It’s a big week of early baseball action with nineteen games to follow live in the British evening over the next five days. We have the first Giants-Dodgers game of the season tonight and two Cardinals-Cubs games at the end of the week, but the headliner has to be the opening game at the new Yankee Stadium on Thursday. Here’s your guide to this week’s early contests (all times listed in BST).Â
Note: I’m using a different format this week, listing all of the games and scheduled pitching match-ups before commenting on them below. I think this will make it easier to pick out specific games than you were able to do with the previous format.Â
Monday 13
18.05 White Sox vs Tigers – Floyd (0-1) Miner (1-0)Â
18.35 Astros vs Pirates – Moehler (0-1) Duke (1-0)Â
19.20 Rockies vs Cubs – Jimenez (1-0) Lilly (1-0)Â
20.05 Phillies vs Nationals – Moyer (0-1) Cabrera (0-1)Â
21.10 Giants vs Dodgers - Johnson (0-1) Billingsley (1-0)
Five early games to finish your Easter weekend on a good note. Rockies-Cubs should be a good one, both with it being the Wrigley opener and as Ubaldo Jimenez had such an impressive start last time out for the Rockies. The first Giants-Dodgers clash of the season should also be worth watching, not least due to the intriguing match-up of the veteran Johnson against the youngster Billingsley.
Tuesday 14
18.05 White Sox vs Tigers – Danks (0-0) Porcello (0-1)
Just the one early game on Tuesday and it’s a rivalry from the AL Central. Danks got a no-decision against the Royals in his previous start despite pitching a decent game, while Rick Porcello makes his second Major League start.
Wednesday 15
18.05 White Sox vs Tigers – Contreras (0-1) Galarraga (1-0)Â
19.10 Indians vs Royals – Sowers (0-0) Ponson (0-1)Â
19.20 Rockies vs Cubs – Marquis (1-0) Harden (0-0)Â
20.35 Red Sox vs Athletics -Â Wakefield (0-1) Anderson (0-1)
20.40 Cardinals vs D-Backs - Pineiro (1-0) Garland (1-0)
21.08 Yankees vs Rays – Pettitte (1-0) Sonnanstine (0-1)
Six early games for the middle of the week, four from the AL and two from the Senior circuit. Marquis’s return to Wrigley should be fun to watch, especially if Harden is his usual dominating self (when not on the treatment table etc), while the Yankees-Rays game should be another great contest. I won’t be able to look any further than my A’s game against the Red Sox. Brett Anderson, one of Oakland’s talented young pitchers, has a tough task facing the Red Sox’s line-up. Tim Wakefield’s knuckleball will be no picnic for the A’s hitters either (or for the Red Sox’s catcher, for that matter).Â
Thursday 16
17.00 Marlins vs Braves – Sanchez (0-0) Kawakami (1-0)Â
17.35 Astros vs Pirates – Ortiz (0-0) Karstens (0-0)Â
18.05 Indians vs Yankees - Lee (0-2) Sabathia (1-1)Â
19.20 Cardinals vs Cubs -Â Wainwright (1-0)Â Marshall (0-0)
Let’s be honest, the Astros-Pirates game is the ugly sister of this bunch, although PNC Park is a beautiful setting for a ballgame. The marquee match of the day has got to be the opening of the new Yankee Stadium, particularly as CC will be on the mound against his former team. Cliff Lee will be hoping that this is the perfect occasion to bounce back from two poor starts as the reigning Cy Young winner.  The Marlins-Braves game sees a good young starter in Anibal Sanchez facing the latest pitching import from Japan: Kenshin Kawakami. A little later and it’s the first Cardinals-Cubs game of the season.
Friday 17
18.05 Indians vs Yankees – Reyes (1-0) Chamberlain (0-0)Â
19.20 Cardinals vs Cubs -Â Lohse (2-0)Â Zambrano (1-0)
Two great early games to end the working week, both continuing series that started the day before. Joba Chamberlain pitched well for the Yanks in his first start of the season, despite ending up with a no-decision, and Anthony Reyes showed signs in his previous outing that his early promise with the Cardinals could blosson with the Indians. Kyle Lohse has won his first two starts this season and he will be looking to make it three wins from three. Carlos Zambrano and the Cubs will have something to say about that.
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.
Meet the New Staduim, Same as the Old Stadium. But seriously, I’ve been to Yankee Stadium after it was renovated and never had the chance to see it as it was before 1976. Having said that, I’ve seen many a World Series Film featuring the Yankees and have had the opertunity to view the ballpark as it was. The New Stadium looks exactly the way the Old Stadium looked, minus the green paint on the seats. It combines the best features of the old stadium with the Best features of the New. It really really looks like Yankee Stadium.
Of course Yankee stadium was more than a ball park. Some of the greatest sports moments at the stadium didn’t involve baseball. The NFL’s “greatest” game, the 1958 Championship game between the Giants and the Colts, took place there. Ali and Louis both defended the Heavyweight title there. And Knute Rockne’s Win one for the Gipper Speach was said there, during aa American Football game between Army and Notre Dame. Association Football has seen its share of moments at the Stadium as the Great Pele and the Cosmos played the 1976 season at Yankee Stadium before moving to the Meadowlands. Even Manchester United played a game there back in the fifties. Celtic also played a Friendly in the Bronx. Heck even Liverpool played here.
Here is a link to a story on that game: http://www.bigapplesoccer.com/history/yankeestadium.php?article_id=15877
Hopefully, this stadium will prove a worthy successor to the old one, and maybe We can see it used the same way the old stadium was used. Maybe we can induce the G-men to play an exhibition game at the Stadium. Perhaps we can host a Heavyweight title fight, and maybe Just maybe induce one of the Teams from the Premiereship play a friendly here.
From the video clips I’ve seen, it certainly looks very impressive. It’s amazing that there are some obstructed seats there though.
Thumbs up for the ‘TV Guide’ of games this week, really glad that I got MLBTV now. The last few transmissions have been a big improvement compared the first sets of opening games last week.
Obviously sad that there’s no Baseball on Five. Hopefully all the various blogs/sites etc. out there will hold the UK community together (this one being the best IMHO!)
Today’s (Tuesday’s) early game between the White Sox and the Tigers has been postponed due to rain. It looks like it won’t be replayed until later in the season.