Ho hum, another no-hitter. Maybe it’s a freak occurrence, maybe there’s an underlying reason why pitchers are racking up historical feats at an unprecedented pace this season? I’ll leave such research to people better positioned to delve into the topic and get on with enjoying the games.
And thankfully there’s a decent selection of early games to enjoy live in the British evening today.Â
The opener is the highlight of the day from a storyline perspective. Johan Santana will face his former team for the first time since being traded to the Mets during the 2007/08 offseason. That would be a notable story in itself, but it’s all the more so coming in a difficult week for the former Cy Young winner, both in admitting that he’s still recovering from offseason elbow surgery and the off-the-field revelation that he was accused of sexual battery last October, a case that was closed due to lack of evidence. I’m sure he’ll be glad to get back out on the field and it should be a good match-up against Carl Pavano, who pitched a complete game against the Phillies last time out and is quietly having a very accomplished season. In fact, his moustache seems to be getting more attention than his pitching.
Elsewhere, Cole Hamels takes on the Blue Jays a day after Roy Halladay returned to his former team and got the win, Ian Kennedy has the task of following up Edwin Jackson’s no-no as he matches up against David Price and the Rays, and the impressive Doug Fister makes a very welcome return for the Mariners after a stint on the Disabled List. All times are in BST.
18.10. Minnesota at NY Mets (Carl Pavano – Johan Santana) * ESPN America
19.10. St. Louis at Kansas City (Blake Hawksworth – Kyle Davies)
20.05. Houston at Texas (Josh Banks – C.J. Wilson)
21.00. Detroit at Atlanta (Max Scherzer – Kenshin Kawakami)
21.05. Washington at Baltimore (Livan Hernandez – Brad Bergesen) * ESPN America
21.05. Philadelphia at Toronto (Cole Hamels – Shaun Marcum)
21.05. Arizona at Tampa Bay (Ian Kennedy – David Price)
21.10. Seattle at Milwaukee (Doug Fister – Randy Wolf)
All the above games can be followed via various resources on MLB.com (Gameday, At Bat with Gameday Audio and MLB.tv). It’s wall-to-wall MLB on ESPN America tonight, as the two noted games above are followed by Yankees-Dodgers from midnight. A complete schedule of MLB games can be found on MLB.com
2 comments
According to the news here (in the U.S) Prince Harry is going to throw out the first pitch at the Mets/Twins game today (Saturday). Just thought I would mention it in case anybody here is interested in that kind of thing.
Hi Spinster. Thanks for passing that on, and sorry for not being able to approve the comment until after the event! I happened to stumble across it live and he did a good job with the pitch.