference.

Lowry's first full season in the majors was a success. He held opponents to a .249 batting average and a .320 OBA. There's room to improve on the walk numbers, but the strikeouts are very good. This should be a good pitching matchup, too.

Today's big debut belongs to Pedro Martinez, making his first start of the year after a toe injury pushed him back from pitching opening day. He'll face the Washington Nationals at Shea with Ramon Ortiz on the mound. It might be a mistake to think that Ortiz will improve with the change of ballparks, playing his home games at RFK instead of GAB. But this is a pitcher who gave up 40 home runs pitching for the Angels one year. If seems you can take Ortiz deep in any ballpark.

Pedro pitched well vs. the Nationals in two starts, but came away with an 0-1 record in 2005. He struck out 10, walked 1 and gave up 0 home runs in 13 innings, but poor run support in one game and a poor bullpen performance in the other kept Pedro away from the W.

Enjoy!

There are a number of pitchers making their team debuts today.

Bronson Arroyo starts life over in Cincinnati. He goes from maybe starting for the Red Sox to the number two pitcher for the Reds. Bronson strikes fell below 4.5 per 9, the magic number for successful pitching. Getting that back to his career levels, especially with the Reds defense, will be the key to his success with the new team. He faces the Cubs and Glendon Rusch.

In Seattle, new Angel Jeff Weaver faces former Angel Jarrod Washburn. Jarrod parlayed his second best ERA into a big contract with Seattle. Opponents put the ball in play against Washburn, and that plays to the strength of the Angels.

Joe Mays makes his Kansas city debut against the Detroit Tigers and Jeremy Bonderman. Mays showed great promise in 2001, but injuries and a lack of strikeouts meant an ERA over 5.00 ever since.

Josh Beckett makes his Red Sox premier in his home state of Texas versus the Rangers. Beckett always posts great ERAs, but last year was the first season he came close to making every start. He'll face Kameron Loe, who keeps the ball in the park and pitched well for the Rangers last season.

Orlando Hernandez takes the mound for Arizona tonight, facing the Rockies in Colorado. The Diamondbacks hope the post-season Orland shows up, not the one that gave up 18 home runs in 128 1/3 innings during the regular season.

They'll try to play again in San Diego. Matt Morris makes his Giants debut against a former Giant, Shawn Estes. Over the previous four seasons, Estes holds the fifth highest ERA among pitchers with 400 innings, highest if you go to 600. Pitching at sea level this year should help that.

Enjoy!

The pitching matchup of the day takes place in Toronto this evening as the Twins Johan Santana faces Roy Halladay in a battle of former Cy Young Award winners. One throws from the left, and the other the right, but their career stats reflect the same abilities. They strike out lots of batters. They don't issue walks. They don't allow many home runs. They truly define "ace".

Mike Mussina used to be an ace. He'll face up and coming star Rich Harden this evening in Oakland. As Mussina's strikeout rate fell the last two years, the opposition started to get on base more and hit for more power. More balls in play means more balls finding holes. Harden is coming off an injury shortened season, but one in which his batting average allowed, OBA allowed and slugging percentage allowed were all under .300.

Down the coast, Matt Morris makes his Giants debut against a former Giant, Shawn Estes. Over the previous four seasons, Estes holds the fifth highest ERA among pitchers with 400 innings, highest if you go to 600. Pitching at sea level this year should help that.

Morris' ERA climbed since his stellar 2001-2002 seasons. He does just as good a job as ever at keeping batters off base, but in 2003 he started to allow more long balls. He should be helped in that regard by his new park as well.

Enjoy!

It's oldies but goodies as we celebrate opening day. Five of the opening day starters taking the mound are over the age of 39. The one we'll be watching the closest is Curt Schilling. Schilling didn't pitch much in major league spring training games, amassing only eight innings. But in those eight he struck out seven and walked just one, a good sign his ankle is better.

He'll face the American League ERA champ Kevin Millwood and the Texas Rangers in Arlington. It's a tough first test for each pitcher. They face powerful lineups in a park where the balls fly over the fences easily. Given the lack of depth in the rotation, the Rangers need a big season from Millwood to stay in contention. He doesn't need to pitch great, just well enough to let the Rangers offense carry the day.

Both Cy Young award winners take the mound for their division winning teams today. Chris Carpenter and the Cardinals travel to Philadelphia to face the Phillies and Jon Lieber. The Phillies were the one team that hit Carpenter well last year. Chris gave up 15 hits in 41 at bats, seven of them for extra bases. That led to a 10.61 ERA against the Phillies in two starts. He did manage to win one of them, however.

Bartolo Colon pitched well in the World Baseball Classic, and he'll start the season against division rival Seattle and Jamie Moyer. The Mariners were pretty pathetic vs. Colon in 2005, managing just 16 hits in 73 at bats. Meanwhile, the Angels hit Moyer hard, knocking eight doubles and nine homeruns for a .602 slugging percentage. Despite that, Jamie managed a 2-1 record in five starts against LAnaheim.

On the west coast, there's two big reasons to tune into the Giants-Padres game in San Diego. It's an excellent pitching matchup as a healthy Jason Schmidt faces Padres ace Jake Peavy. But we'll also get to see Barry Bonds in a real game again. On the surface, Peavy's had good luck against Barry. Bonds has just four hits in twenty at bats against Jake. But three of those hits are home runs, and on top of that, Barry's drawn eleven walks against the right hander.

PETCO even cuts down on Barry's power. He's hit just two home runs there in 41 at bats. He's hitting just .220 at the park. This might be a good night to challenge the slugger.

And although the weather doesn't look good for the final game of tonight, two teams I've picked to win their divisions face off in Oakland. It's a battle of lefties as Randy Johnson takes on Barry Zito. Both sport career winning percentages over .600. Zito was much more effective vs. righties last year than Johnson. Randy will be facing a lineup of mostly righties and switch hitters tonight, so that may give the Athletics an edge. The Thomas/Johnson matchup should be fun.

Enjoy!

The 2006 regular season kicks off tonight at the home of the World Champion Chicago White Sox as they face the team looking to unseat them from the division title, the Cleveland Indians. It's a battle of lefties as Mark Buehrle hosts C.C. "Milliliter" Sabathia.

The Indians didn't hit Buehrle last year. He allowed just a .202 batting average vs. the Tribe, and a meager .328 Slugging Percentage. He did an amazing job against the heart of the Cleveland heart of the order with the 3-4-5 hitters going just 4 for 40 with three walks, one homer and one RBI.

Sabathia did not face the White Sox much last year, but he kept their power in check. Chicago posted a .340 OBA against Milliliter, but managed just one double for a slugging percentage of .261. Sabathia was equal against righties and lefties in 2005 if you look at batting average, but better against righties if you consider OBA and slugging. With only three lefties in the Chicago lineup, that might work to his advantage.

Intellicast is predicting thunderstorms, but the temperature don't look too bad. The teams have tomorrow off if they need to postpone one day.

Enjoy!

Purchase White Sox/Indians tickets.

Only two games today as LAnaheim-New York is postponed until tomorrow.

The early late game sees the NLDS moving to Houston as the Braves face the Astros. Atlanta sends Jorge Sosa to the mound to take on the Astros third ace, Roy Oswalt. Sosa pitched great as a reliever and almost as good as a starter. Sosa's main weakness as a starter is his stamina. He only averaged 5 1/3 innings per start this season. He simply throws a lot of pitches. He puts men on base (.359 OBA allowed with none on) but doesn't let them score (.194 batting average allowed with runners in scoring position). He'll give them five or six good innings, then it's up to the bullpen.

Oswalt won the most games in the majors over the the last two years. He got there doing three things well; he strikes out batters, he doesn't walk many and he gives up a fairly low number of home runs.

Oswalt, however, has never beaten the Braves in the regular season. In five games against Atlanta, he's posted a 6.41 ERA. In his only start against them this season, Atlanta hammered him for 9 runs, 7 earned in just five innings.

Even people in St. Louis are going to need to stay up past their bed time to catch the Cardinals vs. San Diego. An 8 PM west coast start means St. Louis fans will be up late to see if the Cardinals can take the series tonight. St. Louis sends Matt Morris against form Cardinals pitcher Woody Williams.

Morris never returned to the dominant form he showed in 2001 and 2002. His K per 9 is much lower now than it was at the time. But this year he cut down on his walks, and while not dominant is a solid middle starter.

Woody Williams had a poor season, especially away from PETCO. But at home, he posted a 5-7 record by a 3.72 ERA. It's not exactly a stellar number in that ball park.

Enjoy!

It's NL Game 2 day and it's starts at 4 PM EDT as the Padres and Cardinals continue their series. With the injury to Jake Peavy, Pedro Astacio moves into the ace role for San Diego. He probably needs to win two games for the Padres in this series for them to have a chance. We saw what St. Louis hitters did to mediocre pitching on Tuesday, and there's a lot of that in the Padres rotation.

San Diego won Astacio's last five starts, and he pitched well enough for them to win the last seven. He's given up 11 earned runs in his last 45 innings. He's done it by keeping the ball in the park, with just two homers flying out of the field of play in that time.

He'll face Mark Mulder. In four post-season starts, Mulder's ERA is a mere 2.25, yet he's only 2-2. He's struck out 19 while walking only five in 24 innings. If the Cardinals get two starts like that from Mark, they'll be moving on to the next round.

The late matchup is the Geezer Game of the year, pitting Roger Clemens against John Smoltz in Houston. The last time these two faced each other in the post season was game four of the 1999 World Series. The Yankees won that game 4-1, taking the series, but in some ways Smoltz out pitched Roger. Clemens only struck out four in his 7 2/3 innings, while John K'd 11 in his seven innings. But Smoltz gave up four of his six hits in the fourth (all singles) to give the Yankees a 3-0 lead which they never relinquished.

Smoltz is 6-0 in division series play and 14-4 overall in the post season. And while Clemens World Series ERA is very good, he's had trouble in the early rounds, posting a 4.12 combined ERA in the LDS and LCS.

Enjoy!

Correction: Clemens went 7 2/3 innings in his game, not 4 2/3. Sorry about the typo.

Timing matters today. The Phillies and Indians get the Day of the Wild Card started at 1 PM. Jon Lieber takes the mound for the Phillies in Washington. This is the game Jon was hired to win. Jon had a bell shaped season. He's 8-2 in April and September with stellar ERAs, 8-11 the rest of the year. He usually shows great control, but 7 of Lieber's 38 walks this were drawn by the Nationals, none intentional.

He'll be opposed by Hector Carrasco. The resurrected reliever is flourishing as a starter, posting an 0.83 ERA in four starts. He the two runs allowed came in his first start and no one's crossed the plate against him since.

The Phillies need to win this game. If they lose, the NL Wild Card belongs to the Astros. Chicago and Houston get underway at 2 PM with Greg Maddux facing Roy Oswalt. Maddux's last losing season was in 1987. If he can earn the W today, he'll be 14-14 and pick up career win 319. Greg has a 2.60 career ERA vs. the Astros and he's won nine of his last eleven starts against the team.

He'll be opposed by the third ace of the Astros staff, Roy Oswalt. The Astros won five of Oswalt's last six starts, and in four of them the righty allowed only one run. He's in a comfortable place as he goes for win number 20. Roy is 11-2 at the Juice Box with an ERA of 2.33. A win for Oswalt accomplishes three things: a Wild Card for Houston, back-to-back twenty win seasons for Oswalt, and will give him the most wins over the last two seasons.

The Indians play their own must win game at 1 PM. Cleveland's had no trouble shutting down the White Sox offense. They just can't score runs lately. They've scored 19 runs in their last six games, only 13 in the five losses. They've had plenty of opportunities to score; they've put 71 runners on base via a hit, walk or HBP in that time.

Watching that score will be the Red Sox. The Indians' losses the last two night means this isn't a titanic struggle. Both teams are playing for something, it just doesn't have to do with their opponent. A Sox win (Red or White) means Boston is in the playoffs. A Yankees win means the team gets to go home to open the LDS at Yankee Stadium. It looks like the Yankees are more concerned about winning the first round than where they are playing it as they're sending Jaret Wright to the mound instead of Mike Mussina. Schilling will pitch for the Red Sox. Schilling's been up and down lately, with good starts against the Yankees and Devil Rays, poor ones against the Athletics and Blue Jays. If he stays with the pattern, he'll be good today.

Finally, the Angels will be watching the Yankees score, as a New York loss and a LAnaheim win over Texas puts the Tuesday prime time game in Anaheim. After losing four in a row to Seattle and Detroit, the Angels went on a streak to win 13 of their last 15 games. They've outscored their opponents 78-56 over that stretch. Guerrero and Figgins, as usual, are leading the charge.

Enjoy!

Today's Yankees-Red Sox game is the best pitching matchup of the series, but it's also the least important game. With the Red Sox winning last night, today's game simply becomes a prelude to tomorrow's do or die game. Lyflines has the updates on the playoff scenarios.

Randy Johnson was hired for games like this. Pedro Martinez didn't do well in his must-win game, so we'll see if the Yankees spent their money more wisely. Randy's been on a roll since August 26th, posting a 1.64 in those seven games. His strikeouts are still not back however. While 7.4 per nine is still very good, it's not the 9.0+ we're used to from the Big Unit.

Wakefield's carried the Boston rotation through September. He put up a 1.99 ERA in the month with a strikeout rate very similar to Johnson's and walking very few. A knuckleballer with control is a dangerous weapon.

Cleveland, despite the loss last night still controls their destiny. If they win their last two games, they at least live to fight another day. With the Red Sox winning yesterday, however, they can no longer afford to lose all their games. Jon Garland takes the mound for the White Sox against Jake Westbrook today. The Chicago offense figured out Westbrook pretty well this season. In four starts, the White Sox scored 17 runs (15 earned) in 26 1/3 innings vs. Jake. Garland looked like a sure 20-game winner at the end of July, but he's gone 2-6 since the end of that month, giving up 13 of his 26 home runs in that time.

The Phillies will try to hold on for one more day with a win against the Nationals. Brett Myers hurls against John Patterson. The Phillies only one one of Myers last five starts. Patterson is pretty untouchable at home, giving up just 97 hits in 120 innings for a .219 BA allowed at RFK. Opponents slug a measly .318 against him there.

The Astros need a win real bad. Just one assures them a tie come tomorrow night. They'll go with their best as Roger Clemens hosts Jerome Williams. Williams had a very good September, posting a 2.10 ERA on the strength of just allowing one home run in 34 1/3 innings. Clemens ran out of gas and health in the month. He's had eleven days off to recharge and heal, and the Astros hope he's back to giving them seven shutout innings.

And let's not forget the Angels. They could still tie the Eastern winner for second best record in the AL. They win the home field tie-breaker with the Yankees but lose it with the Red Sox.

Enjoy!

A Houston win guarantees them a share of the NL Wild card. They'll send their best second half pitcher, Andy Pettitte vs. the Cubs Carlos Zambrano. Pettitte's been the best pitcher in the National League since the All-Star break. His strike outs and walks have been particularly excellent.

Despite a rough September, Zambrano is 3-1. He's allowed six home runs this month; one more will be the most he's allowed in a month this year.

Over the last two seasons, the Astros are 104-64 from July through October, 3 1/2 games behind the Cardinals. If they figure out how to win early in the season, they may be able to compete win St. Louis for the division instead of just the Wild Card.

The Phillies phind themselves two games out of the wild card with three to play. They simply need to win all their remaining games to have a shot at making the playoffs. They're in Washington tonight to take on the Nationals.

Cory Lidle will start for Philadelphia. Lidle's been giving up a lot of hits lately, 28 in his last 22 2/3 innings, but only one home run. That might not bode well for him in Washington, where long balls are difficult to hit. Lots of singles tonight could be his downfall.

The Nationals are playing to finish above .500. Their next win is their 82nd, and they'll send Livan Hernandez to the mound to try for the win. He's been going deep into games but without good results. Over his last seven starts he's pitched 52 1/3 innings but with a 4.47 ERA and a 1-4 record.

The White Sox magic number to clinch home field advantage is one over the Yankees and the Red Sox. A Chicago win gives them home field period. However, a Yankees loss does not. If the Red Sox and Indians sweep, then Boston gets home field. I believe the correct logic is (White Sox win) or (Red Sox loss and Yankees loss) gives Chicago home field.

Cleveland is in control of it's Wild Card destiny at this point. An Indians sweep and they are in as the wild card. Taking two out of three assures them of at least a tie for the slot. Over all, they have a 75% chance of coming out of the weekend with at least a wild card tie.

Tonight's matchup is the best of the series as Buehrle face Millwood. Despite just 16 wins, Buehrle is a very good Cy Young candidate. His winning percentage (.667) is excellent. He's third in ERA, doesn't walk many and pitches for a division winning team. Millwood is leading the league in ERA, yet has a losing record. He hasn't pitched anywhere near the number of innings as Buehrle, but has allowed the same number of home runs and more walks. Buehrle definitely deserves the award more than Millwood.

Buehrle against Cleveland is typical of his season. He's made four starts, pitched well enough to win all four (allowing just 9 runs in 27 1/3 innings) but his record is 2-0. Cleveland has touched him for the long ball has 4 of his 20 home runs allowed came off Indians bats.

Millwood's allowed 1 earned run in each of his last four starts, but he's also allowed five unearned runs in that time. Like Buehrle, Kevin's season against the White Sox is a microcosom of his stats overall. In four starts versus Chicago Millwood post a 1.33 ERA but an 0-2 record. White Sox hitters have yet to homer against the righty.

The big sluggers performed well head-to-head this season. Konerko has eight extra-base hits including three home runs to go with 11 RBI and 10 runs scored. Hafner's been to offensive star of the season series, however, with 12 extra-base hits, five home runs, 16 RBI and 9 runs scored.

Enjoy!

Instead of the usual games of the day, I'm going to take the big games separately today, and look at the series as a whole.

It's difficult to imagine two teams that are more evenly matched. Since the start of 2002, the Yankees lead the regular season series 37-36. The Red Sox taking two out of three this weekend would not only leave the teams tied at the top of the American League East, but tied over the last four seasons. They've played two great seven games series the last two years and split those games as well.

The teams are cut from the same cloth. Check out the Runs Scored and Allowed graph at The Hardball Times. These are lucky teams built on offense. Go down to the On-Base vs. Slugging graph and notice how these two teams are off the chart.

So it's likely to be a series settled by the offenses. The Red Sox put at least eight tough outs in the lineup every day. Look at the aggregate batting order (scroll down). Eight spots with higher than average OBAs. When Graffanino is in the lineup, you can make that nine. The Yankees tend to have a couple of holes in their order, but with Torre moving A-Rod to the two spot, the Yankees 1-5 are an on-base machine, with power in four of those slots.

It will be mostly veterans on the mound this weekend. The average seasonal age of the Red Sox starters will be 39 1/3. The Yankees send Johnson and Mussina on Saturday and Sunday, but go with the rookie Wang tonight. Chien-Ming is very good at keeping runners off base. Overall, he's allowed a mere .307 OBA to his opponents. With no one on, that drops to .286. It's when he allows someone to reach base that he gets in trouble, as both his opponents OBA and slugging percentages balloon. Maybe he shouldn't pitch from the stretch. He's not good at stopping the running game anyway (runners are 5 for 6 against him). A good strategy with the Sox would be to stick with the windup and get the batters out.

Facing Wang is David Wells. Wells has a bad knee. He's had a bad back for a while. He's a lefty pitching at Fenway. And like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get. He's had five outings in which he's given up six runs or more, and five outings where he's allowed nothing.

Neither pitcher walks many batters. It a situation with few walks, batting average becomes important. And while the Red Sox and Yankees are separated by just a point in OBA, they Red Sox have a five point lead in batting average (Boston and New York and 1-2 in the majors in both categories). That gives the Boston offense a slight advantage.

Ortiz vs. A-Rod. Manny vs. Sheffield. Jeter vs. Damon. The switch hitting catchers. Boston facing Wang and Johnson. Schilling's ankle. Wakefield's floater. Rivera coming in for two innings. The dreaded Bellhorn/Stanton matchup. Enjoy the weekend!

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We'll get an early clue if the four-way tie scenario will hold up when the White Sox play at Detroit this afternoon. A White Sox win means the best we can do is a three-way tie. Freddy Garcia hasn't been striking out batters lately, just 10 in his last 26 2/3 innings.

Aaron Small goes for win number 10 tonight against Baltimore. If the Yankees get a big lead early, I'll bet they pull Small to make him available for long relief Sunday or a start in a playoff game on Monday.

The Red Sox try to earn a split with the Blue Jays. Matt Clement was lucky to get away with six scoreless innings in his last start against the Orioles. Ten base runners in six innings probably won't cut it against the Blue Jays in Fenway.

C.C. Sabathia tries to figure out the Devil Rays tonight. Given the role of spoiler, the Devil Rays are filling the bill well, going 5-3 against Boston, LAnaheim and Cleveland.

Enjoy!

It's do or die down the stretch for the four teams competing for the three remaining playoff slots. The Yankees get things started in Baltimore tonight as Shawn Chacon faces Daniel Cabrera. The Yankees are getting Cabrera on a roll. He's posted a 2.25 ERA in September while striking out 29 in 24 innings. Chacon's not doing badly himself as he's on a streak of 16 consecutive scoreless innings.

Game three of the purple series gets underway at about the same time as the Red Sox host the Blue Jays. Ted Lilly hurls for Toronto against Bronson Arroyo. The long ball continues to bother Ted, as he's allowed 8 home runs in his last 24 2/3 innings. The Red Sox won the last five starts made by Bronson. He's been going deep into the games as well, averaging seven innings pitched over that time. He's only struck out 13 in his 35 innings during the streak, but he's also just allowed 12 walks and two home runs.

Seth McClung takes his convenience store ERA (7.11) into Cleveland tonight. He faced the Yankees and Red Sox in his last two starts and allowed seven runs in each game. Seth does not understand the term "spoiler." He'll face 18-4 Cliff Lee. Cliff is undefeated in August and September and only walked 17 in his last 10 starts.

The White Sox magic number is three to clinch bot the division and home field throughout the playoffs. They visit Detroit where Jose Contreras takes on Sean Douglass. Contreras is on a seven-game winning streak. He's posted a 2.06 ERA over the streak and has allowed just 43 hits in 52 1/3 innings. Douglass made two starts against the White Sox this season and allowed 9 runs in 9 2/3 innings.

Enjoy!

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The Red Sox play a double header today, and game 2 looks like the best matchup as Chacin faces Schilling. A great game by Chacin will get him Jackie Robinson award attention. A great game by Shilling sets up a cool Sunday matchup vs. Mussina.

Mike makes his second start since his time off. He was very sharp in his last outing, walking none and using only 76 pitches in six innings. He'll face Bruce Chen who kept the Yankees off balance with his slow stuff in his last start.

The Braves and the Angels both clinch with wins tonight, although a Phillies loss also gives the Braves the division title.

The Astros visit St. Louis. La Russa is starting Matt Morris against Roy Oswalt. We'll see if he starts his playoff lineup or a bunch of scrubs and Albert Pujols. One could argue that it's in the best interest of St. Louis to lose these two games against Houston, as that would help them get the Western winner as their first round opponent.

Enjoy!

Two do or die games on the west coast pit the north against the south. Both bay area teams are four games back with seven to play, trailing a southern California team. One loss makes their situation precarious; two losses and they're done.

The Padres host the Giants with ace Jake Peavy hurling against Brad Hennessey. Peavy's handled the Giants well this year, posting a 2.08 ERA while striking out 18 in 13 innings pitched. Hennessey made just one start against the Padres and was knocked out in the third inning.

Peavy's pitched Bonds very carefully in his career. Barry has three home runs in 16 at bats vs. Jake, but Peavey's walked Bonds 11 times. PETCO has contain Barry's power, however. He's hit just 1 home run in 30 at bats in the new San Diego stadium.

Up north, the Oakland Athletics host the LAnaheim Angels. John Lackey takes the hill against Joe Blanton. The ERAs for the two pitchers are almost identical, Lackey's being .05 runs better than Blantons. The Angels scored 109 runs vs. the 83 Lackey's allowed, while Oakland's just scored 82 against the 85 Blanton's allowed. Scutaro is the only player on the Oakland roster to homer against Lackey.

The Angels outscored Oakland 53 to 40 this season, but have a 7-8 record against the Athletics. The A's have tended to win the close ones vs the Angels this year.

Also note that Randy Johnson goes for the Yankees tonight while Curt Schilling hurls for the Red Sox. There was hope these two would open the season against each other, but a showdown between the former teammates in the scheduled penultimate game of the regular season works even better.

Enjoy!

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The New York Yankees face the Toronto Blue Jays today and send rookie Chien-Ming Wang against Josh Towers. I'm still wondering what happened to Wang's strikeouts. His walks are great, his home runs allowed are good, but his strikeouts are way down from his minor league numbers, where he was in the high 6s low 7s per nine innings. His K per 9 is just 3.5 with the Yankees, and I don't see how he can be successful long term with those numbers. In his second season as a full time starter, Josh Towers greatly reduced his walks and his ERA. He's walked 28 this season after walking 26 last year in about 1/2 the innings. The Jays rotation is looking good for next season if Halladay returns healthy. Chacin and Towers give them a very good 1-2-3.

Meanwhile, the Red Sox send gimpy David Wells against John Maine and the Baltimore Orioles. Wells' right knee received a cortisone shot, so we'll see how effective he pitches today. We've seen a Wells injury cost his team a game in the past. Maine walks lots of batters and gives up home runs at an impressive rate. He's just the kind of pitcher the Boston offense should crush.

The Phillies lost a tough one last night, as they fell to the pitcher with the worst ERA in the National League. They'll try to keep up with the Astros this afternoon as they send Cory Lidle against Randy Keisler. Lidle's had a horrendous second half, allowing a .351 batting average and a 7.04 ERA. Kiesler's only given up 3 earned runs in two start since moving from the bullpen. However, his 8 walks and two home runs have resulted in five unearned runs.

Houston will try to reduce their magic number to five with a win over the Cubs. Andy Pettitte is their late season ace and he'll take the mound against Jerome Williams. Pettitte is 11-2 with a 1.73 ERA since the All-Star break, the best ERA in the NL.

The AL Central remains close. The Indians face Zack Greinke today. After three horrible months, the youngster appears to have found himself in September. He's struck out 12 in the month while walking just four enroute to a 2.96 ERA. The Indians saved their power for the end of the year. They've hit 23% of their home runs this month and have only missed homering in one game in September.

On the West Coast, the Angels play early and the Athletics late. Bartolo Colon goes for win 21, and that victory would mean that the Angels just need to split with the Athletics to win the West. Colon's back is bothering him, but if the Angels win today it becomes less likely they'll need to start him on short rest against the A's on Thursday.

The Athletics are the ESPN game of the week. Juan Dominguez of the Rangers opposes Kirk Saarloos. Dominguez is posting the kind of numbers as a starter that will fit in very well with the Rangers offense. I expect to see him in the rotation next season. The A's are 25-23 since Steven Levitt bet on them to win 89 games. They'll have to spilt their last 8 to achieve that number.

Enjoy!

It's the name game today. There's an all wood matchup in Kansas City tonight as AL ERA leader Kevin Millwood faces part time starter Mike Wood. Kevin's been sawing down batters lately, allowing just seven earned runs in his last five starts. Mike's taken Cleveland to the wood shed so far this season, allowing just one earned run in 10 2/3 innings against the Tribe. Travis Hafner's been applying the wood on offense with home runs in six straight games.

Over in Los Angeles, it's Opie night as Oliver Perez takes on Odalis Perez. On the road, Oliver is giving up a .321 opposition batting average. Opening jitters give Odalis problems this season as hitters are 39 for 125 against him during his first 30 pitches, a .312 batting average.

Enjoy!

The Cubs are not officially eliminated from the wild card race. If they win all their games, and Houston loses all their games, and the Phillies and Marlins lose most of their games, and ...

THE CUBS CAN STILL TIE FOR THE WILD CARD!

Actually, as far as Houston is concerned, the Cubs so have a great deal of control over their destiny. Starting today, the teams meet seven times over the last nine games. It's fifth starter day this afternoon as Glendon Rusch hosts Wandy Rodriguez. Could you imagine what Chicago would be like if the Cubs staged a comeback while the White Sox were falling out of the race?

Another must sweep series starting today pits the Marlins against the Braves in Atlanta. Florida's playoff hopes are almost gone, four games back in the Wild Card and six back in the division. But they get to play six games vs. the Braves, giving themselves some control over that race. Josh Beckett takes the hill for the Marlins. Beckett is pitching well in September. He's not going deep in games, but he's 3-0 with a 2.88 ERA. He's striking batters out with 27 in 25 innings. He'll face John Smoltz. Smoltz is pitching on two extra days rest due to a bad shoulder. Smoltz's return to the rotation has been a rousing success. His numbers and durability are great this season. He's 9th in the league in ERA and fifth in inning pitched.

Enjoy!

It's going to be a Wild afternoon in the National League. A 1 PM EDT lunch at your local Sports Bar will let you watch the Astros play the Pirates and the Phillies challenge the Braves.

Zach Duke takes the mound for Pittsburgh in an effort to gain a split with Houston. Duke took his first loss in his first start since coming off the DL. He pitched poorly in his only start against Houston on August 12th, the first loss the Pirates suffered in one of his starts. Brandon Backe is finishing up his first full season as a starter, and what happened to his strikeouts? He struck out 7.3 per 9 in 2004, 5.8 per 9 this season.

In Atlanta, a good matchup as Jon Leiber faces Tim Hudson. Leiber is on a roll, posting a 1.89 ERA over his last five starts, beating the Marlins twice. At this point in the season, Hudson has pitched 11 fewer innings than last year but has given up 11 more home runs and 15 more walks.

The first place Yankees even the number of games played with the Red Sox today as New York finishes it's series with Baltimore and Boston has the day off. Mike Mussina returns to the rotation against Bruce Chen. Mussina is making his first start since being shutdown after a 6.68 ERA in August. Mussina posted a 3.43 ERA in July. He gave up the same number of hits, walks and homers in August as in July, but in seven fewer innings.

The pitching matchup of the day takes place across town, however, as Dontrelle Willis faces Pedro Martinez. Both teams are pretty much out of the races. The Mets with a win can move back to .500; the Marlins with a win keep their playoff hopes alive another day. Willis batted eighth in his last start; with more injuries, McKeon may have him seventh today. Pedro on the surface had the better season. The two are even in walks allowed, and Pedro gets lots more strike outs (207 to 148) and therefore allows many fewer hits (153-190). But Dontrelle keeps the ball in the park. The opposition hit just 9 home runs off Willis, compared to 19 off Martinez.

Enjoy!

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The Twins and Athletics play a noon-time game on the west coast as the A's go for the sweep of the three-game series. Rookie Scott Baker faces Joe Kennedy. Baker is doing well in his first year, posting a 2.87 ERA in six starts and one relief appearance. His best game was his last time out, holding the White Sox to one run over seven innings. He doesn't quite fit into the Twins rotation, however, since he's allowed 11 walks in 37 2/3 innings. That's high for the Twins, but most teams would be very happy with those numbers.

Joe Kennedy's home runs allowed are down a tad since leaving Colorado, but his strike outs are up and his hits allowed are way down. All that means he's cut his ERA in half since joining the Athletics.

A pair of 14-game winners face off in The Bronx tonight as Rodrigo Lopez gets matched against Randy Johnson. Rodrigo's post-break ERA is a run higher than before the All-Star game. His strike outs are way down; 5.7 before the break, 4.5 after. Fewer strike outs lead to more hits and a ballooning ERA. Randy Johnson should be well rested after his tirade in the Toronto game caused the Big Unit to be ejected in the second inning.

In the borough of Queens, Jae Seo of the Mets hosts Jason Vargas and the Marlins. The Marlins are in trouble in the wild card race, three games back with six games against the Braves coming up. Vargas allowed 19 earned runs in his last 22 2/3 innings. Seo was hit by the Nationals his last time out, but he continues to put up great strike out and walk numbers. For the season he's struck out 53 while walking just 10.

Finally, the Indians and White Sox play the rubber game of their series. Scott Elarton opposes Jon Garland. Garland's been up and down lately. Over his last five, he's had great starts alternating with very poor ones. He's coming off eight very strong innings against the Twins. A win tonight gives him 18 on the season and a shot at 20. After a poor August, Elarton's been right on in September. His 1.23 ERA helped him to a 3-0 record, and only one of his 29 home runs allowed came in September.

Enjoy!

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The Yankees look to move into the lead in the AL East tonight with a win over the Orioles and a Red Sox loss to the Devil Rays. John Maine takes the hill for Baltimore, and his weaknesses play into Yankees strengths. He walks a high number of batters and doesn't strike out many. He allows a fair number of home runs. The Yankees take pitches out of the strike zone and pound the ones over the plate. Aaron Small goes for his ninth win against zero defeats. If Small finishes 11-0 with an ERA around 3.00 in 80 innings pitched, does he deserve consideration in the Cy Young voting? Or maybe MVP? Too bad there isn't an award for biggest impact on a pennant race. Small might win that going away.

The Red Sox send Curt Schilling against Seth McClung in Tampa Bay. Schilling's line against Tampa in 2005 pretty much reflects his season as a whole; a decent number of strikeouts, few walks but lots of hits and lots of runs. McClung may be better suited as a reliever. His OBA allowed is 60 points lower in his first 30 pitches than in pitches 31-60.

Philadelphia still has a chance to catch Atlanta, and the two teams open a three-game series tonight in Georgia. For some reason, the Phillies send Gavin Floyd to the mound. Gavin's opposition batting stats look like Cliff Floyd's, so that's good news for Atlanta hitters. Braves' starter Horacio Ramirez did get knocked around by the Phillies his last time out, so this could turn out to be the slugfest of the night.

The White Sox send Mark Buehrle against Jake Westbrook to try to hold off the Indians advance. A great game by Mark tonight will go a long way toward earning votes in the Cy Young race. Westbrook is reaping the rewards of a better Indians offense. With a slightly lower ERA, Jake's record is 9-3 since the break compared to 6-11 before hand.

Enjoy!

Update: I'm told Sosa, not Ramirez will be pitching for the Braves tonight. Sosa's walked 11 Phillies in 15 2/3 innings this year.

Update: I'm told Lidle will go for Philadelphia. That makes a lot more sense. Cory is 2-0 vs. Atlanta and struck out ten Braves in 12 2/3 innings this season.

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No matchup is better tonight than Kevin Millwood vs. Freddy Garcia as the Indians face the White Sox in round one of their battle for the AL Central title.

Millwood leads the American League in ERA but his record is just 8-11. In his last eight starts, Cleveland lost four games in which he allowed 3 runs or fewer. Kevin is keeping his team close, but the Indians offense needs to give him some support to win.

Left-handed batters possess a clear advantage vs. Millwood. In about the same number of at bats, lefties knocked out 20 more hits and drew 10 more walks. The White Sox, however, don't have many lefties to take advantage of this weakness.

One weakness that will work in the White Sox favor is the stolen base. Millwood does not stop stolen bases as opponents succeeded in 30 or 35 attempts vs. Kevin and his catcher.

Freddy Garcia is coming off a blow out loss to the Kansas City Royals. This year, Garcia's pitched his best against the tough competition. His ERAs are high vs. the Devil Rays, Marniers, Royals and Orioles but low against the Yankees, Indians, Twins and Athletics.

One strength these pitchers share is toughness with runners in scoring position. They're 1-2 in the AL in that category, Millwood allowing a .189 batting average, Garcia .203.

If it's going to be tough to drive in men from second and third, solo home runs might decide this game. Garcia's given up more than Millwood, 24 for Freddy, 19 for Kevin. The teams batters are 2-3 in September in hitting home runs, but it's really not that close. The Indians have 30 dingers this month while the White Sox hit 21.

Enjoy!

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The Indians look like they're not going to lose any ground in any of their races today as they send C.C. Sabathia to the mound hosting Jose Lima and the Royals. Lima needs just 6 2/3 innings to qualify for the ERA title and post one of the highest ERAs for any pitcher with at least 162 innings. Lima's given up 7 earned runs in 11 2/3 innings vs. the Indians this year. Sabathia, on the other hand, is 2-1 with a 2.37 ERA vs. the Royals.

Lima is not the only bad pitcher going today. Eric Milton is just 0.11 runs behind Lima, and already has enough innings to qualify for the ERA title. He'll face Oliver Perez. We'll see if Perez can go a few innings without getting thrown out of the game.

The Marlins face a must win game tonight as the Phillies go for a sweep. Philiadelphia sends rookie Eude Brito to the mound. Eude found his groove in his last start vs. the Braves, striking out 7 and walking 1 in six scoreless innings. He'll face Josh Beckett. Josh is tough to hit at home, allowing just a .203 batting average and a .297 slugging percentage. And you'll be able to see in all in HD on ESPN2!

Enjoy!

Johan Santana, despite not pitching as well as last season, is still a good candidate for the Cy Young award. His strikeouts, walks, home runs allowed are all very good, he just doesn't have the wins to go with them this season. A great game against the White Sox today would help nudge voters in his direction. He's done some of his best work against the south side Sox this season, going 3-0 with a 1.66 ERA. He's struck out 28 and walked just 3 in 23 1/3 innings against the division rival.

The Marlins try to move back into a tie with the Phillies this afternoon, and the matchup of Vicente Padilla and Dontrelle Willis gives hope to Fish fans. Padilla gave up two homers to the Astros in his last start after giving up just 1 in his previous 50 1/3 innings. Willis is working on a 1.11 ERA over his last 10 starts. Interestingly, he's not striking out a lot of batters, just 5.2 per 9 in that time. He's been pretty unhittable, however, giving up 50 hits in 72 2/3 innings. The Marlins defense is doing a great job behind him.

Whatever you do, don't miss Chacon-Chacin 2, Electric Boogaloo. Shawn was the victor in round one, but Gustavo predicts the I's will have it this time. :-)

Enjoy!

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Tim Wakefield takes the mound for the Red Sox tonight vs. Oakland's Joe Kennedy. How can Boston fans root against the patriarch? Wakefield was in full control of his knuckle ball in his last two starts, striking out 19 in 17 innings while walking just four.

There seems to be a wild card show down every day in the National League. The Phillies travel to Florida to face the Marlins tonight, both teams 1/2 game back in the wild card standings. Jon Lieber faces Brian Mohler. Lieber is 5-2 in his last eight starts with an outstanding 2.65 ERA. Moehler has not started since August 20th and pitched poorly in relief since then, posting a 6.55 ERA.

The Brewers get to play more than spoilers in the last two weeks of the season as they still have a shot at a Wild Card berth. They get to take the race into their own hands tonight as they start a weekend series with the Astros. Rick Helling came out of nowhere to post a 2-0 record and 2.40 ERA for the Brewers down the stretch. He's yet to allow a home run in 30 innings. He'll face stud or dud Roy Oswalt, coming off a dud of a performance against the Brewers last weekend.

Zach Duke will get a start in one of the Reds-Pirates games today. He's 6-0 with an ERA under 2.00. He hasn't pitched since an injury on August 23rd.

In a strange bit of scheduling, the Nationals spend the weekend in San Diego playing the Padres before returning to Washington to face the Giants. It's an all JP duel as John Patterson takes on Jake Peavy. Patterson is coming off a pounding by the Marlins, while Peavy has 77 K in 69 2/3 innings since the All-Star break.

Enjoy!

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The Washington Nationals are hanging on the edge of the Wild Card race, and they'll go for a sweep of the Mets today. It's a good matchup, as Livan Hernandez faces Jae Seo. Livan is giving up many more home runs since the All-Star break, accounting for his 3-4 record in that time. Seo is going for his 8th win in 11 starts. Batters are just 5 for 38 against Jay with runners in scoring position, a .132 batting average.

The Athletics put themselves in a tough spot, losing two out of three to the Indians. They're 3 1/2 back in the wild card race and one back in the West. The weekend favors the Angels, as Oakland plays in Boston and LAnaheim hosts Detroit. Joe Blanton faces Curt Schilling this evening. Red Sox Nation will be watching to see if Schilling can put together two good starts in a row. Meanwhile, Angels' ace Bartolo Colon starts against Mike Maroth and the men from Motor City. Colon's eight game winning streak is on the line, and so is a 20 win season. He's 0-1 against the Tigers this season despite a 2.57 ERA.

In the NL Wild Card race, the Phillies go for a sweep of the Braves and the Astros look for a split with the Marlins. One-half game separate the three clubs. Sosa will face Myers in Philadelphia in a great matchup. Vargas takes the hill against Pettitte in Houston. A Phillies win today means a race for the wild card and the division down the stretch.

Enjoy!

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This is one of those great days with twelve hours of baseball. There are so many important games it's tough to list them all. The Cardinals will go for the division title today as they send Jason Marquis against Oliver Perez. Pirates fans can look forward to a pretty good lefty rotation next year with Perez, Duke and Paul Maholm. A win today by the Cardinals for all intents and purposes puts them in the playoffs. A loss by Houston tonight makes it official.

The Mariners go for a sweep of the Angels this afternoon. Except for the weekend pounding of the White Sox, the Angels offense is in the dumps. They've scored 54 runs in their last 16 games, and 22 of those came in the three game weekend series in Chicago.

At seven, the other AL contenders get underway with the Indians and Atheltics playing the rubber game of their match, Tampa Bay tries to beat Wang for the third time this year, and the Red Sox hope the good David Wells shows up in Toronto.

The best pitching matchup of the evening comes at 8 PM EDT when A.J. Burnett matches up vs. Roger Clemens. The Astros, for the first time in the series, have the pitching advantage, and they'll need to score a few runs for Clemens and Pettitte if they are going to earn a split in the series and pass the Marlins again.

Finally, the Rockies and Dodgers meet in Los Angeles as the men in blue try to stay alive in the NL West race. The Rockies send their second Kim to the mound, as Byung-Hyun Kim tries to match the performance of Sunny last night. BK's only one once on the road this season.

Enjoy!

The Oakland-Cleveland series continues with the Athletics sending Kirk Saarloos against AL ERA leader Kevin Millwood. With Millwood at the top of the ERA leader board, I wondered how much evidence there was for him getting Cy Young consideration. It's turns out very little. Kevin's ERA and record represent a perfect balancing of luck. His DIPS ERA is 4.04, indicating he's been pretty lucky or owes thanks to his defense. His record of 7-11 (talk about luck!) given his ERA points to bad luck in winning games. In this case great ERA + poor record does indicate a pitcher not worth the award.

The Yankees play the Devil Rays this evening, and this game is mostly interesting due to New York's poor record against this lowly team. The best way to illustrate the problem is with walks. On the season, the Yankees have outdrawn their opponents 554-399, better than a walk per game. Against Tampa Bay, however, they've been out walked 57-50. This by the offense with the 2nd lowest total walks in the AL and the pitching staff that issued the most! A big reason for the poor record are the starts by rookies (Wang, Penn) in which the Yankees are 0-5 and four starts by Johnson in which he's had an ERA of 6.56. Shouldn't the Big Unit blow Tampa Bay away every game?

The pitching matchups in the NL Wild Card race favor the Marlins tonight as they send Josh Beckett against Wandy Rodriguez and the Braves pit John Thomson against Gavin Floyd. Wandy's overall record isn't that good, but he's improved since the All-Star break, cutting down on both his walks and home runs allowed. Floyd's problem is control. In the two games he's had it this year he gave the Phillies solid starts. If it's gone, he gets shelled.

Finally, the San Diego Padres try to reach the .500 mark again as they take on the Giants in San Francisco. Noah Lowry takes the hill for the Giants, and he's already allowed five more earned runs this month than he did in all of August. The Padres counter with Brian Lawrence. Brian walk and home run numbers are good, but his lack of strike outs is hurting him as balls in play fall for hits.

Enjoy!

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A tough week for the Oakland Athletics gets underway tonight as they face the Wild Card leading Cleveland Indians. Dan Haren takes the mound against C.C. Sabathia in game one of their three game set. Oakland broke out the offense in Haren's last three starts, scoring thirty runs to win all three games, including the game against the Mariners in which Haren allowed five runs in 2 2/3 innings. Milliliter is on a seven game winning streak and lowered his ERA from 5.16 to 4.35 over that time. The Athletics do hit lefties well, however.

The Marlins and Astros start their four game series this evening with Marlins ace Dontrelle Willis facing Houston's fourth starter Brandon Backe. The rotation for these games appears to be set up for a split, with the matchups favoring Florida in games 1 and 2, Houston in 3 and 4. We'll see if one team can "break service" and change the dynamics of the Wild Card race.

The Astros are weak against left-handed pitchers, and Dontrelle is allowing a meager .239 BA to righties. Backe is a different pitcher at the Juice Box this season, allowing just 19 walks in 54 1/3 innings at home, 43 in 72 innings on the road.

Finally, stay up until about 11 PM EDT to see the return of Barry Bonds to the batter's box. I'm guessing the first pitch from Adam Eaton to be up and in.

Enjoy!

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Today's game against the Marlins is close to a must win for the Phillies. The Marlins travel to Houston tomorrow to start a four game set with the Astros. The Phillies will need the teams to split so they have a shot at gaining on both.

Ismael Valdez faces Jon Lieber this afternoon. Valdez gets hammered by lefties, allowing a .534 slugging percentage to those batters. With up to five lefties in the lineup, this should be a good day for the Phillies hitters. Lieber is back on track after three poor months. Since August 6th, he's posted a 2.85 ERA, averaging just 1 walk per nine innings.

Rick Helling is thrust into the pennant race as he gets the job of trying to defeat Roy Oswalt and the Astros. Rick has kept the ball in the park so far this season, so his eleven walks in 23 innings haven't hurt him badly. Oswalt makes his third start against the Brewers, and despite his 1.20 ERA against the team is just 1-1. He was the victim of one of the many times the Astros scored no runs this season.

The way the playoffs are shaping up right now, the Angels and White Sox get paired in the first round. LAnaheim goes for the sweep of Chicago today as they send John Lackey against Orlando Hernandez. Lately, teams are working Lackey for walks as he's issued 13 free passes in his last four starts. El Duque has almost the same ERA pre and post All-Star Break, 4.88 before and 4.89 after. His record is very different, however, going 7-2 in the first half, 2-5 since. A nice example of luck evening out.

The Indians try to extend their winning streak to seven games tonight on ESPN2. Carlos Silva faces Cliff Lee. Cleveland's done a very good job of putting the ball in play against Silva, striking out just four times in 23 innings. Lee won six of his last ten starts without having a loss pinned on him. He's only allowed five home runs and 15 walks in the 65 and 2/3 innings during the streak.

Enjoy!

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Today's filled with compelling matchups. After long evening, the Angels and White Sox get an early start today with Bartolo Colon facing Jon Garland. Colon's back is better so he'll be going for his 19th win. He's 7-0 in his last nine starts, walking only six batters in 66 innings. Garland's been up and down since the start of August, pitching everything from a complete game shutout to allowing eight runs in less than five innings.

The Yankees try once again to cut the Red Sox lead in the AL East with an early game as well. Curt Schilling faces Shawn Chacon. Watching Schilling last Monday it became clear to me that Curt can no longer drive off the mound. When Clemens faced Carpenter last Saturday, the announcer was describing the pitching mechanics of the Cy Young candidates. Roger used his legs to generate speed. Carpenter uses a method described as "tall and fall." He stands tall and lets gravity generate the speed. Schilling used to be the leg driver, but Monday he was falling. Watch today and see if you agree with me.

This afternoon, Clay Hensley gets his first start for the Padres. He's starting in place of Jake Peavy, who has a sore shoulder. Hensely's pitched well out of the bullpen, his zero home runs allowed being his biggest asset. He'll be opposed by Derek Lowe, who's regained his form after a month long slide. Derek's allowed just two earned runs in his last 24 innings.

The NL Wild Card action heats up tonight as the Phillies phace Phlorida in the City of Brotherly Love and the Astros try to get back on the winning track in Milwaukee. The Brewers aren't out of it yet. A win tonight against Andy Pettitte would put them at .500 and no more than five games back in the race.

Enjoy!

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The Yankees and the Red Sox open up a three game series which is more meaningful than September series between the two rivals the last couple of years. The two teams are within striking distance of each other and the loser of the division may not win the wild card. While the wild card adds excitement among the also rans, it tends to take excitement away from division races, especially if the two best teams in the league are in the same division. That's not going on in the AL East this season. I know people argue that the excitement is transferred to the post season, but that's only if the division rivals meet in the LCS.

Former Yankees pitcher David Wells battles his old team once again this evening. He'll take on wonder pickup Aaron Small. Wells is 45-19 career at Yankee Stadium, 11-4 when he's a visiting pitcher. Small's strength this season is his ability to get lefties out, something that should help vs. the Red Sox. Lefties have a lower batting average and slugging percentage vs. Small than righties, and left-handed batters have not hit a homer off the righty this year.

The wild card leading Indians have a tough game tonight as they host Johan Santana and the Minnesota Twins. This could be the Twins last chance at the wild card, as these three games with Cleveland have the potential to bring them back into the race or leave them in the dust. Santana will face Jake Westbrook. Jake is not walking many nor allowing home runs lately, but the balls opponents are putting in play against him are falling for hits. He's given 46 hits in his last 29 innings.

The Marlins have the chance to send the reeling Phillies out of the wild card race as well. A.J. Burnett will take the hill against Cory Lidle. Lidle's fallen apart in the 2nd half, posting a 1-4 record with an 8.01 ERA. Burnett pitched two good starts against the Phillies this season, but his last one was miserable, allowing four home runs.

Finally, San Diego travels north to LA to square off against the Dodgers. I'll have more on this series and the chances of San Diego winning the division in another post I'm pondering.

Enjoy!

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I'll be heading to Fenway for tonight's game against the Angels. Watch for the Ortiz walk off homer in the ninth. :-)

Tonight is an important game for the Washington Nationals. A win tonight splits the series with the Marlins and keeps them from losing any more ground in the wild card race. They'll send John Patterson to the mound to face Josh Beckett. Patterson's 2.44 ERA is fourth in the NL. His time missed his keeping him out of Cy Young talk, but his strikeout, walk and home run numbers are all impressive. He'll face Josh Beckett. Josh's last three starts are less than impressive. He's allowed 13 earned runs in 14 1/3 innings, walking nine.

The Giants return home to face the Chicago Cubs tonight, and once again all eyes are watching to see if Barry Bonds returns to the lineup. On the mound, however, is a very good pitching matchup as Carlos Zambrano faces Noah Lowry. Carlos is on a strike out tear, fanning 40 in his last 38 2/3 innings. Lowry turned his season completely around. He was 5-9 with a 5.07 ERA before the All-Star break, 7-2 with a 1.67 ERA since.

Enjoy!

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Dontrelle Willis goes for win number 20 as the Marlins face John Halama and the Washington Nationals. Willis recovered from his rough patch mid-season and is in control, having walked nine batters in his last five starts. Willis does well against this franchise, going 7-2 with a 2.59 ERA against the Montreal and Washington editions of this team.

The Marlins will be trying to keep pace with the Astros and stay ahead of the Phillies. Those two teams are finishing up a pitcher's duel of a series. Just 10 runs were scored in the first two games. There might be a few more tonight as Backe faces Padilla.

And once again, we'll keep our eye out for Barry Bonds as the Giants and Dodgers meet again in Los Angeles. Jason Schmidt faces Jeff Weaver. The Giants won Jason's last six starts, with Schmidt getting a decision in five of those. His main strength during the streak is allowing just two home runs. That keeps the walks from hurting him too much.

Enjoy!

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The Angles fly into Boston to open a three game series with the Red Sox in a possible preview of post-season pairings. I'll be in section 14 tonight at Fenway, so stop by and say hi if you're at the game. On the mound, John Lackey takes on Tim Wakefield. Lackey found a way to strike out more hitters this season and lowered his ERA a full run. Wakefield is coming off a month where his ERA was high, but he was able to ride the Red Sox wave to offense to a 5-1 record.

This series is the Angels pitching vs. the Red Sox offense. Both are very good, and we'll get to see first hand if good pitching stops good hitting.

Houston continues its series at Philadelphia with Roy Oswalt facing Jon Lieber. Some bad new from last night's win; Andy Pettitte was hit by a ball and his foot swelled. It's not clear if he'll miss a start with the injury. Oswalt is throwing lots of pitches early in the game lately, putting pressure on the bullpen. In his last start, he pitched well but was out in the sixth inning after reaching the century mark in throws. Lieber is pitching well down the stretch. He's only had one bad start in his last six games, but was shutout twice.

Finally, we'll keep an eye on the Giants-Dodgers game as the Giants try to make a late run at the division title. There's a chance Barry Bonds will be back tonight.

Enjoy!

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The NL Wild Card offers the best matchups today. Florida makes its way to the nation's capital as Jason Vargas faces Livan Hernandez. Vargas pitched poorly in three of his last four starts, allowing 15 earned runs in 25 innings on 29 hits. Livan is coming off a poor August in which he posted a 6.69 ERA.

The Astros meet the Phillies tonight, the game deciding first place in the Wild Card for a day. It's a great pitching matchup as Brett Myers hosts Andy Pettitte. Myers just turned 25, and his big leap this season is due to his increasing his strike out rate. From 2002-2004 he struck out 6.0 batters per nine innings. This season, it's up to 8.4 per nine. Andy Pettitte might be a serious Cy Young candidate if it weren't for his teammate, Roger Clemens. Pettitte ranks fourth in the NL in ERA at 2.50. This year, he's been most effective later in the game. The opposition is hitting .259 on his first 45 pitches, .220 after that.

Enjoy!

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Last Wednesday, the Mets looked in good shape to make their move in wild card race. They took game one of the series with the Phillies and had Pedro Martinez on the mound for game two. The Phillies spanked Pedro, and the Mets find themselves in a four game losing streak, 3 1/2 games back in the wild card race and last in the NL East. Today, the Mets send their best pitcher of the last month, Jae Seo against A.J. Burnett of the Marlins. Seo was 4-0 with a 1.78 ERA in August. Burnett is coming off a poor outing against the Cardinals in which he allowed 12 base runners in five innings on six hits and six walks.

Enjoy!

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This is the pitching matchup of the year. Chris Carpenter and the Cardinals are in Houston to face Roger Clemens and the Astros. I don't know how many times a single game decided the Cy Young award, but this could be it.

Here's the race as I see it. Clemens is having one of the great pitching seasons of all-time. His road ERA is 0.52. Since 1974, the next best road ERA (min 81 innings) belongs to Greg Maddux in 1995, 1.12, .7 runs higher! Clemens has only allowed 8 home runs all year. He just turned 42 and he's striking out batters at a rate of 8.2 per 9. Opponents OPS is .505! You couldn't play A ball with that kind of offense.

What Clemens hasn't done is win. The Astros were shutout in eight of his starts. Remember, this isn't a like a bunch of 3-2 losses were you had a chance to win if you pitched a little better. These are eight games where the best Roger could do was a no-decision. In those shutouts Clemens pitched 58 innings and allowed five earned runs. That's an 0.78 ERA. Clemens kept the Astros sorry offense in everyone of those games.

Then you have Carpenter, a great pitcher with a team loaded with offense. Even when everyone is injured, they have Albert Pujols, easily the greatest young player in the game. As a result, Carpenter has 19 wins going into tonight's contest.

And the two are closer than their ERAs indicate. Carpenter strikes out about the same number of batter per nine as Clemens while walking fewer. His fourteen homers allowed are still a very low number. And a big advantage is that Carpenter is able to start what he finishes. Each pitcher started 27 games so far this season, but Carpenter has six complete games to Clemens' 1.

So the voters have two worthy Cy Young candidates going head-to-head late in the season. Those voters on the fence can point to the result of this game as the reason to go one way or another. Unfortunately, it's not on the Extra-Innings package, and Fox doesn't appear to have a game scheduled for today. Maybe Fox should do a special and send a crew to Houston for tonight's contest.

Enjoy!

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Any game between NL East rivals is going to be important at this point. Tonight, the Phillies open a series in Washington and the Mets travel to Florida.

Since the start of August, the Phillies have gotten tremendous production from Abreu and Burrell, each with OBAs over .400 and slugging percentages over .500. They each have 22 RBI over that time period. The Nationals have hit Philadelphia well this season. They've outhomered them 13-5, but each team scored 50 runs in their 13 contests and Philadelphia leads the season series 7-6.

The Mets send Victor Zambrano against Dontrelle Willis in Miami. Willis is going for his 19th win and is the only reliable starter as of late for the Marlins. Dontrelle is 6-1 career vs. the Mets with a 2.04 ERA. His only loss came in May of this year.

The Twins get a chance to climb back into the Wild Card race as the open a three game series against the Indians. Former Indians ace C.C. Sabathia faces hard luck pitcher Brad Radke. Milliliter may be returning to form. He's allowed 7 earned runs in his last 27 innings. Radke has two wins in his last five starts, although the Twins won all those games.

Finally, a big wild card game on the west coast as the Yankees visit the Oakland Athletics. It could be that the A's have no hope without Crosby. The Athletics are 53-24 when Bobby plays, 22-34 without the young shortstop.

Enjoy!

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There's a good pitching matchup in Houston tonight as Aaron Harang faces Roy Oswalt. Harang is part of the resurgent Reds team that has one of the best records in baseball since the break. He's only allowed 2 runs in his last 14 innings pitched. Oswalt's been human lately with a 6.38 ERA over his last four starts.

The slugfest of the day goes to the Baltimore-Toronto game. A couple of months ago, this game looked like it would be an important one for the AL East race. Instead, tune in and watch hitters light up Hayden Penn and Dustin McGowen. Both have ERAs over 6.00.

Enjoy!

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With a win tonight against the Phillies, the Mets could find themselves leading the NL Wild Card race. New York will have their ace on the mound, Pedro Martinez as they host Phillies hurler Brett Myers. Brett's only had one good outing in August, a complete game victory against the Pirates. Otherwise, he's been quite hittable, allowing six home runs and a 5.01 ERA in the month.

Pedro is working on two straight six inning starts without allowing a run. He's pitched well against Philadelphia this season, winning both his starts and allowing just three runs in 13 innings.

On the west coast, Joe Blanton and John Lackey faced off as the Athletics and Angels battle for the AL West title. Blanton is on a roll, with an ERA of 1.00 over his last seven starts. With little support, however, his record is just 3-1. He's only given up 31 hits in his last 45 innings and overall the league is hitting just .237 against him. Lackey continues to stay near the top of the AL in strikeouts per nine innings. He and Johan Santana are the only qualifying starters above 9.0.

Finally, the past and the future meet in Seattle as Randy Johnson faces Felix Hernandez. It's been over six years since Johnson pitched in Seattle. His only start as an opponent in that city yielded a gem of a game. The new Seattle fireballer is already striking out better than nine per nine innings, and unlike the young Randy Johnson, this pitcher has control of the strikezone.

Enjoy!

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I'd like to apologize for not getting this up sooner, but due to technical difficulties the site was down most of the day. I've been away from a computer since 12:30 Eastern Time, so this is my first chance to update.

So short and sweet, watch the Phillies at the Mets with Tejada and Seo, Nationals at Braves with Patterson and Sosa, Dodgers at Cubs with Penny and Prior, Athletics at Angels with Zito vs. Colon and Diamondbacks at Padres with Vazquez and Peavy.

Enjoy!

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The Arizona Diamondbacks get a chance to gain ground on the Padres as the two teams go head-to-head in San Diego tonight. It might even be a high scoring game as Russ Ortiz faces Woody Williams, both pitchers with ERAs over five. The Diamondbacks currently trail San Diego by 5 1/2 games. Arizona leads the season series 7-6, although the Padres have outscored them 64-61.

There's an excellent pitching matchup in Florida as Chris Carpenter goes for his 19th win vs. A.J. Burnett of the Marlins. The Cardinals won the last 13 starts by Carpenter, and in 8 of those the team has allowed 1 run or less. Burnett had a personal seven game winning streak snapped by the Brewers his last time out. Marlins starters have given up 45 hits and 26 runs (20 earned) in their last six starts, 33 1/3 innings.

Enjoy!

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The LAnaheim Angels could go from first in the West to second in the wild card today. They'll face the Devil Rays, who have the best record in the AL East since the All-Star break. Mark Hendrickson throws for the Rays. Tampa Bay has won four of his last five starts, losing the best pitched game of the five. Jarrod Washburn will try to keep the Angels in first. Washburn has a 3.46 ERA over his last six starts, but the Angels have scored just 1 run in three of those.

The Oakland Athletics can knock them out of first place with a win over the Orioles, the team with the worst record in the AL East since the break. Danny Haren faces John Maine. Haren is coming off two poor starts. Even though he didn't issue any walks in the two games, he allowed 18 hits in 12 1/3 innings.

Looking to pass one or both of those teams is the New York Yankees. They'll go for the sweep of the Royals today as Al Leiter host Zach Greinke. Greinke's been inconsistent at best. A great start is often followed by a blow out. You just never know when the 21-year-old will have his good stuff. Leiter made his best start for the Yankees last time out, showing good control for once. He's been giving the Yankees five or six innings, allowing three runs, good enough for this team to win.

There are lots of great pitchers hurling today as well. Johan Santana, Roger Clemens, Mark Mulder, Tim Hudson, Josh Beckett and Carlos Zambrano are all in action this afternoon. Noah Lowry faces Kris Benson as Noah goes for pitcher of the month.

Enjoy!

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It a battle of generations in Chicago this afternoon as Dontrelle Willis faces Greg Maddux at Wrigley. The youngster goes for his 18th win and he's been nearly unbeatable in day game this season, going 5-1 with a 2.17 ERA. At 4.56, Maddux is posting his highest ERA since 1987.

The Indians try to put another nail in the Blue Jays playoff coffin today. Toronto was in a great position to lift themselves into the playoff picture, but lost seven of their last eight, with four of those losses at the hands of wild card leaders New York and Cleveland. They'll face Kevin Millwood. Kevin's received poor run support this season; the Indians have scored 66 runs with him on the mound while Kevin allowed 58. He's been especially hurt by this at home where he has a 3.24 ERA but a 2-7 record.

Enjoy!

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The Washington Nationals are hanging in the wild card race with the rest of the NL East. They'll have a big test tonight as they host the St. Louis Cardinals. Jeff Suppan faces Esteban Loaiza. Loaiza is helped by RFK, but not in the home run department. He's pitched just about the same number of innings home and road, allowing 8 homers in Washington vs. seven away. The big difference is hits allowed. Twenty-eight fewer hits have fallen in at RFK against the righty. Couple that with 12 fewer walks, and you have an ERA almost two runs lower at home. Suppan is coming off three good starts in which he's allowed 3 earned runs in 20 innings. He's only allowed one home run in that time.

It's an all-Hernandez night in Seattle as the White Sox take on the Mariners. Orlando Hernandez challenges the 19-year-old fireballer Felix Hernandez. Orlando's only won one game since the All-Star Break, despite lowering his ERA. Felix is wowing the baseball world with his ability to strike out batters and his control. He's yet to allow an extra-base hit. His BA, OBA and Slugging percentage allowed are all under .200.

Enjoy!

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It's a good day to take the afternoon off and watch baseball. All six daylight games have wild card and division implications.

The long awaited Chacin-Chacon matchup takes place in the Bronx this afternoon. Gustavo Chacin is coming off three straight no-decisions. He's going through a bit of a rough patch in August, as he did in may. In each month, his walks equaled his strikeouts. Shawn Chacon's slugging percentage allowed is 100 points lower since joining the Yankees.

Jon Garland faces Carlos Silva in the rubber game of the White Sox-Twins series. Garland is looking to tie Bartolo Colon, who picked up his 17th win last night. The White Sox have lost 4 of Garland's last five starts. Garland's posted a 4.41 ERA in that stretch, but pitched well in three of the games. Sliva is making the Greg Maddux of the mid-90's look like a wild man. Silva's only walked 8 batters this season.

Get to the Cardinals-Pirates game early to see the undercard. You'll also get to see the best team in the NL.

Curt Schilling returns to the lineup tonight for the rubber game of the Boston-Kansas City series. It's amazing that the Red Sox managed to lose a 11-inning squeaker 4-3 last night. The two bullpens put together eight scoreless innings before a walk, single, walk and sac fly ended the game in KC's favor. I wonder which way Bill James is rooting?

Finally, Pedro Martinez gets to see if the Mets can score 10+ runs for him as he goes for his 13th win against the Diamondbacks tonight. He'll be opposed by former New Yorker Javier Vazquez. Pedro's yet to win in August, despite leaving his last start with an 8-0 lead. In each game, either his offense or bullpen failed him. Vazquez can't find a middle ground. In his last eight starts, he's either been brilliant or terrible.

Enjoy!

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A good pitching matchup this afternoon in Chicago as Jorge Sosa faces Mark Prior. There's also a good triple crown matchup between Derrek Lee and Andruw Jones. Right now, it's Jones that is in first place in two of the three categories, home runs and RBI. It's unlikely that he'll raise his .272 BA high enough to take the crown. Lee only has 2 RBI in his last 10 games and is no longer in the top five in that category.

Chris Carpenter goes for win number 18 tonight in Pittsburgh. Kip Wells will try to hand Carpenter his fifth loss. Carpenter is 9-0 on the road this year with a 1.93 ERA. I looked to see where that ranks in relation to Clemens, and Roger has an 0.56 mark on the road. Any way you slice it, Roger is ahead of Chris for the NL Cy Young Award.

Enjoy!

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Zach Duke faces a tough test tonight as he faces the St. Louis Cardinals. The undefeated rookie, however, may be shelved soon. The Pirates are worrying about pushing him too much. He's already pitched more innings than in any season of his career.

It seems to me he's going to need to go 200 innings at some point. He's 22 years old; that's young, but he should be done growing. The Cubs were very careful with Mark Prior, it should be remembered, and he's wound up getting injured frequently anyway. I understand the Pirates wanting to preserve this rare resource, but it would be a shame to miss seeing him pitch the rest of the season.

The White Sox visit Minnesota this evening. Freddy Garcia faces Johan Santana in the AL pitching matchup of the day. The Twins have picked up five games over the their last 10, going 8-2 to the White Sox 3-7. They can reduce the gap between them and Chicago under double digits with a win tonight.

Santana's been back to his old self in his last two starts, striking out 19 batters and walking just 2 in 17 1/3 innings. Garcia has thrived on the road this year, posting a 9-1 record and a 2.58 ERA, third in the AL.

Power and control will be on display in San Diego as the 2005 NL ERA leader faces the 2004 NL ERA leader. Roger Clemens had his worst outing of the year last Thursday, allowing five runs in 6 1/3 innings. Still, his ERA is 1.53. Peavy is leading the majors in strikeouts per 9 and walks just over 2 per game.

Enjoy!

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For those looking for a little afternoon delight, the Dodgers and Marlins finish up their series as Dontrelle Willis goes for his 17th win. But since my Aunt Frances' birthday, Dontrelle has posted a 0.49 ERA, although his record is just 3-2.

The Toronto Blue Jays open an important four game series with the Yankees tonight. Toronto was in the thick of the wild card race when they were swept by the Tigers. With the Athletics losing two of three to the Royals over the weekend, the Blue Jays are still just five games back from first, 4 1/2 from the Yankees. Scott Downs takes the hill for the Blue Jays. Since moving to a starting role, Downs strikeouts have gone up. He struck out 15 in 25 innings as a reliever, but 24 in 24 2/3 innings as a starter. Jaret Wright makes his 2nd start since coming off the DL. He struck out two in 6 1/3 innings in his first outing. When his K level approach those of his 2004 season, I'll be willing to believe Wright is back.

Enjoy!

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The Mets can pass the Nationals today and move Washington into last place in the tight NL East with a win this afternoon. Kris Benson hosts Esteban Loaiza. The Nationals have scored four runs or less in each of Loaiza's last six starts. They've only allowed 5 runs in one of those, but have a 1-5 record in those games. Benson uses Shea to cover his weakness with the long ball. He's allowed 11 home runs in 50 2/3 innings on the road, just three dingers in 78 1/3 innings at Shea.

The Yankees send Randy Johnson to the mound to try to extend the White Sox losing streak to eight games. New York also sits 1/2 game behind the Athletics in the wild card chase, so a win this afternoon could put them back in front. Former Yankee Jose Contreras takes the hill for Chicago. Contreras shut the Yankees down for seven innings on August 9th, propelling Chicago to their penultimate victory 2-1. Johnson is making his 2nd start since skipping a turn in the rotation. The rest paid off against the Devil Rays; we'll see if it continues against the reeling White Sox.

Enjoy!

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Two pitchers with good ERAs but poor records face off in Florida today. Brad Penny pitches for the Dodgers against Brian Moehler of the Marlins. Moehler is now the sometimes fifth starter as McKeon is using days off to get more starts out of his big three. Moehler is just 1-6 at home despite a 3.01 ERA. Penny beat the Mets 2-1 his last time out, but he only allowed 1 run over seven innings in his previous start and a poor bullpen performance cost him the game.

The Twins have picked up six games on the White Sox as the two clubs have opposite six game streaks. Minnesota will be challenged tonight as Kyle Lohse host Felix Hernandez. The young strikeout king is going longer in games than most seasoned veterans. He's able to do it by being efficient. In his last two starts he's pitched 16 innings while throwing just 193 pitches, just 12 per inning. That's Maddux like.

Enjoy!

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The early game in Colorado should be an interesting pitching matchup. Mark Prior spins for the Cubs against Byung-Hyun Kim. Kim is a pitcher who can strike batters out at Coors. His record there this year is 3-5 with a 4.62 ERA, but better than his road mark. Prior has pitched poorly on the road this season, posting a 5.59 ERA and allowing many more hits. This could be a tough game for the Cubs.

Division leaders meet in Atlanta as Chan Ho Park and the Padres face Mike Hampton and the Braves. The Padres returned to 2 games under .500 with their loss last night but still have a three game lead in their division. They're trying to give away the division but no other team seems willing to take it.

The Yankees visit the south side of Chicago to face the White Sox. Last week, the two teams hooked up in a very low scoring series in which the White Sox took two of three. Chicago outscore New York 6-5 in the three games. Tonight should be a good duel as Mike Mussina takes on Jon Garland. Mussina's been a crap shoot this season. You'll get great starts like the one against the White Sox on the 8th, or poor ones like his start in Cleveland on August 3. Garland's making his 2nd try for his 17th win. His big improvement this season is the reduction of home runs allowed. He gave up 34 in 2004, only 17 so far this season.

Finally, some team's losing streak will end in Oakland tonight. They Athletics send Rich Harden to the mound to stop their four game streak, while the Royals counter with Mike Wood in an effort to end their 18 game skid. This is Wood's third start of the season. The good news is that he's only walked one batter in his two other starts. The bad news is that he's allowed 16 hits in 11 2/3 innings. Oakland lost the last three games Harden started, although he pitched well enough to win two of them. He's coming off a particularly tough loss against the Twins in which he allowed just one run over eight innings.

Enjoy!

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A huge double header in Philadelphia today as the Nationals and Phillies make up the rain out from the other day. Armas and Padilla are scheduled to face each other in game 1 with Drese and Lidle taking the mound in game two. If either team sweeps they'll be guaranteed at least a share of the wild card lead. The Nationals have out-homered the Phillies in their head-to-head matchups 13-4. Despite that, the Phillies lead the season series 6-5.

The Padres and Marlins compete in the pitching matchup of the day as Jake Peavy faces Josh Beckett. Peavy never seems to tire. If you look at his splits by pitch count, he never goes through a bad stretch. Beckett is a different pitching at home. Opponents are slugging just .296 against him at Dolphin Stadium vs. .400 on the road.

The Red Sox face the Angles in a possible post-season preview. Tim Wakefield faces Bartolo Colon. The real stars of this game are the power hitters, Vlad, Manny and Ortiz. It's tough to determine who is the best hitter among the three. Ortiz and Manny are more selective, but Vlad makes up for the lack of walks with hits. Their slugging percentages are within 5 points of each other. The difference in RBI is bases on the Red Sox putting on lots more base runners for Manny and Ortiz.

Don't forget that Roger Clemens and Zach Duke are pitching tonight, trying to continue their great seasons.

Enjoy!

Correction: Fixed the Phillies record against the Nationals.

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The Seattle Mariners extended the Royals losing streak to 17 games last night, but Kansas City won't get much time to think about it as they come back this afternoon to try to break the losing streak. D.J. Carrasco will attempt to spin a win vs. ageless lefty Jamie Moyer. The two sport nearly identical ERAs, but Moyer is 9-4 while Carrasco has won 5 and lost 6. Carrasco has walked almost as many as he's struck out, 40 BB to 41 K. Moyer's been unbeatable at home, posting a 6-0 record and a 2.87 ERA at Safeco.

Two great pitching matchups come up under the lights. In Houston, Zambrano of the year runner-up Carlos faces the Astros' Roy Oswalt. Zambrano is posting a 1.06 ERA in August and has not allowed a home run in three starts in the month. Oswalt is 10-1 at home with an ERA about .7 runs lower than on the road.

The other matchup pits Johan Santana vs. Mark Buehrle. The Twins took the first two games of this series and are now just five games out of the wild card. In his last four starts, Santana faced the Athletics, Red Sox and Yankees and the Twins took away three wins. The White Sox are just 3-5 in Buehrle's last eight starts, including a loss to the Royals. Buehrle's ERA in that period is 4.33, and he's only striking out 4.0 per 9.

Enjoy!

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Randy Johnson returns to the mound after a nine-day layoff to face the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Johnson pitched two poor games before being given a short vacation. Randy's been knocked around by the DRays this year, giving up 12 earned runs in 10 1/3 innings while striking out 11. While walking just one, he's allowed five homers to the bay side bombers.

I'm not sure how to call the Royals-Mariners game tonight. Given the ERAs of Greinke and Pineiro, you might think it will be a slugfest. But given the the two poor offenses involved, it could easily be a pitching duel. Greinke is just giving up a ton of hits, which is not surprising given that the Royals have the worst defensive efficiency rating in the AL. He's probably a better pitcher than his ERA indicates. Pineiro's main problem is the 20 home runs he's allowed.

Enjoy!

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The Nationals and Phillies face off in a wild card showdown this evening. Philadelphia trails the Astros by 1/2 game, and Washington is 1/2 game behind Philadelphia. Iron man Livan Hernandez takes the hill for the Nationals. After pitching in hard luck for most of July, Hernandez deserved his last two losses, giving up 9 earned runs in 11 2/3 innings on 22 hits and six walks. Brett Myers throws for Philadelphia. He has an interesting record at home where he's 7-1 despite a 4.14 ERA. On the road, he's just 3-4 with a great 2.67 ERA.

Toronto is still holding on to wild card hopes. They're six games behind the Athletics, and face the LAnaheim Angels tonight in the start of three game series. Gustavo Chacin continues to have a fine season, posting a 3.39 ERA. He's kept the ball in the park on the road, allowing just 3 of his 13 homers away from Skydome. He'll face Ervin Santana. Ervin's been magic since the break, posting a 3-1 record and a 2.59 ERA. It's not clear why he's been better since the break, except that many fewer hits are dropping in against him.

Enjoy!

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It's a tough choice for best pitching matchup of the day, but I'm going with Minnesota at Oakland. Carlos Silva pitched well over his last five starts but has no wins to show for it. The Twins only managed one in those starts. He's given up a home run in each start and 21 on the season to go with his 8 walks allowed. The A's lost Harden's last two starts. Although Rich gave up 8 earned runs in his last 12 2/3 innings, he's struck out 16. That indicated to me the last two games are just bad luck.

Pedro Martinez returns to where it all started, Los Angeles to face the Dodgers and Brad Penny. Pedro is coming off a rough start in San Diego after two tough luck losses. In five starts since the All-Star break he has a 4.09 ERA, mostly due to that last start. Penny is pitching better than his 5-7 record indicates. He's allowed 53 runs while his team has scored 72 while he's been in the game. Poor bullpen support?

Finally, the Cardinals and Cubs finish up their four game series with Matt Morris facing Mark Prior. Derrek Lee's done a good job in this series holding off the advance of Albert Pujols as both are in triple crown contention. Lee now has a 10 point lead in the batting race on Albert, and Pujols has a 4 RBI lead on Derrek. Lee trails Andruw Jones by two home runs, Pujols trails by four.

Enjoy!

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The White Sox and Red Sox continue their series at Fenway Park this evening. Jon Garland goes for his 17th win, and Tim Wakefield vies for number 12. Garland is equally good this year vs. lefties and righties, at least allowing them to reach base. The few home runs he's allowed have mostly come from lefties. Wakefield has an amazing left/right split for a right-handed pitcher. Lefties are hitting just .192 against Tim, while righties check in with a .292 BA. The averages for OBA and slugging show similar differences.

It's really unfair to throw a pitcher like Roger Clemens against a team like the Pirates. Then again, it's unfair to throw Clemens against any club at this point. Consider that Clemens had just one bad outing this season, a game against the Cardinals in which he gave up four runs in five innings. That start occurred right in the middle of his 23 starts. In the eleven starts before that he was 3-3 with a 1.30 ERA. In the eleven starts since he's 7-1 with a 1.08 ERA! Roger's allowed so few extra base hits that his slugging percentage allowed in just eleven points higher than his OBA allowed! It's a season for the ages.

Enjoy!

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A possible playoff preview in Boston this evening as the White Sox send Mark Buehrle to face David Wells. The White Sox just shut down the Yankees for three game and will try to do the same to the Red Sox. By allowing very few walks, Buehrle reduces a team's OBA to its batting average. In the case of the Red Sox, that's still very good. Boston is batting .313 in the month of August and .283 overall. Wells reduces an offense to its batting average as well. However, the balls put in play against David seem to be better at finding holes and fly farther.

The Pirates visit the Astros and send their pitching phenom, Zach Duke to the mound vs. Roy Oswalt in the duel of the night. The Astros took two out of three from Washington to put the Nationals three games back in the wild card race, and playing Pittsburgh this weekend gives them a chance to further solidify the lead. Duke had a relatively poor outing vs. the Dodgers his last time out, giving up four runs in 7 1/3 innings. But he still managed to strike out six while walking just two. The Astros lost Oswalt's last two starts. Roy's strikeouts were low in those two games, just seven in thirteen innings.

Philadelphia, just 2 1/2 games behind the Astros, travels to San Diego to face the rejuvenated Padres. Jon Lieber hurls for the Phillies. Since his 5-1 start, he's 5-9 with a 6.25 ERA. He's really been hurt by the long ball, giving up 19 home runs in his last 95 innings, 1.8 per 9. Jake Peavy takes the mound for the Padres. Jake's only allowed 14 home runs all season.

Enjoy!

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Rafael Palmeiro returns to the game this evening as the Baltimore Orioles host the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. There's a good possibility he won't play. One Baltimore writer is advising fans to stay away from the park tonight. There will be no news conference.

Many people are rightly upset with Palmeiro. Some are using his dishonesty to show that the 10-day suspension isn't enough. I disagree. Palmeiro's case is different because he so adamantly denied use. We're more upset at the lying than the use of the substance. The ten day suspension is an appropriate warning shot, especially to the young players. They see how the the media has gone from celebrating Palmeiro to treating him as a pariah. In one day he went from first ballot Hall of Famer to maybe never. That's a powerful message.

If you're looking for real baseball action, you might head to Texas where the Nationals and Astros play the rubber game of their series. It's close to a must win for Washington as they trail Houston by two games in the wild card race. Tony Armas faces Andy Pettitte. Armas is having control problems right now. He's walked 12 in his last 20 innings. Pettitte finally took a loss in his last outing when the Astros offense was shutout. He hasn't pitched a poor game since June 14th.

The Angels and Athletics split the first two games of their series, and winner tonight takes home the division lead. It's the battle of the B's as Paul Byrd faces Joe Blanton. The Angels and Athletics are two very close teams in terms of offense and pitching. The Angels have an edge in pitching, the A's in hitting. Both teams are great at putting the ball in play, ranking 13th and 14th in strikeouts. The A's have just two more hits than the Angels, but have outscored them by 27 runs. Why? The Athletics walked 92 more times. The Athletics realize the value of Scioscia's dictum to get the bat on the ball. But unlike the Angels, they understand that it's easier to put the bat on balls in the strike zone.

Enjoy!

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The only good thing about Kenny Rogers returning to pitch today is that he has to face Boston fans. I suspect they'll be very vocal against Mr. Rogers, and might even come up with an appropriate nickname for the lefty. The other good thing is that he has to face the Boston lineup, which might raise his ERA a bit.

Two teams trying to stay in contention send two good, young pitchers to the mound this evening as Arizona faces Florida. Brad Halsey starts for the Diamondbacks. He's pitched well over his last six starts, going 4-0 with a 2.09 ERA, allowing just 1 home run. Jason Vargas is off to a 2-0 start for his career. He's struck out 14 in 17 2/3 innings, leading to a .161 opponents batting average. He has walked eight, however, so his control needs a bit of work.

Enjoy!

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Two important games today that will help decide division and wild card races. The Nationals travel to the Juice Box to take on the NL wild card leading Houston Astros. Since the All-Star break, these teams have gone in very separate directions. The Nationals are 6-17, the worst record in the NL, while the Astros are 16-8, the best in the league. Jon Patterson faces Ezequiel Astacio. Patterson is Washington's best starter. Although you don't hear his name mentioned in the Cy Young race, Patterson is third in the NL in ERA. He hasn't lost at home this season, but he also hasn't won on the road. Astacio doesn't go deep in his starts, but he's pitched very well lately, lowering his ERA 4 1/2 runs in his last four outings.

It's an A+ matchup on the west coast as the Angels and Athletics battle for first place in Oakland. John Lackey takes the hill for LAnaheim against Rich Harden. Lackey is on a roll since the Angels gave him extended time off around the all-star break. He's 3-0 in four starts with a 1.33 ERA in that time, and struck out 33 batters in 27 innings. Harden is extremely effective vs. left-handed batters this year. Lefties have a lower slugging percentage against Rich (.260) than their OBA (.260)!

Enjoy!

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The Marlins make a special trip to Denver to makeup two games in one day. It's Kim day at Coors, as Sunny Kim and Byung-Hyun Kim are scheduled to start for the Rockies. This will be Sun Woo Kim's first start for the Rockies. It should be somewhat bothersome to Colorado management that S. Kim had a 10.38 ERA in Washington this season.

Byung-Hyun Kim, on the other hand, is pitching very well in Coors this season. He has a 4.11 ERA at home, and has struck out 47 in 50 1/3 innings there. It seems to me the way to be effective in Coors is to get a lot of strikeouts, preventing balls in play. The strikeout is difficult to get, however, because balls don't break well in the thin air. The unorthodox delivery of B. Kim could be making all the difference.

The big game of the night finds the Chicago White Sox visiting the Bronx as baseball's best team. They'll send ex-Yankee Orlando Hernandez against Mike Mussina. Hernandez's record is somewhat clouded by his home park. On the road, he's posted a 5-1 record and a 3.61 ERA. Opponents OBA is 60 points lower on the road, and their slugging percentage is 100 points lower. Mussina's done his best work at Yankee Stadium this season, posting a 3.03 ERA there vs. 4.97 on the road. For some reason, Mussina gives up many fewer hits in New York.

Enjoy!

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A nice pitching matchup in Washington this afternoon as Jake Peavy faces Esteban Loaiza. Peavy's pitching with a bruised finger, so he may come out of the game early. He's striking out over five times as many batters as he's walking, and lately it's been higher than that. In his last two starts he's struck out 19 and walked just 2. Loaiza saw the Nationals lose his last three starts. He's pitched well, however, posting a 3.60 ERA and striking out eleven while walking just 2.

Al Leiter returns to Skydome in what may be his last start for the Yankees. After his initial game against the Red Sox, Leiter has not pitched well. He has a 6.05 ERA with New York and is striking out less batters than he's walking. The Yankees are being supportive, but if he has another bad outing today, I don't see how they can keep him in the rotation if Pavano comes back.

The Braves and Cardinals finish up their three game series today with Jorge Sosa facing Chris Carpenter. Both have ERAs in the twos. Sosa, likely to wrest the coveted "Sosa of the Year" award from Sammy, improved since making the transition from reliever to starter. He's 5-1 in his new role, posting a 2.55 ERA. The Braves won his last seven starts. Sosa doesn't go deep in those games, but his five or six innings of work in that time gave him a 2.15 ERA.

The Cardinals last lost a game Chris Carpenter started on June 8th. He's posted a 0.83 ERA in that stretch while winning games by the scores of 2-1, 3-0 and 3-1 as well as a few blowouts.

Carpenter would be the leading Cy Young candidate except for Roger Clemens. The Rocket takes on the Giants this afternoon, a team that found a way to shut down the Astros offense. He'll face Brett Tomko, who's pitching better of late. In July and August he's posted a 3.48 ERA and only allowed 3 homers.

Finally, the matchup we've all been waiting for. I'm not sure ESPN HD can do it justice. Carlos Zambrano faces Victor Zambrano for title of World's greatest Zambrano. One would think the Cubs' ace would have a lock on the title. He's 42-33 for his career with a 3.25 ERA. Victor, is closer than you think, with a 42-36 career mark but a 4.40 ERA. Will Victor be victorious, or will Carlos carry the day?

Enjoy!

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The Pirates send Zach Duke to the mound against Odalis Perez and the Dodgers this afternoon. Duke is off to an impressive start for his career and won NL Rookie of the Month in July. (These awards are starting to proliferate. Next thing you know there will be an award for the player with the most awards. :-)) Duke's had his share of luck so far as the opposition is just 3 for 26 against him with runners in scoring position.

The Twins try to build on their blowout of the Red Sox last night, sending Johan Santana against David Wells in a battle of lefties. Wells put together five solid starts starting July 7th, going 3-1 with a 2.97 ERA in that time. Santana's strikeouts are down over his last five starts. At 5.8 per 9 IP, that's well below his career average of 9.6. It makes me wonder if there is some injury problem?

Enjoy!

Toronto opens an important three game series at Skydome this evening with the Yankees. The Blue Jays keep staying at the edge of the pennant race; close enough that a streak can move them up, far enough back that you don't know if they're for real. They've been consistently near .500 all year. Trailing the Yankees by 2 1/2 games in the wild card race (5 1/2 back of Oakland), they have a chance to pass New York this weekend.

Aaron Small faces Gustavo Chacin this evening in the first game of the series. Small's sample size is too small to say anything definitive, but he's won both his starts although he was not overly impressive in either. He's the opposite of Chacon; Small's gotten enough offensive and bullpen support to win.

Chacin is on a five game winning streak, and seems to be filling the role of staff ace in Halladay's absence. He just needs to become more efficient so he can go deeper in games.

The Braves visit the Cardinals in a matchup of the two winningest teams in the National League. Atlanta trails St. Louis by 5 1/2 games in the race for best record and home field in the playoffs. With the Cardinals still injured, it's a good time to gain ground for the post season.

John Smoltz will oppose Mark Mulder at Busch. Both are 12-5, but Smoltz's ERA is over a run lower. The big difference between the two pitchers are their strikeouts. Smoltz is striking out 6.5 per 9 and has a opposition BA of .239. Mulder is striking out just 4.8 per 9, and has an opposition BA of .278.

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The Tampa Bay Devil Rays continue to roll, winning their sixth in a row last night, an 8-5 win over the Texas Rangers. Since the end of their 10 game losing streak, the Devil Rays are 15-6, the third best record in the majors from July 9th on. They'll send Casey Fossum against Joaquin Benoit tonight. Fossum and Benoit both moved from the bullpen to the rotation this season. Fossum's 4-7 record starting belies the fact he's pitched well, posting a 3.81 ERA. Benoit was untouchable as a reliever, but he's given up the long ball as a starter. He only allowed one home run in 26 relief innings, but the opposition has hit 4 in 15 2/3 innings as a starter.

The Cubs and Phillies play the rubber game of their series with Mark Prior facing Brett Myers. Myers recovered from his horrible June with a 4-1 mark in July. It's not clear if Myers was doing anything differently in the two months, but many more hits were falling in safely in June. The Cubs have won Prior's last four starts. Mark has struck out 28 in that time frame, but his walks are a bit high, 10 in 28 innings.

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A nice pitching matchup in Cleveland tonight as Mike Mussina faces Cliff Lee. The Indians are just 1 1/2 games behind the Yankees in the wild card race. Mussina could easily be 3-0 over his last three starts as the Yankees scored just 1 run in two of them. The switch hitters on the Yankees may want to consider batting lefty against Lee. He's from the Tom Glavine school of lefties who do better against their opposite side. Cliff's BA, OBA and Slugging Pct. allowed are all higher vs. left handed batters.

Chan Ho Park makes his first start for the Padres tonight, and the Padres were nice enough to send him against the Pirates. The Pittsburgh offense is the 2nd lowest scoring in terms of runs per game. He'll face Dave Williams, whose 8-8 record is very impressive for such a poor team. His ERA, however, is 6.23 at PNC vs. 2.65 on the road.

The Orioles send their best starter against the Angels tonight to try to break their seven game losing streak. Erik Bedard is 0-2 in his three starts since returning from the DL, but with a 3.18 ERA. The Angels send John Lackey to the mound. Lackey pitched eight shutout innings in the 18 frame marathon against the Blue Jays last Thursday. Lackey is 2nd in the AL in K per 9 at 9.18.

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It's being billed as a battle of potential Cy Young candidates, but tonight's matching Florida's Dontrelle Willis and the Cardinals' Chris Carpenter is less than that. First of all, Roger Clemens at the moment looks like he'll win the award (he's also pitching tonight). Secondly, Willis' poor July might very well have cost him his chance in the race.

Still, it's a terrific matchup of two potential 20-game winners. Both are excellent at limiting the long ball. Dontrelle ranks 2nd in the NL in home runs per 9 IP, Carpenter fourth. It's one of the biggest areas of improvement from last year for both pitchers.

Baltimore goes from one division leader to another as the Orioles fly west to face another winged team, the LAnaheim Angels. It will be a weighty affair as Sidney Ponson faces Bartolo Colon. (In another rhyming match tonight, Seth McClung faces Chris Young.) Ponson tips the scales at 253, while Bartolo comes in at 250. We'll see if they have to build the mound back up in the middle of the game.

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It's quality, not quantity this August 1st. Only four games scheduled today, but they're all good ones.

It all gets started in Baltimore today as the White Sox go for a sweep of the Orioles. Chicago has scored twice as many runs as Baltimore in the series so far. Mark Buehrle takes the hill against Daniel Cabrera. Buehrle had a rough July, going just 3-1 with a 5.01 ERA. Still, he allowed just one homer in the month. Cabrera was just the opposite, posting a 2.53 ERA in July, despite giving up 20 walks in 34 innings.

The Pirates send pitcher of the month Zach Duke against the Braves to try to snap their five game losing streak. He'll face Tim Hudson. Duke's done every right so far; his strikeouts are high, his walks and homers are low, and the opposition is hitting just .048 against him with runners in scoring position. Hudson's been tough at Turner field this year, going 4-1 with a 2.70 ERA.

The Twins host the Athletics under the lights. It's the start of a four game series, and the Twins find themselves four games behind Oakland in the wild card race. On the morning of July 5th, Minnesota held a 6 1/2 game advantage Oakland. Since then, the A's have gone 18-5 to the Twins 8-16. Minnesota ace Johan Santana takes the mound against Joe Blanton. Santana's won three in a row, despite a dip in his strikeouts (just 11 in his last 19 innings). Blanton did not record a win in July after a 5-1 June. He's had back stiffness, which the A's are trying to fix by switching him from running to biking.

Finally, the St. Louis Cardinals return home to face the Florida Marlins. The Cardinals' lead in the NL Central is under 10 games, thanks to the incredible run by the Houston Astros. The Marlins are just 2 1/2 games behind the Astros for wild card. The Cardinals offense hasn't been hurt by all the injuries as they've average 8 runs a game over their last four contests. Miguel Cabrera's been the hot player for Florida. He's hit five home runs and driven in 11 during his 12 game hit streak.

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The Oakland Athletics are just 2 1/2 games behind the LAnaheim Angels going into action today. The Angels-Yankees game looks like a mismatch, as career minor leaguer Chris Bootcheck faces Randy Johnson. Bootcheck is making his first start of the season and only the second of his career. Johnson is coming off his best start of the season, eight shutout innings vs. the Twins, no walks and eleven strikeouts.

The Athletics face a former farmhand who is developing into the Tiger's ace. Jeremy Bonderman faces Kirk Saarloos this afternoon. Bonderman is 8-3 since June 1st, despite a 4.36 ERA. Saarloos is coming off two poor starts; he's allowed 9 earned runs in his last 11 1/3 innings. Given the Athletics scoring lately, he still could get a win pitching like that.

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The Washington Nationals send John Patterson to the mound against A.J. Burnett and the Marlins to try to stop their five game skid. At the beginning of the week, they were tied with the Braves for first in the NL East. Now, they're not even leading the wild card as they sit one game behind Houston. Burnett's improved with each start since returning from the DL, going seven strong innings vs. the Giants his last time out. Patterson has allowed no more than two runs in each of his last six starts, yet his record over that time is 1-0. The Nationals are only 2-4 in those games, wasting four good outings that should have them tied for first in the division.

Barry Zito tries to keep his winning streak going today as the Athletics host the Tigers and Nate Robertson. Through June 17th, Zito was 3-8 with a 4.66 ERA. Since then, he's won six in a row with a 1.61 ERA. He's not striking out as many batters, but he's giving up many fewer hits. You don't see that too often. Robertson and Zito have each been effective with men in scoring position this year. Zito ranks third in the AL with a .196 BA allowed, while Robertson is 6th at with a .214 BA allowed.

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There are lots of great contests today. The Diamondbacks and Cubs get us started early at Wrigley with Javier Vazquez facing Mark Prior. Vazquez appears to be bothered by the home run bug again. He gave up six in April and May, fourteen since. Prior has been lights out at Wrigley this season, posting a 1.89 ERA in 52 1/3 innings while striking out 60.

The Twins travel to Boston in third place in the wild card race. Both teams are feeling the heat from the Yankees as Boston hold just a 1 1/2 game lead in the AL East. Carlos Silva faces Wade Miller. We'll see how the Manny Ramirez situation plays out. I'm wondering if Francona will bench Manny today.

The LAnaheim Angels, fresh off a sweep by the Blue Jays come into Yankee Stadium to meet Mike Mussina on the mound. Mussina's allowed a mere .298 OBA in Yankee Stadium this season. The Angels send Ervin Santana against the Bronx Bombers. Santana got the win vs. NY in his last start, but his team's offense was really the difference. His wildness doesn't work well against the Yankees hitters.

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The Astros and Mets are 2-3 in the Wild Card standings as New York visits Houston for the start of a four game series. The Mets send their best to the mound to try to stop the Astros four game winning streak. Pedro Martinez faces Ezequiel Astacio. Astacio shows some promise as he starts his major league career. He's striking out almost 9 batters per 9 innings. The bad news is he's allowed 13 home runs in 31 2/3 innings. When batters do hit the ball, it tends to go a long way.

Opposing batters are just getting nowhere with Pedro. They have a .229 OBA against the righty, and a .297 slugging percentage. Imagine how long a hitter would last in the majors with those numbers.

The Yankees and Twins play the rubber game of their series this afternoon at Yankee Stadium. A win by the Twins ties them with Oakland for the wild card lead; a win by the Yankees puts them in 2nd place in the race ahead of Minnesota.

As the graphs at The Hardball Times show, the Yankees and Twins achieved their similar records through very different means. The Yankees do very well on the runs scored axes, while the Twins are near the top in pitching and defense. There are lots of different ways to win ballgames.

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The 50-50 San Diego Padres are facing the prospect of leading their division with a sub-.500 record. They've lost eight in a row and once again face a depleted St. Louis lineup. The Padres just are not delivering. They knocked out nine hits in 5 2/3 innings vs. Mulder last night, but came away with only two runs. Three double plays by the Cardinals helped. As you can see here, the hitters are just not hitting. Most of the regulars have on-base averages below .300.

The Padres will try to turn this around as Jake Peavy faces Jason Marquis. Peavy was shelled by the Mets in his last start and has been inconsistent since the start of June. The Padres need Jake to be a rock solid staff ace right now, and he's not getting the job done.

Marquis is the "hard luck" pitcher on the Cardinals staff. His ERA is 3rd among the five regular starters, but his 9-7 record less deserved than Mulder's 12-5. Although I suppose that things even out; his ERA is likely lower than it should be given his strikeouts, walks and home runs allowed. His DIPS is 5.10.

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The Twins and Yankees open a three game series that will help determine the AL wild card winner. Twins and Yankees are ranked 2 and 3 in the race, with Minnesota ahead of New York by 1/2 game. They'll start the set with their oldest veterans. Brad Radke takes the hill for the Twins. Radke continues his outstanding control, having walked just 1 batter in his last four starts, and 10 in 133 IP on the year. He'll face Randy Johnson. One reason for Johnson's poor season are the hits falling in against him. His batting average allowed is 70 points higher than last year.

The Nationals and Braves are tied for the NL East lead, and they'll send their aces to the mound as Livan Hernandez faces John Smoltz, two oldies but goodies. Washington is leading the season series 6-3. Livan is on a bit of a losing streak as the Nationals went down to defeat in his last 3 starts. Meanwhile, the Braves have won Smoltz's last eight starts.

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A nice pitching matchup in Milwaukee this evening as Brandon Webb and the Diamondbacks face Ben Sheets and the Brewers. The Diamondbacks are closing in on the Padres, while the Brewers are fighting to get back to .500 and back into the wild card race. Arizona lost the five starts by Webb, with Brandon picking up the decision in four of them. Webb has a 6.68 ERA over his last five starts, allowing 44 hits in 32 1/3 innings. Sheets over the same period has a 3.18 ERA, and has only walked 3 batters in his last 34 innings.

Just 1/2 game separate the Phillies and Astros in the NL wild card race as the two team meet tonight in Houston. Cory Lidle's strong start faded in the summer. In April and May, Lidle posted a 5-3 record and a 3.50 ERA. Since, he's 3-5 with a 5.49 ERA. Andy Pettitte, however, is in line for pitcher of the month honors with his 3-0 record and 1.08 ERA.

Finally, the Cleveland Indians travel to Oakland trailing the Athletics by 2 1/2 games in the wild card race. They'll send C.C. Sabathia against Barry Zito. Milliliter is not living up to his role as staff ace. He's allowed 24 hits in his last 15 1/3 innings. Zito, however, regained his ace form at the end of June. He's 5-0 with a 1.22 ERA over his last six starts, and has allowed just 25 hits in 44 1/3 innings. Cleveland has the worst BA vs. lefties in the AL, so that's another factor that should favor Oakland tonight.

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The odds look good for the Athletics sweeping the Rangers today. Rich Harden takes his 2.11 ERA to the mound against Chan Ho Park's 5.33. As I watch the Rangers free fall, I wonder how long Showalter and Hershiser will last. They have failed to add to last year's improvement. A loss to Oakland today pretty much buries them in both the AL West and Wild Card races. I haven't heard Buck's name on the list of managers on the hot seat, but since the break they've lost 6 of 7 to Oakland and 2 of 3 to the Yankees, two teams they needed to beat in the wild card race. That kid of performance should certainly put the manager's job on the line.

The Cubs and Cardinals play the rubber game of their series in stunning high definition this evening on ESPN. It's Prior vs. Suppan on the mound and Lee, Burnitz and Ramirez vs. Pujols, Edmonds and Walker at the plate. Since June 1, Ramirez and Lee each have 16 home runs and have combined to drive in 80.

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I'm about to hit the road for the morning, so a quick Games of the Day. The Twins play a pair against the Tigers today, and a sweep can put a little distance between them and the Yankees in the wild card race. Houston goes for their seventh consecutive win vs. reeling Washington. Chicago-Boston, Oakland-Texas and New York-LAnaheim all have implications in the AL division and wild card races.

The Braves-Diamondbacks should be a good matchup as Sosa faces Halsey. Sosa may be the luckiest starter on the Braves staff. He's walked 19 in 24 innings as a starter, yet has a 2.63 ERA and a 2-0 record. After going through a rough stretch, Halsey pitched two good games in a row, allowing just three runs in his last 13 2/3 innings.

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Houston sends its best pitcher to the mound tonight as Roger Clemens faces the Nationals and Ryan Drese at RFK. Clemens is working on a streak of seven straight games in which he's allowed 2 earned runs or less. He on track for another Cy Young award. Drese lowered his ERA three runs moving from Texas to Washington. The big difference is he's allowed 0 home runs, and his hits allowed in general are way down. He was allowing 12.4 hits per 9 with Texas, 7.9 with Washington. Is it better defense or better pitches?

The Cubs open a series in St. Louis trailing the Cardinals by 13. They're also 5 1/2 in the wild card race. With the Cardinals injured, the Cubs have a chance to gain ground in the Wild Card race and show the Cardinals that they are not invincible. They'll have a tough time tonight, however, as Chris Carpenter takes the mound for St. Louis against Carlos Zambrano.

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It looks like an even matchup in Detroit tonight as Johan Santana and the Twins visit Jason Johnson and the Tigers. Both pitchers sport 3.84 ERAs entering action today. They've allowed the same number of walks (although Santana pitched 9 1/3 more innings) and about the same number of home runs. But Santana has struck out nearly 90 more batters. I would think the resulting decrease in hits allowed would make a big difference in their ERAs.

Your pitching staff is in good shape when your second best pitcher has a 2.54 ERA, and Roy Oswalt gets to pitch in a friendly park tonight as Houston faces Washington at RFK. Esteban Loaiza takes the hill for the Nationals. Clemens and Oswalt are 1-3 in the NL in ERA, and with the month Andy Pettitte is having he may join them soon. Given Minute Maid's reputation as a hitter's haven, I'm surprised to see Roy with a 3.18 road ERA vs. 1.95 at home. Loaiza also finds success at home, with a 2.36 ERA in Washington vs. a 4.94 ERA on the road.

The big matchup of the night pits the first place Red Sox against the first place White Sox in Chicago. Matt Clement and Mark Buehrle oppose each other on the hill. This is the first time the possible playoff opponents meet this season. Boston boasts the 2nd best offense in the league, nearly tied with the Yankees. The White Sox trot out the best defense, with the lowest ERA in the league. The White Sox offense, however, is in the top half of the league, while the Red Sox rank 11th in ERA. That should give Chicago an edge in this series.

Finally, just one west coast game tonight as the Yankees face the LAnaheim Angels. Expect a lot of strikeouts as Randy Johnson faces Bartolo Colon. Colon's run into a bit of a wall lately, allowing 12 runs in his last 11 innings. Johnson won his last three and struck out 26 batters in 19 1/3 innings over that streak.

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There are two good examples of the importance of run support today. Nate Robertson faces Freddy Garcia as the Tigers and White Sox play the rubber game of their three game series. Robertson has a better ERA than Garcia, but is just 4-7, while Freddy is 9-3. Robertson's given up 51 runs, while the Tigers have scored 41 while he's been on the mound. Garcia, on the other hand, allowed 52 runs this year while the White Sox scored 83 for the pitcher.

That isn't the only difference, however. Robertson's allowed 12 unearned runs while Garica only seen two cross the plate. And Garica goes an inning deeper in games on average, giving the bullpen less of a chance to blow a lead.

In St. Louis, Ben Sheets faces Mark Mulder. Mulder is sporting a 10-5 record with a 4.13 ERA. Sheets is at 5-6 with a 3.45 ERA. Sheets allowed 43 runs this season, and his team scored 43 with him on the mound. For Mulder, those numbers are 59 and 77.

Which will win out? The better pitcher or the better offense? Enjoy!

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If you're interested in a little late afternoon slugfest, check out game 1 of the Astros-Pirates double header. Ezequiel Astacio brings his 9.47 ERA to PNC Park to face Ian Snell, a pitcher who walks as many as he strikes out (and he strikes out quite a few batters).

At the other extreme, Rich Harden tries to even the series with the Angels as he takes on Jarrod Washburn of the Angels. Washburn won two of his last three starts depite not getting out of the 6th inning. Harden's strength this season is his ability to get both lefties and righties out. Left-handed batters have a .264 OBA vs. the righty, while righties are getting on at a .258 clip.

AJ Burnett may be making his last start for the Marlins tonight, as he's the subject of lots of trade rumors. He's not exactly impressing anyone as the deadline approaches, posting a 7.04 ERA in July. He'll face Javier Vazquez and the Diamondbacks.

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Erick Bedard returns to the Orioles not a moment too soon as the Brids go head-to-head with the Twins in a game important in both the wild card and AL East races. He'll face Carlos Silva at the HHH Metrodome. Bedard last pitched on May 21st, and the Orioles have missed his 2.08 ERA. The Orioles are 22-27 since Eric's last start. The Twins find themselves tied with the Yankees for the wild card lead, and only 1/2 game in front of the Orioles. The Twins are just 3-7 over their last 10 games, including a 2-5 mark against the Angels. The Twins need to do better against the top AL teams if they're going far in the playoffs.

Later tonight, the red hot Athletics travel to LAnaheim to face the division leading Angels. Tonight's matchup favors the A's, as Kirk Saarloos faces Ervin "Magic" Santana. Santana's been hurt by allowing a home run every five innings. Saarloos has allowed fewer homers in more than twice as many innings. It's a three game series, so Oakland can pull within five of the Angels with a sweep.

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The Mets haven't generated much offense in the last two games against the Braves, and they may not need to this afternoon as Pedro Martinez takes the mound against Mike Hampton. Mike hasn't pitched in six weeks, but was having a great season before his injury. He has not allowed a run since May 3rd. Pedro's pitching against the Braves this season is right around his season averages; a high 2's ERA, lots of strikeouts and few walks.

The other superb matchup takes place in St. Louis where potential All-Star starter Roger Clemens takes on the actual All-Star starter Chris Carpenter. Roger's only allowed 2 home runs in his last 41 innings, over which time he has a 1.10 ERA. Carpenter's matched that (in 41 2/3 innings) and his ERA since 6/14 is just 0.43.

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The Yankees and Red Sox send their aces against each other this afternoon as Randy Johnson faces Matt Clement. Johnson hasn't pitched great against the Red Sox, but he's pitched well enough to be 2-0 in three starts. He's getting his strikeouts, but the selective Red Sox lineup is drawing walks against the Big Unit. Clement has only allowed 2 earned runs in 10 1/3 innings against New York despite allowing 10 hits and seven walks.

The Oakland Athletics can move into second place in the AL West today with a win over the Rangers. Kenny Rogers will face Joe Blanton. I believe this is the third day in a row I've seen Rogers listed as the starter. The Rangers offense is doing nothing against the A's starters in this series. Barry Zito copied Rich Harden last night and took a no-hitter into the eighth. The A's are outscoring their opponents by over two runs a game in July.

The Nationals started the second half by losing two games late, the opposite of how they played the first half. They'll send Esteban Loaiza against Chris Capuano today. Capuano is the de facto Brewers ace this season, even with Ben Sheets throwing a good game last night. Capuano is riding a five game winning streak, although he hasn't been outstanding in that streak, posting a 3.94 ERA with poor strikeout, walk and home run numbers.

Finally, the Angels try to make it three in a row over the Twins as both teams send their aces to the mound. All-Stars Bartolo Colon and Johan Santana go head-to-head this evening. Both pitchers are showing tremendous control this year. Each has walked 26 batters, and they only differ in innings pitched by 2/3 an inning.

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Rafael Palmeiro goes for 3000 hits tonight as the Orioles face the Mariners in Seattle. With a single last night, Palmeiro is sitting on 2999 safties. The O's picked up a game on both the AL East and Wild Card leaders last night and a win tonight can put them back in control of their playoff future.

The NL East continues to tighten, with seven games separating the five teams top to bottom. There's two good pitching matchups in the division today. The Marlins send Brian Moehler against Cory Lidle in Philadelphia. Moehler hasn't gone deep in games lately, not getting out of the sixth in five of his last eight starts. Lidle's on a hot streak, posting a 2.28 ERA over his last six games.

In New York, old teammates and golfing buddies Tom Glavine and John Smoltz face off against each other for the first time. Tom's been pounded by his old team this year, giving up 19 hits in 11 innings while posting an ERA of 9.00. Smoltz has handled the Mets just fine this season, striking out 19 in 14 innings and allowing a meager 1.93 ERA.

Enjoy!

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The Yankees invade Fenway for a four game series, just 2 1/2 games behind the division leading Red Sox. Mike Mussina and Bronson Arroyo oppose each other on the mound. This is Mike's fourth start against the Red Sox this year, and the results are not good. Mussina's allowed 23 hits and 7 walks in just 14 innings for a 7.07 ERA. Arroyo didn't do much better in his only start against the Yankees. It's really been an offensive battle when the two teams meet. Here's the Red Sox batters against the Yankees this season. Everyone with at least 10 PA has a better than .340 OBA. The Yankees haven't been quite that good, but they'll take that level of offense.

The White Sox have lost three in a row, a streak the Cleveland Indians will try to extend tonight. No one in the Central Division has been able to touch the Sox this season, as Chicago is 26-5 vs. the division. At eleven games out, Cleveland is going to need a sweep of this series if they really want to get back in the division race. Jose Contreras faces Kevin Millwood.

Booed all-star Kenny Rogers gets the nod from Texas despite pitching an inning on Tuesday as the Rangers face the surging Athletics. It looks like Texas is trying to get as many starts as possible from their slugging pitcher before the suspension kicks in. He'll face Rich Harden, who may be pulling a Jake Peavy. He doesn't have enough inning to qualify for the top five in ERA, but as he pitches more and more he'll catch up to the leaders. He's actually ahead of Rogers by .01 runs. Oakland is only 2 1/2 games behind Texas for 2nd in the West. A sweep puts them all alone in 2nd.

Finally, Arizona gets a chance to put a dent in San Diego's 5 1/2 game lead as they visit the Padres tonight. Neither team is playing very well lately. If one can take advantage of the other the Padres could solidify their lead or the DBacks can climb back into contention. Javier Vazquez faces Brian Lawrence tonight. Vazquez's great control is not translating into a great ERA as he's allowing lots of extra base hits. Brian Lawrence receives great defensive support. He's allowed no earned runs this season. But his offensive support leaves something to be desired, as he's been outscored 54-47 when he's on the mound.

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Oakland tries to make it 7 of 9 against the Chicago White Sox today as Danny Haren faces Freddy Garcia. Haren has not lost since May 26 at Tampa Bay. He's 6-0 with a 3.07 ERA since that loss and is only walking 1.1 per 9. The White Sox haven't lost a game that Garcia started since May 14th. Garcia has an 2.89 ERA in that stretch.

Enjoy!

Correction: It should have been 7 of 9, not 7 of 10.

I'm off to Orioles Park at Camden Yards for a reunion with my college roommates. I'll be in section 322 if you want to stop by.

The Phillies get the next chance to attempt to bring Washington back to the pack. They'll send Robinson Tejeda to the mound as they host the Nationals and Ryan Drese. It's one of a number of excellent pitching matchups today. Carlos Zambrano faces Dontrelle Willis as the Cubs visit the Marlins. The Athletics send Kirk Saarloos against Jon Garland. (We could have a 14 game winner tonight.) Cliff Lee of the Indians goes against Chien-Ming Wang in the Bronx. Even Roy Halladay vs. John Wasdin in Texas could be fun.

And finally, Mark Mulder returns to the Bay Area in what should have been the duel of the day. He'll face Jason Schmidt and the Giants in San Francisco. Mulder is winning, but not having a great year overall. You don't know if you're going to get the brilliant shut out or the four inning blowout from Mark this season. Schmidt's problems are clearly related to his control. His strikeouts are fine; he's walking a lot more batters than usual.

Enjoy!

Correction: That's Cliff Lee, not Carlos.

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An interesting pitching matchup in Florida. Victor Santos and Brian Moehler both have good ERAs (3.28 and 3.16) but losing records (2-8, 3-6). Santos has allowed 44 runs and the Brewers have only scored 36 for him. Moehler is similar, allowing 35 runs but having only 27 runs scored for him. I expect a low scoring game, and it would be appropriate if the bullpens get the decision.

The Red Sox and Orioles open a big four game series in Baltimore today. David Wells will face Daniel Cabrera. The Orioles are four games out after the Red Sox victory over Texas last night. Both these pitchers have ERAs over 5.00, but both are capable of dominating performances. Given the strength of the two offenses, I'm looking for a slugfest.

Enjoy!

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It's getaway day in LAnaheim as Johan Santana face Paul Byrd. Santana last won on June 8th, and in the four starts since gave up 12 walks and four home runs. Byrd's last four starts show a great combination of run support and good pitching. The Angels won all four games, and Byrd allowed just five earned runs in 31 innings for a 1.45 ERA, while the Angels scored a total of 26 runs.

The pitching matchup of the day is in Atlanta where Mark Prior and the Cubs take on John Smoltz and the Braves. Prior has not walked a batter since returning from the DL while striking out 10 in 11 innings. Smoltz is on a control tear of his own, striking out 29 and walking just 3 in his last 32 innings.

Enjoy!

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The Mets continue to try to climb out of the cellar in the NL East. They'll send their best pitcher, Pedro Martinez against Washington righty Esteban Loaiza. Esteban shows how much RFK can help pitchers; he's posted a 2.55 ERA at home, 5.24 on the road. Opponents OBA vs. Martinez is an amazingly low .221. That's the second best mark of his career, topped only by his 2000 .213 mark.

There's a very nice pitching matchup in Miami as eight-game winners Chris Capuano and Josh Beckett face off in the Brewers-Marlins tilt. Capuano is very good at getting himself out of jams this season. He puts lots of runners on with the bases empty (.357 OBA allowed with none on) but doesn't let them come around to score much (.204 BA allowed with runners in scoring position). Beckett is coming off six shutout innings in his debut from the disabled list. He's 6-1 with a 2.26 ERA at home this season and allowed a mere .273 slugging percentage at Dolphins Stadium.

The next team in Oakland's sights as they try to come back into contention is the Toronto Blue Jays. The Jays are 1 1/2 games in front of the Athletics in the wild card race. Danny Haren and Josh Towers open a three-game series between the two clubs tonight. Haren's won six in a row, and pitched well enough to win eight in a row. He's walked six in his last 59 2/3 innings.

Towers is having a season the reverse of Haren's. He started off 5-1, but since May 22nd he's 1-6 with a 5.36 ERA. His defense has been porous during that time, allowing 60 hits in 45 1/3 innings.

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The Baltimore Orioles begin an important week of baseball leading up to the All-Star break. With two games against the Yankees in New York and four game versus Boston in Baltimore, the O's are in a position to take back first place in the AL East. They'll start this after noon, sending Bruce Chen against emergency starter Tanyon Sturtze. With Pavano added to the list of hurting Yankees, Sturtze will pitch today and Randy Johnson goes on short rest tomorrow.

Sturtze's last start was on 8/11/2004 vs. the Texas Rangers. He pitched fine, lasting five innings and giving up two runs. If he only goes five innings today, who is going to bridge the gap between Sturtze and Gordon?

Chen last pitched June 25th and a toe injury and a rainout kept him on the roster while healing. Chen has a 1.80 ERA vs. the Yankees this year, striking out 9 and walking only 1 in 15 innings.

At the mid-way point of the season, the Mets and Nationals find themselves at opposite ends of the NL East. The Nats enjoy a five and a half game lead in the division and are 21 games above .500. The Mets are 10 games back, 1 game below break even. The two teams open a four game series today, which gives the Mets a chance to climb back into the division race. Kaz Ishii faces John Patterson. It really is a tale of two imported sluggers, however. The Mets signed Carlos Beltran in the off season, and his hitting is not what the Mets expected. His .318 OBA and .430 slugging percentage are both way below his norms. I heard Omar Minaya say Beltran is playing hurt; he had fluid drained from his knee last week. Maybe the Mets should give him two weeks off so he can come back and play like the slugger they expected to sign.

The Nationals picked up Jose Guillen after his release from Anaheim due to a run in with Mike Scioscia. Guillen is well above his career averages in OBA and Slugging. His power is being hurt by RFK; he has 1 home run at home, 16 on the road. These two should trade spaces on the All-Star team.

There's an excellent pitching matchup in Arizona tonight as Matt Morris of the Cardinals take on Brandon Webb of the Diamondbacks. Morris, at 9-1, enjoys great run support to go with his good pitching. The Cardinals have outscored their opponents 73-40 while Morris is on the mound. Webb's last three losses game in games that he pitched well enough to win. He could easily be 11-1. Webb's cut down his walks this season, even below his excellent rookie year of 2003.

Enjoy!

Correction: Guillen was not released from Anaheim, he was traded.

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Jon Garland became the first 13 game winner in the AL yesterday, and Dontrelle Willis goes for that goal in the NL. He'll take on the Mets and Victor Zambrano. After seven consecutive starts in the which the Mets scored 4 runs or less (they only scored four once), the offense got Victor 8 runs his last time out. So even though he has a 2.70 ERA since May 11, Zambrano is only 2-3 in that time period. Willis had his worst start of the year last time out vs. the Braves, giving up the most runs and most hits of any game he's pitched in 2005.

Victor's name sake Carlos Zambrano host the Washington Nationals and Ryan Drese in Chicago this afternoon. Drese pitched two great games in three starts for the Nationals so far. Both came in parks favorable to the pitcher. Zambrano's ERA looks high for someone who's given up a .212 batting average, but Carlos is allowing home runs at about twice the clip as his previous two seasons combined.

The release of Drese started a cascade of events in Texas that led to Kenny Rogers 20 game suspension. Of course, no one serves a suspension without an appeal, so Rogers will be on the mound in Seattle today to face Mariners and Jamie Moyer. The battle of the ancient lefties pits two pitchers who have combined in their careers for 383 wins. Moyer is just two away from 200. The forty-two year old appears to be nearing the end of his career. He had pitched 9 of ten years with an ERA under 4.00, but the last two season he's been well over 4.00. Rogers, at age 40, never came close to a 2.50 ERA before. He actions over the last two weeks, punching a water cooler and two cameramen put that great season in jeopardy.

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The Marlins and Mets continue their NL East series at Shea. Brian Moehler faces Kris Benson. Moehler is alternating good and bad starts lately, and not winning the good ones. He's due for a bad start today. Althought Benson is 3-1 at home and on the road, he pitches much better at Shea, only allowing 1 home in 38 1/3 innings there, compared to 8 home runs in 30 innings on the road.

The Athletics drew 10 walks last night enroute to a 6-2 victory over the White Sox. Kirk Saarloos tries to extend the A's winning streak to nine and bring them to the .500 mark against 12-3 Jon Garland tonight. Garland's luck ran both way recently. In his last start, he pitched great but was at the wrong end of a 2-0 Cubs shutout. Three starts ago he pitched poorly, but won the game 12-6 against the Diamondbacks. Garland keeps the free passes at a minimum, walking just 19 in 108 innings this season.

Saarloos gave up 4 runs on May 28th, then 3, 2, 1 and 0 in a complete game shutout vs. Mariners his last time out. Is it possible to allow negative runs in a game? He's also going on long rest here, last pitching on June 23rd.

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The big contests today are mostly in the NL East. The afternoon kicks off with a dandy pitching matchup at Wrigley as Livan Hernandez of the Nationals faces Mark Prior of the Cubs. Livan's last loss was on April 19th; the team has lost only one of his 13 starts since. Prior pitched well coming off the DL, shutting down the White Sox with six 1-hit innings.

In New York, the Marlins come to town with their pitching rotation back in order. Josh Beckett threw six 1-hit innings against the Braves last night in his return from injury. Today, A.J. Burnett takes on Tom Glavine. Burnett's 3.14 ERA is better than his 5-5 record. He needs to go longer than six innings more often. After two weak outings, Glavine is coming off a strong start against the Yankees. All three were on the road, and Tom's ERA drops two runs at Shea.

Finally, two hot teams clash in Oakland as the White Sox visit the Athletics. Jose Contreras takes on Rich Harden. Contreras may the running out of steam, as his June ERA was 5.81. Harden's only allowed 1 run in 12 innings since returning from the DL.

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Jon Lieber returns to New York to face the Mets and Pedro Martinez this afternoon. Lieber got off to a great start, going 4-1 with a 3.03 ERA in April, but since his record is 4-6 with an ERA twice his April number. Meanwhile, Pedro is being Pedro for the Mets; great record, great ERA, lots of strikeouts and he pitched well against the Yankees. This will be Pedro's seventh start under sunlight. He's only received one decision during the day (he's 1-0). That's surprising because the Mets offense is much better during the day (5.3 runs per game day, 4.1 at night). Pedro must have gotten the Mets of their bad days.

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Kerry Wood returns to the Cubs rotation this afternoon as Chicago host the Brewers and Ben Sheets. Wood missed two months with a strained right shoulder. Wood had control problems before the injury; he struck out 33 in 26 1/3 innings, but walked 14. Batters were hitting Kerry for power, as they combined to slug .535 vs. the righty. After three good starts, Sheets was roughed up by the Cubs last week in an 8-7 Milwaukee win. Sheets is having great success vs. lefties this season, while right-handers are giving him problems. In the same number of at bats, righties have seven more hits and double the homers (8-4).

The Astros send Roy Oswalt to the mound in Colorado vs. Byung-Hyun Kim. Kim ERA as a starter in Colorado this season is 2.78. Maybe the key to success at Coors is an unusual delivery. Roy's only pitched one game at Coors in his career, but it was a good one, allowing just 3 runs in seven innings.

Finally, the Athletics try to make it six in a row against the Mariners this evening. Ryan Franklin faces Kirk Saarloos. Kirk is having an excellent June, posting a 3-0 record and a 2.08 ERA despite just seven strikeouts in 26 innings. In nine games vs. the A's this season, the Mariners are batting just .239.

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The Detroit Tigers stand at .500 with 36-36 record and are only four games out of the wild card. Tonight's a good opportunity to prove they belong in the playoff hunt as Nate Robertson host Mark Buehrle and the Chicago White Sox. Robertson is only 3-5 but posesses a good ERA and is coming off a complete game win vs. the Twins. Depite a 2.95 ERA at home, he's yet to win at Comerica Park this season. Buehrle hasn't loss his since 2nd start in April. The lefty's been equally effective vs. batters from both sides of the plate.

Dontrelle Willis once again is called upon to pitch after a loss. He goes for win 13 tonight against the Braves. Jorge Sosa takes the mound for the Braves. Sosa is pitching much better as a starter than as a reliever. Notice how his walks are way down. Dontrelle is on a 19 innings scoreless streak.

Enjoy!

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Two weeks until the All-Star game, and it's all intra-league play from here on in. The Orioles host the Yankees tonight. Both teams are playing poorly; the Yankees are 2-5 over their last seven and the Orioles 1-6. The teams will send Carl Pavano Daniel Cabrera to the mound in a crucial series for both teams. Cabrera's era is three and a half points better at Camden Yards than on the road. Pavano is coming off two starts in which he allowed 11 earned runs in 12 innings.

An important wild card game in Boston as the Indians face the Red Sox. Millwood faces Arroyo. While Boston tries to keep their winning ways alive, the Indians are trying to knock off teams that could compete with them for the wild card. Kevin Millwood faces Bronson Arroyo. Millwood record of 2-5 doesn't reflect how well he's pitched this season. Arroyo's ERA is higher than it should be based on three bad outings. Take away those 19 earned runs in 12 1/3 innings and you have a pitcher with a 2.88 ERA.

Texas is on the brink of falling out of the NL West race. At this point, they're closer to third place Oakland than first place Anaheim. The get a chance to gain some ground as they host the Angels tonight. They'll have a tough time as the Angels send Bartolo Colon to the mound vs. C.J. Wilson. Colon is having a good year vs. the Rangers; in two starts he's struck out twelve and allowed only 1 home run to the powerful lineup, converting both starts into wins.

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Mark Prior pitches his first major league game in a month when he tries to help the Cubs take the rubber game of the match from cross town rivals and baseball's best team, the Chicago White Sox. He'll face one of the many outstanding Sox starters, Jon Garland. A win by Garland makes him the first pitcher to 13 this season. Since 1974, 14 pitchers have reached 13 wins before July 1, the last being Curt Schilling in 2002. Joaquin Andjuar did it twice (1984 and 1985). Garland's had a rough month, posting a 5.03 ERA over his last five starts. He's given up seven of his ten home runs in that time.

The nomination for slugfest of the day is Kansas City at Colorado. Both Jose Lima and "The Patriarch" Joe Kennedy each possess ERA's over 7.00. Lima's allowed 19 home runs in 2005, and has 7 games in which he's allowed multiple long balls. Kennedy's allowed a .334 batting average this season, and is less than three innings shy of qualifying for the worst BA allowed in the National League.

Finally, Kris Benson takes on Randy Johnson as the Mets attempt to sweep the Yankees in the Bronx. Benson needs to regain his ability to strikeout batters; he only has four over his last four starts. On the plus side, he's only walked three in that period. Randy Johnson looked like he put it all together until he ran into the Devil Rays buzz saw last Tuesday. Only a remarkable comeback by the Yankees kept him from taking the loss.

Willie Randolph already won the season series against his mentor. A sweep at his former home would only be icing on the cake.

Enjoy!

Correction: The Mets lead the season series with the Yankees 3-2 and need a win tonight to win it out right.

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The Mariners didn't have a problem generating offense at PETCO last night. They did it with short extra-base hits, banging out five doubles and three triples to go along with a Richie Sexson home run. The fourteen runs scored by Seattle last night was the most scored by a team at PETCO Park.

Today is shaping up to be more of a pitcher's duel as Aaron Sele faced Padres ace Jake Peavy. Sele is on a roll. Over his last seven starts he's posted a 1.75 ERA. He's doing it without striking out a lot of batters, but he's also kept the ball in park, allowing just three home runs. Peavy went through a rough patch the first two weeks of June, but broke out of it with eight scoreless innings vs. the Dodgers his last time out.

The Twins are only 3-7 over their last ten games and turn to Johan Santana to right the ship today. He'll face the Brewers' Toma Ohka in Milwaukee. Santana's opponents are actually getting on base less than they did against him last year, but they are hitting for more power, .373 vs. .315. That's moving the runners farther, leading to a higher ERA. Ohka's totally changed his control numbers in his first two starts for the Brewers. With the Nationals, he walked 27 and struck out 17. With Milwaukee, he's walked 1 and struck out 10. That's a much better formula for success.

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The Mets and Yankees resume their subway series with a dandy pitching matchup as Pedro Martinez faces Mike Mussina. Pedro is doing just about everything right this season; high strikeouts, low walks, low home runs allowed, and on top of that he's not giving up hits either. Although his ERA is slightly higher away from Shea, in many ways he's pitched better on the road. Mike's strikeout totals are growing. He's fanned 19 batters in his last 21 1/3 innings over three starts. He was averaging 5.8 K per 9 before that.

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Dontrelle Willis pitched seven shutout innings in his last start, but it wasn't enough to bring the Marlins a victory. With the Marlins on 24 inning scoreless streak, Dontrelle may need the best game of his season to win. He'll face Jorge Sosa, recently moved from the pen to the rotation due to the many Braves injuries. The Marlins need to be patient with Sosa, as he's walked 22 in 33 1/3 innings. Still, it hasn't hurt him much, as his ERA stands at 2.70.

The Tigers are only 2 1/2 games behind the Twins, and they'll send Jason Johnson to face Carlos Silva in Minnesota this afternoon. Johnson's improved his ERA each month this season and has a 1.82 ERA in June. The Twins have only scored six runs in their last four games and Lew Ford drove in half of those. It's been a team effort.

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In an odd bit of scheduling, the Devil Rays face the Yankees on a Wednesday afternoon in the middle of a four game series. The pitching match up of Kazmir and Pavano isn't all that compelling, but seeing how the two teams play after last night's 8th inning is. I'm sure the Yankees hitters can't wait to get back to the plate, while the Devil Rays barely had time to sleep off the loss.

Boston goes for a sweep of the Indians in Cleveland this evening. The Indians were the hottest team in the majors when the Red Sox came to town on Monday. The Tribe's pitching was superb during their 13-1 run, posting a 2.41 ERA. The Red Sox, however, can hit, and that same Cleveland staff allowed 18 runs in their 18 innings vs. Boston. The two victories moved the Red Sox into the lead for the AL Wild Card.

Tonight, Wade Miller faces Cliff Lee. Lee's big improvement this season is his control. He's issued just 23 walks in 83 2/3 innings. He walked over 4 per 9 innings through the 2004 season, just 2.5 this year.

Finally, Jason Schmidt and the Giants host the Diamondbacks this evening. There are lots of trade rumors surrounding Schmidt and teams will want to see if his last start vs. the Tigers (0 runs over 8 innings) was a turnaround or a fluke in a bad year. Jason's ERA against the Diamondbacks is 4.61 this season in two starts.

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Ryan Drese gets his second start for the Washington Nationals today as they continue their visit to Pittsburgh. Drese, after being released by the Rangers, pitched eight shutout innings against the Angels in his Nationals debut. He'll face struggling lefty Oliver Perez. Oliver looked like he turned things around in his first two June starts, but was pounded for six runs by the Yankees his last time out. He's been hit hard all year; opponents are slugging .505 against him vs. .359 in 2004.

The Blue Jays are trying to stay close in the AL East and will go for another win vs. the division leading Orioles this evening. Rodrigo Lopez faces Gustavo Chacin. Despite having identical 3-1 records, Lopez's ERA balloons three runs on the road, from 2.68 to 5.98. With four home runs allowed in 82 1/3 innings. Chacin is 2nd to Kenny Rogers in home runs allowed per 9 IP.

The Marlins and Braves offer the best pitching matchup of the evening as Burnett takes on Smoltz. Burnett is pitching better than his 4-4 record would indicate. Before getting the victory in the 15-5 blow out of the Cubs on the 15th, Burnett had pitched four games in a row in which he managed a no-decision, despite pitching well enough to win all of them. Smoltz can tell a similar story. A 3.14 ERA deserves better than a 6-5 record. The Braves have lost four games this season in which Smoltz pitched well enough to win.

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As the teams return to intraleague play, there are a number of exciting division and wild card matchups this evening.

The Red Sox and Indians each send a lefty to the mound as C.C. Sabathia host David Wells in Cleveland. Wells pitched in superb mode his last two starts, not allowing any runs in 15 innings and only five hits. He's 3-0 with a 0.00 ERA vs. NL teams this season. He's 2-4 with a 6.75 ERA vs. AL teams. There a deep chasm between what Sabathia's allowed with the bases empty and runners on. Opponents are hitting 99 points higher once men reach and up to .345 with men in scoring position.

The Rangers visit Anaheim to battle the Angels for first place in the AL West. Chris Young gets the nod for the Rangers. Chris only allowed four home runs this season. In his brief stint in the majors last year he gave up seven in just 36 1/3 innings. With his 2.78 ERA, the Rangers have two pitchers in the top 5 among AL leaders. An impressive feat given their home ballpark. The Angels send Paul Byrd to the mound. Byrd is getting pounded by lefties ths season, who are slugging .511 off the righty. Given the Rangers roster, Buck can't stack too many lefties into his lineup; looks like he can get five in there with switch hitters.

The other Los Angeles team, the Dodgers, travels out to San Diego to battle the Padres for the NL West. A sweep of the four game series would put LA 1/2 game behind San Diego. Brad Penny faces Jake Peavy this evening. Penny's given up 13 runs and 28 hits in his last 18 1/3 innings for a 6.38 June ERA. He's only walked 2 so his control is not the problem; he's just not fooling anybody. This will be Peavy's first start against the Dodgers this season. In nine starts against LA in his career, he's 3-1 with a 2.59 ERA.

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The Yankees go for the sweep today as they finish up their series with the Chicago Cubs. Sergio Mitre takes the mound for Chicago against Mike Mussina of the Yankees. Mitre enters the game with a 16 inning scoreless streak. In that time, he's allowed just seven hits and one walk while striking out nine. Mussina is coming off his best game of the season, a complete game shutout of the Pirates. Mussina's only walked 2 in his last 15 innings.

A good pitching matchup in Boston as well. Kip Wells of the Pirates faces Matt Clement of the Red Sox. Clement does not have a stellar record vs. the Bucs. In 19 starts he's just 7-6 vs. a Pirate team that has not been high caliber. His 4.58 ERA is strange given that:

• He's struck out quite a few Pirates.
• He gives up very few home runs.
• His walk total is a little high, but not given the number he's striking out.

Bad luck or bad defense?

Kip Wells success depends on keeping the opposition from getting hits. He's allowed a .342 OBA this season, but only a .244 batting average. People get on, but they don't move around the bases easily. That didn't work against the Yankees last time out, and it might not work against the Red Sox.

The Washington Nationals send Esteban Loaiza to the mound to prevent a sweep by the Texas Rangers. C.J. Wilson makes the first start of his major league career for the Rangers. Loaiza pitched eight games this year where his effort was good enough to win, but he ended up with a no decision. The bullpen's been fine, it's the offense that hasn't given him enough support, scoring just 25 runs in his 14 starts while he's been on the mound.

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Although we won't be seeing it in New England, Fox is carrying a great game this afternoon as Dontrelle Willis goes for his 12th win against John Lackey and the Angels. One of the things that's helped Dontrelle achieve those 11 wins is his results with men on base. The opposition is hitting just .188 with men on and .206 with men in scoring position. He's not allowed a hit with the bases loaded; batters are 0 for 5 with 1 walk and just two rbi. The Marlins have won just 6 of their last 17 games, and three of those wins were credited to Dontrelle.

John Lackey lowered his ERA from 5.61 at the end of April to 3.99 today. He's struck out 49 in 52 1/3 innings since the start of May.

Roy Halladay continues to pitch like a Cy Young award winner. He'll have a tough matchup today as the Blue Jays host Ben Sheets and the Brewers. Sheets has a losing record despite a good ERA. Sheets allowed 26 runs so far this season, but the Brewers only scored 19 while he was in the game. The last time Halladay allowed more than two runs in a game was May 4th. Since then he's made seven starts and posted a 0.97 ERA. Just two balls left the park against him in that span.

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There are so many good pitching matchups tonight, I'm only going to mention the Cubs at Yankees for its historical significance. Maybe Derrek Lee will call a shot!

The Diamondbacks play the Indians tonight, and Brad Halsey faces Cliff Lee in a battle of lefties. Halsey had some criticism of the Yankees farm system recently.

"You win 17 games and you can't even get an invite to spring training," Halsey said of the Yankees. "They don't know who a lot of their minor leaguers are, which is unfortunate."

When Halsey was promoted, he introduced himself to manager Joe Torre and pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre, and Halsey said neither recognized him. But that didn't bother him as much as the chatter he heard in the minors from prospects who wanted out because they knew their careers would be stifled if they didn't move up the ladder at a decent pace quickly.

Brad's been working with Mark Davis to correct his current slump. Meanwhile, Cliff Lee has become the Indians ace. Since May 11, Cliff has a 2.03 ERA and he's only allowed 3 home runs in his last seven starts.

The Nationals visit the penultimate team to play in Washington, the Texas Rangers. John Patterson goes against Kenny Rogers in a battle of pitchers with ERAs in the low twos. Rogers had his first bad outing of the year last time out vs. the Marlins, allowing a rare home runs. Patterson has allowed exactly 1 run in each of the three starts he's made since returning from his injury.

The Astros visit the Red Hot Royals this evening, and if a Friday night and Roger Clemens don't bring out the crowds, nothing will. Roger will face J.P. Howell, who pitched brilliantly in his ML debut, striking out eight in five innings.

The reeling Padres travel to the land of 10000 lakes to face the injury ridden Twins. Tim Stauffer hurls for the southern Californians. Like most Padre starters, Tim does not go deep into games and depends on the bullpen for his wins. Carlos Silva does not strike out many, but his walks and home runs allowed are so low, even all the balls in play don't hurt him much. It will be interesting to see how he does with a make shift middle infield this evening.

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Two matchups tonight pit aging veterans vs. young pitchers on the rise. In New York, it's a battle of struggling lefties as Oliver Perez faces Randy Johnson. At the start of the season, I would have looked forward to this game. Johnson, however, hasn't been right. His strikeouts are down, and his last start was his first dominating one since the end of April. He's already allowed 12 home runs after giving up 18 all of last season. And the move to Yankee Stadium should have lowered his homers allowed.

Oliver Perez is striking out a ton of batters, but when they make contact the balls are falling in. Perez's K per 9 in down this season, but still above 9 per 9 IP. Yet his batting average allowed is up sixty points! Is the Pittsburgh defense that much worse? He is allowed more long hits as well. He's given up 16 homers vs. 22 all last season. Both power lefties showed improvement in their previous starts; we'll see if it continues tonight.

John Smoltz and the Braves invade Cincinnati this evening to take on Brandon Claussen and the Reds. Smoltz's strikeouts are dropping. Over his last four starts his K per 9 is 5.3, and his ERA is 4.45. That's a bad sign. Claussen's been solid in three of his last four starts. He'll have to be if the Reds offense keeps struggling as they did against Boston.

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The Diamondbacks go for the sweep of the Chicago White Sox tonight. They'll send Russ Ortiz against 10-game winner Jon Garland. The DBacks have outscored the White Sox 18-5 in these two games. Ortiz is walking over 5 batters per 9 innings, one of six pitchers with 60 innings over 5.0. The White Sox are not much of a walking team, ranking 8th in the AL in drawing free passes, so at least Ortiz is playing to their strength. Garland is at the other end of the scale, walking only 1.46 per 9. It's a good thing, since the DBacks are 2nd in the NL in drawing walks. Take away the walks, and you reduce Arizona to it's batting average, which is a managable .264. Arizona has outwalked the White Sox 7-1 in this series so far.

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The Astros and Orioles offer one of the best pitching matchups of the day as Andy Pettitte faces Bruce Chen. With four innings tonight, Andy will match his total for last season. The difference in health can be seen in his control; he's walked about 1/2 the batters he did last season. Chen's been giving the Orioles solid six inning performances. He hasn't gotten solid relief from the bullpen, however, who have given up 20 earned runs in 26 2/3 inning in relief of Bruce.

The Mets visit the site of their 1973 World Series defeat. Leading 3 games to 2, the Mets lost games six and seven in Oakland to hand the A's their second world championship in their run of three. Reggie Jackson went 4 for 8 in the two games and Hunter out pitched Seaver in game six.

It won't be Hunter and Seaver tonight as Tom Glavine faces Joe Blanton. Blanton's already given up 11 homers this year and has more walks than strikeouts. Glavine's allowed a .356 BA and a .481 slugging percentage with men on base this season.

Enjoy!

1975 Will be revisited in Boston tonight as the Red Sox host the Reds in a rematch of the World Series of that year. And things are shaping up to be a slugfest. The Reds lead the majors with 22 home runs in the month of June. Red Sox starter Matt Clement gave up just 1 homer in April, 1 in May, but 3 in June. Reds starter Eric Milton has served up 22 gopher balls this season, four more than any other pitcher.

On the West Coast, a battle of first place clubs as the Angels host the Nationals. Vlad Guerrero gets to visit with some of his old teammates on the team formerly known as the Expos. Vlad is 5 for 12 since his return from the DL, but without an extra-base hit. Junior Spivey has a great line since joining the Nats; 1 for 6 with three walks and a homer for a .444 OBA and a .667 slugging percentage.

Enjoy!

Correction: As pointed out in the comments, Vlad had 2 walks since his return from the DL.

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A nice matchup in New York today as John Lackey and the Angels face Pedro Martinez and the Mets. Pedro pitched very well against the Angels during his stay in Boston, accumulating a 9-1 record with a 2.12 ERA. Watch Lackey starting around the fourth inning. His opponents start hitting him for power then. Their batting average goes up 28 points in innings 4-6 compared to innings 1-3, but their slugging percentage goes up over 100 points. John may not be changing his pitching pattern enough the second time through the order.

The Royals at the Diamondbacks offers a very good pitching matchup as D.J. Carrasco faces Brandon Webb. Although the Royals lost 3 of his 5 starts, Carrasco's had only one bad outing. He's allowed just 2 runs in his last 21 innings. Webb's been pounded by lefties this season. They're hitting .313 against him with a .494 slugging percentage. Six of the seven homers he's allowed came off the bats of lefty batters. The Royals could start up to six lefties against Webb today.

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The Yankees and Cardinals go at it again in St. Louis as two off season pickups face each other in a battle of lefties. Randy Johnson takes the hill against Mark Mulder. Johnson is not pitching badly but is certainly not dominant. In his last five outings, his time in the game is short,, his strikeouts are low, his hits allowed are high, and teams are scoring. Mulder hasn't been lights out either. He's had high moments (10 inning shutout) and low moments his last start against the Astros.

Two old lefties face each other in Miami as Kenny Rogers throws his league leading 1.62 ERA against the Marlins and Al Leiter. Rogers went seven innings in each of his last three starts, allowing 1 run in each. For Leiter, this is the first time in his career that he's had 20 or more innings pitched and walked more than he struck out.

The Best pitching matchup of the day is in Houston, where Toronto sends Gustavo Chacin against NL ERA leader Roger Clemens. Chacin ranks fifth in the AL in ERA, thanks to his ability to keep the ball in the park. He's allowed just four home runs this season and none in his last five starts. Clemens had his worst outing of the year in his last start, but won as the Astros finally gave him some run support. And as good as Chacin's been at keeping the ball in the park, Clemens has been better, allowing only three dingers all season.

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Tim Kurkjian looks at the history of the series.

I need to hit the road, so a short and sweet GOTD today.

The big game of the day find the Boston Red Sox visiting the Chicago Cubs for the first time since the 1918 World Series. WGN is doing a special 1/2 hour lead in to the game called Return of the Red Sox (1:30 PM Eastern for those you receive the channel). It's a good matchup as Bronson Arroyo face Greg Maddux.

The Yankees visit the Cardinals this evening. St. Louis is the one NL team that's had success against New York long term in the World Series. They've won three of the five series contested between the two teams.

A battle of first place teams in the West as the White Sox visit the Padres. They're also the best teams in one-run games, so maybe it will be a close one.

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Andy Pettitte makes a New York start this evening in a battle of veteran lefties. Tom Glavine opposes the former Yankee at Shea as the Mets host the Astros. Pettitte is pitching well, allowing under 2 walks per nine innings and less than a home run per 9. Of course, like Clemens, the Astros aren't scoring for Andy either, leading to his 3-6 record. Imagine what Pettitte and Clemens could do for the Yankees this year!

Piazza's wrist does not appear to be badly injured, but it's not clear when he'll play again. The Mets have a number of players on day-to-day status, so don't look for a lot of substitutions this evening. Glavine's season can be divided into two parts; through May 8th he was 1-4 with a 6.87 ERA. Since he's been 3-1 with a 2.16 ERA. Glavine cut his walks from 5.9 per nine in the early period to 1.4 per 9 in his last five starts.

The Twins go for a sweep of the Diamondbacks tonight in Phoenix as they send Kyle Lohse against Javier Vazquez. Lohse is pitching well after a terrible start. In his last six games he's posted a 2.70 ERA, lowering his ERA from 6.25 to 4.45. Vazquez, after a stretch of not giving up any long balls, he's allowed three in his last two starts. The Phillies got four runs off homers in Javier's last outing.

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Roy Halladay and Dontrelle Willis each attempt to become their league's first ten game winner today. Halladay gets the first shot, as the Blue Jays go for the sweep vs. the Cubs at Wrigley. Roy is on a five game winning streak in which he's posted a 0.68 ERA. He's allowed no home runs in his last four starts. He'll face Sergio Mitre. The youngster is not striking out batters this season; just 6 in 17 innings. The balls in play are finding holes as he's allowed the opposition a .325 batting average.

Willis faces the Mariners and Gil Meche. The Marlins are 2-11 over their last 13, including 5 one-run losses. They've been outscored 70-40 over that streak. Willis makes his third start of this downturn; he's 1-1 in the period, and could have won both games.

The best pitching matchup of the day is in Atlanta, where the Braves send Tim Hudson vs. the Angels' Kelvim Escobar. Hudson has pitched his best at Turner Field his season, allowing a 2.34 ERA vs. 3.93 on the road. He's allowed fewer baserunners and less extra-base hits at home despite facing more batters there. Escobar is making just his 7th start for the Angels, but in his previous six he's struck out 43 batters. Among pitchers with 36 innings, only Johan Santana strikes out more per 9 innings.

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The pitching matchup of the night takes place in New York where Roy Oswalt is scheduled to battle Pedro Martinez. Oswalt, like Clemens, is sometimes lacking in run support. Three times he's made starts in which the Astros were shutout, and once they scored just a single run. Pedro is on a Pedro roll, allowing just two runs in his last 23 innings while striking out 25 and walking just 1.

The Angels and Braves face off tonight in Atlanta, each without the services of their big slugger. Chipper Jones went on the DL yesteray. Wilson Betemit is filling in, and is off to a good start in June at 9 for 18. Garrett Anderson and Dallas McPherson picked up the power since Vlad's injury, each contributing eight extra-base hits since 5/21. McPherson batted just .218 before Guererro went down, .276 since with an excellent slugging percentage.

The battle of the Interleague Wild Cards takes place in Phoenix where the Diamondbacks host the Twins. Brad Radke will face Shawn Estes. Estes pitched one game this year in which he didn't walk a batter; Radke hurled nine such games. Morneau and Mauer returned against the Yankees, but neither are 100%. Mauer can pinch hit and Morneau can play the field. They'll be evaluated today and may be in the starting lineup.

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The NL East race is the closest I've seen in quite some time. All five teams are over .500, and 1 1/2 games separate the top team, Washington, from the bottom, the Marlins. The Phillies try to gain ground once again this afternoon as they host the Diamondbacks in the last game of their four game series. Brandon Webb will try to prevent the sweep and keep the Diamondbacks in second place in the NL West. Webb's control has returned this season. After walking 119 in 2004 and allowing a .353 OBA, he's only walked 22 so far this year and his OBA allowed is .321.

He'll face Cory Lidle. The Phillies have only lost one of Lidle's starts since April 25. Over those eight games, Lidle has only allowed 12 walks and 3 home runs.

The big game of the evening is the World Series rematch between the Boston Red Sox and the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals are once again the class of the NL, but the surging Cubs are cutting into their once comfortable lead. The Red Sox have work to do to get to the playoffs; they are second in the division and third in the wild card race.

Tim Wakefield faces off against Matt Morris. Wakefield isn't throwing the knuckler over the plate lately. In his last five starts he's walked 21 in 28 2/3 innings while striking out 17. That's led to a 1-4 record and a 7.85 ERA.

Matt Morris is undefeated at 6-0, although the Cardinals have lost all three games in which he didn't get a decision. The record isn't surprising, since Morris gets the best run support per 9 innings in the NL, 7.78. In fact, four Cardinals starters are in the top 12.

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Roger Clemens and Mark Mulder meet again this afternoon in Houston. The last time they faced off, Mulder threw a ten-inning shutout, only the 2nd in 15 years. Clemens continues to pitch amazingly well for any age. He also continues to lose or get no decisions. Clemens has allowed just 12 runs this season, but the Astros have scored only 16 with Roger on the mound. Four times he's started games in which the Astros failed to score at all.

Mulder's offense has scored 54 times with him on the mound, more than enough for the 33 runs Mark has seen cross the plate. Mulder has been vulnerable with men in scoring position this season, allowing a .321 BA and a .500 slugging percentage.

The Washington Nationals go for a sweep of the Marlins this afternoon. A.J. Burnett takes the hill against John Patterson. Both have sub-3.00 ERAs. Four of the five home runs hit against Burnett this season have come on the road. Patterson hasn't allowed any in his ballpark, and only one for the entire season so far.

Mark Buehrle goes for his 8th win as the unstoppable White Sox try to sweep the Indians. He'll face C.C. Sabathia. Buehrle is 1 1/3 innings behind Livan Hernandez for most innings pitched this century. The Indians have only scored 14 runs in losing their first four games in June.

Finally, Carlos Zambrano visits PETCO Park and Jake Peavy as the Cubs face the Padres. Zambrano allowed just 1 home run in his last six starts while striking out 41 in 41 1/3 innings. You can hit Peavy for power at PETCO this year; he's allowed a .410 slugging percentage at home vs. just .287 on the road.

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A nice matchup in Boston today as Bartolo Colon and the Angels face Bronson Arroyo and the Red Sox. If I worked for Elias, I'd wonder how many times pitchers with two O's in their first and last names have faced each other. The Red Sox are coming off two straight victories with late inning hits; a walk off homer by Ortiz Thursday and a bottom of the 8th tie-breaking double by Damon last night. Damon is hitting .407 from the 7th inning on this season (24/59).

Colon appears to have solved the problem that plagued him the last two seasons: home runs. In 2003-2004, he allowed 1.36 home runs per 9. This season, he's lowered that to 0.72 home runs per 9, nearly cutting it in half.

They'll play a double header in Philadelphia today, but it appears the teams are going for a split. Game 1 features Javier Vazquez vs. Vincente Padilla, while Buddy Myers hosts Russ Ortiz in game 2. I'd want my two best pitchers to face each other in game 1, then try to have my offense pound the weaker starter in game 2. The Diamondbacks have a good chance of beating Padilla with Ortiz, so why not try to beat Myers with Vazquez? (Assuming the Phillies cooperate.)

The Pirates try to continue their good play against the leaders of the NL East as they host Atlanta at PNC Park tonight. Kyle Davies has an impressive ERA in three starts for the Braves. He's striking out better than a batter an inning, but he's also giving up lots of hits to lefties and quite a few walks overall. I'm not sure he's as good as his ERA indicates. Mark Redman is posting the best ERA of his career. Like Colon, he's taking advantage of the drop in power this season. He's only allowed three home runs this season after giving up 28 in 2004.

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The Washington Nationals continue their quest for the NL title at RFK tonight. After taking three of four from the first place Braves, they'll host the first place Marlins in a three game set. It's a great matchup tonight, as Josh Beckett faces Livan Hernandez. Beckett is a different pitcher away from Miami. This season, his ERA is three runs higher, due mostly to his batting average allowed being 100 points higher. That is strange, however, because he strikes out batters at a higher rate on the road. Maybe it's harder to play defense away from Dolphins Stadium.

Livan Hernandez continues to be the iron man of the team and the league. His 82 1/3 innings is tied with Roy Oswalt for the NL lead, and Livan should have that to himself after tonight. Since the start of 2003, he leads all pitchers with 570 2/3 frames on the mound.

Two hot teams meet on the West Coast as the surging Cubs take on the May Maulers, the San Diego Padres. Derrek Lee continues to pound the ball; in six of his last seven games he's had multiple hits, a total of 19 (nearly three hits a game). Phil Nevin has a nine game hit streak for the Padres in which he's driven in 11 runs.

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The Red Sox and the Orioles finish up their four game series this afternoon at Fenway. With a victory today, the Orioles would take three out of four from the Red Sox, further cementing their lead in the AL East and giving them at least a 4 1/2 game cushion as they try to recover from their injuries. Hayden Penn faces Matt Clement. Clement is 6-0 and the Red Sox have lost only one of his last nine starts. He's been super at Fenway, posting a 2.86 ERA and walking just five in 34 2/3 innings. Shouldn't a pitcher named Penn be a reliever? :-)

It's DWI night in Pittsburgh as Dontrelle Willis faces Dave Williams. Williams doesn't go deep in games, but he's been effective. He averages just six innings a start. He had a very good month of May, going 4-1 with a 2.59 ERA. He only allowed 2 homers in 31 1/3 innings. Dontrelle lost two of his last three starts, but has pitched well nonetheless, raising his ERA from 1.08 to 1.67 over that time. Having allowed only two homers in 70 innings, the opposition is slugging just .291 vs. the D-Train in 2005.

Enjoy!

Randy Johnson faces D.J. Carrasco and the Royals this evening. This is a chance for Johnson to get back on track. The Royals offense is pitiful. They are scoring just 4.1 runs per game, third worst in the American League. They're also 4th in strikeouts, which should play to Randy's strength. In the 17 2/3 innings he's thrown so far this season, Carrasco's walks are down, but so are his strikeouts. He shut down the Angels and DRays, but was pounded by the Orioles. I would expect the Yankees to be more likely to pound him than not.

The Indians try to gain a little more ground on the Twins tonight as Cliff Lee faces Brad Radke. Lee has not allowed a home run in his last three starts. Brad's had a tough time away from the Metrodome this season. He has a 5.13 ERA and has allowed eight homers in 33 1/3 innings. The Indians have won 8 of their last 10 and have outscored their opponents 46-28 in that time.

Enjoy!

Brad Halsey returns to New York this evening as the Diamondbacks visit the Mets at Shea Stadium. Both teams are within three games of first place in their respective divisions. With Brad's ERA at 3.34, he's put up a better mark than any regular Yankees starter this season. Halsey has cut back on the walks this season; last year he issued 14 free passes in just 32 IP; in 2005, he's up to 12 in 59 1/3 frames.

He'll be opposed by Kris Benson. Since being ripped by his former team and New York pundits, Benson's posted a 3-0 record and a 2.29 ERA. He's walked too many in that time, but he's only allowed 1 home run.

The Indians are slowly chipping away at their division rivals, and get another chance to gain ground tonight as they face the Twins. They'll face Carlos Silva, one of the stingiest pitchers when it comes to walks on the Twins staff.

Four of the Twins' five starters -- Carlos Silva (.30), Brad Radke (.36), Johan Santana (1.19) and Kyle Lohse (1.65) are in the top 10 in the American League in fewest walks per nine innings.

The Twins also lead the majors by holding opponents to a .292 on-base percentage, as well as with a 3.68 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

Carlos goes against the big lefty, C.C. Sabathia. This will be Milliliter's fourth start against Minnesota this season. He's walked 10 in 18 2/3 innings against the Twins, 5 in 27 2/3 innings vs. all other clubs.

A very nice pitching matchup on the West Coast tonight as Wes Obermueller faces undefeated Jake Peavy. Obermueller started two games, fared poorly, went back to the bullpen, and now is in the rotation again. He's greatly improved in his last two starts, allowing just 1 run and five hits in fourteen innings. Peavy has not allowed a run in his last 17 innings pitched, including a bullpen saving complete game his last time out. He's striking out over six times the number of men he's walking this season.

Enjoy!

The Washington Nationals are going through a rough stretch right now, but at .500 they're hanging in the division race. Three and a half games behind the Braves and Marlins, they host Atlanta this afternoon in the nation's capital. Kyle Davies takes the mound for the Braves, and the rookie has not allowed a run in two five-inning starts. He's not being economical at all, going over 90 pitches in each start, but he has struck out 12 in 10 1/3 innings. Tomo Ohka hurls for Washington. Ohka has walked 21 and struck out 16 this season, but he's turned that around lately, striking out 6 and walking 2 in his last two appearances.

After sweeping the lowly Royals, the Angels fly to Chicago to play the top of the division as they face Mark Buehrle and the White Sox. Jarrod Washburn takes the hill for the Angels. Washburn's road ERA is 2.11, five runs lower than his home ERA this season. It's not clear why, but he's allowed many more hits in Anaheim. Buehrle's last start saw him go nine four-hit innings vs. the Angels, a game won 2-1 by Chicago in extra innings.

The big division battle of the day takes place at Fenway. The Red Sox retook 2nd place with two decisive wins over the New York Yankees. They stand three game behind the Orioles as the two teams open up a four game series. Rodrigo Lopez faces Bronson Arroyo. Lopez has tumbled in May after a fine start in April. He's pitched the same number of innings in both months, but his strikeouts have falled from 26 to 13. At the same time, he's doubled the number of homers allowed from 2 to 4. Arroyo's strikeouts have fallen precipitously from 7.2 K/9 in 2004 to 4.9 in 2005. So far it hasn't translated into a higher batting average allowed or ERA.

Enjoy!

The Phillies, despite their disappointing start, are only four games back in the NL East, although still in last place. Their division is proving to be very close this season. They go for their fourth win in a row and a sweep of the Braves this afternoon as they send Brett Myers against Tim Hudson. Myers comes into today 3rd in ERA and 2nd in strikeouts in the National League. His K/BB is 4.35, 5th in the NL. Lefties are hitting for power off Hudson his year, as he's allowing a .519 slugging percentage against the sinister hitters. It might be a good day for Jim Thome to show his power.

The Blue Jays are starting to fade in the AL East, and send Roy Halladay against Joe Mays of the Twins to try to stop the fall. Halladay is coming off his first long rest of the season; he hasn't pitched since May 21. He's currently fifth in the AL in ERA; the Blue Jays were trying to send him to the mound every fifth day, but a strained muscle sidelined him for a couple of days. It's a good plan as long as they can keep him healthy.

Mays is trying to get through the season with everyone putting the ball in play. He only has 18 strikeouts this season in 53 1/3 innings, but he's also only walked 12. He did have a complete game shutout vs. the Blue Jays 10 days ago, allowing only seven hits while striking out 2.

Enjoy!

The Yankees and Red Sox are streaking in different directions as they face each other in game two of their Memorial Day weekend series. The Yankees have won five in a row while the Sox are on a four game skid. Undefeated Matt Clement will face 4-2 Carl Pavano in a matchup of winter pickups. The Red Sox have only lost 1 of Clement's starts, his poorest of the season in which he allowed seven runs in 4 2/3 innings. Even in that one, however, the Red Sox scored eight to prevent Matt from taking the loss. Clement has only allowed two home runs this season, ranking him 2nd in the AL behind Kenny Rogers in home runs per 9 innings at 0.28.

Pavano is coming off back to back starts in which he lowered his ERA from 4.80 to 3.69. Clement's strength is Pavano's weakness. Only Lima and Radke in the AL have allowed more home runs this season than Carl's 11.

The surging Rangers and Chan Ho Park host the first place White Sox as Chicago continues their tour of the best in the west. Texas is on a seven game winning streak and will have to face 8-1 Jon Garland. While Park has shown flashes of excellence at times, he's mostly pitched well enough to keep the powerful Rangers offense in the game. Garland has been extremely effective vs. left-handed batters this season, allowing just a .241 BA, a .282 OBA and a meager .353 slugging percentage. He was equally effective against lefties and righties last year as well; he just allowed much higher averages.

Ben Sheets returns to the Brewers rotation this evening as the Brewers host the Astros. Milwaukee played well without Ben starting, going 19-14 in his absence. Keep an eye on Ben to see if the ear infection has effected his balance. He'll face Ezequiel Astacio who has so far posted a 10.61 ERA, 11.21 in his starts. He's allowed 8 homers in 18 2/3 innings, so if you like the long ball, Miller Park is the place to be tonight.

Enjoy!

The Red Sox hit New York tonight trailing the Yankees by 1/2 a game in the AL East. It will be a game of contrasts as Tim Wakefield faces Randy Johnson; lefty vs. righty and fast vs. slow. Johnson has struggled lately, only striking out 12 in his last 20 2/3 innings. Wakefield has become hittable himself, allowing 19 safties in his last two starts, and 11 runs in his last 12 innings pitched. Toss a coin, this could be a duel or a blow out.

The Dodgers visit the Diamondbacks for three games starting tonight, and the boys in blue need a sweep to pull even the snakes. Los Angeles sends their most consistent starter, Derek Lowe to the mound against Shawn Estes. Lowe's shown great control this season, walking just 14 in 65 2/3 innings. Estes has been very good at holding runners this season. There have only been two stolen base attempts against the lefties, and only one of them has succeeded.

Enjoy!

The Twins-Indians series keeps serving up gems. Tonight, Brad Radke takes on CC Sabathia. Radke's in a bit of a slump, having walked one batter in each of his last two starts, bringing his total to three for the year. :-) The Twins have given Milliliter trouble this season. He's walked five against Minnesota in 10 innings; he's walked five against all other opponents in 27 2/3 innings.

Toronto can move past the Red Sox into second place in the AL East with a win tonight. Gustavo Chacin hosts Wade Miller. The Blue Jays are hitting .335 with 11 homers against the Red Sox this season. Their nearly 7 runs a game vs. the Red Sox have allowed them to accumulate a 5-2 record head-to-head despite a 5.08 ERA.

The Padres try to take back the NL West lead against the Diamondbacks in Phoenix. It's an excellent pitching matchup as Jake Peavy face Brandon Webb. Both are undefeated, and both are pitching very well. Peavy needs to give the Padres a long outing tonight as the bullpen has been stretched very thin recently. Webb pitches well vs. the Padres but doesn't have much to show for it. His 2.96 ERA in seven starts only yielded him a 1-2 record. Peavy has a 6.94 ERA vs. the Diamondbacks, but pitched much better against them since the start of last year.

Enjoy!

A quick one today as I'm out for the rest of the morning. The Twins and Indians face off again today in game 3 of their 4 game series. Carlos Silva faces Kevin Millwood. They have nearly indentical ERAs, good enough to have won most of their games. But Silva has only gotten 23 runs in support, Millwood 21.

The Blue Jays try to gain another game on the Red Sox in a battle of fine youngsters as Bronson Arroyo faces Gustavo Chacin. Arroyo has already faced the Blue Jays twice this season and has allowed only 3 runs in 13 innings. Chacin has struggled in his last three starts, allowing 11 runs in 13 1/3 innings. Twenty five batters have reached by a hit or walk during that period.

San Diego and Arizona battle for first in the NL West again as Darrell May face Brad Halsey. This is May's third start of the year; he has a 5.19 ERA beginning the game as opposed to a 3.68 ERA in relief. After two mediocre outings, Halsey pitched a no-strikeout, no-walk game against the Astros in which he allowed just 1 run in seven innings.

Enjoy!

Another great pitching matchup in Florida tonight as Brett Myers faces Josh Beckett. Myers strikeouts are way up this season. Through 2004 he struck out 6.0 batters per 9. That's up to 10.3 per 9 this season. That's probably 1.3 hits per game that he's eliminating with his high K numbers. Beckett, with one home run allowed this season is first in the NL in HR per 9 at 0.16.

Sergio Mitre gets the pleasure of getting called up to face Roger Clemens as the Astros visit the Cubs. Mitre has been hittable in his brief major league appearances, allowing 71 hits in 51 1/3 innings. Clemens has only allowed 10 runs in his nine starts, but the Astros have only scored 14 with Clemens on the mound.

Enjoy!

If the Cleveland Indians are going to climb back into the AL playoff race, this week is a good time to start. They're 11 out of first in the Central but just six out of the wild card, and they're playing the leading Twins in a four game series. The Indians have held their own vs. the Twins this year, splitting six games so far. That's been a bit of luck as they've been outscored by Minnesota 25-17 in those games. Looks like it could be a high scoring contest tonight as Scott Elarton hosts Kyle Lohse. It seems balls in play off Elarton are turning into hits very easily, as opponents are batting .386 off Scott. Lohse had three bad outings to start the season, but has been bringing his ERA steadily down since then.

It's first vs. last in the NL East tonight as the Marlins host the Phillies. It's a good pitching matchup as Jon Lieber faces Dontrelle Willis. Lieber's ERA has ballooned 1.5 runs over his last two starts. It's not clear what's changed, except that more balls are falling in for hits. Willis has not lost at home this season, and is posting a 0.69 ERA in Miami.

Finally, first meets first as the White Sox travel to Anaheim to play the Angels. Jon Garland puts his 8-0 record on the line vs. a Vlad-less Angels lineup. Garland's done a very good job this season of having opponents put the ball in play to his fielders. Without a lot of strikeouts, the opposition is hitting only .220 off Jon. Given that the Angels live by putting the ball in play, this should be an interesting matchup. He'll be opposed by Ervin "Magic" Santana who was hammered by the Indians in his first start (and if you get hammered by the Indians, you must have been pitching badly).

Enjoy!

The first round of interleague play finishes up today. There is an excellent pitching matchup in the Sea World game as Casey Fossum of the Devil Rays takes on Brian Moehler of the Marlins. Moehler does not quite qualify for the ERA leader board at this point, but if he maintains his 2.17 ERA after today he'll be in the top 5. Never much of a strikeout pitcher, Moehler has gotten good defensive work behind him this year, lowering his hits allowed. Fossum has had great strikeout numbers working out of the bullpen; he needs to see if he can keep that going in his starts.

The Yankees hope they are still Pedro's daddy as The Bronx meets Queens in the rubber game of the first subway series of the year. Pedro had a cortisone shot this week; I don't know if he's hurting of if the shot will help his pitching. Carl Pavano, coming off a complete game shutout, will face the Mets. Pavano has had mixed success at Shea; he's 3-4 but with a 3.86 ERA. He hasn't lost in Queens since October of 2001, however.

Matt Clement tries to hold on to his perfect record aganst John Smoltz and the Atlanta Braves in Boston this afternoon. Clement was roughed up by the Athletics his last time out, but the Boston offense bailed him out in the 8th with four runs. Smoltz has not allowed a home run in his last six starts and has a 1.74 ERA over that time.

Enjoy!

It's tough to pick contests today, but I'll start with Washington at Toronto as Tony Armas, Jr. faces Roy Halladay. (Shouldn't MLB have changed the schedule to make Baltimore face Washington? And they could have send the Phillies against Toronto, since the Phillies were briefly called the Blue Jays and the two teams did meet in the World Series.)

Armas has pitched okay since coming off the DL. His strikeouts have not returned yet, however. Halladay has been up and down this season; six good starts, three poor ones. He has been in control, however, only walking 11 in 69 innings.

The Diamondbacks and Tigers look evenly matched today as Shawn Estes faces Nate Robertson. Estes usually needs a lot of bullpen help as he's usually has thrown over 90 pitches by the end of the 6th inning. Nate Robertson has been a victim of his defense this season. He's given up 10 unearned runs so far in 2005. It a big reason he has a good ERA but a poor record.

Enjoy!

It's the first day of interleague play and the regional rivalries are up. The Red Sox get to see a familar face this evening as Tim Hudson and the Braves visit Fenway. The Braves will face another league switcher, Wade Miller. Hudson has not fared well during the regular season at Fenway. He's 1-3 with an 8.53 ERA and has walked an amazing 16 batters in 19 innings. Miller has not had success vs. the Braves. He's 1-3 with an evil 6.66 ERA against Atlanta.

All eyes will be on Texas tonight as the Rangers host the Astros and Kenny Rogers looks to extend his 30 inning scoreless streak. Rogers has been depending on his defense quite a bit during this run, as he's only striking out 3.6 batters per 9 innings. The Astros will send Brandon Backe to the mound. Backe's coming off a shutout of the Giants.

The I-70 series also features a nice matchup as Mark Mulder and the Cardinals visit Zach Greinke and the Royals. Mulder's done a great job of keeping batters off base with walks (13 in 55 innings) and off the plate with homers (just 2 allowed so far). Greinke is 0-4 despite a 3.09 ERA, 6th best in the AL. Zach has allowed 19 runs, but his teammates have only scored four this season when he's been on the mound. That's 1.35 runs per 9. It's tough to win with that kind of offense behind you.

Enjoy!

The Devil Rays and Tigers finish up their series in Detroit with a nice matchup of young pitcher as Scott Kazmir faces Jeremy Bonderman. Kazmir is doing one thing poorly, walking batters. He's issuing free passes more than once every other inning. If Scott can get that down to 1 every three innings, it looks like he'll be fine. He has time to figure out that. That's what Bonderman did this season. Jeremy walked 3.4 per nine coming into 2005. This season, he's cut that to 2.3, and his ERA has dropped nearly two runs.

There's a matchup of former Yankees starters in Texas tonight as Brad Halsey and the Diamondbacks face Roger Clemens and the Astros. Clemens has gone at least seven innings in each start and has allowed 3 runs only once. Yet the Astros are only 3-5 in his starts. Halsey has faltered lately, with control becoming an issue. After walking 3 in his first six games, he's walked 8 in his last two.

Enjoy!

If you'd like to spend the afternoon watching offense, the Reds-Mets game may be the place to be. It's a battle of high ERA lefties as Eric Milton bring his 7.21 ERA to Shea to face Tom Glavine and his 5.77 earned run average. Glavine turned in his third good performance of the year against the Cardinals in his last start. But overall, Glavine has as many walks as strikeouts, and he's walking one every other inning. That combined with a .309 batting average allowed has been pretty deadly for the veteran.

Milton is coming off a drubbing at the hand of his former team, the Phillies. Once again, home runs are the problem. He allowed 43 last year in just over 200 innings. The 14 he's allowed this year put him on a pace to allow 64 over 200 innings. Of course, if he continues to pitch this badly, it's unlikely he'll be around to toss that many frames.

Atlanta and San Diego resume their battle of the first place teams as the Braves send Horacio Ramirez to face Adam Eaton. With their win last night, San Diego now has the best record in the majors in 1-run games, 12-3. Eaton has pitched well, but he's also need help from the pen as he's averaged less than six innings a start. Ramirez is not striking out batters. His 3.74 per nine is below the point most pitchers are successful. Luckily, he has a defense behind him that is very good at turning batted balls into outs.

Finally, Milwaukee at Washington offers two teams doing better than expected. The Nationals are in third place, only two games back, and the Brewers are in 2nd place in the NL Central, five back of the Cardinals. Esteban Loaiza has pitched well but not won this season. He's only allowed 21 runs in his eight starts, but the team has only scored 13 times when he's on the mound. Esteban is going to need to start throwing shutouts. The Brewers are 6-2 when Chris Capuano starts, although he's not always around for the decision. He's been solid, but the Brewer's great bullpen has helped him out. The Milwaukee pen has posted a 2.28 ERA in Capuano's starts, allowing just 18 hits in 23 2/3 innings.

Enjoy!

Baseball fans have two chances to see a pitcher go 8-0 tonight. Jon Garland goes first as the White Sox host Texas and Pedro Astacio. Garland has done a remarkable job not only keeping hitters off base, but keeping them out of scoring position. Opponents have had 190 AB against Jon, but only 69 with runners on and only 35 with men in scoring position. (In general, AB with runners on make up a little less than half the at bats.) Astacio has also had few opponent at bats with men on (63) but he's been hammered in that situation, giving up a .365 BA and a .651 slugging percentage. He's giving up long hits when they can do the most damage.

The last game of the night features Dontrelle Willis going for his 8th win in 8 starts. Ken Rosenthal offers some insight into Dontrelle's improvement:

The biggest difference in Marlins LHP Dontrelle Willis is that he is pounding righthanders inside, holding them to a .196 batting average compared with .288 last season. Willis worked with new pitching coach Mark Wiley in spring training to keep his chin in line when throwing to righties. By going inside on them, Willis opens up the outside corner, adding to his effectiveness. He also is changing speeds on his fastball, showing an 87-mph batting practice version on occasion.

Dontrelle is extremely effective against lefties so far this season as well, allowing a meager .184 batting average aganist the few who dare face him.

Derek Lowe is running into bad luck again. His K, BB and HR number are all fine to good. His defense let him down in his last start, and his run support of 3.12 per 9 innnings leaves his record at 2-4 despite a 2.94 ERA.

Enjoy!

The Texas Rangers make their way north to Chicago this evening to face the White Sox. Chan Ho Park will take on Orlando Hernandez. The Rangers have won Park's last four starts and have scored 38 runs over that stretch. This helped cover up Park's control problems which resulted in 16 walks in his last 23 innings. The White Sox have won El Duque's last five starts, but the average score was 4.2-2.4. Orlando has only allowed 2 home runs all season, and ranks 5th in the AL in HR allowed per 9 innings at 0.42.

There are two games with consequences for the NL East and NL West this evening. The Braves visit the Padres as John Thomson faces Padre rookie Tim Stauffer. Stauffer got the win in his major league debut against Cincinnati, but it wasn't that impressive a start. Adam LaRoche is hitting .359 in May after a .206 BA in April. He's tied for 8th in the NL with 27 RBI; he's hitting .354 with runners on and four of his six homers have come with men on base.

Both teams will be keeping an eye on the score board to see how the Marlins play the Dodgers in Los Angeles. Brian Moehler faces former Fish Brad Penny. Moehler has been very effective as both a starter and reliever this season. In his four starts, he has a 1.99 ERA. Penny's made two good starts and two bad ones. He's coming off a pounding at the hands of the Cardinals in which he gave up 12 hits in 4 2/3 innings.

Enjoy!

I had a nice time at the Nationals game last night, despite the nearly three hour rain delay before the contest started. I'll have more on that later and all the unexpected people I met. I'm about to drive back to Massachusetts, so blogging will be light again today. So a very abbreviated games of the day:

Toronto at Cleveland
Texas at Minnesota
Baltimore at Chicago White Sox

I'll be back tonight.

The Detroit Tigers have handled the LAAOA pretty well so far, taking two of three and posting a 2.08 ERA vs. the Angels. Today, Bartolo Colon faces Jeremy Bonderman in the Motor City. Bonderman picked up his first win against the Angels on May 7, his last start. Bonderman has cut his home runs allowed by 1/2 a homer per 9 this season and has become a first class starter. Colon has nearly identical K, BB and HR rates and hasn't walked a batter in his last two starts.

Pedro Martinez will try to match Tom Glavine's great start from last night as St. Louis continues to play without Scott Rolen, who had surgery yesterday. Pedro will face Mark Mulder, who is proving to be worth the trade to the Cardinals. His hits per 9, BB per 9 and HR per 9 are all down from last season.

In Minnesota, the Rangers try to win game 2 of the series against the Twins. They got to Joe Nathan last night, scoring the first earned runs of the season off the closer in extra innings for a 9-6 victory. The Rangers will send the AL ERA leader, Kenny Rogers, to the mound tonight against the Twins. He'll face Carlos Silva. Rogers has only allowed 1 home run in 45 1/3 innings this season, third best in the AL. Keeping the ball in the park, the 18 walks he's allowed haven't hurt him that much. Silva is winning the competition among the Twins starters to see who can walk the fewest batters this season. (I get the feeling the Twins pitchers are fined $10000 every time they walk a batter :-)) He's only walked 1 in 36 innings. Three Twins starters are walking fewer than a batter per 9.

Enjoy!

Two of the best teams of May meet this evening as the Milwaukee Brewers visit the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Brewers sport a 7-3 record in May and can thank a powerful offense for the surge. The Brewers in these ten games have a .388 OBA and a .496 slugging percentage. While Lyle Overbay continues to lead the charge, Carlos Lee has come out of his slump and has 3 homers and 14 RBI so far this month.

The Pirates are 7-4 in May and they've been scoring runs purely on power. Pittsburgh leads the majors with 21 homers in the month, and they've only allowed 8. Ward and Bay have combined to hit 9 of those.

The Dodgers move from one first place team to another as the Braves visit the city of Angels. Horacio Ramirez faces Jeff Weaver. Ramirez is coming off his first good start of the year in which he pitched seven shutout innings vs. the Astros. Weaver has a high ERA for a 4-2 record, but that's a result of two horrible starts. It looks like you don't know what you'll get from Jeff this season; a shutout or an 8-run blow out seems equally likely.

Finally, the Fish try not to become tacos as they visit the Padres. Beckett starts the day with a 2.14 ERA, 5th in the NL. He'll face Adam Eaton. Eaton has been the beneficiary of some good bullpen work this season. In three of his seven starts, the pen has pitched at least 4 1/3 scoreless innings.

Enjoy!

The Dodgers try to earn a split today with the St. Louis Cardinals as they finish up their four-game series. Lowe will face Carpenter. Lowe is 2-3 despite an excellent 2.87 ERA. Lowe had defensive bad luck with the Red Sox in 2004, and he's having offensive bad luck with the Dodgers in 2005. Most of Carpenter's starts have been good; his higher ERA is a result of pitching badly in his two losses.

The Orioles, fresh off defeating the Twins two out of three, visit the White Sox in the other battle of division leaders. Bruce Chen will battle undefeated Jon Garland. Garland has been both good and lucky this season. His first five starts each showed improvement, then he got hammered in start six. But the White Sox offense picked him up, scoring 10 runs to give Jon the victory. Lefties are hitting Chen so far this season. He's allowed a .333 BA to lefties, but a .214 BA to righties. Chen may be one of those reverse lefties like Tommy John and Tom Glavine, whose best pitch runs away from righties but right into the hitting zone for a lefty. I'd love to see Guillen start a lefty lineup against Chen tonight to see what happens.

Enjoy!

The Twins and the Orioles play the rubber game of their series with a dandy pitching matchup as Johan Santana faces Sir Sidney Ponson. Santana has been brilliant in his last three starts, pitching 25 innings and allowing just four runs. He's lowered his ERA from 4.32 to 2.88. Ponson is on a roll of one good, one poor game. If he can make it two good ones in a row he'll match Daniel Cabrera on the improving rotation.

Dontrelle Willis goes for his 7th win tonight against Roy Oswalt and the Houston Astros. Willis has only given up two hits and a walk so far this season with men in scoring position, good for a .077 BA and a .111 OBA. It a great combination of not many times in the situation and great pitching when he is. Oswalt has pitched well against the 2nd tier of the NL Central, going 4-1 with a 2.31 ERA vs. Cincinnati, Chicago, Milwaukee and Pittsburgh. But against division leaders St. Louis and Atlanta he's 0-2 and has allowed 13 earned runs in 11 IP. The Marlins are in this league of teams.

Finally, the Dodgers send Brad Penny vs. the Cardinal and Jeff Suppan. Penny had a rough first start in Colorado, but hasn't allowed a run since returning to lower altitudes. The first place teams have split the first two games of the series. Reggie Sanders had two more homers last night to tie his teammate Albert Pujols for 2nd in the NL with 9. Sanders is slugging well over .600 for the season, and 14 of his 25 hits have gone for extra bases.

Enjoy!

The Twins and Orioles continue to supply compelling pitching matchups. Veteran Brad Radke faces youngster Eric Bedard. Bedard's improvement has come from reducing the number of walks he's issued, just 7 in 39 2/3 innings. Radke learned that lesson a long time ago and has only walked 1 all season. If you want to see the ball in play, tune to this game.

Tony Armas returns to the National's rotation as they face Shawn Estes and the Diamondbacks. Both teams are off to good starts considering how poorly they played last season. Armas can boost a team who's ERA is 15th in the majors and make them that much more competitive.

Enjoy!

I just lost the whole post. So, a quick summary.

Twins at Orioles: Carlos Silva is allowing a lot of balls in play, as he's neither striking out nor walking many batters. Convertional wisdom is that you can't survive as a pitcher unless you strikeout at least 4.5 per game. Daniel Cabrera is doing the opposite, striking out and walking lots of batters. That worked in his last start against the Blue Jays.

Astros at Marlins: Pitchers duel between Clemens and Burnett. Clemens has gone exactly seven inning in each of his starts and has only allowed 2 solo homers this season. Burnett, a righty, has been extremely effective vs. left-handed batters.

Detroit at Texas: Three hot hitters to watch in this game are Teixeira, Soriano and Guillen. The move to the #5 spot in the order was good for Alfonso; he has 26 runs+rbi batting fifth (35 AB) and 23 from the lead off slot (98 AB).

Enjoy!

I have to rush to the airport, but keep your eye on the White Sox vs. the Blue Jays today as Buehrle faces Chacin. Mark has one of the highest ERAs on the White Sox staff at 4.00, showing how well those starters are pitching.

The other Chicago team also offers an excellent matchup as Brett Myers faces Carlos Zambrano on the North Side.

Enjoy!

Jon Lieber returns to Chicago to face the Cubs and Glendon Rusch. It's amazing that with Lieber and Meyers the Phillies aren't doing better. They're going to need to find offense to support the rest of the staff. Rusch is making his first start of the year. His ERA is very good, but he's walked 10 and and allowed 18 hits in 15 1/3 inning. He's been good (or lucky) with runners in scoring position; opponents are just 4 for 24 against him in that situation.

On the West Coast, the Tigers take on the Angels. It's a good matchup as Jeremy Bonderman faces Bartolo Colon. Bonderman beat a good team for the first time in his last start as he got the W against the Red Sox. Bonderman's great strength this season is that lefties haven't been able to hit him. They have a .265 OBA against the righty. Colon is similar, his lefty opponents are only hitting .197 vs. .225 vs. righties, but lefites are getting on base more, although they're not hitting for power.

Enjoy!

I'll be at Two Doors Down in Nashville today blogging the Phillies-Cubs matchup. Cory Lidle faces Mark Prior. The Cubs, like so many teams in the NL Central are in danger of being out of the division race by June 1. They've lost five in a row and have been outscore 30-17 in that stretch. Prior pitched well until his last start, where he ran out of gas in the fifth. Could he be going through a dead arm period.

The Phillies are not getting the Altobelli effect I had expected. They have not won two in a row in their last 16 contests. They are being outscored by nearly a run a game this season. That trend will doom them to last place in a tough division.

West meets east in a battle of undefeated pitchers as Jamie Moyer takes his 4-0 record against 3-0 Matt Clement. Moyer has shaken the home run bug that infected him last season and led to 44 round trippers off the lefty. He's only allowed 3 so far in 35 2/3 innings.

Clement is walking a bit too many, but he's only allowed one home run, and the Red Sox have given him 23 runs of support in his 36 innings pitched.

Dontrelle Willis goes for win number six tonight, and on the surface it looks like it should be an easy win as he faces the hapless Colorado Rockies. Joe Kennedy takes the mound for Colorado. Unfortunately, the patriarch has been worse on the road than at home this year. The whole team is just 1-13 on the road. Few of their hitters have seen Dontrelle before, so his unusual motion may work to his advantage this evening.

Enjoy!

The best pitching matchup of the day takes place in Chicago where the White Sox and Jose Contreras host the Royals and Zach Greinke. The two starters have something in common; they've pitched very well but are winless.

This game also gives us a chance to explore how situational hitting effects a team. The White Sox hitters are batting just .220 with runners in scoring position this season, but their opponents are batting just .214. In this low run environment, the White Sox have been able to win the close games. The Royals batters are even worse, with a RISP average of just .216. However, the Royals pitchers aren't getting the job done on their side of the ball. Opponents are hitting .301 vs. the Royal with men in scoring position.

Kris Benson returns to the Mets rotation today and the New Yorkers host the last place Phillies. Benson will face Vicente Padilla, who was bombed by the Mets on April 19th but has improved in each of his starts since. The Mets hit five home runs off the righty that day, and he hasn't allowed one in his eight innings since. He'll have to be sharp, as the Phillies have scored less than four runs a game on the road this season.

Finally, the Devil Rays can knock the Yankees into a tie for last place in the AL East with a win tonight. Wang faces Hendrickson. Hendrickson is one of the better pitchers on the Devil Rays staff. He doesn't walk a lot of batters and he doesn't give up a lot of homers for that ballpark. Wang is still looking for his first major league strikeout.

Enjoy!

Take a late lunch and go a resturant with TBS to catch the Marlins at the Braves this afternoon. Florida has a 1-game lead over the Atlanta nine, and the pitching matchup is a fine one as A.J. Burnett takes on Tim Hudson. Burnett has been very consistent, giving up two earned runs in each of his five starts so far. His only loss came against the Braves on April 7th when two unearned runs were responsible for the defeat (also against Hudson). Hudson had his first bad outing of the season on the 29th as he went up against his old teammate Mark Mulder. Look for the infielders to have a busy day as most of the balls put in play against these pitcher are on the ground.

The Rangers have Park in the park this afternoon as they go for a sweep of the Athletics. Chan Ho is still walking a lot of batters, but he's greatly reduced their damage by controlling the long ball. Last season, he gave up 22 dingers in 95 2/3 innings; this season just two in a little over 30 IP. The A's offense is in hiberation; they've scored 25 runs in their last 9 games, and over 1/3 of those came in one contest. Park has a very good shot at lowering his ERA today.

Toronto is the team that's not letting the Orioles run away with the AL East. They've taken the first two games of the series and send Roy Halladay to the mound to face Eric Bedard. Since getting whacked by the Tigers on April 18th, Bedard has not allowed a run in his last 15 IP. Eric is putting up excellent strikeout, walk and home run numbers so far this season.

Halladay is making his 7th start of the season today. It appears the Blue Jays are keeping him on exactly five days rest; he's making this start despite Lilly and Bush not making their 6th starts yet. Good for the Blue Jays. They can probably squeeze two or three more starts from Halladay this way, and I'd rather have him go for me than the fourth or fifth man in the rotation.

Enjoy!

Given the ERAs of some of the pitchers starting this evening, it won't be a low scoring night.

The Yankees and Devil Rays get us started with Kevin Brown and Doug Waechter serving up meatballs. Together they've allowed 23 earned runs in 32 2/3 innings. We'll get a look at the new Yankees defense tonight. Womack has played center and right, but tonight will be his first game in left. In a dome. This could be fun.

All the west coast games have a shot at seeing lots of batters cross the plate, but I'll take Washington at Los Angeles for my best bet slugfest. Zach Day faces Jeff Weaver. Day has walked 13 and struck out 7. A selective Dodger lineup should take full advantage of that. Jeff Weaver has just been hittable. Opponents are hitting .315 against the righty, and while a lot of that has to do with one bad start at Coors, he's still sporting a 6.38 ERA at Dodger Stadium this season.

Enjoy!

There's a limited schedule today, but lots of good pitching and game matchups.

The Blue Jays send Gustavo Chacin to the mound to try to stop the Orioles juggernaught. It's a nice matchup of young and improving pitchers as Rodrigo Lopez takes the hill for Baltimore. The Jays and Orioles are closer than the standings indicate; the Orioles have won two more games than the Pythagorean formula would predict, while the Jays are right on at 14-12. Both pitchers will be challenged, as 3 of the top five batting average leaders will appear in this game, as well as two of the top home run hitters in the AL.

Two pitchers helping their new teams this season face off as Jon Lieber and the Phillies visit Shea to face Pedro Martinez and the Mets. The Phillies are 4-1 when Lieber starts, 7-13 otherwise. Pedro has yet to win at Shea, despite impressive numbers in his two starts there (.192 BA allowed, 17 K in 14 IP).

Mike Piazza has been a huge drag on the Mets offense this season. With Reyes spending outs at the top of the order and Piazza wasting them in the middle, it's hard for the Mets to put together rallies. Coupled with the weak production from Mientkiewicz at what should be a power position, and the Mets are not doing a great job of scoring runs (7th in the NL). Decent production by Mike and Jose would have the Mets near the top of the league.

Finally, the Giants visit the desert to take on the Diamondbacks in a battle for 2nd in the NL West. Jason Schmidt faces former Giants starter Russ Ortiz. Schmidt has been sharp with his strikeouts but less so with his walks and home runs. Russ Ortiz is working his usual magic; despite not striking out enough batters and giving up too many home runs, he's sitting there with a 2-1 record and a 3.60 ERA. Opposing batters are hitting just .143 against Russ with runners in scoring position.

Enjoy!

Two American League division winners send their aces against each other this afternoon as Bartolo Colon takes on Johan Santana as the Angels face the Twins. Colon has a very interesting home/road split early in the season. He's allowing fewer runs at home (3.05 ERA vs. a 5.06 road ERA) but he's getting less on the road (.171 BA vs. a .273 home BA). The difference is that he's allowed 3 of his four homers in his 10 2/3 road innings, vs. just 1 in his 20 2/3 home innings. All four of the homers hit off Bartolo have come with men on.

Santana has become a strikeout machine. His 45 K in 33 innings is good for a K per 9 rate of 12.3, best in the majors. Given those numbers, it's quite amazing that he's given up 13 runs so far.

The other (or only?) Los Angeles team host Shawn Chacon and the Colorado Rockies today. Derek Lowe takes the mound for the Dodgers. Chacon's return to the starting rotation has been quite successful so far; he's only allowed 1 homer in 17 innings this season after allowing 12 in 63 1/3 in 2004. He's also cut his ERA by more than half. The strikeouts that have eluded Lowe over the previous three seasons are coming back. Through 2001, mostly as a reliever, he average 6.9 K per 9. As a starter from 2002-2004, that fell to 5.1 K per 9. This year so far he's splitting the difference, collecting 6.1 K per 9.

Enjoy!

Does it get any better than Bush vs. Wang? Look for some Chien music from the Taiwanese pitcher today as he makes his major league debut against the Toronto Blue Jays. Chien has excellent strikeout and home run numbers in his minor league career. He needs the Yankees offense to straighten up, however, or he may suffer the same fate as Johnson at the hands of the Blue Jays.

David Bush has not lived up to his minor league numbers so far. He's already given up five home runs in 22 innings pitched this season; in his minor league career he allowed 19 in about 300 IP.

Jamie Moyer looks to go 5-0 in April as the Mariners face the Athletics and Joe Blanton in Oakland. Through 2004, Moyer averaged 5.5 K per 9. He's upped that to 6.5 per 9 this season. Blanton is losing despite a 1.75 ERA. The A's are scoring 1 run a start for Joe this season.

And if you're looking for some offense, the Cubs at the Astros offers two pitchers with ERAs over 5.00. Kerry Wood stand at 5.79 although he's coming off five decent innings vs. the Pirates. The Astros are another good choice for lowering his ERA. Brandon Backe's ERA is at 6.17 for the opposite reason; three decent starts, then the Cardinals pounded him last time out.

Enjoy!

It's going to be a good night to watch baseball in Atlanta. First, Cox and La Russa become the first 2000 win managers to face each other since 1950. Second, old friends and teammates Mark Mulder and Tim Hudson battle against each other for the first time.

Mulder is coming off an impressive 10 inning shutout of the Houston Astros. He only threw 101 pitches in that outing, and is averaging 13.2 pitches per inning this season. Mulder has greatly cut down on his home runs allowed so far this year, giving up just 1 in 29 innings. Last year, he allowed 1 every 9 innings. Hudson is second in the NL in ERA at 0.96. He has not allowed more than 1 run in any of his four starts for the Braves.

Former Cy Young award winners face off in two games tonight. Roger Clemens host Greg Maddux in a battle of the two best pitchers of the 1990's. Clemens is still pitching that way, but Maddux has lost something. He used to be very good at keeping the ball in the park but has given up 39 homers in 236 2/3 innings dating back to the start of 2004.

Roy Halladay visits New York to face the Big Unit, Randy Johnson in the other battle of CYs. It should be an interesting weekend in the Big Apple, as I believe it's the first time a Wang has followed a Johnson in any rotation. That's a duo Bobby Cox should be managing. Rumors that the Yankees are thinking of hiring Dick Pole as a pitching coach are totally unfounded.

Enjoy!