Baseball in the Daytime: 4-15-09

I decided to hold off on giving this one the "Tax Day" title, since the photo already made the post ridiculously gay. But just you wait. It gets gayer. Way gayer.

Windy City @ Motown, 12:05 Central: Jose Contreras and Galarraga (Editor's Note: Man, do I look forward to the day when I get that dude's last name spelled right on the first try.) are a pair of righties that kick off the day baseball today, and they do so at lovely Comerica Park, barring any more unpleasant precipitation. These two teams still sit right in the heart of the A.L. Central, and likely long for any opportunity to beat up on one another. In case they try to today, catch them on DirecTV 307, 721, or 722. Your other option is XM 178.

Cleveland @ Kansas City, 1:10: Sticking with the same division, it's the Tribe looking to steal a win from the Royals before they head back to Cleveland, or wherever. I'd say this is their best chance for a win, since the matchup is any Major-League pitcher available versus Sidney Ponson. The Indians will try it today with lefty Aaron Laffey. The youngster showed some flashes last spring but began 2009 in AAA, giving up six hits and five runs through three and-a-third. So, hey, maybe there is hope for Ponson, who actually didn't pitch terribly last Friday against New York, but a few defending errors and a KC team that took balsa wood to the plate wasn't helping his cause. These guys lock horns on DTV 723, 724, and on XM 179.

Colorado @ Chicago, 1:20: The Rockies and the Cubs square off just after lunch today, and they'll trot righties Jason Marquis and Rich Harden out to the mound in opposing inning halves. Marquis knows his foe, being a former Cub himself, while Harden has never started against the Colorado fellas. This one'll likely be televised on all seven continents, as well as on DirecTV 725, 726. XM'll carry it on 183.

Boston @ Oakland, 2:35: This series, in ways I cannot explain, pisses me off, as it has inevitably involved a player or two on both my fantasy roster, as well as that of my foe, who we'll just refer to as the jerk that hasn't commented on the House in well over a year. Plus he's beating me. The matchup, nevertheless, is Tim Wakefield against Brett Anderson. I don't know what's going on in these teams' respective divisions, as Oakland has seen Seattle take a 6-2 lead out west, while Boston has the second-worst record in the A.L. Catch the bizarreness on DirecTV 727, 728, or on XM 177.

St. Louis @ Arizona, 2:40: This N.L. tilt feature two right-handers, each with a win a piece. They go by the birthnames of Joel Pineiro and Jon Garland, and I couldn't care less about this game. If you dig it, find it on 729 or 730 over on the DirecTVs, while the XMers and turn the dial to 184.

New York @ Tampa Bay, 3:08: This contest, one of several odd start times today, has semi-quietly become one of the better rivalries in the bigs. Today's game features dueling Andys, Sonnanstine for the home team, Pettitte for the visitors. The clubs are knotted at 4-4 in the East, and both have a win thus far in the series; the Rays clubbed the 'stripes 15-5 in game one, while the Yanks took the W yesterday, 7-2. And on that note, another fantasy (non-commenting) jerk mocked our league's senior citizen for drafting Nick Swisher, further chided him for having to drop him, then picked him up for his own club, just in time for the Swish' to pitch (Note: WTF?) a 1-2-3 inning, then homer for the third time in four games. What an ass.

That's your sunshiney schedule for today, everybody. We're still working on cracking the HTML code for dialing in MLB.TV at the workplaces whose IT departments have blocked the site, but we promise we'll have it dialed in by 2027.