With the holiday, there are a number of afternoon games to keep you entertained, and nothing very late. The Yankees travel to Oakland, both teams a stones throw from first place in their respective divisions. Bartolo Colon takes on Trevor Cahill. Colon comes off his second worst start of the season, allowing six runs in six innings against Toronto. Control has been an issue in two of his last three starts, as he walked eight batters in his last 20 innings. Cahill is also coming off a poor start, in which he walked five Angels batters in six innings. That represents one fifth of his season total.

The Sox will win tonight as Jake Peavy and the White Sox visit Jon Lester and the Red Sox. Jake only lasted three innings in his last outing due to rain, but with one walk and 14 strikeouts in 18 innings, he seems to be healed from his injuries. Lester makes just his fifth start at Fenway, where he’s allowed just one home run in 26 innings this season. The opposition is hitting .304 against him in his home starts, however.

There’s an intriguing pitching match-up at Citi Field as Charlie Morton and the Pirates battle Dillon Gee. Morton made a huge improvement against right-handed batters this season. They posted a .332/.384/.495 slash line against him in 2010, .172/.236/.207 in 2011. Lefties still hit him hard, but he sees so few lefties that his improvement with the platoon advantage drove his ERA down into the twos. Gee does a good job of keeping the ball in the park, and in general holding the hits against him to singles. Only nine of the 31 hits against him this season went for extra bases.

Finally, the Dodgers trail the Rockies by two games for third place in the NL West as the teams open a three games series in Los Angeles. Jason Hammel faces Chad Billingsley. Hammel’s good ERA and sub-.500 record indicate poor run support, and the Rockies only scored 38 runs in his ten starts. He’s tough on the road, however, with a 1-0 record and 1.71 ERA in four starts. Billingsley pitched much better at home this season, with a 1.80 ERA at Dodgers Stadium versus 5.67 on the road. Opponents managed just 19 hits in 35 innings in Los Angeles.

Enjoy!