MOTN!

I guess I will post a few things tonight. No big deal, just some more Interleague Play.

White Sox 4- Cubs 1. This was one of two afternoon games today. Alexi Ramirez hit a high and outside fastball from Dempster into the catch net in left field to start the scoring in the top of the first and the White Sox never looked back. The story of the the game was John Danks, who threw 7 innings giving up 1 run on 5 hits with no walks and 9 k's...Maybe he is turning his season around. In his last two starts against Detroit and today against the Cubs, he has thrown 14.1 innings while giving up 3 runs on 10 hits, 2 walks, while striking out 16. Ozzie can't be mad about that.

Meanwhile on the Left Coast Tim Lincecum (8ip 3er 9k's 8h 0bb) and his Giants faced off against the Los Angeles Angels of Aneheim. The Angels won 4-3 thanks to a 3-run 8th innings by the Angels that was capped off by a ground out by Juan Rivera to drive in Chone Figgins.

On to the rest of the story...

The Royals send Zack Greinke to the mound tonight in a battle of young pitchers to face the Arizona Diamondbacks who are starting Max Scherzer. No need to write about what Greinke has done this season, but Scherzer on the other hand is quietly putting up a solid year, which his 3-4 record does not reflect (yet another reason why W-L is not the way to guage a pitcher's performance throughout the season). He has put up a 3.63 ERA in 67 innings while striking out 69 and walking 28. In case you have not been keeping score, the Royals are 47-32 (.595 win%) in Interleague Play since 2005, but only 244-388 (.386 win%). How unlikely are those numbers? According to Rany Jazayerli http://www.ranyontheroyals.com/2009/06/are-royals-in-wrong-league.html it is about 1 in 7000.

Enough about that, what else is going on!

If the Nationals are actually going to win a game against the Yankees it will be tonight, when John Lannan faces off against Chien-Ming Wang (he of the 14.34 ERA). Remember, the Nationals are 5th in OPS in the National League (4th in OPS+) and with their best pitcher on the mound tonight, could pull off a win at Yankee Stadium. I mean, if Wang struggles and leaves meatballs for Adam Dunn to pull into the short porch in Right Field, it is going to be a long night.

In keeping up with pitchers to keep an eye on here are a few more...

Edwin Jackson is pitching against the Cardinals tonight. In his last 5 starts he is 3-1 with a 1.98 era with 24 K's and 12 BB's in 35.1 innings pitched. These are not far from his season totals (6-3 2.24 ERA 88.1 innings pitched 65 K's 23 BB's). Verlander showed his human side last night, will Jackson do the same tonight?

There really are not many exciting games tonight. Marlins v. Red Sox is fun considering it is the 500th consecutive sellout at Fenway Park. Want to know something crazy? It was 49 years ago today that Ted Williams hit his 500th Home Run. Unfortunately that did not take place at Fenway, but in the now defunct Cleveland Stadium. He was the fourth player to reach this milestone mark after Babe Ruth, Jimmie Foxx, and Mel Ott.

Cahill v. Kuroda is actually a decent matchup with Cahill having not given up more than 3 runs in his last 5 outings, lasting at least 6 inning is 4 of those 5 starts. Hiroki Kuroda is a shutdown starter at Dodgers Stadium with a 6-3 record in 16 starts with a 3.45 ERA and 1.07 WHIP.

Time for the games!