Monthly Archives: May 2012

British Baseball Beat: Firewalk at Finsbury Park

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On Monday 4 June during the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee weekend, Team GB will run a major fundraiser in Finsbury Park, London, hosted by the London Mets.

The day will include a firewalk event at 1 p.m. where people over the age of 14 can raise money for the National Team programme by being sponsored to walk over hot coals. There is also a 5K sponsored run to take part in, alongside exhibition games including GB teams, all supported by on-site catering.

It should be a great day and a fantastic way to show your support for Great Britain baseball during an exciting year of international competition for our players at all age groups.

Further details can be found on the BBF website.

NBL: Nationals return to the top of the league

The Herts Falcons’ return to the top of the NBL lasted only one week, demonstrating just how competitive the top-tier of British baseball is this season.

The Harlow Nationals (10-3) are in first place again after they swept their two games against the Bracknell Blazers (1-9) on Sunday, while the Falcons (9-3) could only manage a split against the Essex Arrows (7-7).

Herts took the opener 12-7 with Kevin Niedringhaus and Dave Tretheway both hitting home runs in the victory. However, the Arrows hit back in the second game with a four-run first inning that sent them on the way to a 10-2 lead after the top of the fourth. The Falcons fought their way back into the game, but the Arrows responded to the increasing pressure by adding on three further runs in the top of the seventh and despite conceding two in the bottom of the frame, they held on for a 13-9 win.

The Blazers came close to pulling off an upset at Westmoreland Park when they pushed the reigning champion Nationals all the way, only to narrowly come up short 2-1 in what sounds like a classic top-tier contest.  Harlow were stung into life and with Great Britain youngster Jamie Ratcliff on the mound they took the second game by a slightly more comfortable margin of 11-4, against a developing Blazers’ team, to book their place back on top of the NBL.  Recent results suggest the Nationals are going to have to play very well to stay there for any notable period of time.

This weekend’s NBL action starts with a rare Saturday double-header in Croydon between the Southampton Mustangs and Croydon Pirates. On Sunday, the London Mets take on the Lakenheath Diamondbacks, while Grovehill Ballpark in Hemel Hempstead will stage the latest three-game feast of baseball including the Falcons, Blazers and GB Junior Team.

AAA: Perfect Ten for Trojans, No-hitter for Redbacks’ Warner

Like a lottery prize that keeps rolling over, or perhaps the increasing total on offer as those BBC2 Eggheads smugly dismiss the latest team of challengers, the prize of beating the Liverpool Trojans becomes ever more prestigious as each week passes.

The Trojans made it ten wins from ten on Sunday as pitchers Martin Godsall and Rob Vondy once again combined to get the better of the Halton Jaguars (3-7) by scores of 12-2 and 15-2. The Menwith Hill Patriots (7-3) are the next team to get a crack at ending Liverpool’s seemingly unending run of wins.  The Patriots stayed in second place after splitting a double-header with the Manchester A’s (2-6) on Sunday, whilst the Cartmel Valley Lions (6-4) consigned the Bolton Robots of Doom to an 0-8 record with a double-header sweep.

In the South, the Essex Redbacks’ Vince Warner pitched a no-hitter as his team took two wins against the Richmond Knights to continue their strong start to the season. The Redbacks own the best record in the division at 11-3, closely followed by the Bristol Badgers on 9-4. The Badgers collected their latest two wins at the expense of the Cambridge Royals, who subsequently slipped two games below .500.

AA: Mavericks strike again

The action in the AA-South, covered brilliantly by Michael Jones on the BBF website, saw the Guildford Mavericks maintain their unbeaten record with a 14-4 victory over the London Mammoths, whilst the Poole Piranhas’ pursuit of perfection was poleaxed by the streaking Sidewinders, who made it four consecutive wins with a 6-0 triumph.

The Mavericks will put their unbeaten run on the line with two home games against the Croydon Pirates III on Sunday, with the Herts Hawks hosting the Essex Redbacks II, and the London Mammoths hoping to get back on track with a double-header at Finsbury Park against the Kent Mariners.

In the Midlands, the Nottingham Rebels improved to 5-0 with an 18-0 victory over the Stourbridge Titans.  The Leicester Blue Sox returned to form by securing a 10-6 win against the Birmingham Maple Leafs, with seventeen year old Great Britain Junior Ben Powell pitching five solid innings on his debut.

In the North, the Oldham North Stars earned their first win of the season during a split against the Hull Scorpions. The Harrogate Tigers picked up two home wins against the Manchester Torrent to make it six victories from their last eight games. There are no league games in the North this Sunday, but the Newton Aycliffe Spartans are hosting a family fun day with an intra-squad game and plenty of other festivities.

A: Archers’ aim stays true

The Essex Archers defeated the Guildford Mavericks II 23-7 to continue to set the pace in Single-A.  The Archers are 5-0, closely followed by the London Marauders on 3-0.  The Marauders gained their latest victory in short fashion by the way of a ‘10 run mercy rule’, despite the Herts Raptors’ best efforts to send the game into at least one further inning.

Ascending Angels

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The mood around a team can change quickly in MLB.

The games come thick and fast, so win-loss records can completely change direction in little more than a week.

The Atlanta Braves were 26-16 on 20 May, with a 1.5 game lead over the Washington Nationals at the top of the NL East. Eight days, and eight losses, later they were 26-24 and joint last with the Phillies in the division, four games back from the Nationals.

The Chicago Cubs’ recent 12 game losing streak was one of the more extreme sequences of a win-loss record going south that you’ll see this season, while on the south-side of Chicago the White Sox made it seven wins in a row on Tuesday to move to the top of the AL Central.

There’s a team on the rise in the AL West too.

The Los Angeles Angels have won their last eight games heading into Wednesday, pushing themselves past .500 for the first time since Opening Day and into a much healthier position having been bottom of the AL West and eight games behind the Rangers before their recent winning run began.

Having beaten the New York Yankees  9-8 on Memorial Day, courtesy of a walk-off home run by Mark Trumbo, they downed the Bronx Bombers again on Tuesday to improve their record to 26-25. Albert Pujols continued his resurgence with his eighth home run of the season and Dan Haren pitched a gem, particularly timely due to staff ace Jered Weaver hitting the Disabled List yesterday.

The first six victories in the Angels’ current streak came against the Oakland A’s and Seattle Mariners and while those games were on the road, it’s still fair to say that they are not the hardest games on the Angels’ fixture list. They should be beating teams like the A’s and Mariners – hard as that is to type as an A’s fan – so this series against the Yankees, and the following three-game home series against the Texas Rangers, should be a better guide to their current form.

If they can complete a sweep against the Yankees today and have a positive series against the Rangers, noting that Jered Weaver will not be available for what would have been his scheduled start on Sunday, then that should set the Angels up for a good June.

They will then face the Mariners again in a three-game series before heading to Colorado for the start of the main period of Interleague play. 

By the time they get to 11 June and a series against the Dodgers, the Angels could be in a strong position in the AL West, and more importantly the AL playoff race, once again.

Betting on Barajas

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Injuries are the bane of every General Manager’s life, whether it’s a GM of a real team or a fantasy version.

Carlos Santana’s concussion was definitely not what my BaseballGB fantasy team needed.

If Santana is only out for seven days then that wouldn’t be too disastrous, but I had a bad feeling he might get moved onto the 15 day DL in due course, leaving me lamenting my inaction. My Cheddar Chasers are on a bit of a roll at the moment and I didn’t want to leave a hole in my lineup for too long.

With no other catching options on my roster, and no obvious trade candidates on my competitors’ teams, I treaded nervously into the free agent pool and tried to find someone who is likely to start consistently over the next week or so and might just offer a bit of help with the bat.

I ended up with Rod Barajas.

In Sam Walker’s book Fantasyland, Rod Barajas is something of an ‘in’ joke in the expert league that Walker had angled his way on to. When the participants met at a hotel the night before the league draft auction, Barajas’ name was mentioned as a conversation starter, being picked as the type of player that only fantasy nuts would pay any attention to.

Barajas’ career has moved on a bit since that draft in 2004, and he is a slightly more recognisable name now, but he’s still not exactly a blue-chip addition, hence why he was sitting there available to be taken for absolutely nothing. My main concern is that the draining effect he could have on my batting average and OPS might negate any additions to the counting stats (Runs, Home Runs and RBIs, I’ll leave Stolen Bases out of this equation) and make me wonder if I would have been better off leaving the catcher position empty.

Reading that Barajas was 0-for-11 against Bronson Arroyo heading into the Reds-Pirates game on Monday didn’t help with my confidence levels, but he went 2-for-3 with an RBI as the Pirates beat the Reds 4-1. That’s a decent start for my team’s newest player.

As a good example of the sort of madness that fantasy baseball can cause, I’ll be studiously eyeing the boxscores over breakfast every morning, checking to see if Rod Barajas has inflicted any damage on the opposing pitchers or if it is my own team that he is torpedoing.

Stay tuned for further updates.

BGB Fantasy League 2012 Week Eight

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There were three teams with double-digit wins in week eight of the BaseballGB fantasy league and we have a new leader. Which managers were celebrating?

R
HR
RBI
SB
AVG
OPS
W
SV
K
HLD
ERA
WHIP
Score
The Cheddar Chasers 27 10 29 6 0.29 0.87 4 1 65 2 2.9 1.07 11
Bonestalkers 20 5 18 3 0.23 0.65 2 1 28 1 7.1 1.91 0

We begin with a big win for the Chasers, who came very close to a clean sweep of Bonestalkers, settling for an 11-0 win and going top. Beltre, Stubbs and Moreland led the offense while the incredible RA Dickey won both his starts and recorded 21 strikeouts and Pestano had a win and two holds. Bonestalkers shared saves thanks to Jansen, while Parra was the only player to hit above .250.

R
HR
RBI
SB
AVG
OPS
W
SV
K
HLD
ERA
WHIP
Score
Weston-Super-Sox 39 8 35 7 0.3 0.89 2 2 36 3 5 1.63 11
tavira expats 20 5 15 7 0.25 0.68 1 0 34 1 7.3 1.76 0

The Sox also picked up an 11-0 win, defeating the Expats. Hanley, De Aza, Prado and Kubel all had big weeks with the bat, while the Pittsburgh trio of Burnett, Grilli and Hanrahan all had nice weeks on the mound. The Expats shared steals thanks to A-Rod, Maicer Izturuis, BJ Upton and David Murphy.

R
HR
RBI
SB
AVG
OPS
W
SV
K
HLD
ERA
WHIP
Score
daebhid2 21 4 16 2 0.29 0.81 0 1 22 0 4.6 1.38 1
YD33’s 34 7 26 7 0.34 0.93 2 0 45 1 4.2 1.21 11

After being swept 12-0 last week, YD33s deserve a lot of credit for coming back with an 11-1 win against daebhid2. Melky Cabrera scored 12 runs all by himself, while Kipnis and Yadier Molina also had great weeks with the bat and CJ Wilson won both his starts. Daebhid2 had the only save of the matchup from Fuentes and Teixeira homered three times.

R
HR
RBI
SB
AVG
OPS
W
SV
K
HLD
ERA
WHIP
Score
stevenston angels 28 9 29 1 0.27 0.84 1 5 29 1 6.6 1.62 2
BD Yankees 35 11 31 4 0.33 0.98 2 4 19 1 2 1.32 9

The Yankees swept the offensive categories on the way to a 9-2 win against the Angels. Francouer, Harper and Rasmus made it a productive week for the outfield, while the Washington duo of Strasburg and Zimmermann each picked up a win. Francisco and Aceves combined for five saves for the Angels and Phillips homered three times.

R
HR
RBI
SB
AVG
OPS
W
SV
K
HLD
ERA
WHIP
Score
Orpington Isotopes 31 7 27 4 0.28 0.79 4 0 53 3 5.2 1.4 3
The Wright Stuff 29 8 28 6 0.25 0.78 8 2 77 4 3.3 0.94 9

A sweep of the pitching categories saw my Isotopes defeated 9-3 by the Stuff, as Wainwright and Latos each won twice and Casilla, Romo and David Hernandez took care of saves and holds. Pujols homered four times. Bautista and McCutchen helped me salvage runs, average and OPS.

R
HR
RBI
SB
AVG
OPS
W
SV
K
HLD
ERA
WHIP
Score
Ridge Bolts 31 7 25 8 0.31 0.93 1 7 21 4 2.7 1.2 8
SWAT* 28 10 29 3 0.29 0.83 1 2 29 0 5.6 1.47 3

A balanced week for the Bolts saw them win four offensive and four pitching categories, with Stanton, Freese and Jose Reyes the pick of the hitters. Bell, Downs, Marshall and Chapman combined for a win, seven saves and four holds in a productive weeks for the bullpen. SWAT had unlikely home run power from Bourn, who hit three, and Nolasco made the difference in strikeouts.

R
HR
RBI
SB
AVG
OPS
W
SV
K
HLD
ERA
WHIP
Score
Iron Men 28 10 32 3 .227* 0.77 1 4 37 2 2.8 1.07 8
Pretzel Vendors 20 7 21 2 .227* 0.75 5 0 54 5 4.1 1.38 4

Iron Men picked up an 8-4 win against the Vendors, losing out on average in a tie break. Viciedo hit three homers and Espinosa swiped two bases. Frieri and Myers each had two saves and Hamels helped take ERA and WHIP. The Vendors had two wins from Cain while King Felix struck out 14 and Joel Peralta had three holds.

R
HR
RBI
SB
AVG
OPS
W
SV
K
HLD
ERA
WHIP
Score
Beck ‘Nams (GB) 28 4 39 1 0.25 0.71 6 5 51 0 4.4 1.3 4
Pontypridd Pirates 46 14 42 4 0.3 0.98 4 2 28 1 4.7 1.14 8

An offensive sweep helped the Pirates defeat Beck ‘Nams 8-4, with Morneau, Konerko and Cano hitting 10 of the team’s 14 homers. Buerhle won twice and Sale helped take WHIP. Capuano won both his starts for Beck ‘Nams, while Putz, Papelbon and Axford combined for five saves.

R
HR
RBI
SB
AVG
OPS
W
SV
K
HLD
ERA
WHIP
Score
NE Riverkings 27 9 32 4 0.25 0.76 2 4 17 1 6.2 1.73 5
Chatham Anglers 22 6 26 9 0.27 0.75 3 0 44 2 3.1 1.08 7

The Anglers got the better of the Riverkings 7-5, as the pitching staff won five categories. Gio Gonzalez and Derek Holland each had good weeks, while Benoit and Cook collected a hold each. Infante and Campana each stole three bases. The Riverkings had power from Butler and Tulo while Clippard had three saves.

R
HR
RBI
SB
AVG
OPS
W
SV
K
HLD
ERA
WHIP
Score
Boyd’s Base On Balls 22 8 26 4 0.28 0.81 1 3 43 0 4.1 1.17 5
Richie’s RBI’s 24 5 25 6 0.21 0.64 2 6 34 0 3.2 1.13 6

The RBIs edged past the Base On Balls 6-5 thanks to their pitching staff. Hammel and Milone each had a win and Rafael Soriano and Rodney had three saves each, while Brantley had three steals. Chris Davis, Desmond and Kinsler were the pick of the Base On Balls hitters, while Bumgarner struck out 17.

The week nine fixtures are as follows:
Chasers (1st) v SWAT (6th)
Riverkings (2nd) v RBIs (14th)
Sox (3rd) v Anglers (12th)
Stuff (4th) v Bolts (8th)
Iron Men (5th) v Isotopes (13th)
Vendors (7th) v Base On Balls (9th)
Pirates (10th) v YD33s (17th)
Beck ‘Nams (11th) v Yankees (15th)
Bonestalkers (16th) v Angels (19th)
Daebhid2 (18th) v Expats (20th)

Memorial Day and more

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Monday is Memorial Day in the States, so we have eleven games before midnight UK time to start the working week, followed by one game on Tuesday and four on Wednesday.

The games include all three from the series at Wrigley Field between the Padres and Cubs, two teams that will hope a run of day games can bring some better form than they have displayed of late.

Once again, there are no early games on Thursday. In fact there are only three games being played at all in MLB that day, predominantly due to three-game series starting on Memorial Day Monday instead of Tuesday as would more often be the case.

All times are in BST.

Monday 28 May

18.10. St. Louis at Atlanta (Lynn - Hanson)
18.10. Philadelphia at NY Mets (Hamels - Niese)
18.10. Washington at Miami (Zimmermann - Zambrano)
18.35. Detroit at Boston (Fister - Doubront)
18.35. Cincinnati at Pittsburgh (Arroyo - McDonald)
19.10. Oakland at Minnesota (Blackley - Diamond) *MLB.com Free Game of the Day
19.20. San Diego at Chicago Cubs (Suppan - Wood)
20.10. Chicago White Sox at Tampa Bay (Sale - Moore)
20.10. Houston at Colorado (Rodriguez - Nicasio)
21.05. Kansas City at Cleveland (Adcock - Tomlin)
22.05. Arizona at San Francisco (Cahill - Zito) *ESPN America

Tuesday 29 May

19.20. San Diego at Chicago Cubs (Stults – Samardzija) *ESPN America

Wednesday 30 May

17.05. Kansas City at Cleveland (Chen - Gomez)
18.10. Oakland at Minnesota (Ross - Liriano)
18.10. Chicago White Sox at Tampa Bay (Quintana - Cobb) *ESPN America
19.20. San Diego at Chicago Cubs (Bass - Dempster)

Thursday 31 May

No early games

Friday 1 June

No early games.

All of these games are available to watch live via the MLB.TV subscription at MLB.com.  The early games being shown on ESPN America are highlighted above, while the full ESPN/ESPN America schedule can be found on their website.  BBC 5 Live Sports Extra can be found on digital radio, digital TV and on the BBC.co.uk website (coverage on the website is only available to UK residents). The complete schedule for this week’s MLB games can be found on MLB.com.

The Rays versus Red Sox rivalry continues

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Unlike the England friendly against Norway, MLB produced plenty of action on Saturday.

There were walk-off home runs by the Rangers (Josh Hamilton), Red Sox (Jarrod Saltalamacchia) and Dodgers (A.J. Ellis), while the Pirates beat the Cubs on a walk-off hit-by-pitch.

That made it eleven defeats in a row for the Cubs, who are finding new ways to lose every day. Maybe today will be the end of their losing streak and the start of a winning run? That’s one of the great things about baseball, the next day nearly always gives you a chance to start to turn your fortunes around. Matt Garza will take to the mound for the Cubs looking to help his team do just that.

Albert Pujols homered off Felix Hernandex to make it three consecutive games with a longball, showing that rumours of his demise were premature to say the very least. Hector Noesi will be the Mariners’ starter today trying to stop Albert extending his streak to four.

However, the highlight of the evening had to be Great Britain player Mike Nickeas launching a grand slam in the Mets’ 9-0 win over the Padres. It was his first homer of the season and there’s no better way to get off the mark.

On to Sunday’s games, with all times in BST.

18.10. Colorado at Cincinnati (Moyer - Latos)
18.10. San Diego at NY Mets (Volquez - Dickey)
18.10. San Francisco at Miami (Cain - Nolasco)
18.35. Kansas City at Baltimore (Hochevar - Matusz)
18.35. Tampa Bay at Boston (Hellickson - Buchholz) *BBC 5 Live Sports Extra, ESPN America
18.35. Chicago Cubs at Pittsburgh (Garza - Bedard)
19.10. Cleveland at Chicago White Sox (Jimenez - Floyd)
19.10. Detroit at Minnesota (Porcello - Walters)
19.15. Philadelphia at St. Louis (Halladay - Wainwright)
20.05. Toronto at Texas (Drabek - Darvish)
21.05. NY Yankees at Oakland (Kuroda - Milone)
21.10. LA Angels at Seattle (Wilson - Noesi)
21.10. Houston at LA Dodgers (Happ - Capuano)
21.10. Milwaukee at Arizona (Wolf - Hudson)

01.00 a.m. Washington at Atlanta (Gonzalez - Beachy) *ESPN America

Both BBC radio and ESPN America are focusing on the Rays-Red Sox rivalry, which has boiled over in recent days after reliever Franklin Morales hit Luke Scott with a pitch in Friday’s game. Joe Maddon took to Twitter to criticise the Red Sox and Bobby Valentine hit back in his press conference. With the series tied at 1-1, there will be plenty to play for in the series finale today.

Nat Coombs and Josh Chetwynd will be on 5 Live Sports Extra following close of play at Trent Bridge, so they may be joining the game in progress rather than from the first pitch.

Elsewhere, arguably the most intriguing pitch match-up will take place in St. Louis. Adam Wainwright had his best post-surgery start last time out against the Padres, while Roy Halladay allowed five runs over six innings against the Nationals and has been strangely off-par for most of the season. He insists that he is healthy, so the Phillies will be expecting a return to his dominant form today.

All of these games are available to watch live via the MLB.TV subscription at MLB.com.  BBC 5 Live Sports Extra can be found on digital radio, digital TV and on the BBC.co.uk website (coverage on the website is only available to UK residents). 

Keep the entries coming for the BBPC

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The British Baseball Photography Competition (BBPC; run in conjunction with Project COBB Photography) has been showcasing the work of both experienced and novice photographers from the baseball community over the past two years.  The 2012 season sees the third running of the competition, and although it is still early days, it looks like it will be a challenge to top the total of 145 photos submitted in last year’s competition.

But the slow start is quite probably in large part due to the unpleasant weather we’ve endured (and the resulting lack of fixtures) during the opening weeks of the season. Cold, wet conditions do not make sports photographers eager to get their equipment out.

The good news is that with the glorious weather we are now enjoying, there should be games galore and no excuse to leave the camera at home. In addition, the submission process is now slicker than ever as the clever folks at BaseballSoftballUK have built a special online entry form.

The online entry form can be accessed by clicking HERE.

Once we get to October, a shortlist will be drawn up and published for a public vote, and the winner — who will receive £100 in photo vouchers — will be announced in November. For handy hints on how to please the judges, check out this article. Full competition rules can be found by clicking here.

Eurovision, England friendly or MLB

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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.

MLB series to look forward to this weekend

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It’s not always easy to keep up with all of the MLB games during a working week, so I often find double-checking the formbook can be useful when heading into the weekend.

The figure that sticks out the most on the ESPN standings today is the 1-9 in the ‘Last 10 games’ column for the Chicago Cubs. Their recent form can only be described as woeful and while a series in Pittsburgh might normally be seen as a good way to get back on track, the Pirates will not exactly fear the Cubs coming into town.

The Cleveland Indians have the best record over their last ten games: 8-2. They are on a three-game winning streak after sweeping the Tigers at Progressive Field, their third win coming last night against Justin Verlander in the game on BBC 5 Live Sports Extra and ESPN America.

The Indians are in Chicago this weekend for a series against the White Sox, while Detroit are in Minnesota taking on the Twins.

Detroit’s TV commentators noted that the Twins would have been watching the Tigers’ game against the Indians on Thursday and feeling more than a little pleased that Verlander will not be pitching in the series. Although he took the loss against the Tribe, Verlander once again looked masterful, particularly in his final inning when he started throwing 100+MPH heaters. Having that in reserve heading into the eighth inning is one of the reasons why Verlander won the AL MVP alongside the Cy Young last year. He finished his outing with a 102MPH fastball followed by a knee-buckling 74MPH curveball and you could only sit and shake your head in disbelief. It makes you wonder how anyone gets a hit off him when he’s in that sort of form.

The Cincinnati Reds enter the weekend having won their last six games, including a 4-0 home sweep over the Atlanta Braves. The Reds host the struggling Rockies while the Braves move on to a tough-looking series at home to the Washington Nationals. Stephen Strasburg is scheduled to pitch for the Nats in the game on Saturday.

Elsewhere, the Marlins and Giants combined for 21 runs (14-7 in the Giants’ favour) in their series opener on Thursday, but the rest of the series could see the pitchers being on top, starting tonight with Tim Lincecum and Josh Johnson taking to the mound. Meanwhile the Baltimore Orioles will hope to extend their lead in the AL East with a strong series against the Kansas City Royals, as the second-placed Tampa Bay Rays travel to Boston to take on the Red Sox.

It should be a good weekend of MLB action.

British Baseball Beat: Falcons flying high again

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The Herts Falcons (8-2) swept a double-header over the Croydon Pirates on Sunday to regain the top spot in the National Baseball League.

The Pirates remain win-less through their first ten games and were comfortably beaten 17-2 in five innings in the opening game, with starting pitcher Jeff House getting the win on his Falcons debut. However, it took a five-run sixth inning, highlighted by a two-run homer by Phil Clark, for Herts to break a 3-3 tie in the second game, giving reason to believe that Croydon’s first victory might not be too far away.

The Falcons’ sweep came on a day when the other three NBL double-headers all ended in splits.

The result is that Herts have a half-game lead over the Southampton Mustangs and Harlow Nationals (both 8-3), with the London Mets (6-3) one further game back.

Herts will aim to extend their lead at the top of the standings this Sunday with a successful double-header against the Essex Arrows (6-6), while the Harlow Nationals look to keep the pressure on as they travel to Bracknell (1-7). The Blazers earned their first win of the season on Sunday against the Arrows.

AAA: Redbacks and Badgers split their double-header

The Essex Redbacks (7-3) and Bristol Badgers (4-4) split their double-header on Sunday. The Badgers can take a lot of confidence from the way they bounced back to win the second game as they started the day by conceding 12 runs in the first inning of the opener, on their way to a 22-2 loss.

The Richmond Knights (6-2) lead the Badgers by two games in Pool A after they swept a double-header against the Latin Boys, whilst the Cambridge Royals (4-4) now sit two games behind the Redbacks in Pool B as they made it three wins from their last four games by winning twice at home against the London Metros. The Royals host the Badgers in a battle of the second-placed teams this Sunday at Coldham’s Common in Cambridge. The two Pool leaders meet for a double-header at Melbourne Park in Chelmsford.

In the North, the Bolton Robots of Doom are still seeking their first Triple-A victory as they were beaten twice by the Halton Jaguars to fall to an 0-6 record. The Jaguars are now at 3-5, although they face a tough test in moving up to a .500 record this Sunday as they have a double-header against the relentless Liverpool Trojans (8-0).

AA: Tigers take two, Rebels, Piranhas and Mavericks remain unbeaten

The Harrogate Tigers (4-4) inflicted the first two defeats of the season on the Hull Scorpions (4-2) in the North and the Manchester Torrent (4-2) took advantage by taking two wins against the Newton Aycliffe Spartans (0-6) to move past the Scorpions into second place behind the Sheffield Bladerunners.

Harrogate host Manchester this Sunday, with Sheffield hosting the Spartans and Hull attempting to get back on track with two games against Oldham.

Nottingham Rebels (4-0) carried on their winning start to the season in the AA-Midlands with two wins over the Leicester Blue Sox (3-3). The Rebels host the Stourbridge Titans on Sunday, who are still seeking their first win of the year after they were downed by the Milton Keynes Bucks (3-1) by a score of 21-2 last time out.

In the South, the Poole Piranhas (7-0) and Guildford Mavericks (5-0) remain unbeaten after they swept their recent double-headers, albeit in the Mavericks’ case by way of forfeits by the Thames Valley Bisons. The Herts Hawks (5-2) and Sidewinders (3-2) also had the brooms out on Sunday, whilst the Daws Hill Spitfires picked up a 15-5 victory over the Croydon Pirates III.

Poole host the Sidewinders this Sunday, with the Mavericks facing the London Mammoths.

A: Archers and Mavericks II to meet on Sunday

The top two teams in Single-A will meet in Essex this Sunday. The Guildford Mavericks II will go into the game having suffered their first defeat of the year at the hands of the London Marauders, while the Essex Archers still have a perfect 4-0 record.

Herts Eagles improved to 2-2 on the season thanks to an 18-16 win over the Essex Redbacks III team on Sunday, whilst the Old Timers are 2-0 after defeating Tonbridge 20-15.