Oakland Athletics @ Baltimore Orioles
B. Zito (9-6, 3.30) vs. K. Benson (9-8, 4.59)
With the trade deadline coming in less than two weeks, it’s still very possible that the Athletics may trade Barry Zito, despite being in first place in the A.L. West.  Being an A’s admirer and member of Athletics Nation, I really hope they hold on to him at least until the end of the season (postseason?).  Naturally, since Zito signed with Scott Boras, Zito is all but gone during the offseason, so enjoy the bender coming from the yellow and green uni while you can, folks.

Kansas City Royals @ Boston Red Sox
M. Redman (6-4, 5.38) vs. J. Beckett (11-5, 5.12)
Wow.  Is Josh Beckett really that bad?  I mean, he’s won 11 games and that’s impressive, but look at the ERA.  Thank goodness for the Red Sox offense.  In any case, Beckett will need to pitch a lot better if the Red Sox hope to build a lead again because the New York Yankees are coming on.

Seattle Mariners @ New York Yankees
G. Meche (9-4, 3.87) vs. R. Johnson (10-7, 5.06)
Once again, Melky Cabrera comes through for the Yanks hitting a game-winning homerun in the bottom of the 11th inning.  It’s too bad that he’ll probably get traded, possibly to the Philadelphia Phillies for Bobby Abreu.  When will the Yankees stop spending money the way they do and paying it to players on the decline of their careers, stellar or otherwise?  Build the farm system back up, Steinbrenner.  It worked for you in 1996 and then 1998-2000.

Cleveland Indians @ Los Angeles Angels
P. Byrd (6-6, 4.26) vs. J. Lackey (8-5, 2.69)
Have people started paying attention to John Lackey yet?  Sure the Angels haven’t been as good as people thought they would be (although they’re starting to get it going and are in the A.L. West race), but Lackey pretty much has been consistently good all season.  It’s not out of the question that he could be considered one of the better pitchers in the big leagues.

Chicago White Sox @ Detroit Tigers
J. Vázquez (9-4, 5.07) vs. J. Bonderman (9-4, 3.59)
Javier Vazquez is rumored to be on the way out, as well as Freddie Garcia.  The White Sox need some bullpen help and trading Vazquez or Garcia is only made possible because of their deep starting rotation.  But what could Vazquez get back for the Sox?  He’ll get a chance to bring his value back up after getting cold in the past month or so.  But, he could very well bring his value up to the Pale Hose as well, especially with a win over the A.L. Central leading Tigers.  It’ll be a tough order though with Jeremy Bonderman taking the hill for Detroit.

Texas Rangers @ Toronto Blue Jays
K. Millwood (9-5, 4.66) vs. C. Janssen (6-8, 4.72)
Along with Vincente Padilla, Kevin Millwood is making the Rangers very happy about their pitching.  And if Adam Eaton works out, all the better.  Back to Millwood… he may not be leading the league in ERA, but you had to know that that was going to be a tough order with Millwood pitching half his games at Ameriquest.  But, the man is winning games and the ERA isn’t so atrocious.  Just not 2005 worthy.

Tampa Bay Devil Rays @ Minnesota Twins
J. Seo (0-3, 2.70) vs. B. Radke (7-7, 4.97)
The Twinkies are HURTING!  At least in the outfield with starters Torii Hunter and Shannon Stewart out.  Thank goodness for Jason Kubel.  And thank goodness for Justin Morneau and their pitching.  Also, don’t look at the season’s numbers to judge how good or bad Brad Radke has been lately - 2.81 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, 19 K’s in 32.0 innings versus two walks in the past month.