Volcanic ash got you down? No need to worry, there’s a bundle of exciting games in MLB to enjoy today that are taking place during the British evening.  All times are in BST.

18.05. Houston at Chicago Cubs (Roy Oswalt – Tom Gorzelanny)

The Astros finally got their first win of the season at their ninth attempt on Thursday against the Cardinals; however they went right back to losing ways yesterday when Carlos Silva and the Cubs took the opener of this series at Wrigley.  Houston have ace Roy Oswalt on the mound and his 0-2 record is a reflection of the team he is playing for rather than poor performances by the pitcher. 

18.05. Milwaukee at Washington (Randy Wolf – Livan Hernandez)

The Nationals came from behind to beat the Brew Crew yesterday.  Adam Kennedy got the better of reliever LaTroy Hawkins in the eighth inning, turning a 3-2 deficit into a 5-3 win to send the home fans happy.  It should be an interesting pitching match-up today between two veterans who don’t light up the radar gun, but know how to pitch.

18.05. Texas at NY Yankees (Scott Feldman – A.J. Burnett)

The Yankees beat the Rangers 5-1 in a rain-shorted game last night.  The contest was called after six innings and you could say that it denied Texas the chance to get back into the game, yet considering the way CC Sabathia was pitching, the odds of that happening were pretty slim.  Feldman and Burnett are coming off decent outings, both earning their first wins of the season while pitching seven innings, but they didn’t miss many bats (4 K’s for Feldman, just 1 for Burnett) and the scoreboard may be busy if they repeat that today against two powerful batting lineups.

18.07. LA Angels at Toronto (Joe Saunders – Brian Tallet) * ESPN America

Kendry Morales and Jered Weaver combined to lead the Angels to a 7-5 victory over the Blue Jays yesterday. Saunders is 0-2 with a 7.36 ERA so far, but he didn’t pitch badly last time out against the A’s.  Tallet pitched well in his first start of the season against the Rangers and then got smacked around a bit by the White Sox in his last game (6 runs in 6 innings).  Which version will turn up today?

18.10. Kansas City at Minnesota (Gil Meche – Nick Blackburn)

The Twins got the better of Zack Greinke yesterday in a 10-3 victory, improving to 3-1 in their new home.  They will fancy their chances of making that 4-1 today against Gil Meche.  Injury kept him off the Opening Day roster and his first start was ‘rusty’ at best.  Mind you, Blackburn gave up three homers last time out against the White Sox.  Add in the fact that there have been 37 runs scored in the first four games at Target Field, 26 by the Twins, and this one will probably end up as a pitching duel.

21.05. Baltimore at Oakland (Jeremy Guthrie – Justin Duchscherer)

Yes, it’s still very early in the season, but you can’t begrudge us A’s fans from enjoying our 8-4 start.  Oakland continued their good form with a 4-2 win over the Orioles yesterday, Dallas Braden once again pitching well, while Baltimore have now lost eight straight games.  Much like Roy Oswalt, Guthrie has been lumbered with an 0-2 record despite pitching quite well.  Duchscherer has battled back from missing all of 2009 and was terrific in his last start against the Mariners.

21.10. Chicago Sox at Cleveland (Jake Peavy – Jake Westbrook)

I don’t like sports stadiums being given silly commercial names in any case, but the renaming of Jacobs Field to Progressive Field will be lamented even more than usual today.  We could have had Jake versus Jake at the Jake.  As it is, we’re left with what should be a competitive game including two pitchers looking for their first ‘W’ of the season.  The Indians won the series opener last night 6-2.

21.10. NY Mets at St. Louis (Johan Santana – Jaime Garcia)

A Felipe Lopez grand slam catapulted the Cards to a 4-3 victory last night. What made it all the more frustrating for the Mets is that it spoiled a decent start by Oliver Perez.  New York can bounce back today with their ace on the mound, while St. Louis counter with their young rookie left-hander.

21.10. San Francisco at LA Dodgers (Tim Lincecum – Charlie Haeger) * ESPN America

This should be a great game.  It’s a classic rivalry stretching back to the franchises’ New York/Brooklyn roots, the two teams put together a barnstormer yesterday (7-0 to the Dodgers after 2 innings, Giants scored 5 runs in the ninth inning but fell short of an incredible comeback in a 10-8 defeat) and it’s a fascinating pitching match-up.  Haeger’s a knuckleball pitcher who struck out 12 Marlins last time out and as for Lincecum, well, he’s the Freak.  Yep, should be a cracker.

All the above games can be followed via various resources on MLB.com (Gameday, At Bat with Gameday Audio and MLB.tv), while ESPN America is broadcasting the Angels-Blue Jays and Giants-Dodgers games. A complete schedule of MLB games can be found on MLB.com.