The Yankees visit the Blue Jays as Ivan Nova gets his first major league start against Brandon Morrow. Nova worked three innings in relief this year. His minor league season showed that something clicked with the pitcher in 2010. His second season in AAA saw his strikeout rate jump and his walk rate fall as he posted a 2.86 ERA. Morrow’s control improved as the year progressed. He walked 5.4 per nine innings in April and May, but brought that down to 3.1 BB per nine innings since, without losing his high strikeout rate.

Division leaders Minnesota and Texas square off in the Lone Star State, although the pitching match-up is not the best. Nick Blackburn brings his evil 6.66 ERA to the mound against oft-injured Rich Harden. A more interesting matchup might be the team’s MVP candidate, Joe Mauer and Josh Hamilton. As the best hitting catcher in the AL, Joe should always get MVP consideration. The falloff in his power reduced him to seventh in WAR among AL hitters. Note that his power came back since Justin Morneau went on the disabled list, as Joe helped fill the void left by Justin’s concussion. That bit of clutch performance should get him a few more votes at the end of the year. Hamilton leads in WAR among hitters, with both his offense and defense contributing positives to his ranking. Note the big difference between Hamilton and Miguel Cabera is an 11 run difference in the value of their defense.

Finally, the Reds visit the Giants, two of six NL teams competing for playoff berths. Edinson Volquez faces Matt Cain. Showing selectivity facing Volquez goes a long way as he allowed 24 walks in 34 1/3 innings so far. Thirteen of the 37 hits he allowed went for extra bases, although most of those came with the bases empty. One of Cain’s two shutouts came against the Reds this season, holding them to seven hits and two walks on June 8th. The Reds left-handed batters were just one for eleven against Matt in that game.

Enjoy!