Here’s a look at Saturday’s starting pitchers. The first game is at 1:05 p.m.:

AL
Seattle (J.Saunders 3-4) at Cleveland (McAllister 3-3), 1:05 p.m.
Toronto (Morrow 1-2) at N.Y. Yankees (D.Phelps 1-2), 1:05 p.m.
Chicago White Sox (H.Santiago 1-2) at L.A. Angels (Blanton 0-7), 4:05 p.m.
Tampa Bay (Ro.Hernandez 2-4) at Baltimore (Jurrjens 0-0), 4:05 p.m.
Houston (Bedard 0-2) at Pittsburgh (A.J.Burnett 3-4), 7:05 p.m.
Boston (Dempster 2-4) at Minnesota (Diamond 3-3), 7:10 p.m.
Detroit (Ani.Sanchez 4-3) at Texas (Grimm 2-3), 8:05 p.m.
Kansas City (E.Santana 3-2) at Oakland (Milone 3-5), 9:05 p.m.
NL
N.Y. Mets (Hefner 0-4) at Chicago Cubs (Feldman 3-3), 1:05 p.m.
Cincinnati (Arroyo 3-4) at Philadelphia (K.Kendrick 4-1), 4:05 p.m.
Houston (Bedard 0-2) at Pittsburgh (A.J.Burnett 3-4), 7:05 p.m.
Arizona (McCarthy 0-3) at Miami (Koehler 0-1), 7:10 p.m.
L.A. Dodgers (Capuano 1-2) at Atlanta (Medlen 1-5), 7:10 p.m.
Milwaukee (Estrada 3-2) at St. Louis (Lynn 6-1), 7:15 p.m.
San Francisco (Lincecum 3-2) at Colorado (Chatwood 1-0), 8:10 p.m.
Washington (Zimmermann 7-1) at San Diego (Stults 3-3), 8:40 p.m.

Here’s who I like — and don’t:

Read the rest of this entry »

The Pittsburgh Pirates are supposed to beat the lowly Houston Astros.

For a while, it didn’t look like it would happen.

Then, Pedro Alvarez stepped to the plate with one on in the bottom of the eighth inning. To tie it at 4.

The Bucs won it in the ninth.

Here’s his blast (estimated at 462 feet):

– Rick Green

Who says there aren’t great moments in sports?

Lieutenant Colonel Will Adams surprised his daughter, Alayna, who was throwing out the first pitch at the Rays’ game last night.

Alayna didn’t know her dad had returned from Afghanistan.

Here’s the touching moment:

And here’s a photo from the Associated Press:

– Rick Green

Here’s a look at Friday’s starting pitchers. Matt Harvey is pitching in the first game at 2:20 p.m.:

AL
Houston (Lyles 1-1) at Pittsburgh (J.Gomez 2-0), 7:05 p.m.
Seattle (Maurer 2-5) at Cleveland (U.Jimenez 3-2), 7:05 p.m.
Tampa Bay (Hellickson 1-2) at Baltimore (Hammel 5-1), 7:05 p.m.
Toronto (Buehrle 1-2) at N.Y. Yankees (Kuroda 5-2), 7:05 p.m.
Detroit (Porcello 1-2) at Texas (Tepesch 3-3), 8:05 p.m.
Boston (Buchholz 6-0) at Minnesota (Worley 1-4), 8:10 p.m.
Chicago White Sox (Sale 4-2) at L.A. Angels (C.Wilson 3-2), 10:05 p.m.
Kansas City (Shields 2-3) at Oakland (Parker 2-5), 10:05 p.m.

NL
N.Y. Mets (Harvey 4-0) at Chicago Cubs (E.Jackson 1-5), 2:20 p.m.
Cincinnati (Cingrani 2-0) at Philadelphia (Lee 4-2), 7:05 p.m.
Houston (Lyles 1-1) at Pittsburgh (J.Gomez 2-0), 7:05 p.m.
Arizona (Cahill 2-4) at Miami (Slowey 1-3), 7:10 p.m.
L.A. Dodgers (Ryu 4-2) at Atlanta (Maholm 4-4), 7:30 p.m.
Milwaukee (W.Peralta 3-3) at St. Louis (J.Garcia 4-2), 8:15 p.m.
San Francisco (Bumgarner 4-1) at Colorado (J.De La Rosa 4-3), 8:40 p.m.
Washington (G.Gonzalez 3-2) at San Diego (B.Smith 0-0), 10:10 p.m.

Here’s who I like — and don’t:

Read the rest of this entry »

The Pittsburgh Pirates got a big boost from Travis Snider against the Milwaukee Brewers Thursday night.

Here’s a clip of his big home run:

– Rick Green

Want to know how much money a team is paying players on the disabled list?

The New York Times has an online graphic that can tell you.

Check it out at http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/05/13/sports/baseball/money-on-the-bench.html?ref=sports&_r=3&

It’s a pretty slick running calculation.

For example, the Yankees have, as of this posting, have paid $399,454 to players on the disabled list on Thursday alone. The Pirates, by comparison, paid $44,400 and the Indians paid $46, 930.

– Rick Green

There’s a light schedule Thursday, with the first game at 1:45 p.m. The matchup of the day is Darvish-Verlander at 8:05 p.m.:

AL
Seattle (Harang 1-4) at N.Y. Yankees (Pettitte 4-2), 7:05 p.m.
Boston (Doubront 3-1) at Tampa Bay (Cobb 4-2), 7:10 p.m.
Detroit (Verlander 4-3) at Texas (Darvish 6-1), 8:05 p.m.
Chicago White Sox (Quintana 2-1) at L.A. Angels (Williams 2-1), 10:05 p.m.
NL
N.Y. Mets (Niese 2-4) at St. Louis (Wainwright 5-2), 1:45 p.m.
Milwaukee (Burgos 1-1) at Pittsburgh (Liriano 1-0), 7:05 p.m.
Cincinnati (Latos 4-0) at Miami (Fernandez 2-2), 7:10 p.m.
San Francisco (M.Cain 2-2) at Colorado (Chacin 3-2), 8:40 p.m.
Washington (Strasburg 1-5) at San Diego (Volquez 3-3), 10:10 p.m.

Here’s who I like — and don’t:

Must start
Can you believe Stephen Strasburg is 1-5? I’m still going with him. … Others to go with include Alex Cobb, Justin Verlander, Yu Darvish, Mat Latos and Adam Wainwright.

Good start
I like Andy Pettitte vs. the Mariners about as much as I dislike Aaron Harang today. … Jerome Williams is a nice option if you’re streaming. … If you’re a White Sox fan, I could see giving Jose Quintana a shot.

Neutral
I think the Nats get by Edison Volquez. … I’ve dropped Cain big time today. He’s struggling and at Colorado. … Jhoulys Chacin has a good ERA, but I’m leery in Colorado. … Jose Fernandez has been solid for Marlins’ standards, but I won’t go with him. … I still want to see more from Francisco Liriano before I jump on board. … Hiram Burgos might get an avoid, but the Brewers manage to play well vs. the Bucs.

Avoid
Don’t like Jon Neise at the Cards today. … Repeat: I don’t like Harang today. … Feeling lucky? Felix Doubront has a 6-plus ERA.

– Rick Green

Andrew McCutchen was Mr. Clutch for the Pirates late Tuesday night.

McCutchen hit a solo homer in the bottom of the 12th to give the Pirates a much-needed win over the Milwaukee Brewers.

Here’s the blast:

– Rick Green

Here’s a look at Wednesday’s games. First game is at 12:35, so set your lineup early.

AL
San Diego (Marquis 4-2) at Baltimore (F.Garcia 0-1), 12:35 p.m.
Cleveland (Kluber 2-2) at Philadelphia (Hamels 1-5), 1:05 p.m.
Houston (Keuchel 0-1) at Detroit (Scherzer 5-0), 1:08 p.m.
Chicago White Sox (Axelrod 0-3) at Minnesota (Pelfrey 3-3), 1:10 p.m.
Texas (Ogando 3-2) at Oakland (Straily 1-1), 3:35 p.m.
Seattle (Iwakuma 4-1) at N.Y. Yankees (P.Hughes 2-2), 7:05 p.m.
San Francisco (Vogelsong 1-3) at Toronto (R.Ortiz 0-1), 7:07 p.m.
Boston (Lester 5-0) at Tampa Bay (Price 1-3), 7:10 p.m.
Kansas City (W.Davis 2-3) at L.A. Angels (Enright 0-1), 10:05 p.m.

NL
San Diego (Marquis 4-2) at Baltimore (F.Garcia 0-1), 12:35 p.m.
Cleveland (Kluber 2-2) at Philadelphia (Hamels 1-5), 1:05 p.m.
Atlanta (Hudson 4-2) at Arizona (Kennedy 1-3), 3:40 p.m.
Milwaukee (Gallardo 3-2) at Pittsburgh (W.Rodriguez 3-2), 7:05 p.m.
San Francisco (Vogelsong 1-3) at Toronto (R.Ortiz 0-1), 7:07 p.m.
Cincinnati (Leake 2-2) at Miami (Sanabia 2-5), 7:10 p.m.
Colorado (Garland 3-3) at Chicago Cubs (Samardzija 1-5), 8:05 p.m.
N.Y. Mets (Marcum 0-3) at St. Louis (S.Miller 5-2), 8:15 p.m.
Washington (Detwiler 2-3) at L.A. Dodgers (Greinke 1-0), 10:10 p.m.

Here’s who I like — and don’t:
Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s a look at Tuesday’s pitching matchups:

AL
Cleveland (Kazmir 2-1) at Philadelphia (Pettibone 2-0), 7:05 p.m.
San Diego (Cashner 2-2) at Baltimore (Tillman 3-1), 7:05 p.m.
Seattle (F.Hernandez 5-2) at N.Y. Yankees (Sabathia 4-3), 7:05 p.m.
San Francisco (Zito 3-1) at Toronto (Dickey 2-5), 7:07 p.m.
Houston (Harrell 3-3) at Detroit (Fister 4-1), 7:08 p.m.
Boston (Lackey 1-3) at Tampa Bay (M.Moore 6-0), 7:10 p.m.
Chicago White Sox (Peavy 4-1) at Minnesota (Correia 4-2), 8:10 p.m.
Kansas City (Guthrie 5-0) at L.A. Angels (Vargas 1-3), 10:05 p.m.
Texas (D.Holland 3-2) at Oakland (Colon 3-2), 10:05 p.m.

NL
Cleveland (Kazmir 2-1) at Philadelphia (Pettibone 2-0), 7:05 p.m.
Milwaukee (Lohse 1-4) at Pittsburgh (Locke 3-1), 7:05 p.m.
San Diego (Cashner 2-2) at Baltimore (Tillman 3-1), 7:05 p.m.
San Francisco (Zito 3-1) at Toronto (Dickey 2-5), 7:07 p.m.
Cincinnati (H.Bailey 1-3) at Miami (Nolasco 2-4), 7:10 p.m.
Colorado (Francis 1-3) at Chicago Cubs (Villanueva 1-2), 8:05 p.m.
N.Y. Mets (Gee 2-4) at St. Louis (Gast 0-0), 8:15 p.m.
Atlanta (Teheran 2-0) at Arizona (Corbin 5-0), 9:40 p.m.
Washington (Haren 4-3) at L.A. Dodgers (Kershaw 3-2), 10:10 p.m.

Here’s who I like — and don’t:

Read the rest of this entry »