Home MLBBST Game Guides Early MLB Games this week: Wednesday, Thursday and Friday

Early MLB Games this week: Wednesday, Thursday and Friday

by Matt Smith

It’s a slow start to the week for early games as all of the contests on Monday and Tuesday will be played under lights.  However, Wednesday comes to our rescue for the second week in a row with a host of very promising pitching match-ups.  We then have two early games on Thursday before the Marlins and the Cubs start the Bank Holiday weekend off in style on Friday.  All times are listed in British Summer Time. 

Technical note: I like to include the pitching match-ups in the guide, but they can change in between publication and the game being played. Every now and then we also get a bonus day game or two on account of a night game being rained out and then made up the following day as part of a double-header (as happened last week with the Twins and Red Sox).  I’ve tried updating the main text in the past but this gets a bit fiddly, so last week I added any changes into the comments box and that seemed to work quite well.

Treat this as a guide to how the week ahead looks on Monday morning and then check the comments for any updates as the week progresses.

Monday 27

There are no early games, but there are plenty of aces toeing the rubber later on.  Reigning AL Cy Young winner Cliff Lee hasn’t had a great start to the season (1-3), but maybe a game against the red hot Red Sox will bring out the best in him. Sabathia matches up against Justin Verlander as the Yankees head to Detroit, while Dutch pitcher Shairon Martis tries to improve his record to 3-0 as the Nationals face the Phillies. All three games begin at five past midnight.  Elsewhere, Oswalt and Cueto are the scheduled pitchers for the Astros-Reds game (00.10) and the Dodgers rekindle their rivalry with the Giants (03.15).

Tuesday 28

We draw a blank again tomorrow.  In the later games, Cole Hamels returns to the mound after leaving his previous start early due to being hit on the arm by a come-backer. He takes on John Lannan and the Nationals (00.05).  It should be a cracker between the Cubs and the D-Backs at Chase Field as Carlos Zambrano and Dan Haren take the mound (02.40), while Chad Billingsley goes for win number five on the season against the Giants (03.15).

Wednesday 29

17.35. Angels @ Orioles – Palmer (1-0), Uehara (2-1)
18.05. Pirates @ Brewers – Snell (1-2), Gallardo (2-1)
18.10. Marlins @ Mets – Johnson (2-0), Santana (3-1)
19.05. Mariners @ White Sox – Bedard (2-1), Floyd (2-2)
20.10. Padres @ Rockies – Correia (0-1), Cook (0-1)
20.40. Cubs @ D-Backs – Dempster (1-0), Davis (1-3)

Live baseball at last and we have several exciting pitching match-ups with starters coming off excellent outings. The Brewers’ Yovani Gallardo pitched his first ever complete game against the Astros last Friday.  Josh Johnson shut down the Phillies’ offense over seven innings the same night, but saw his hard work go to waste thanks to the Marins’ ‘closer’: Matt Lindstrom.  He will hope for more support against the Mets and he may well need it as Johan Santana struck out ten in his last start against the Nationals.  Meanwhile the White Sox will be weary of Erik Bedard, who has looked very impressive so far this season.

Thursday 30

19.05. A’s @ Rangers – Braden (2-2), Feldman (1-0)
19.10. Blue Jays @ Royals – Burres (0-1), Davies (1-1)

We’ve got two games from the American League on Thursday.  Dallas Braden is the A’s number one pitcher, although that’s really by default.  Still he picked up a win last time out against the Rays, helping Oakland to snap a five-game losing streak.  Scott Feldman found life as a reliever to be a strain.  The Rangers are hoping he’s better suited to starting. 

As for the Blue Jays and the Royals, Kyle Davies pitched quite well over his first three starts before being tagged for eight runs by the Tigers on Saturday.  Burres should his second start of the season for Toronto.

Friday 1

19.20. Marlins @ Cubs – Taylor (0-1), Harden (2-1)

The first day of May brings us a day game from Wrigley.  The starters should be Graham Taylor and Rich Harden. Taylor lasted just 3.2 innings in his Major League debut last Saturday against the Phillies.  When healthy, Harden is one of the most exciting pitchers to watch in the Majors, so fingers crossed he’s on top form for this one.

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.

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3 comments

Matt Smith April 28, 2009 - 7:37 pm

Tuesday: Due to the Mariners-White Sox rainout last night, they play a double-header today. Game One begins at 22.05BST. Chris Jakubaukas and Bartalo Colon are the scheduled starters.

Reply
Joe Gray April 28, 2009 - 11:26 pm

I’m listening to that double-header now on the Mariners feed. They seem to keep cutting back to the top of the inning after the first out has been made, and pretending to commentate on it in real time. The lack of crowd noise gives it a way.

I pay for this radio feed… it’s bad enough that I’m subjected to such a limited loop of adverts that even a goldfish would be smashing its head against the side of its bowl… now, instead of baseball, I have to have my two-hundreth listen to some advert that wasn’t even interesting on its first listen.

Reply
Matt Smith April 29, 2009 - 7:06 am

What a pain! I tried to follow the first game via the new Gameday Premium, which I learned last night is free for MLB.tv subscribers, but the radio feed wasn’t part of it as promised (looks like a one-off as I’ve read comments about it working in other games). Glad I couldn’t hear it now!

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