Saturday’s early MLB games

There are four early games today.  The Mariners and Blue Jays are playing out the string, but the other three games take you right into the heart of the postseason race. All times are in BST.

18.05. Braves @ Nationals – Hanson (10-4), Mock (3-9)
18.07. Mariners @ Blue Jays – Snell (7-10), Purcey (1-2)
21.10. Red Sox @ Yankees – Matsuzaka (3-5), Sabathia (18-7)
21.10. Cubs @ Giants – Gorzelanny (6-2), Zito (10-12) 

Tommy Hanson came into the 2009 season as a highly-rated prospect and since being called up to the Majors he has shown that the hype was fully deserved (not always the case with prospects, it has to be said).  Hanson is now mounting a serious challenge to the Phillies’ J.A. Happ for the NL Rookie of the Year award.  A win here for the Braves’ young starter would be a big boost to his chances, both by adding another ‘W’ to his name and keeping his team in the hunt for a postseason place.

The Yankees have secured their postseason place and the Red Sox are all but there as well; however that doesn’t make this a meaningless game. There’s no such thing as a meaningless game between these two and with a pitching match-up of Matsuzaka and Sabathia, it promises to be a fascinating encounter. A-Rod had a big night yesterday as the home team beat their rivals from Beantown 9-5, although Red Sox fans will be more concerned at the sight of Jon Lester hobbling off the field than losing the game.

The Giants’ playoff hopes were hit yesterday as they lost to the Cubs and the Rockies beat the Cardinals.  That left San Francisco five games adrift in the NL Wild Card race: a considerable mountain to climb with so little of the season to go.  The combination of the two results also delayed St Louis’s celebrations in the NL Central and don’t underestimate the Cubs’ desire to make their fierce rivals wait as long as possible before they can start spraying the champagne.

All the above games can be followed via various resources on MLB.com (Gameday, Gameday Audio and MLB.tv).  They are your only options this evening as ESPN America is concentrating on college football.

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