The Orioles visit Boston tonight holding a one-game lead over the defending World Champion Red Sox in the AL East. It's a good pitching matchup, too as Bruce Chen faces David Wells. As of this morning, the Red Sox had four starters in the top 20 among AL ERA leaders, with Wells at #20. Chen is tied for 17th. When the two faced each other in Baltimore last week, Chen was roughed up while Wells pitch eight shutout innings, striking out five and walking only 1.

Mark Prior has yet to allow an earned run this season. He'll face Paul Wilson as the Cubs host the Reds. The offenses for the two teams have the same OBA entering today, .330 (about league average). The difference in the offenses is that the Cubs get there with more hits, having a .266 BA vs. .248 for the Reds. More hits means more baserunners get moved, so the Cubs have outscored the Reds on a per game basis 4.7 to 3.8.

The White Sox move their winning ways to the west to take on the Athletics. These staffs boast the top two team ERAs in the American League this year. Oakland sends it's weak link to the mound in Barry Zito. So far, his younger counter parts have out-pitched him. He'll face Jon Garland, who has improved in each start he's made this season, all wins. Garland gave up 3 runs in six inngings, than two runs in seven innings, then 1 run in 8 innings. He's due for a shutout tonight, and with the A's being the 2nd lowest scoring team in the AL that could easily happen.

Finally, it the battle of the former AL East pitchers in LA as Javier Vazquez and the Diamondbacks visit Derek Lowe and the Dodgers. Derek's western career has gotten off to a much better start than Javier's, but Vazquez has pitched better than his ERA or his record indicate.

Enjoy!

Correction: Corrected Javier Vazquez's team.