Eurovision, England friendly or MLB

You’ve got several choices this evening if you’re staying in.

You could watch Engelbert Humperdink representing Great Britain in the Eurovision Song Contest on BBC One. All but a select few will require either a drinking game or an ‘I’m watching this in an ironic manner’ badge to get through it.

You could watch the first game of the Roy Hodgson era on ITV. The low expectations heading into the European Championships, coupled with the fact that international friendlies have a tendency to induce sleep, might make this a lower priority than an England international would normally merit.

Or, you could watch some high quality baseball.

Here are the MLB options to enjoy this evening, with all times in BST.

18.10. San Diego at NY Mets (Richard – Santana)

The Mets have started the season in better form than most of their fans feared. Johan Santana’s comeback from a long-term injury absence has been one of the reasons for optimism at Citi Field so far this season and he will make his tenth start of 2012 today.

19.10. Detroit at Minnesota (Scherzer – Pavano)

After being swept by the Indians, the Tigers needed to bounce back quickly this weekend and they got the better of the Twins on Friday with a 10-6 victory. Max Scherzer struck out a career high 15 batters last time out against the Pirates.

20.05. Toronto at Texas (Alvarez – Lewis) *ESPN America

The Rangers’ offence exploded for 14 runs yesterday in the series opener against the Blue Jays, with Nelson Cruz driving in 8. The only Toronto pitcher that didn’t concede any runs was the back-up catcher Jeff Mathis, who pitched a scoreless eighth inning in the blow-out loss. Henderson Alvarez comes into this game having given up six runs in five innings against the Mets. He had been pitching well before that loss and needs to re-find that form quickly today.

21.05. Kansas City at Baltimore (Paulino – Chen)

There’s no stopping the Orioles at the moment. They still have the best record in the American League after an 8-2 victory against the Royals last night and the good news didn’t stop there as they reportedly agreed a six-year contract extension with Adam Jones.

21.05. NY Yankees at Oakland (Sabathia – Colon)

The Bronx Bombers lived up to their nickname in Oakland on Friday as Robinson Cano, Mark Teixeira and former A’s player Nick Swisher all hit homers in a 6-3 win. CC Sabathia is from Califrornia and normally has plenty of family and friends at the Coliseum when he pitches against the A’s, although his career record in Oakland (4.98 ERA in 22 starts) isn’t quite what you would expect from him. This A’s fan hopes that form continues today.

 21.05. Washington at Atlanta (Strasburg – Minor)

Panic spread in Washington when it was reported that Stephen Strasburg was experiencing some forearm tightness. Thankfully it appears to be a minor issue and he is due to make his scheduled start today. Mike Minor will try to keep the ball in the park today after giving up four round-trippers in his last start against the Reds.

 21.10. Cleveland at Chicago White Sox (Lowe – Peavy)

Derek Lowe and Jake Peavy have surprised many with their good starts to the season. Lowe made 34 starts for the Braves last year but had a 5.05 ERA, so his 2.15 ERA so far this season was far from expected but has meant that the Indians have already received a good return from their offseason trade for him. As for Peavy, the talent has always been there but he has struggled to stay healthy in recent years. White Sox fans will be reaching for lucky charms and hoping that Peavy can stay injury-free all year long.

 21.10. San Francisco at Miami (Bumgarner – Buehrle)

Former White Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle has won his last three starts for the Marlins, while Madison Bumgarner has cemented his position as one of the best young pitchers in the game with a strong start to this season. The series is tied 1-1 heading into the third game of this four-game series.

All of these games are available to watch live via the MLB.TV subscription at MLB.com.  ESPN America is showing the Blue Jays-Rangers game from 20.00 and will follow that with the Phillies-Cardinals.  The full schedule for today’s games can be found on MLB.com.