Saturday’s early MLB games: A-Rod has 600 in his sights

Dugout scuffles in Seattle, Kelly Johnson hitting for the cycle, trade talks heating up over Dan Haren: yesterday was a typically action-packed day in the Majors and you can expect more of the same today. 

There are five early games to enjoy live in the British evening.  All times are in BST. 

18.05. Kansas City at NY Yankees (Kyle Davies – Sergio Mitre)

This series is being dominated by Alex Rodriguez’s quest for career home run number 600 and the presence of Kyle Davies has many expecting the milestone to be reached today.  Davies was on the mound when Rodriguez hit his 500th home run in August 2007 and a little under three years later, the symmetry-loving baseball gods have conspired to place him in a potentially historic situation yet again, one that he would prefer not to be a part of.  Sergio Mitre begins his stint as Andy Pettitte’s substitute in the Yankee rotation today.  The trade rumours surrounding the Yankees suggest that they don’t expect him to be in that position for too long, but it’s up to Mitre to put together a string of good starts to change their mind.

18.05. St. Louis at Chicago Cubs (Blake Hawksworth – Tom Gorzelanny)

The Cubs shut-out the Cardinals in the only day game yesterday.  WGN broadcasters Len Kasper and Bob Brenly noted that due to the luck of the schedule, the Cubs will only have to face one of the Cardinals’ three top pitchers (Chris Carpenter tomorrow night) in this series and they need to take advantage of the situation.  They did that yesterday by beating Jeff Suppan, although they didn’t beat him quite as badly as the first two innings suggested they would, with Suppan struggling to find the strike zone early and the wind howling out at Wrigley.  Hawksworth is another unheralded pitcher that the Cubs need to attack. Gorzelanny has recorded three straight wins for the Cubs, but he walked twelve batters in those three games and if he keeps giving out free passes, his luck will soon run out.

21.10. Chicago White Sox at Oakland (Freddy Garcia – Vin Mazzaro)

Mark Buerhle pitched a gem for the White Sox yesterday, giving up just four hits and one run over nine innings as Chicago won the series opener 5-1.  That landed Trevor Cahill with a hard-luck loss and if another of the A’s young starters, Vin Mazzaro, can put on a  repeat performance of Cahill’s strong showing today, the A’s will fancy their chances of levelling the series.  Mazzaro’s recent form suggests there’s a good chance he’ll do just that: he’s 2-0 with a 2.05 ERA from his three starts in July and, just as importantly, he’s given the A’s at least 7 innings each time.

21.10. NY Mets at LA Dodgers (Mike Pelfrey – Carlos Monasterios) * ESPN America

If yesterday’s contest between these two was any indication, this game is going to be eventful.  The Mets’ manager Jerry Manuel was thrown out of the game in the second inning and his team responded by making a series of spectacular fielding plays, coupled with Ike Davis taking Vicente Padilla’s ridiculously slow ‘eephus’ pitch into the seats for a home run.  The Dodgers’ bullpen imploded yet again as the Mets ran out 6-1 winners, snapping a four-game losing streak and adding to L.A.’s woes in what has been a testing period for the team since the All-Star break.  ‘Encore’, bellows the crowd!

21.10. Colorado at Philadelphia (Ubaldo Jimenez – Kyle Kendrick)

The Phillies chucked their ace at Colorado in the series opener yesterday and Roy Halladay was his normal outstanding self, pitching eight scoreless innings as Philadelphia won 6-0.  The Rockies will look at today’s starting pitcher match-up and think that the shoe will now be on the other foot.  However, over his last few starts, Jimenez has not been the unhittable monster that we saw back in April and May.  Now’s the time for him to re-find that form. As for the Phillies, Kyle Kendrick was sent down to the minors earlier this week, but an injury to the ‘Old Man of the Majors’ Jamie Moyer has given him a stay of execution.

All the above games can be followed via various resources on MLB.com (Gameday, At Bat with Gameday Audio and MLB.tv).  ESPN America is showing Mets-Dodgers from 21.00. A complete schedule of MLB games can be found on MLB.com