Baseball In The Daytime: 6-7-07

It's getaway day in the bigs, and today's slate of games is perhaps the best we've seen since we started this little feature. Matter of fact, the entire MLB schedule is packed with good matchups and great pitching. Aside from the daytime action, tonight brings us Cole Hamels v. John Maine, Jake Peavy, Rich Hill, Noah Lowry, and a showdown between Mike Mussina and Jose Contreras, both of whom used to win games for the New York Yankees. Awesome. Why anyone would watch the NBA Finals is beyond me.

Batting leadoff are the KC Royals and Cleveland Indians, with Sweeney & Co. looking for a surprising series win following their victory last night. KC brings Open Faced Roast Beef Sandwich Odalis Perez to the party, which is hosted by Fausto Carmona. Gotta love Fausto. I'm thinking perfect game. This one is butt-early, 10:05 Mountain, on XM 180 and DTV 734.

At 10:37 up in Canada, the D'Rays and B'Jays resume their (Field)Turf war. Former Dodgers can't-miss prospect Edwin Jackson starts for Tampa against Toronto's AJ Burnett, who once threw a no-hitter in which he walked nine guys. That's hard to do. There's no TV info on this game, but you can listen to the world's worst baseball radio crew (Jerry Howarth and "colour" commentator Alan Ashby) on XM 182.

Allow me to digress for just a minute and rip on Canada. Why in the fuck does every Jays home game start at something-oh-seven? Today it's 12:37 Eastern, night games are 7:07 Eastern, it really bugs me. I know that the White Sox sold their start times (?) to 7 Eleven this year, which is just pathetic but harmless. If someone can explain the Blue Jays thing with Seven I'd like to hear it, because I have trademarked the word and demand recompense. Also, congratulations to America for once again handing it to Canada in their chosen sport. I'm pretty sure the last Canadian team to win the Cup was Montreal in '93, but I refuse to confirm that. I hope we can keep the streak alive for the rest of my life, or at least until Canada takes her rightful place as the 51st United State.

Back to our National Pastime. At 11:05 the Pirates take the field in our Nation's Capital, with Ian Snell hurling for the visitors and Matt Chico for the home club. XM 184 and DTV 735 are your frequencies.

Here in the actual Mountain Time Zone, the Colorado Rockies continue their march to mediocrity with a home game against the Astros at 1:05. Roy Oswalt grabs the ball for Houston, where he faces Taylor Buchholz. Buchholz, if you'll remember, was an Astro before coming to Denver in the Jason Jennings trade. I wish he were a better pitcher, but then I also wish my coffee cup was filled with beer. Life's a bitch. If you can find 850 KOA or Fox Sports Rocky Mountain where you live knock yourself out, but everyone else can find this game on XM 188 and DTV 736.

Finally, my Red Sox try to avoid a series sweep at the hand of the God damned Oakland A's today at 1:35. Curt Schilling and Joe Blanton are your starters. I don't know what's happened to the bats in the last week, and spare me your bullshit about the excellence of the Yankees' and Athletics' pitching. Dan Haren, I'll buy that. But the boys are not working counts as much and seem lifeless. A slump like this is a lot more palatable with a huge division lead, but come on--let's tighten up. XM 177 and DTV 737.

Update: Indeed, it is Josh Fogg starting for the Rockies today. That's the last time I blindly trust ESPN's MLB schedule for probable pitchers or broadcasts. As for the grumpy comments, I politely refuse to stoop to the level of angry children who throw a fit when someone rips on things they like. Oh, and fuck Canada.