Let’s hope that the weekend’s good weather continues this week.  We only have live baseball to watch on Thursday, something that is all the more disappointing after the bounty of early games on offer last week. Still, fans of the Mets, Pirates, Angels, Blue Jays, Red Sox, Tigers, Rangers, Yankees, Indians, Twins, A’s, White Sox, Royals or Rays can all follow their chosen team live on the ‘getaway’ day.

All times are listed in British Summer Time. 

Monday 1 June

There are nine later games tonight, including a Joba Chamberlain start against the Indians (00.05), Roy Oswalt taking the mound at Minute Maid Park against the Rockies amid tales of unrest and a possible move away from the Astros (01.05), Edinson Volquez and the Reds facing the Cardinals (01.15) and Hiroki Kuroda making his return from the DL for the Dodgers against the D-Backs (03.10).

Tuesday 2 June

No early games again, but plenty of good match-ups taking place later on. The Angels-Blue Jays clash should be exciting with Joe Saunders and Roy Halladay toeing the rubber (00.07), while the D-Backs-Dodgers game brings together Dan Haren and the in-form Randy Wolf (03.10). 

Other big name starters scheduled to pitch tomorrow include Matsuzaka against the Tigers, Santana against the Pirates, Lincecum against the Nationals and Burnett against the Rangers (all 00.05).  However the best name of the night has to go to the man set to make his Major League debut for the Phillies against Jake Peavy and the Padres: Antonio Bastardo.  Like all baseball fans with a slightly childish nature, I’m hoping Bastardo stays in the Majors for years to come.

Wednesday 3 June

There’s a full slate of games on Wednesday, but sadly none are scheduled to be played during the daytime.  The pick of the bunch is perhaps the first game set to start: Cubs versus Braves at midnight with Ted Lilly and Derek Lowe on the mound.  Elsewhere Josh Beckett starts against the Tigers (00.05), Cliff Lee looks for his third win of the season in the Indians’ game against the Twins (01.10) and the D-Backs-Dodgers series continues with Jon Garland and Chad Billingsley (03.10).

Thursday 4 June

17.35. Mets @ Pirates -. Redding (0-2), Karstens (2-2)
17.37. Angels @ Blue Jays – Lackey (1-1), Tallet (3-3) 
18.05. Red Sox @ Tigers – Wakefield (6-3), Willis (1-2) 
18.05. Rangers Yankees – McCarthy (5-2), Sabathia (5-3) 
18.10. Indians @ Twins – Carmona (2-5), TBD  
19.05. Athletics @ White Sox – Anderson (2-5), Buehrle (6-1)  
21.08. Royals @ Rays – Meche (2-5) Shields (4-4)

At last! Live baseball to watch in the British evening. 

At 18.05 you’ve got a choice of either of the two AL East behemoths.  Detroit don’t know which Dontrelle Willis will turn up for their game against knuckleballer Wakefield, while the Rangers will be hoping they get the same Brandon McCarthy who has performed so brilliantly over his last four starts.  The Indians were praying that the Fausto Carmona of 2007 would return in 2009, but that hasn’t happened so far. 

The pitching match-up of the day is arguably Gil Meche against James Shields. The starting pitcher match-up in the Mets-Pirates game won’t set pulses racing, but watching at least part of a game from PNC Park is always worth doing.

Friday 5 June

It’s back to the archive games if you want to catch any baseball in the early evening.  Otherwise, you need to stay up (or get in early) to catch some live action.  Not many of the starting pitchers are confirmed as yet, but David Price is scheduled to pitch for the Rays at Yankee Stadium at five past midnight.

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.