It should be another exciting week in MLB. 

We don’t have any games starting before midnight UK time on Monday and Tuesday, but there are a number of eye-catching contests scheduled for the early hours to either stay up for or to read about over breakfast the following morning.

We then have nine early games spread over the rest of the working week, including a Giants-Cubs game from Wrigley on Friday 13th.  All times are in BST.

(In case you didn’t see it on my Twitter feed, apologies for not writing my ‘Weekly Hit Ground Ball’ column this week. I’ll get back to my normal routine next week)

Monday 9 May

No early games.

If you are awake in the early hours of Tuesday morning then put a pot of coffee on and enjoy the game between San Diego and Milwaukee from Miller Park (first pitch 01.10 a.m.).  Zack Greinke is scheduled to make his home debut, with Mat Latos taking the ball for the Padres.

Tuesday 10 May

No early games, but again there are some cracking pitching match-ups in prospect if you can give up some hours of sleep.  They don’t come much bigger than the Phillies-Marlins contest, starting at ten past midnight, with Roy Halladay and Josh Johnson being the probable pitchers. 

Elsewhere, Francisco Liriano is scheduled to make his first start since his no-hitter (Tigers-Twins at 01.10 a.m.), Tim Hudson pitched a one-hitter last time out (Washington-Atlanta 00.10 a.m.) and Tim Lincecum starts at AT&T Park against Ian Kennedy and the D-Backs (03.15 a.m.).   

Wednesday 11 May

18.10. San Diego at Milwaukee (Tim Stauffer – Randy Wolf)
18.10. Detroit at Minnesota (Phil Coke – Scott Baker) * ESPN America
19.05. Oakland at Texas (Gio Gonzalez – Matt Harrison)
19.05. Cincinnati at Houston (Edinson Volquez – Wandy Rodriguez)
20.10. NY Mets at Colorado (Jon Niese – Ubaldo Jimenez)

Our first batch of early games this week.  The Padres-Brewers series should be a good one with both sides needing to find some form.  Milwaukee will be hoping that Greinke and Shaun Marcum have given them a good start to the series before the finale against Stauffer, who is 0-1 on the season but has pitched decently of late. 

The Tigers and Twins are equally in need of an upturn in their fortunes, while the A’s and Rangers continue their AL West rivalry in the third and final game of this latest series (a four-game series in Oakland in April saw the home team taking three wins).

Volquez and Rodriguez are two pitchers who can be brilliant, but also have an air of vulnerability about them.  Meanwhile Ubaldo Jimenez hasn’t been able to recapture his 2010 form so far in 2011 and he walked five batters in six innings in his last start against the Giants.

Thursday 12 May

17.05. Tampa Bay at Cleveland (James Shields – Justin Masterson) * ESPN America
19.20. St. Louis at Chicago Cubs (Jaime Garcia – Casey Coleman)
20.45. Arizona at San Francisco (Dan Hudson – Matt Cain)

There are only seven games in total being played on Thursday, although the three early starts should all be worth watching. 

James Shields and Jaime Garcia have been two of the outstanding pitchers in the Majors so far this season and they are scheduled to be involved in games that are worth watching. The Indians have been the surprise team of the Majors up to this point so you don’t want to miss a chance to catch them, while Cardinals-Cubs contests don’t need any big build-up.

In the slightly later game, the D-Backs and Giants finish up their three-game series. Dan Hudson has pitched well in his last three starts after being knocked around by the Reds on 21 April.  Matt Cain has given the Giants at least six solid innings in all but one of his seven starts prior to this one.

Friday 13 May

19.20. San Francisco at Chicago Cubs (Madison Bumgarner – Ryan Dempster) * ESPN America

Bumgarner and Dempster are scheduled to be on the mound for this Friday 13th contest.  They will fear a howling wind as they look out of the window when they wake up on the morning of the game.

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 ESPN/ESPN America schedule can be found on their website.  The full schedule for this week’s games can be found on MLB.com.