The Twins try to salvage a game in their series against Detroit. Continued poor performances by their starting pitchers dropped Minnesota four games back, now in third place. Carl Pavano tries to stop a string of six games in which the starters combined for a 9.98 ERA. In four starts against the Tigers while playing for the Twins, Pavano has three good ones and one poorly timed terrible outing. He’ll face rookie Andy Oliver. Oliver’s .353 BABIP neutralizes his 7.24 K per nine. I suspect if he keeps his strikeout rate up, Tigers fielders will eventually start catching the balls in play against him.

Atlanta tries to go into the All-Star break with a lead greater than five games as Derek Lowe faces the Mets and Johan Santana. The trick to beating Lowe is to work his pitch count up, as batters hit him much better once he gets above 60 pitches. Santana does a great job keeping the ball in the park at Citi Field as only one of his eight home runs allowed came in his home ballpark.

Zack Greinke is on a roll as the Royals take on the White Sox as Daniel Hudson makes his 2010 debut, taking the spot of injured Jake Peavy. Zack won his last three starts, even one in which he pitched badly. Hudson was striking out 10.4 per nine innings in his second stint at AAA, walking three batters per nine. His walks were his trouble area in his cup of coffee last season, so we’ll see if he can improve that area. If he does keep his walks down, he should stay in the rotation the rest of the year.

Finally, the Rockies go for a sweep of the Padres and a tie for first place in the NL West. Clayton Richard tries to stop Jeff Francis. Richard has similar home and road ERAs this season, although his opposition batting stats are much better in San Diego. He holds batters to a .244 BA with runners in scoring position on the road. Francis’s high ERA comes from giving up power with men on base, with opponents slugging .500 against him in that situation.

Enjoy!