On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups

Los Angeles Angels (24-17) vs. Chicago White Sox (18-20) - 10:05PM Est.

While most of the world knows John Lackey as our very own Pat Lackey's older, harder-throwing, better-smelling, and much smarter estranged brother, he's better known in southern California as the ace of the Angels pitching staff (Pat , on the other hand, was turned down by the Angels when he applied to become the new rally monkey).

Lackey won 19 games for the Angels last season, and helped lead them to another AL West division crown, but he hasn't been available to the team at all this season. Of course, his absence hasn't done much to keep the Angels out of first place out west.

Now, with his return today, the Angels have become even stronger.

With the White Sox starting a four-game series against the Angels in Anaheim tonight, it marks the first time that Angels pitcher Jon Garland will have a chance to face his former team. Garland is scheduled to start against the Sox on Thursday (a day after John Lackey makes his first start of the season), but instead of asking Jon about that, all anybody really wanted to know was how he felt about playing for Ozzie Guillen.

Garland probably had the best approach of anyone in the White Sox clubhouse. Ignore him.

"I'm not surprised by [Guillen's latest antics]," Garland said. "He goes off on something every year. He knows what he's doing. He feeds it."

"For me as a pitcher, it was easy to just tune it out. I didn't deal with him. I worked with Coop (White Sox pitching coach Don Cooper). I knew what was going on.

"I knew there was always something getting stirred up. But I just went about my business and worked with Coop."

It's not exactly a shock that one of Guillen's former players probably wasn't his biggest fan, as even though he never came out and said it, it was somewhat obvious that Garland was never a big fan of Ozzie while he was in Chicago. They once got into it in the dugout when Garland failed to plunk a batter after Ozzie gave him the order too, and Jon's laid-back attitude and approach to life just doesn't mesh well with the manic Guillen.

Still, that being said, Garland still supported Ozzie and the White Sox when asked about the whole blow-up doll incident. Garland feels that whatever happens in the clubhouse should stay in the clubhouse, and that "if you don't like what you see, you don't need to be in here."

It was back on April 11th when Chone Figgins strained his right hamstring, but it wasn't until now that the Angels finally placed Figgins on the disabled list. He's been listed as day-to-day since, which is rather annoying when you have him on your fantasy team, and the Angels had been hoping that Chone would be able to play through it.

Well, he did for a while, playing in the next 21 games before finally tweaking the hamstring sliding into home against Baltimore last weekend. Now the Angels realize he's not going to get better without rest.

"He's making progress, just not enough to be ready for next week," manager Mike Scioscia said. The skipper said the move would help take the pressure off Figgins to continually test his strained right hamstring, allowing it to heal at its own pace.

"We want to establish depth, but you can't rush this thing," Scioscia added.

Figgins is a big loss for an Angels lineup that's been struggling, as he is hitting .306/.421/.355. After initially hurting the hammy, Chone kept chugging along for a little bit, but is hitting only .200/.298/.250 the last three weeks.

Kendry Morales has been called up from Salt Lake to take Figgins' place on the roster, and will be used as an extra bat off the bench.

On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups.

Cincinnati Reds (14-21) at New York Mets (17-15) - 1:10 PM ET and 7:30 PM ET

Yesterday, we brought you the news that the Mets might be re-evaluating Willie Randolph's job status very closely over the next month. Well let the re-evaluating start today, with a doubleheader against the Cincinnati Reds. The Mets just came from a road trip against N.L. West powerhouses Arizona and Los Angeles and broke even on the six game trip. That's impressive. But the Mets under Randolph have historically been the type of team that could break even or better against the good teams on the road, then turn around to a seemingly easier homestand and do no better than break even there too. The Mets now have seven at home against the Reds and Nationals starting today, and anything less than five wins will more than likely turn the heat up on Randolph ... especially going into the series against the Yankees immediately following, where everything is magnified to the hilt anyway. So let the Willie Watch begin.

On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups

Kansas City Royals (14-16) vs. Los Angeles Angels (20-13) - 8:10PM Est.

Who the hell needs John Lackey and Kelvim Escobar? It's a question that many Angels fans have probably been asking themselves a bit the last few weeks. I mean, those two were only the two best starters on the Angels staff last year, winning a combined 37 games.

Who needs those 37 wins when you have Joe Saunders and Ervin Santana? Those two have pitched back-to-back all season long, and neither have bothered to try losing a game yet. Yesterday Saunders improved to 6-0 on the year with a win over the Orioles, and today Ervin will try to join his teammate at 6-0.

On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups.

San Diego Padres (12-19) at Florida Marlins (16-14) - 1:10 PM ET

Greg Maddux has had three tries at career win number 350 ... none have gone well. First, the Diamondbacks dropped six on Maddux in the first inning to put that game out of reach early. Then, Trevor Hoffman blew a 1-0 Maddux lead in the ninth against the Giants at home. Then, it was a 7-4 loss to the Phillies in Philadelphia. Today, it's the hot Florida sun ... and the not so hot Andrew Miller, who came into the season as the centerpiece in the Miguel Cabrera/Dontrelle Willis trade. But he comes into the game with a 9.12 ERA, which is good news for Maddux in his latest quest for 350.

More good news: Maddux is a career 19-13 with six complete games and a 2.88 career ERA against the Marlins. Want good news for Maddux that's more relevant than starts he's made against the Marlins in the 90's? The current Marlins have lost four of their last five games. So is today the day?

Angels fans will get their first chance to see their team's top pitching prospect in action tonight, as Nick Adenhart will be making his Major League debut tonight against the Oakland Athletics. With Dustin Moseley being moved back to the bullpen, the Angels decided to bring Adenhart up and give him a taste for what they hope is three starts as they wait for John Lackey to get back from his current rehab assignment in the minors.

So far this season in Triple-A Salt Lake, Adenhart has made five starts, and is 4-0 with a 0.87 ERA. I've never seen Adenhart pitch, personally, but looking at his numbers down in Salt Lake, it does appear he's been having some trouble with his command. While he's managed to strike out 19 batters in 31 innings, he's also walked 15 others. The good news is that in those 31 innings, Nick has only allowed 18 hits and hasn't given up a home run.

Still, things are quite different once you make The Show. I know from personal experience, as it feels like only a few weeks ago I got the call up from Charlotte to join the Chicago White Sox while playing MLB 08: The Show. I called all my family and friends and invited them to watch me make my debut against the Kansas City Royals that day (they declined).

I only managed to stay in the bigs for a few weeks before Jermaine Dye returned from the disabled list, but those memories will no doubt last me for a lifetime. Surely, Nick will cherish the moments and memories from later tonight as well.

Kids Are Alright will examine some hot minor league prospects and their potential to be fantasy relevant towards both seasonal and keeper leagues.

Brandon Wood, who was called up by the Angels Monday night, is the epitome of potential/upside/etc. He was once heralded, in certain circles, as the next Alex Rodriguez. This is based on the perception that he could hit 45 home runs from the shortstop position. A few things derailed that silly notion though. First, his fielding was inadequate for the position. And second -- also more importantly -- he has almost zero patience at the plate.

Witness his 2007 season, which saw him strikeout an absolutely ridiculous 120 times in 111 minor league games. He walked a whopping 45 times and posted a pedestrian .338 OBP. But, man, can he crush the ball. He had 23 homers in 2007, and that has to be considered pretty mediocre as well.

Are things different this year, as we turn a fantasy eye towards the newest prospect to hit the major league scene? Well, a little. He has a ridiculous Pacific Coast League leading eight home runs. And he has six doubles as well, so the power potential is there. But he also has an embarrassing 29:5 K:BB ratio. That's just not good for anyone. And his average is at .273, which isn't entirely shocking, given his past production in that area.

But, Wood's power potential, all of those strikeouts and failures to get on base aside, makes fantasy owners drool. It's a lot less appealing from third than short, sure, but it's still enticing. Which is why Wood is a nice pickup as long as you are not using him for starting purposes. If he comes out hot, you deal him. No questions asked. Don't be suckered, just hope the hype builds and then bank off of it. His second look around the league is going to be a lot uglier, and if you end up starting him for too long, you'll have to eat the average hit he's gonna give you.

On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups

Los Angeles Angels (16-10) vs. Oakland Athletics (16-10) - 10:05PM Est.

The fact that the Angels and Athletics are fighting for the top spot in the AL West isn't exactly a new experience. I mean, they've been doing it for just about the entire 21st century but they weren't supposed to be doing it this season. No, the AL West this season was supposed to be a two-horse race between the Angels and Mariners while the Athletics were supposed to be mired in a rebuilding process and battling with the Rangers for third place.

Yet here we are nearly finished with the first month of the regular season, and Oakland is tied with Los Angeles for the best record in the American League. To make it even more surprising, they're doing it without Eric Chavez and Rich Harden.

Just what the hell is going on here?

On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups.

Florida Marlins (14-9) at Milwaukee Brewers (13-10) - 7:05 PM ET

There are three matchups today that feature two teams with records over .500. Yes, the Florida Marlins and the Milwaukee Brewers are one of those matchups. Milwaukee isn't so much of a surprise. Florida? Yeah, a little bit. The biggest surprise may be Mark Hendrickson, who was bombed his first start of the season but he's come back strong to post a 4-1 record. Random fun fact: Did you know that Hendrickson started six games and averaged 5.5 points a game for the New Jersey Nets for the 1998-99 season? Yeah, I think he picked the right sport too.

For the Brewers, they've been winning games with two of their big hitters in funks. Will Bill Hall continue leading the team in HR's and RBI's even though he's hitting .198? Will Rickie Weeks pull up his .195 average? Conversely, will Jason Kendall cool off? Will Eric Gagne implode again? Will Prince Fielder have Thousand Island or Russian dressing with his salad before the game since cheeseburgers are kinda no longer an option?