Happy Labor Day. Watch your favorite team on television today, assuming the powers-that-be allow you to do so…
American League

Mariners at Yankees, 10:05 a.m. PT — Good thing folks in Seattle like coffee; this one’s kicking off good and early. The Mariners start the day two games back of New York in the AL wild card race. Felix Hernandez gets the start against a man twice his age, Roger Clemens. Hernandez was born three days before Clemens’ 37th big-league start. Interestingly, their age 21 seasons are kind of similar. Both got hit harder than you might expect for guys with such …read more

Wednesday? Must be a full schedule. Let’s jump right in…
American League

Angels at Mariners, 1:35 p.m. PT — Division rivals, great pitching matchup (Jered Weaver vs Felix Hernandez). Most days this would be a no-brainer as the game to watch, but there are several good ones today.
Red Sox at Yankees, 4:05 p.m. PT — Josh Beckett goes up against Roger Clemens. Advice to hitters: look for the fastball. The AL East is slipping away from the Yankees, as they are now 8 games back with 31 remaining. They’re only 2 behind Seattle in the wild card.
Twins at Indians, 4:05 p.m. PT …read more

There are two games seriously worth watching on Monday. Unfortunately, they’re being played at the same time:
American League

Twins at Mariners, 7:05 p.m. PT — Johan Santana? Felix Hernandez? One potential sticking point for Seattle is that lefties are hitting Hernandez pretty hard (.303/.368/.530) this year; that could be a problem against a team that features two potent left-handed bats in Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau. Seems to me maybe Hernandez could use an off-speed pitch. Who better to watch than Santana?

National League

Astros at Dodgers, 7:10 p.m. PT — Yeah, only minor playoff implications here, but your other option is to …read more

Seattle Mariners right-hander Felix Hernandez left in the first inning of Wednesday night’s contest against the Twins due to “tightness in his right pitching elbow.” Uh-oh.
Mariners manager Mike Hargrove offers some comforting words:
Gut feeling, I think Felix will be OK. I have nothing to base that on.
Did I say “comforting”? Sorry, my bad.
Tough break for a franchise that really doesn’t have much going for it. Here’s hoping Hernandez is okay and will be able to resume dominating American League hitters again real soon.

Hey, did you notice that I hyped some pretty decent games on Wednesday? Will miracles never cease…
Not that it took a genius to figure out that Felix Hernandez/Daisuke Matsuzaka would be a great matchup, but a one-hitter from Hernandez? Against that lineup? Yesterday I said, “…and if something should happen to Johan Santana, Hernandez could garner some Cy Young support.” I’d like to remove the qualifier from that statement. You dominate the Red Sox in their house, and you’re something special.
And the Justin Verlander/Adam Loewen matchup turned out to be a dandy as well. Both struggled with control a bit, …read more

I keep giving you bad information. Not only did I tell you that Ervin Santana is a lefty (I meant the other left), but I also told you that he and Cleveland’s C.C. Sabathia would make for a good pitching matchup. Actually, Sabathia pitched reasonably well. He also helped hold Vlad Guerrero hitless, and I told you to keep an eye on Vlad because he owned Sabathia.
Yes, I suck.
With that out of the way, and for whatever my opinion might be worth in light of yesterday’s missteps, here are the key matchups for Wednesday:
American League

Mariners at Red Sox, 4:05 p.m. …read more

Some brutal pitching matchups today. About the only game I can recommend watching is the one in Milwaukee. Hint: The Brewers aren’t playing there.
It won’t stop snowing in Cleveland, so the Indians will “host” the Angels at Miller Park. For those of us out on the west coast, that’s a bit like the Padres playing a home game in San Francisco.
Heh.
Anyway, Ervin Santana takes the mound for Anaheim, while C.C. Sabathia goes for Cleveland. Watch Vlad Guerrero in this one; he’s batted .357/.400/.714 against Sabathia over 15 career plate appearances. The game starts at 4:05 p.m. PT.
I wish I could …read more