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

Oakland Athletics (23-19) at Atlanta Braves (20-20) - 7:10 PM ET

It's probably safe to say that out of the former "Big Three" in Oakland, Tim Hudson has been the most successful of the bunch since leaving the nest after the 2004 season. Four seasons later, Hudson faces his former club for the first time (the two teams played a three game set in '05 but Hudson did not make an appearance). A lot of Hudson's old teammates from his last season in Oakland are gone, but his mound opponent for today, Rich Harden, is still around. And Harden was hoping he'd match up against him. Harden is probably also hoping that he makes it through the game intact.

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

Texas Rangers (19-21) vs. Seattle Mariners (15-25) - 8:05PM Est.

Let's start today's On Deck by taking a trip in the FanHouse Time Machine. We're going to go all the way back to May 8th, 2008. The world was a different place back then. Ok, so the world was really any different as all, as it was just five days ago, but it was sort of exciting!

That was the day when Richie Sexson threw his helmet and charged Kason Gabbard after taking exception to a pitch. Sexson thought that Gabbard's eye-high fastball was meant for his face even though it was over the heart of the plate, and he took umbrage. Of course, had Felix Hernandez not plunked Ian Kinsler earlier in the game after Kinsler homered, none of this would have happened.

Now, here we are five days later, and Gabbard and Hernandez are set to face each other one more time. Will we have an encore?

Let's set the scene for those who don't stay up all hours watching west coast baseball: Felix Hernandez comes inside and plunks Ian Kinsler on the shoulder in the fourth inning of the Rangers' tilt with the Mariners. This came after Kinsler took King Felix deep in the second inning, so of course, tensions are going to be a little high after that.

Bottom of the frame, Kason Gabbard takes the mound for the Rangers and retires the first two hitters he faces. Then he throws a pitch eye-high, but not so tight at Richie Sexson. Sexson then immediately charges Gabbard, throws his helmet right at his back, and triggers an all out melee:

Sexson said he fully expected to get hit, given what had transpired and the fact that there were two out with the bases empty, but it was the location that angered him.

"I know the situation there, and he should throw below the shoulder," Sexson said. "But the face? No one should do that ... Throwing the helmet was not good. I know that's not the right way to do it, but at that time I lost it."

Texas manager Ron Washington, not surprisingly, was not happy.

"We got two hitters hit, and if you go look at that replay, Gabbard was nowhere near Sexson's head," Washington said. "I guess he was just frustrated and things got out of control. ... Sexson overreacted. If we'd have wanted to hit him, we'd have hit him ... I thought (throwing the helmet) was (expletive). How tall is he, 6-feet-13? And you go run out there on a little guy and throw a helmet. That's just frustration. The guy is a competitor and he got frustrated."

Rangers broadcaster Tom Grieve proceeded to unload on Sexson during the Rangers broadcast ... highlights of which come after the jump:

When the Rangers signed Sidney Ponson to a minor-league deal in the spring, I thought it was a good fit for the organization and for Ponson. The Rangers are forever in need of pitching, and Ponson fit the mold of mediocre starter that the team seems to covet so much.

While I figured it would only be a matter of time before Ponson was pitching in a Rangers uniform, I sure as hell wasn't expecting him to pitch as well as he has been (though apparently not well enough for Getty to have a picture of him as a Ranger). After holding the Mariners to one run in seven innings on Tuesday, Ponson improved to 2-0 in three starts this season, and has an ERA of 1.33. In fact, he hasn't allowed more than one run in any of this three starts.

So far Sir Sidney is using all his pitches well, and locating them, which is leading to a lot of ground balls and easy outs. He even seems to be having a positive effect on the Rangers pitching staff as a whole, as the team has gone 7-4 in the eleven games since he joined them. Eleven games in which Texas has allowed four or fewer runs seven times, and have two shutouts.

The Rangers have also gotten out of last place in the AL West. Now three starts does not exactly a season make, and Sidney may give up 8 runs in his next start, and the Rangers may lose their next five, but if they are going to turn the corner, they have to start somewhere. Who would have thought it would be Ponson getting them started?

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

Milwaukee Brewers (15-12) at Chicago Cubs (17-10) - 2:20 PM ET

So I'm flipping around my MLB extra innings package late last night and I see that they're still playing baseball in Chicago ... and I have to squint because the number on the screen can't be right: 19 runs? Really? The Cubs put up 19 against the Brewers? Alas, it was true. It shouldn't be that surprising. The Cubs were 13th in baseball in batting average last season and 18th in runs. This season, thanks in part to the acquisition of Kosuke Fukudome, and in part to the Cubs dedication to taking more pitches, they were second in both categories before last night's 19 run shenanigans.

The Brewers haven't been hitting as well this season, but they did win the first game of this series in Wrigley 10-7. So who better to calm down all this offense than Yovani Gallardo, who was injured to start the season but has a 0.64 ERA in his first two starts this season, and Carlos Zambrano, who's 4-1 so far with a 2.21 ERA? Maybe the wind will blow in too.

Apparently Alex Gordon has some serious beef with a pair of Texas radio show hosts, according to the KC Star; Brooks postulates that the two gentlemen in question are "afternoon hosts Mike Rhyner and Corby Davidson (though we might be wrong, Flanagan doesn't name them)".

Apparently, the two radio show hosts in question crossed the line in Spring Training when interviewing the wives of Gordon and Luke Hochevar. And because no direct apology has been issued, Gordon could still a little fired up about the possibility of running into the hosts.

The seemingly harmless interview took a nasty turn when Jamie was asked whether she knew who Yoko Ono was. When she said she did not, someone back in the booth or at the station hit a "drop" button that spewed the words "stupid b...." over the air. The same drop button was hit again moments later after Jamie answered another question.

Then later in the interview, one of the show's hosts made crude innuendos about Jamie and Ashley, urging his interviewer to "try and get them to kiss."

Royals upper management got wind of the interview and was furious, as was Gordon. Royals vice president of communications Mike Swanson demanded an apology from the station and the hosts.

Now, technically, that's not anyone actually calling the ladies in question the b-word. But it might actually be worse when you think about it -- instead of some Imus-like gut reaction to something, this was a premeditated load of a clip with the intention of it being used as "humorous" commentary.

Now the Royals are apparently more concerned about Gordon not running into the pair of hosts while in Texas. And frankly, I don't blame them. He still hasn't gotten a direct apology from the hosts, and he's got a pretty good reason to be fired up.

I wrote yesterday that Hank Blalock would be undergoing an MRI on Monday to take a look at his hamstring. I also said that no matter what the results of the MRI were, Blalock would probably end up spending some time on the disabled list because teams generally prefer to take the cautious route when it comes to hamstring injuries, and want to ensure the injury has time to heal.

Well, Blalock has been placed on the disabled list, but not just for cautionary reasons as the MRI results showed a small tear in the hamstring.

Blalock is expected to miss three to four weeks with a small tear in his left hamstring muscle. Blalock, who was hitting .299 with two home runs and seven RBIs, injured himself running out a double in the 10th inning of Friday's 6-5 victory over the Twins.

"Tough to replace his bat right now, but it's an opportunity for someone else to make an impact," Rangers general manager Jon Daniels said. "He was having consistent ABs."

The team called up outfielder Jason Boggs from Triple-A Oklahoma to take Hank's place on the roster.

Blalock missed the vast majority of last season, playing in only 58 games, thanks to having a rib removed that was causing nerve damage in his shoulder. Thankfully this injury shouldn't keep Hank off the field nearly as long, because at the rate the Rangers pitching staff is giving up runs this season, the team can't afford to lose one of it's bigger offensive threats for too long a period of time.

The Rangers have been without third baseman Hank Blalock since Friday when he pulled his hamstring during the 10th inning of a 6-5 Rangers victory over the Twins. He sat out both Saturday and Sunday's contests, and is now slated to undergo an MRI today with team orthopedist Dr. Keith Meister.

"I don't know what to think," Blalock said. "My mind is optimistic, but I'm confused. I've never had a hamstring injury. The soreness died down a little today. It had to after I iced it down about six times yesterday."

Wow, that's pretty impressive actually. All the injuries Hank has suffered in his career, and not once has he tweaked a hammy?

Regardless of what the MRI says, I'm guessing that Blalock is going to end up doing some time on the disabled list because of it. Teams generally take the cautious route when it comes to hamstrings because rushing a player back before he's ready usually leads to a lot of long term problems.

The problem for the Rangers is that, if they do put Blalock on the disabled list, they don't have many options to call up and fill in for Blalock. The only extra infielder they currently have on their 40-man roster is Joaquin Arias, and he's still recovering from shoulder surgery that basically makes it impossible to play on the left side of the infield right now. So it's more likely they'll call up another pitcher, and use Ramon Vazquez and German Duran to fill in for the time being.

A few days ago I wrote about some talk amongst baseball scouts that Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington's rear end was starting to get awfully warm from that seat he's sitting on, and after the Rangers got absolutely rocked by the Tigers for the second straight night on Wednesday to the tune of 19-6 (they only gave up 10 runs on Tuesday) I wouldn't imagine that Ron's seat is getting any cooler.

Still, despite the fact that everything seems to be going wrong for the Rangers right now, and that they have the worst record in the American League at 7-15, team president Nolan Ryan isn't about to start making drastic changes just for the sake of doing something.

"You don't want to see your team get so far down in the standings that you don't think it's realistic you can get back in the race," Ryan said by phone while tending to personal business around the state while the team is on the road. "I think giving the organization an opportunity to play better is something that I'm trying to be patient with."

"You watch each and every game and try to evaluate what's going on at that point in time and what you're seeing, and then you make a decision on what you see," he said.

While April is way too early in the season for teams to start making changes with their managers (Well, unless your team is owned by a Steinbrenner.), that doesn't mean it's too early for teams to start thinking about a managerial change, or rumors to start swirling around that one could be on the horizon. Whether it's fair or not, it's a reality in baseball.

After losing another ugly game on Monday against the Red Sox, the Rangers find themselves in a very familiar place, the bottom of the AL West. Obviously, no team is ever happy to be in last place, and according to ESPN's Buster Olney on his blog this morning, Ron Washington's days in charge of the Rangers may be numbered.

Scouts are like barometers, in that they often have an early reading of a storm developing off in the distance, and there is a buzz among scouts these days that Texas manager Ron Washington is moving into job jeopardy. That doesn't have any official bearing, but the fact that this is being discussed among the scouts is probably not a good sign for Washington.

Unlike Buster, I don't talk to too many scouts around the league, so I'm not sure how to put too much credence into this. That being said, this could just be the first sign that Ron better start getting things turned around soon, or the Rangers may want to make a change.

But is that fair?