The Royals send recent acquisition Sean O’Sullivan against Phil Hughes and the Yankees. Sean is off to a good start this season with just four walks and one home run allowed in 13 innings of work, including six two hit innings against the Yankees earlier this week. The Angels knocked around Hughes in that game continuing a slump in which Hughes has allowed five or more runs in three of his last four starts. Alex Rodriguez goes for his 600th home run for the third straight game.

R.A. Dickey brings his knuckle ball to Los Angeles as the Mets face Clayton Kershaw. This does not appear to be the kind of pitching matchup to snap either team out of their offensive funks. The Mets scored 32 runs in their last 15 games going 4-11. The Dodgers scored 24 runs in their last 10 games, going 3-7. Due to the low run scoring, Dickey in 0-3 in four July starts despite a 2.28 ERA in the month. The lefty Kershaw holds right-handed batters to a lower slugging percentage (.313) than OBP (.321).

We’ll see if Tim Lincecum is okay today as the Giants host the Diamondbacks and Barry Enright. The Arizona rookie is striking out three times as many as he walks, holidng opponents to a .233 BA and a .290 OBP. Lincecum is coming off a poor effort against the Dodgers, the third time in 11 starts he failed to go five innings. He only went less than five innings in four starts covering his back-to-back Cy Young Awards.

Finally, ESPN offers a fine duel as Chris Carpenter and the Cardinals take on the Cubs and Ryan Dempster. Carpeneter has pitched well at Wrigley since joining St. Louis, 7-2 with a 3.66 ERA, despite allowing 10 homers in 71 1/3 innings. He’s only walked nine, however. In his third year as a starter, Ryan’s home runs are up again, going from 0.6 per nine in 2008 to 1.0 per 9 innings in 2009 and 1.2 per nine innings this season.

Enjoy!