Baseball in the Daytime: 9-6-07

As September gets rolling, superstars gear up for playoff baseball. Magglio Ordonez is no exception. His .353 average, 26 jacks and 120 RsBI help the Tigers notch wins when they're not busy losing, but he'll need some help from his teammates if they aim to close the seven-game gap between themselves and the Indians. Today, Magglio's Tigers face the AL Central's last place Chicago White Sox. Eight-game winner Chad Durbin takes the mound for Magglio's team; his counterpart is the 9-9 Mark Buehrle, a matchup that gets underway at 12:05 Central.

Other afternoon matinees involving last-place clubs include the battle between the NL Central's bottom-dwelling Pittsburgh Pirates and the third-place St. Louis Cardinals. The Pirates send righty Bryan Bullington, who hasn't seen big-league action since 2005, to square off against the Redbirds' five-game winning Mike Maroth. This pitching epic gets underway around 1:10 Central at the new (not the old, or the old old) Busch Stadium.

Finally, the Cubs look to cap off a winning home stand at 1:20 Central when they take on the NL West's third-place Los Angeles Dodgers. This Wrigley Field-staged duo of 11-game winning hurlers features Derek Lowe against Jason Marquis.

Only two other games in all of baseball are slated for this evening; the Orioles host the Red Sox at 6:05, while, on the west coast, the Tribe tries to take one from Los Anaheim. With that, the laziest baseball reporter in all of Missou-rah bids you a happy day of curve balls and pickles.