After another exciting weekend of MLB action, we’ve got ten early games to look forward to this working week.  What’s more, those ten games involve twenty different teams, giving British fans of two-thirds of the MLB teams a chance to watch their chosen side live at a convenient time.  There’s one early game today, three on Wednesday and six on ‘getaway’ Thursday.

All times are in BST. 

Monday 3 August

17.08. Royals @ Rays – Greinke (10-6), Kazmir (5-6)

The one early game today brings together the Royals and Rays.  There aren’t a great deal of reasons to watch the Royals at the moment, but Zack Greinke is definitely one of them.  We’ve just gone past the trade deadline and you could forgive Greinke for being disappointed that he wasn’t handed an escape route by another team.  He went 0-3 in July despite posting a 2.25 ERA over the month.  As for Scott Kazmir, he now has the benefit of a good team around him after beginning his Major League career in a similar situation to Greinke.  However, he hasn’t quite taken the step forward to become an ace as some had predicted.

Tuesday 4 August

There are no early games tomorrow, but the later ones provide some interesting match-ups.  Jarrod Washburn will make his first start for the Tigers against the Orioles, with Baltimore set to give a debut to yet another of their promising youngsters: Brian Matusz (00.05).  Roy Halladay was expected to be in another uniform by now, but he’s still with the Blue Jays.  That will delight the home crowd in Toronto and won’t be so pleasing to the Yankee hitters who could be in for a tough night against him (00.07).

The Red Sox and Rays begin a two-game series in Florida with Jon Lester and Matt Garza on the mound from 00.08.  Two minutes later and Tom Gorzelanny is scheduled to make his debut for the Cubs after he was traded from the bottom of the NL Central to a team firmly in contention for a postseason spot.  He wouldn’t have picked the Great American Ballpark as the venue for his first Cubbies appearance, mind you.

Wednesday 5 August

17.10. Cardinals @ Mets – Lohse (4-6), Hernandez (7-5)
19.05. Giants @ Astros – Sadowski (2-4), Moehler (7-6)
20.35. Braves @ Padres – Hanson (5-2), Gaudin (4-9)

Wednesday offers three contests from the senior circuit.  The series at Citi Field is an important one for both teams, despite it only being the start of August.  Kyle Lohse has started to settle back into the swing of things following his stint on the DL, while the evergreen Livan Hernandez continues to take the ball every five days.

The Giants added a couple of bats prior to the deadline (Ryan Garko and Freddy Sanchez) and they are in the NL wildcard hunt.  The Astros didn’t make any moves (reportedly due to financial reasons) and are not a great bet to stay in the race.  Meanwhile the Braves’ Tommy Hanson is living up to the promise he showed in the Minors and his start at pitcher-friendly PETCO Park is a good opportunity to see why he’s so highly thought of.

Thursday 6 August

17.05. Twins @ Indians – TBD, Carmona (2-6)
17.35. Marlins @ Nationals – Volstad (8-9), TBD
18.05. Orioles @ Tigers – TBD, TBD
18.05. Rockies @ Phillies – Cook (10-3), Lee (8-9)
19.05. Angels @ White Sox – TBD, TBD
20.35. Rangers @ A’s – TBD, TBD

There’s a good selection of six games on Thursday.  Most of the probable pitchers have not yet been announced (I’ll add them to the comments box when they are published), but the one pitching match-up that is confirmed will be hard to beat.  Aaron Cook goes under the radar, but any pitcher with a 10-3 record deserves attention and especially one that makes his home starts at Coors Field.  His sub-4.00 ERA is also testament to the way he has pitched.  As for the opposing pitcher, Cliff Lee soon got comfortable in a Phillies uniform.  He pitched a complete game against the Giants on Friday and will make his home debut in this game.

Later on, the latest series between the Red Sox and Yankees begins at five past midnight.  John Smoltz and Joba Chamberlain should be on the mound at Yankee Stadium, while David Ortiz is likely to be the focus of attention for the home crowd.

Friday 7 August

There are no early games on Friday, but several exciting series begin later on.  They include Twins-Tigers, Marlins-Phillies, Cubs-Rockies, Rangers-Angels, Braves-Dodgers and, of course, the continuing Red Sox-Yankees series.

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.