The Twins continue to try to gain on the wild card leading Tigers as they send Kevin Slowey against Andrew Miller. Both are rookies, but so far Andrew is having the better year. In four starts he's posted a 2.70 ERA, although his K/BB/HR look worse than that. Andrew's been a killer with runners in scoring position so far, with opposing batters collecting just three hits in twenty four at bats. Slowey is a right-hander who is getting pounded by right-handed batters. Even though he's seen more lefties at the plate, seven of the nine home runs he's allowed have come off right-handed bats.

The Cubs try to make it two in a row against the Brewers as Chicago tries to fight back into contention in the NL Central. Sean Marshall hosts Ben Sheets. Marshall keeps free passes to a minimum, and he's a lefty that handles righties very well. Sheets returned to his role as ace of the staff. Like Marshall, his strengths are keeping his walks very low and handling batters with the platoon advantage very well. Righties are hitting .283 against Sheets, lefties .204.

Although they're not facing each other, Sabathia and Beckett each go for their twelfth win tonight. Given that they're facing last place teams (Tampa Bay and Texas), they should have a good shot at the W.

Finally, stay up late to watch two of the top three leaders in ERA battle in Los Angeles. Brad Penny leads the NL with a 2.04 ERA. Jake Peavy trails his teammate Chris Young 2.1414 to 2.1429, good for third in the NL ERA race. Penny and Peavy each garnered eleven decisions, Brad picking up ten wins to Peavy's nine. The differ by 2/3 on an inning pitched. Peavy in general looks like a slightly better pitcher. He strikes out more batters. He's walked two more batters than Penny, but has given up just one home run to Penny's two. It should be a tremendous battle, especially with the Dodgers trailing San Diego by one game.

Enjoy!