On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing matchups
Houston Astros (25-20) vs. Chicago Cubs (27-17) - ESPN -7:05PM Est.
While some people are busy spending their time pondering whether or not Chipper Jones is going to be able to maintain that .400 batting average of his (here's a hint: he's not), Lance Berkman is looking to join Larry in the discussion.
Lance is currently in the midst of a 17-game hitting streak in which he's hitting .565--Can he hit .500 for the rest of the season? I say yes--with 8 home runs and 27 runs driven in. He's used that streak to raise his average on the season up to .399. In other words, he hit ball good. Make ball go far.
Of course, Lance won't be the only player in Minute Maid Park tonight who's swinging the magic wand.
While he's not hitting .565 over his last 17 games, the Cubs Alfonso Soriano has come to life recently as well. The Cubs just finished off a 10-game home stand on Sunday that saw them go 8-2, in large part due to Soriano. During the home stand, Soriano went 21-for-40 ( a paltry .525) with seven homers and 16 RBI.
God help tonight's pitchers.
Ted Lilly goes for the Cubs, and he'll be looking to win his fourth straight start. He's 1-1 with a 3.60 ERA in three starts against Houston. The Astros counter with Brian Moehler who will be making his third start of the season for the Astros. He's 1-0 with a 3.91 ERA in six appearances against the Cubs, three of which were starts.
Oakland Athletics (24-21) vs. Tampa Bay Rays (25-19) - 10:05PM Est.
Two of the season's biggest surprises face off tonight in Oakland as the Athletics and Rays start a three game set by the bay. Who would have thought that any matchup between these two teams could be a possible playoff preview? There were probably some people who didn't think the Athletics would win 24 games all season, let alone before June.
Yet, here they are, fighting with the Angels out in the AL West in a race that's a lot closer than anyone imagined it would be, and now even features the Rangers.
The Rays are surprising as well this year, but not to the extent of Oakland. While I don't think anybody had Tampa penciled in to be fighting with Boston for the division crown this season, a lot of people expected the Rays to be much improved. It's just nobody knew their pitching would be this good, especially considering they just got Scott Kazmir back last weekend.
James Shields gets the ball for Tampa tonight, and he's trying to avoid his third straight loss after getting off to a good start this season. James pitched well in his last start, allowing only 2 runs in 7.1 innings against the Yankees, but got a loss for his trouble anyway. Beware, though, as Shields struggles on the road, going 1-2 with a 6.20 ERA so far this season.
Joe Blanton goes for Oakland, and he's coming off a loss that looked a lot like Shields' against the Indians. Joe allowed two solo homers in seven innings of work, but Oakland lost the game 2-0. In seven starts against Tampa, Blanton is 2-3 with a 6.05 ERA.
Los Angeles Dodgers (22-21) vs. Cincinnati Reds (21-23) - 10:10PM Est.
I went over the two hottest hitters in baseball in the Astros/Cubs preview, but do you know who the hottest team in baseball is right now? It's pretty hard to believe, but the Reds have won their last six games to crawl out of last place in the NL Central, and are actually threatening to get back into this thing.
The Reds took on an Indians team that had won six of it's last seven over the weekend, and had me writing that they'd taken over the AL Central for good, and Cincy promptly took all three games from them. They even beat Cliff Lee! And he's unbeatable!
They'll look to extend their streak to seven tonight against a team that won seven in a row themselves not too long ago. Since then, the Dodgers have come back down to earth a bit, and have lost their last four. They'll be giving the ball to Brad Penny who had his scheduled start yesterday pushed back to today thanks to some stiffness in his arm. Since coming to the Dodgers, Penny is 5-0 with a 1.48 ERA against Cincinnati, and has dominated Adam Dunn in particular (which means you should expect to see more bunt attempts from Adam tonight).
Bronson Arroyo goes for Cincinnati, and he's allowed only one run and struck out 14 batters in his last 15 innings. Though, he's only beaten the Dodgers one time in his first five starts against them.
Everybody Else
- Red Sox vs. Royals 7:05PM
- Nationals vs. Phillies 7:10PM
- Twins vs. Rangers 8:10PM
- Rockies vs. Giants 8:35PM
- Padres vs. Cardinals 10:05PM
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Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 1)
1. "Since then, the Dodgers have come back down to earth a bit, and have lost their last four."
Dodgers won on Saturday, Thursday, and Wednesday. So they've actually won two of their last four and three of their last five.
Posted at 4:11PM on May 19th 2008 by Mike
2. Nice going, Tom. It's about time someone besides Houston fans gave Berkman his due props. He and Helton are two of the best of the "deprived props" corps.(It's always been Bagwell, Biggio, and whomever the next new guy happens to come along...Hildalgo, Beltran, Ensberg, Lee, Tejada, etc. who seems to be talked about, while Berkman is the "oh yeah and him" guy). In only his 10th year he's already averaging over 34 HRs, 115 RBI, and over .300 BA and this season (No. 10) isn't over. If he continues another 10 years like that, he'll be one of the few 500 HR, 3,000 Hit, 2,000 RBI, .300 BA Hall of Famers. He's already proven he can hit over 45 HR or 130 RBI or hit over .330. And he is consistent. Hitting from both sides of the plate, like Larry--nice sneaking in of Chipper's real name, will allow him a better chance of getting those "lucky" hits by keeping the ball in play more, that he'll need to keep up that BA (ala the Mick, Rose, and Murray). No, I'm not an Astros fan.
Posted at 6:12PM on May 19th 2008 by NeonDon