The series decider between the Yankees and Red Sox, as always, has been chosen as the ESPN Sunday Night Game at 01.00 (available on ESPN, ESPN America and ESPN-HD here in the UK).  Apart from that game, all of the other MLB contests today are played under daylight in the States.

18.05. Mariners @ Indians – Hernandez (12-4), Carmona (2-8)
18.07. Angels @ Blue Jays – Bell (1-0), Romero (10-5)
18.10. Phillies @ Mets – Martinez (1-0), Perez (3-3)
18.30. Marlins @ Braves – Nolasco (9-8), Lowe (12-8)
18.35. Reds @ Pirates – Bailey (2-4), Hart (2-4)
18.35. Brewers @ Nationals – Parra (8-9), Stammen (3-6)
18.38. Rangers @ Rays – Feldman (12-4), Price (6-5)
19.05. D-Backs @ Astros – Garland (6-11), Norris (3-1)
19.05. Orioles @ White Sox – Berken (2-11), Buehrle (11-6)
19.10. Twins @ Royals – Pavano (10-9), Bannister (7-9)
20.10. Giants @ Rockies – Lincecum (12-3), Jimenez (11-9)
21.05. Tigers @ A’s – Porcello (10-7), Tomko (2-2)
21.05. Cardinals @ Padres – Smoltz (2-5), Carrillo (1-1)
21.10. Cubs @ Dodgers – Dempster (6-7), Billingsley (12-6)

All times are in BST. 

Sunday’s slate of early games offers a great deal of choice depending on team allegiance or which storyline(s) you want to follow.  If big starts by veteran pitchers are your order of the day,  you can choose between John Smoltz making his Cardinal debut or Pedro Martinez facing his former team for the Phillies.  Either side of the AL Central battle can be followed via the White Sox’s game against the Orioles or the Tigers taking on the A’s, with the Twins hoping Carl Pavano can help them get back in the race to make it a three-way dice down the stretch.

You then have a group of games between postseason contenders.

The Braves and Marlins are tied on 65-58 records after Atlanta’s win yesterday.  They jumped out to an early 4-0 lead and, despite a three-run fifth inning, the Marlins were unable to make up the deficit.  The result leaves both teams 6.5 games behind the Phillies in the East and 4 games behind the Rockies in the Wild Card race. Ricky Nolasco and Derek Lowe are on the mound intending to help their respective team jump ahead of the other.

The Rays have won the first two games of their series against the Rangers to close in on the AL Wild Card.  Texas showed great battling spirit yesterday as Marlon Byrd hit a two-out homer to send the game into extra innings, but the Rays weren’t to be denied and they got the 4-3 win on a walk-off single by Carlos Pena in the tenth inning.  Should the Rays complete the series sweep today with David Price on the mound, they will draw level with the Rangers for second place in the Wild Card standings behind the Red Sox.

The Giants-Rockies series is 2-1 in favour of the road team so far.  Colorado’s task is to make sure that they can split the series, which would have been their minimum requirement heading into it.  However San Francisco must be spying the chance to take an important 3-1 series victory over their closest rivals as they send their ace to the mound.

Finally, the Dodgers won a pitching duel yesterday over the Cubs to seal the four-game series with one game to go.  After facing the baffling offerings of knuckleball pitcher Charlie Haeger, the struggling Cubs offense now takes on a very different challenge in the form of Chad Billingsley. 

All the above games can be followed via various resources on MLB.com (Gameday, Gameday Audio and MLB.tv).  ESPN America is concentrating on the Little League World Series at 20.00 before broadcasting the Yankees-Red Sox game live at 1.00.