We were spoilt for choice last week and that makes this week’s haul of just nine early games seem a little disappointing. Even so, there are some good contests on Wednesday and Thursday and one particularly early game today. Together they give fans of eighteen different teams the chance to follow their chosen side live at a convenient hour. Here’s your guide to this week’s early contests (all times listed in British Summer Time). Â
Monday 20
16.05. Orioles vs Red Sox – Hendrickson (1-1), Masterson (0-0)
Just the one early game today and it’s an unusual 16.05 start, making it a little too early for some of us. Hendrickson is capable of pulling out a half-decent start every now and then and the O’s will be hoping that he can find a bit of form against the Red Sox. Justin Masterson makes his first start of ’09 for Boston, effectively taking the injured Matsuzaka’s place in the rotation.
Tuesday 21
There are no early starts tomorrow.  Potential highlights from the later games include CC Sabathia facing the A’s in his second start at the new Yankee Stadium (00.05), Roy Halladay attempting to improve his record to 4-0 in the Blue Jays’ game against the Rangers (00.07) and a great pitching match-up at AT&T Park as Jake Peavy and Matt Cain toe the rubber for the Padres and the Giants respectively (03.15).
Wednesday 22
17.35. Marlins vs Pirates – Nolasco (1-1), Maholm (2-0)Â
18.05. Athletics vs Yankees – Outman (0-0), Chamberlain (0-0)Â Â Â
20.40. Rockies vs D-Backs – De La Rosa (0-1), Haren (0-3)Â Â
20.45. Padres vs Giants – Young (2-0), Zito (0-2)
Four early games for the middle of the working week and there are good reasons to take a look at all of them.Â
The Marlins have started the season brilliantly and Paul Maholm has been very impressive for the Buccos in his first three outings, so that should be an intriguing contest. There’s always a lot of hype surrounding a Joba Chamberlain start in New York, while Dan Haren must think his luck is about to change against the Rockies after losing his first three games despite pitching well. Padres-Giants? Okay, perhaps there’s not so many good reasons to watch this one, although San Diego have started surprisingly well and there’s always a slim chance that Barry Zito may recapture his previous Cy Young-winning form.
Thursday 23
17.05. Royals vs Indians – Meche (1-0), Reyes (1-0)Â
18.05. Brewers vs Phillies – Bush (0-0), Hamels (0-1)
18.40. Mets vs Cardinals – Hernandez (1-0), Lohse (2-0)Â
19.20. Reds vs Cubs – Harang (1-2), Zambrano (1-0)
There are another four early games on Thursday, bringing together two teams from the AL Central alongside three NL games. Mets-Cardinals is always a rivalry worth watching, while Harang against Zambrano should be a thrilling power-pitcher showdown. And let’s not overlook the Royals: they’ve started the season well and have some talented young players on their club surrounded by solid veterans like Gil Meche. I’ll fill in the ‘To Be Decided’ pitchers for the Brewers-Phillies game when the teams confirm who they will be sending out to the mound.
Friday 24
No early games to end the working week. Later on, it’s the first Yankees-Red Sox meeting of the season. Currently Chien-Ming Wang (0-3 with a 34.50 ERA) is scheduled to start, although it will be interesting to see whether that changes over the course of the week after his dreadful performances so far.
All the above games can be followed via various resources on MLB.com (Gameday, Gameday Audio and MLB.tv), while ESPN America’s MLB schedule can be found here.
6 comments
There is a reason for the early start time in Boston. And it has absolutely nothing to do with Baseball. In the state of Massachuettes it is Patriots Day. And as far as I know, they’re the only state in the Union that celebrates Patriots day. The purpose of this holiday is to commenorate the Battles of Lexington and Concorde which were faught on this date and were the start of the American Revolution.
Yes, I completely missed that until reading about it just now. Thanks for the info Joe.
Your welcome.
There have been several updates to the above list of starting pitchers.
Wed 22. Due to the rainout on Monday, the match-up in the A’s-Yankees game will be Brett Anderson against CC Sabathia. No offence to Outman and Chamberlain, but that makes the contest even more appealing. CC is one of the very best pitchers in MLB, while Anderson is one of the A’s talented youngsters looking to make a mark in the Big Leagues.
Thurs 23. Hamels will pitch for the Phillies, although we still don’t know who will be pitching for the Brewers.
Fri 24. Wang IS going to skip a start. Joba Chamberlain will pitch against the Red Sox instead. Expect sparks to fly!
EXTRA EARLY GAME
Wed 22. Due to their rainout yesterday, Twins and Red Sox are playing a Fenway double-header. The first game – Baker (0-1) Wakefield (1-1) – begins at 17.35.
Doubleheaders are awfully easy to lose and difficult to win. Usually you end up splitting. It will be interesting to see how this series shapes up.