After a thrilling Friday night, MLB produces five early games on Saturday that should all provide plenty of excitement.
18.05. Atlanta at Washington (Sheets – Jackson)
There will not be many better comebacks than the one pulled off by Atlanta last night. Coming back from 9-0 down to take a 10-9 lead was impressive enough, but to fight back again after Danny Espinosa had tied the game at 10-10 in the bottom of the ninth made the Braves’ victory all the more remarkable.
Remarkable is also a good word to describe Ben Sheets. He pitched extremely well in his first start after 2 years out injured. We’ll see if he can produce a repeat performance today in the first game of a double-header, the second game of which will complete a baseball triple-header on ESPN America.
18.10. L.A. Dodgers at N.Y. Mets (Capuano – Batista) *ESPN America
The Dodgers edged past the Mets 7-6 yesterday with Matt Kemp predictably leading the charge. He hit his 14th home run off the season yesterday as rumours continue to circulate about his team adding a player or two to the roster before the 31 July trade deadline. There was some talk of the Mets calling up top prospect Matt Harvey to start this game, but instead they’ll go with the veteran Batista.
21.05. San Francisco at Philadelphia (Cain – Hamels)
This should be an absolute cracker of a game. A pitching match-up between Matt Cain and Cole Hamels would be enough of a draw in any circumstances, but there’s an extra element to the story today with Hamels’ Phillies future in doubt. The contract extension signed earlier this season by Cain to commit his future with the Giants has become a starting point for Hamels’ negotiations with the Phillies and there does appear to be a growing feeling that the two sides may come to an agreement; however Phillies fans will arrive at Citizens Bank Park today knowing that this may be the last time they watch Hamels pitching in their uniform at this ballpark.
21.05. Chicago White Sox at Detroit Tigers (Sale – Porcello)
The Tigers are chasing down the White Sox in the AL Central and now trail by only half a game after Justin Verlander helped the home team to a 4-2 victory last night. Chris Sale has been one of the stars of the 2012 season so far and the left-hander will look to get his team back on track today.
21.05. Texas at L.A. Angels (Darvish – Santana) *ESPN America
We’re really spoilt for choice at 21.05 today. The two big powers in the AL West (although keep an eye out for the red-hot A’s) are colliding this weekend and the Angels took first blood on Friday with a 6-1 win that brings them within 5 games of their rivals at the top of the division and keeps them .5 ahead in the Wild Card race. Yu Darvish had a poor time of things last time out against the Mariners so today’s game will be a good test for the Japanese star.
All of these games are available to watch live via the MLB.TV subscription at MLB.com, while ESPN America has a baseball triple-header as noted above. The full schedule for today’s games can be found onMLB.com.