The Kansas City Royals go into Minnesota tonight tied for first place with the Chicago White Sox and half a game ahead of the Twins. The Royals have lost five of their last six; the Twins have won four of their last five. The pitching matchup is not great; the Royals will depend on Paul Abbott, who has given up 12 earned runs in 9 2/3 innings. The Twins will send ageless left-hander Kenny Rogers. I'd look for a lot of runs tonight.

The Red Sox try to stop their slide out of the wild card. Oakland rookie Rich Harden faces his toughest test of the year as he goes against Pedro Martinez. An injury to Tim Hudson kept this from being a matchup of the top two leaders in AL ERA.

In the rubber game of their series, the Cubs send Kerry Wood to the mound against Houston's Ron Villone. Wood continues to walk too many, and has a 6.75 ERA over his last five starts. Villone has had the same problem. The Astros are a bit more selective than the Cubs (they've drawn more walks), so this matchup should favor them. Enjoy!