What to watch on a Friday?

Yankees at Red Sox, 4:05 p.m. PT — You’ll be watching this one whether you want to or not. It’s what pays the bills, eh? Chien-Ming Wang goes against Clay Buccholz.
Angels at Mariners, 7:10 p.m. PT — Jered Weaver and Felix Hernandez… Vlad and Ichiro!… Monkeys and mooses (meese?)… This one’s got it all. Here’s your game of the day.
Padres at Dodgers, 7:40 p.m. PT — Jake Peavy and Brad Penny hook up for the second time in a week. The big story — at least among people who don’t know much about baseball — …read more

More games? Okay, if you insist:

Dodgers at Diamondbacks, 12:40 p.m. PT — Hiroki Kuroda looked outstanding in his North American debut. I expected the funky delivery that is characteristic of pitchers who come over from Japan, but the velocity caught me by surprise. He was pumping 93-mph fastballs against the Padres. Micah Owings gets the call for Arizona. He dominated the Rockies in his first start of ‘08 (although he only went 1-for-4 at the plate, LOL). Wasn’t there talk that the Snakes might stick Owings in the field at some point? I think that’s crazy, but it would be …read more

Not a lot of great pitching matchups today. Eh, that happens…

White Sox at Tigers, 12:55 p.m. PT — At 0-4, Detroit is the only team without a win so far this season. Baseball is a strange game. Dontrelle Willis makes his Tigers debut. For a guy who should be in his physical prime, Willis sure has fallen fast. Where’s Steve Avery when you need him?
Dodgers at Padres, 12:55 p.m. PT — This is by far the best matchup of the day: Brad Penny goes up against Cy Young Award winner Jake Peavy. Penny is 0-2 with a 6.67 ERA over …read more

Former big-league right-hander Gerry Staley has died at the age of 87. Staley’s career spanned from 1947 to 1961, during which he won 134 games. He reached double digits in victories for five straight seasons, from 1949 to 1953, before later moving to the bullpen. As a reliever, he made four appearances for the White Sox in the ‘59 World Series against the Dodgers, earning a save in Game 1.
My thoughts go out to Staley’s family and friends.

Preseason Picks Revisited
The story so far:

AL West
AL Central
AL East

First off, I’d like to thank all the spammers for their excellent suggestions. Some pretty imaginative stuff, although much of it I fear is not physically possible. But really, what are we without ambition?
To the topic at hand. Here are my preseason predictions for the NL West, annotated for your amusement:

Diamondbacks – I expected them to be on top, but I figured it would be on the strength of their talented young hitters. Instead, pitching has carried the day in Phoenix. What a bullpen…
Padres – Not a bad showing from a team …read more

San Diego Padres outfielder Scott Hairston, who hit a walkoff homer Wednesday night against the Pirates, takes a mighty cut.
Teams are running out of time to make their move. The AL West and Central have been decided — if not mathematically, then practically speaking. The AL East is still up for grabs, but unless you’re a fan of the Red Sox or Yankees, that’s not a particularly compelling story line seeing that the runner-up almost certainly will win the wild card.
In the National League, things are a little more interesting. The Mets continue their free fall and now are just …read more

It’s that time of year again. The good folks over at Sons of Steve Garvey have photos of Dodgers rookies in full hazing attire. Enjoy…
[Update (Sep 22, 2007): Our friends at Gaslamp Ball have posted some pix of Pirates rookies in costume. View at your own risk.]

How appropriate that so many great baseball platoons were in effect during the decade that brought us the movie Platoon. Steve Treder at Hardball Times (full disclosure: I contribute to THT) has published the latest in his look back at “extraordinarily productive left-right platoon partnerships.”
A couple things stand out to me. First, it’s amazing how much mileage Earl Weaver got out of John Lowenstein and Gary Roenicke in left field. Both were good players with flaws. The genius of Weaver, of course, is that he found a way to maximize their utility while minimizing their flaws. (As an aside, I’m …read more

Fish Stripes reports that Wednesday’s game between the Washington Nationals and Florida Marlins drew 375 people. Both teams are pulling up the rear of the National League East, so low attendance should come as no surprise, but triple digits?
Two aspects of this story fascinate me:

The announced attendance was 10,121, but a photo from the game tells a very different story. Er, forget steroids for a moment; someone is cheating here, and it ain’t the players.
The Marlins are a great case study in the difficulties of promoting a team that has no identity. This is a franchise that came into existence …read more

There aren’t any real compelling story lines in the American League on Tuesday. I guess you could watch the Angels beat up on Baltimore, or hope for a good outing from Philip Hughes against the Blue Jays. Maybe Alex Rodriguez will hit another homer or three.
Moving to the league that isn’t afraid to let its pitchers hit…
National League

Rockies at Phillies, 4:05 p.m. PT — Both teams are fighting for a wild card berth, although Colorado remains a long shot. Franklin Morales and his 6.23 ERA go up against Adam Eaton, MLB’s worst pitcher this year, so if too many runs …read more