The following interleague games will be played on National League turf.

New York Yankees @ Washington Nationals
C. Wang (7-2, 4.15) vs. M. O’Connor (3-4, 3.70)
- The Nationals may not go anywhere as far as the playoffs go, thanks to a very strong New York Mets team, but at least they’re playing better than the Atlanta Braves.  Plus, yesterday’s 11-9 come-from-behind win over the New York Yankees must have been sweet, especially for former Yankees, Alfonso Soriano and Nick Johnson.  Wang has once again displayed that magic he had last season… okay, maybe not magic per se, but he is still surprising me that he’s doing as well as he is.

Toronto Blue Jays @ Florida Marlins
R. Halladay (8-1, 2.75) vs. J. Johnson (5-4, 2.05)
- This should be a good pitching duel.  We have the old gunslinger, Doc Halladay, versus the new kid in town, Josh Johnson.  Halladay, of course, has excellent stuff and will face a group of relatively unknown hitters, save Miguel Cabrera.  Meanwhile, Johnson will deal to the likes of Vernon Wells, Troy Glaus, Alexis Rios, and Shea Hillenbrand.  It should be noted that the Marlins have won seven in a row and are actually looking to sweep the Jays with a win this afternoon.  Who would have thought that at the beginning of the season. 

Baltimore Orioles @ New York Mets
A. Loewen (0-1, 7.84) vs. T. Glavine (9-2, 3.31)
- Certainly the Orioles starter yesterday, Kris Benson, must have loved beating his old team.  And, he even hit a homer off of Pedro Martinez.  However, I’ll tell you who loved the win more – Anna Benson, Kris’ wife.  She is notorious for being a bloviator (don’t think dirty, kids, it’s basically it’s someone who talks a lot of crap) and allegedly ran her welcome out so much, the Mets had to trade Kris Benson.  Here is another matchup of the vet versus the rook.  However, Loewen hasn’t had the time up in the majors as the Marlins’ Johnson has, but hasn’t looked good thus far.  Glavine on the other hand has looked like he did in the second half of last season when he absolutely killed it. 

Chicago White Sox @ Cincinnati Reds
J. Garland (5-3, 6.01) vs. A. Harang (7-4, 3.91)
- Garland is lucky to have won five games despite the very high ERA.  It says a lot about the White Sox’s offense.  Harang will try to keep the Pale Hose down at home, but it will be a tough task.  Harang started the season absolutely horribly, but has been on cruise control the past month and a half. 

Minnesota Twins @ Pittsburgh Pirates
J. Santana (6-4, 2.99) vs. O. Perez (2-8, 6.68)
- Ooh, imagine if Santana and Perez faced off a couple of seasons ago when Perez had that breakout (although it’s looking more like, a fluke) season?  Both were being heralded as pitching studs on the come up considering their young ages and they just couldn’t be touched.  Obviously, Santana has kept up the dominance, while Perez has fizzled to a huge degree.  Perez has been highly inconsistent and the problem for him is his bases on balls that he allows.  If he does that, Perez gets flustered and the whole thing blows up in his face as the opposing team blows up for multiple runs on the scoreboard.

Tampa Bay Devil Rays @ Philadelphia Phillies
S. McClung (2-9, 6.51) vs. R. Madson (6-4, 6.11)
- The D-Rays were loveable losers to me because they’re just so young and talented.  But, mismanagement from the front office and two high-profile fubars involving minor league studs – B.J. Upton getting arrested for DUI the other morning and Delmon Young’s notorious throwing a bat at the umpire incident earlier this season – does not help them become as loveable anymore.  It’s no wonder they’re giving former number one pick, Josh Hamilton, who was suspended from the league for repeated drug use, another shot after being absent from the game a couple of years.  What do they have to lose?

Kansas City Royals @ Houston Astros
B. Duckworth (0-1, 3.18) vs. A. Pettitte (6-7, 5.46)
- Pettitte hasn’t looked anything remotely close to the dominant lefty he was last season.  Perhaps getting buddy, Roger Clemens, back into the Astros pitching rotation fold will get Pettitte back on the right track.  He gets a good chance to do that against the hapless Royals.

Cleveland Indians @ Milwaukee Brewers
P. Byrd (5-5, 4.81) vs. Z. Jackson (1-0, 4.40)
- Both teams were upstarts last season with a fair amount of expectation for this season.  However, they have both underachieved and are both under .500.  Of course there’s a lot of season to be played still, so there fortunes can change.

Detroit Tigers @ Chicago Cubs
K. Rogers (9-3, 3.25) vs. M. Prior (0-0, 0.00)
- FINALLY Cubs fans, you get to see Mark Prior on the mound in a Cubs uniform during a real game.  After a few rehab starts, the last two with Prior looking rather good, Prior takes the hill for the first time this season.  The crowd should be extra-crazy today and can only hope that Prior can stay healthy the rest of the way.  And, what better way for the former “best pitcher-in-waiting” to come back than to deal to the best team in the majors? 

Boston Red Sox @ Atlanta Braves
C. Schilling (9-2, 3.59) vs. J. Smoltz (4-5, 3.78)
- This is the featured game tonight on ESPN and it could be a great battle to see two warriors in Schilling and Smoltz on the mound at Turner Field.  The Red Sox have been good once again this season, but what’s up with the Braves?  It seems like a lock now that they won’t win yet another division title.  And I’ll emphasize “seems” here because you can never count the Braves out of anything.

And, the non-interleague game:

Colorado Rockies @ St. Louis Cardinals
J. Fogg (4-4, 4.91) vs. C. Carpenter (5-3, 2.57)
- All I care about and the three fantasy teams I have him on is – when is Albert Pujols going to come back?  Despite not playing for a couple of weeks, Pujols still leads the majors in homers (25) and RBI (65).  I guess we can pretty much forget about getting the single-season record now at this point, but the most important thing is Pujols just gets back on the field.

Enjoy the games! To all the fathers out there like me – HAPPY FATHER’S DAY!