Florida Marlins @ Washington Nationals
A. Sanchez (1-0, 6.30) vs. L. Hernández (6-8, 5.46)
Last night the Marlins and Nats decided to play another game as both teams put on the pads and played football.  Oh wait, it just seemed like it after looking at the 18-9 score of last night’s game, which the Marlins took.  The Marlins look to even up the four-game series before starting a four-game set (including a doubleheader on Saturday) with the N.L. East leading New York Mets. 

San Diego Padres @ Philadelphia Phillies
C. Park (5-4, 4.32) vs. R. Madson (8-5, 5.71)
Here we go again, the Phillies are falling and it may not end anytime soon.  With rumors of Pat Burrell and Philly favorite Bobby Abreu being available, it just indicates that the Phils are throwing in the towel at the mid-point of the season, which doesn’t make sense to me because a lot can happen still.  I’m sure a lot of Phillies fans are frustrated with the team and with Brett Myers gone for all intents and purposes, where’s the pitching?  Tom Gordon has been great in the closer role, but the starting pitching rotation is shakier than Kelis’ booty.

Pittsburgh Pirates @ New York Mets
T. Gorzelanny (0-0, 3.60) vs. S. Trachsel (7-4, 4.70)
The Mets became the first National League team to reach 50 wins after beating the Pirates last night 5-0.  Steve Traschel looks to keep it going tonight matching up against hot prospect Tom Gorzelanny, who came up to the big club after Oliver Perez was demoted to the minors.  There’s been talk that Gorzelanny can pull a Zach Duke and perform at a high level after getting promoted as Duke did last season. 

Cincinnati Reds @ Atlanta Braves
J. Mays (0-1, 5.50) vs. T. Hudson (6-8, 4.57)
In their last 10 games, the Braves are 6-4 and that’s actually a very good thing and probably the equivalent of a 20 game winning streak when you think about their recent 10-game slide and 6-21 month of June.  Tim Hudson still hasn’t been able to shake out of his four-game losing streak and looks to end that tonight against the Reds and their high-powered offense. 

Chicago Cubs @ Milwaukee Brewers
G. Maddux (7-8, 5.00) vs. C. Capuano (9-4, 3.45)
Chris Capuano is one of the nominees for the Final Vote All-Star players and despite being deserving, he may not make the roster.  However, make no mistake (and I hate using a Stephen A. Smith overused and annoying phrase), Capuano is an up-and-coming pitcher who is actually doing better than he did last season, his breakout year.  Who knows, maybe he’s on his way to becoming the left-handed version of Greg Maddux.  Okay, that’s ridiculous to say at this point, but Brewers manager, Ned Yost, actually made that comparison.  However, I’ll give him a pass for two reasons - 1) Capuano is actually having a Maddux on the Braves type season and 2) it was probably just a propaganda move on Yost’s part since he was talking up his pitcher to be an All-Star.  I’ll tell you this much, Capuano is more deserving that Mark Redman, that’s for sure.

St. Louis Cardinals @ Houston Astros
S. Ponson (4-3, 5.60) vs. T. Buchholz (5-6, 5.36)
The Cardinals have lost 12 of their last 15 games and the N.L. Central race is getting tighter, which makes this first game of a four-game series a little more important for both teams.  After starting 4-0, Sidney Ponson “worked” his way into the doghouse and into the bullpen.  However, due to injuries to the staff, Ponson is called upon to stop the inconsistency and losing for the Cards… umm, that can’t be good.  And trading for Jeff Weaver to join the starting rotation… umm, that can’t be good either.

San Francisco Giants @ Los Angeles Dodgers
M. Cain (6-6, 5.05) vs. M. Hendrickson (0-1, 1.80)
Talk about the Wild, Wild West.  There is a three-way tie atop the N.L. West between the Los Angeles Dodgers, Colorado Rockies, and San Diego Padres, with the San Francisco Giants only 1.5 games out.  I guess all the teams in the division just beat up on each other.  Well, expect that to continue when the Giants visit the Dodgers.  Promising youngster, Matt Cain takes the hill for the Giants and newly acquired, Mark Hendrickson for the Dodgers. 

Enjoy the games!