I’m reverting to publishing my ‘early game’ guide in a separate post this week, rather than including it in WHGB.  Let me know if you’ve got a strong preference for publishing this separately or not. 

We’ve got nine early games to enjoy this working week.  All times are in BST.

Monday 21 June

No early games

Tuesday 22 June

No early games

Wednesday 23 June

20.35. Cincinnati at Oakland (Johnny Cueto – Vin Mazzaro)
21.35. Kansas City at Washington (Brian Bannister – Stephen Strasburg)

After watching a transformed England side play with magical flair and ambition to beat Slovenia comfortably and qualify for the second round of the World Cup on Wednesday afternoon, you can celebrate by taking in a Stephen Strasburg start against the Royals in the evening.  Or it will be something to cheer us all up. Some have questioned the Nationals’ handling of Strasburg and whether he should have been called up earlier.  I think the way they’ve handled it has been fine, not least in making the transition to the Majors as simple as possible: facing the Pirates, Indians and Royals in three of his first four starts.

Thursday 24 June

17.10. San Diego at Tampa Bay (Wade LeBlanc – Matt Garza)
18.05. Cleveland at Philadelphia (Fausto Carmona – Joe Blanton)
19.05. Atlanta at Chicago White Sox (Derek Lowe – Gavin Floyd)
19.05. San Francisco at Houston (Matt Cain – Wandy Rodriguez)
19.10. Minnesota at Milwaukee (Nick Blackburn – Manny Parra)
20.40. Chicago Cubs at Seattle (Ted Lilly – Felix Hernandez)

Thursday’s slate of games includes an intriguing encounter from Safeco Field as King Felix, who looked in top form against Cincinnati on Saturday, matches up against the returning Carlos Silva.  Looking at the schedule at the beginning of the season, most M’s fans would have expected Silva to have been cut from the Cubs’ roster by the time this series came along. Instead, he leads the Cubbies’ pitching staff in wins and ERA. UPDATE: Silva has a mild hamstring strain so he will not make this start after all.  Ted Lilly will be moved forward to take the mound instead.

Friday 25 June

21.05. Chicago Cubs at Chicago White Sox (Carlos Zambrano – Jake Peavy)

We end the working week, and begin the weekend, with the latest Windy City encounter and it looks like being a good one from the Cell as Lilly and Peavy are scheduled to take the mound. UPDATE: As Lilly is pitching on Thursday now, Carlos Zambrano will pitch in his place.

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’s MLB schedule can be found here. A complete schedule of MLB games can be found on MLB.com.