BST guide to this week’s early MLB games: Memorial Day and more

The week starts with a public holiday on both sides of the Atlantic.  Our Spring Bank Holiday aligns with Memorial Day in the States, meaning that we both get to enjoy some live baseball to bring a perfect end to the long weekend.

Wednesday’s a great day for some pre-midnight games as well, although Thursday is unusually light when it come to early games.  Still, 18 on the week is a very decent number (albeit the two hosted by Tampa only just dip into the pre-midnight bracket) and gives us lots to look forward to.

All times are in BST.

Monday 30 May

18.05. Minnesota at Detroit (Blackburn – Penny)
18.05. San Diego at Atlanta (Harang – Hudson)
18.05. Philadelphia at Washington (Halladay – Hernandez)
19.20. Houston at Chicago Cubs (Rodriguez – Lopez)
21.05. NY Yankees at Oakland (Colon – Cahill)
21.10. LA Angels at Kansas City (Santana – Hochevar)
21.10. Baltimore at Seattle (Arrieta – Fister)
21.15. San Francisco at St. Louis (Bumgarner – McClellan)
23.40. Texas at Tampa Bay (Holland – Davis)

The top match-ups on Monday are in the National League, with Tim Hudson starting for the Braves against the Padres and an intriguing pitching contest in Washington featuring Roy Halladay and the veteran Livan Hernandez.

Rodrigo Lopez makes his Cubs debut after being acquired from the Braves last week.  The Yankees start their series in Oakland with Bartolo Colon and Trevor Cahill set to take the mound.

Tuesday 31 May

23.40. Texas at Tampa Bay (Wilson – Sonnanstine)

This should be a good series in Florida between two play-off contenders.  As on Monday, this game starts at 6.40 p.m. local time and gets under the pre-midnight UK barrier by 20 minutes. Jeff Niemann is currently dealing with a back injury, so Andy Sonnanstine will take his spot in the rotation.  

Wednesday 1 June

18.05. Philadelphia at Washington (Oswalt – Lannan) * ESPN America
18.10. Texas at Tampa Bay (Lewis – Price)
18.35. Chicago White Sox at Boston (Humber – Wakefield)
19.20. Houston at Chicago Cubs (Myers – Davis)
20.35. NY Yankees at Oakland (Burnett – Gonzalez)
20.40. Baltimore at Seattle (Matusz – Pineda)
21.10. LA Angels at Kansas City (Chatwood – Paulino)

The Rangers-Rays series concludes on Wednesday. David Price was dominant in his most recent outing against the Indians, while Colby Lewis conceded six runs over the first two innings against the Royals.  Phil Humber has had a very promising start to the season for the White Sox and the Red Sox’s line-up will be a good test of that encouraging form.

The veteran Doug Davis struggled for the Cubs on Friday against the Pirates, in a game shown on ESPN America, and you get the feeling that he needs to take advantage of a distinctly average Astros lineup if he wants to keep his spot on a Major League roster. 

At the other end of the age-scale, the pitching match-up in Seattle catches the eye.  Brian Matusz finished off 2010 in scintillating form but has yet to pitch in 2011 due to an intercostal strain.  He is scheduled to make his season debut on Wednesday.  The opposing pitcher should be Michael Pineda, who has been a revelation for the Mariners in his rookie season.

Thursday 2 June

18.10. Pittsburgh at NY Mets (Maholm – Pelfrey) * ESPN America

The only early game on Thursday pits the Pirates against the Mets at Citi Field.  Paul Maholm is coming off an excellent start in which he shut-out the Cubs and gave up just three hits in the process.  Mike Pelfrey matched a season-high with 7.2 innings pitched last time out against the Phillies, although he ended up with a no-decision.

Friday 3 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 ESPN/ESPN America schedule can be found on their website.  The full schedule for this week’s games can be found on MLB.com.