Baseball in the Daytime: The Day After the Real Mexican Independence Day

Welcome back in for what's basically the only feature we bring you anymore with any regularity. What with the economy in the outhouse, we've had to cut our staff significantly. Gone are the beat writers that brought you Tradition Tuesday, We Are Hot Chicks Wednesday, ThumbTubes & YouNails, and the ol' Fiction Fix. Left are the lazy slouches known as the Iron Triangle. Bummer for you. No big whoop for us, the lazy and uninventive.

What remains, then, is some day baseball, the occasional long-winded feature, and the dying hopes of the Cy Young award going to a young man with a special-mouthed girlfriend. Your day baseball slate, a click away.

Kansas City @ Detroit, 12:05 Central: Heading into last night's game at Comerica, I had a feeling the Royals would lose. It was one of those situations where, having won seven of their last 10, and considering that Minnesota had won to potentially slide up a game on the Tigers, that the Royals typically find a way not to win. My thoughts changed for a minute when they went up 3-0, but ol' Lenny DiNardo couldn't quite make it through the fifth. Tigers four, Royals three. A solid two-plus weeks into September, it's time to fully shift away from Operation Standings Affect and into Operation Avoid One Hundred Losses. Today's matchup doesn't really bode well for that transition, either. I mean, one of the best arms in the American League will be on the hill for Kansas City: Zack Greinke. This second half, in terms of run support, has just been brutal for Stank, though. He's 13-8 heading into today's tilt, and really, could be aiming for win number 20. His E.R.A. of 2.19 is still the best in baseball. Tim Lincecum of Los Gigantes is closest with a 2.30, and only Linc' and Justin Verlander have more K's. Stank's counterpart today, Edwin Jackson, has done well for himself this season. He sits at 12-8, with a 3.22, and has fanned 145 while walking 62. If you're watching, DirecTV 213, 721 are your channels. If you're listening, it's XM 176.

Milwaukee @ Chicago, 1:20: Matchup number two on our day baseball slate is a bit sad, in that in includes two teams from the same division that really could be contending for a Wild Card spot, had their respective trains not derailed last month. There's a mild discrepancy regarding today's starters for the visiting team: The local fishwrap says the 3-5 Mike Burns'll be on the mound in Chicago; MLB's Intranets site says Dave Bush will take the hill for the Brew Crew. If it's Bush -- and we'll assume that it is -- he's trying to work his way back to .500, having won his last two starts. If it's Burns, he'll be looking for win number four on the season, and hoping to whittle away at a a six-plus E.R.A. The Brewers are playing for next year and for pride. Chicago, with six and-a-half games and four clubs in front of them, could still squeak in, but they'd need some light's-out baseball, a wing, and a prayer. The Cubbies look to get that rollin'; Milwaukee's looking for a series split. DirecTV likes this one so much, it's offering three choices: 307, 722, 723. XM felt it was only worth one: 183.

That's your schtick for today, baseball fans. Here's hoping your sticks and rubbers bask in that sun.