Archive for July, 2010

MLB – New York Yankees-Tampa Bay Rays series preview July 29th, 2010

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In one of the more intriguing matchups of the weekend the Tampa Bay Rays are set to host the New York Yankees in a battle of the top two teams in the AL East. Currently Tampa Bay sits 2 games behind the Yankees in the standings, but will be looking to make a move into first place with a series sweep.

The pitching match ups look to be a baseball fan’s dream with three quality starters scheduled to pitch for each team during this series. Leading off the weekend’s set of games on Friday will be Wade Davis against Phil Hughes, who looks to tie C.C. Sabathia with a team high 13 wins.

Saturday will feature recent “no hitter” pitcher Matt Garza against Javier Vazquez. This will be the first game for Garza since he threw this first no hitter in Rays’ history on Monday against the Detroit Tigers. The Rays hope that he can continue his magic to silence this potent Yankee lineup.

Sunday could boast the best match up of all three games with James Shields slated to take the hill against Yankee ace C.C. Sabathia.

The Rays are only 28-20 at home, but feature a division best 25-13 record against the AL East. Tampa will be looking to do a better job closing out games in this series than what they did in New York two weeks ago, where they lost 2 of 3.

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Chicago White Sox-Minnesota Twins Recap: MLB July 21st, 2010

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In a pivotal series over the weekend, Chicago White Sox and AL Central rivals Minnesota Twins met each other, with the finale of the four-game series taken by Twins in dramatic fashion Sunday.

Alex Rios mishandled, when Delmon Young’s game tying RBI line drive, the Twins moved ahead, after loading the bases in the bottom of the 9th against Bobby Jenks, allowing Michael Cuddyer game winning run in a 5-4 victory by hustling in for the walk off. Brian Duesing of Minnesota picked up the win. The loss was taken by Jenks.

In the opener, for Chicago, things started out better. The White Sox won against the AL Central rivals, defeating the Twins 8-7 in the first of a four game series and winning their 9th straight game Thursday. In this season, Jon Danks (9-7) picked up his 9th win and Gordon Beckham homered once. For Minnesota, Alex Burnett took the loss.

On Friday in Minnesota, the Sox committed four fielding errors on the way to an 8-4 loss and Francisco Liriano of Minnesota put up seven strong innings. Closing out the second game of the four game series, Jesse Crain picked up his first save of the season and Joe Mauer drove in a pair of runs. With the loss, Gavin Floyd moved to 5-8.

For the 4-3 win on Saturday, Carl Pavano of Minnesota went the distance, the third game of a four game set between the AL Central foes. Moving to 13-4 on the year, Pavano buckled down to close out the game, although with only one out in the top of the 9th, Chicago managed to get a man to 3rd base. For Chicago, Mark Buehrle took the loss.

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MLB: San Diego Padres-Atlanta Braves Preview July 20th, 2010

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The NL East leading Atlanta Braves are set to square off with the NL West leading San Diego Padres for a three-game series in Atlanta starting Tuesday night. Both teams are a surprise to be at the top of their divisions this late into the season. San Diego was expected to have a rebuilding year while Atlanta was not expected to challenge for the division crown in Bobby Cox’s final season as manager.

San Diego will bring a 4 game winning streak into the series opener on Tuesday, along with a MLB best 3.25 team ERA, after they swept the Arizona Diamondbacks over the weekend, while Atlanta will put their major league leading 32-12 home record on the line as well.

This should be one of the better series this week in all of baseball with several quality pitching match ups on the horizon. The opener will showcase Jair Jurrjens, who was roughed up earlier this season in an outing at San Diego giving up 8 earned runs in 3 1/3 innings, against Wade LeBlanc who will be looking for his first win since June 12th.

Other pitching match ups in this series are scheduled to be Jon Garland vs Tommy Hanson and Clayton Richard vs Tim Hudson. Chipper Jones is also expected to be back in Atlanta’s lineup after missing the last two games against the Milwaukee Brewers with a sore hamstring.

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MLB Preview: Los Angeles Angels vs Oakland A’s July 9th, 2010

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The rivalry continues. Once again, the Los Angeles Angels are coming to Oakland to continue the rivalry. This game could be a wild card game by the end of the season with both teams beginning their race for the wild card, and Oakland only four games down from Los Angeles.

Pitching the opener for the Angels will be Joel Pineiro, a seasoned starting pitcher, with his 3.96 ERA and 9-6 record so far for 2010. Last time he faced Oakland, he pitched the full 9 innings and did not give up one run, he was credited that game for the Angels 4-0 victory. Through most of his games, he has pitched anywhere from six to all nine innings, he is a very strong pitcher who knows how to get the job done, especially in such a high anxiety rivalry like the one between the Angels and the Athletics.

Up for Oakland is newcomer Clayton Mortenson. He is a fairly new pitcher who was recently brought up from Sacramento. He has a total of eight starts for a total of 36.2 innings pitched. He is still pretty green so odds are in favor of Pinero once again dominating the mound with his experience.

With the Angels just four games ahead of Oakland in the AL West standings, this one is anyone’s game. Oakland has a history of beating the Angels both at home and in Los Angeles, however; Los Angeles is coming in to the game hoping to end the losing streak against the Athletics.

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