On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups.
Boston Red Sox (57-41) at Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (58-38) - 3:55 PM ET
Josh Beckett (9-5, 3.94) vs. Joe Saunders (12-5, 3.07) in a battle of division leaders is usually enough of a good reason to flip towards your local FOX affiliate to catch this game. But admit it. Embrace it. You want to see Manny Ramirez do something silly. You want to see another fan high five. You want to see Manny take a cell phone call during the middle of a pitching change (And by the way, how Verizon hasn't jumped all over that cell phone call in the Green Monster thing yet is beyond me. I mean: Can you hear me now? Hey, you can even get reception in a big giant wall." It's gold, I tell you.) And now that Manny basically turned a Macier Izturis bloop single into a triple with a stumble job for the ages, you want to see how he's going to butcher the next fly ball to come his way.
Well I'm here to tell you that's not nice. Shame on you reveling in the misfortune of others. (Giggles under his breath.)
Philadelphia Phillies (53-44) at Florida Marlins (50-46) - 3:55 PM ET
Of course, if your local FOX affiliate is showing this game instead, you're in for a different kind of treat. It's a more conventional kind of good ol' fashioned pennant race kinda treat. The Phillies have had the Mets nipping at their heels after their ten game win streak. But with last night's Mets loss and Phillies win, the Phightins can say that they withstood the storm and came out of it while still in first place. Now, they just have to continue to contend with that third team in the race, the Florida Marlins. The good news for the Marlins in their Friday loss: Dan Uggla was error-free.
Texas Rangers (50-47) at Minnesota Twins (54-42) - 7:10 PM ET
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The Twins claim that there's no room at the inn for Francisco Liriano. I guess they can claim that Livan Hernandez, tonight's starter, is 3-2 in his last five starts, having pitched very well in those three wins (five earned runs in 20 innings). But opposing batters are touching Livan up for an average of .342 this season. At the risk of using an overused term, that's quite Ruthian. I'm thinking that Liriano with no elbow ligaments can be a little more stingy than that.
Everyone else:
- Athletics at Yankees 1:05 ET
- Padres at Cardinals 3:55 ET
- Indians at Mariners 3:55 ET
- Brewers at Giants 4:05 ET
- Blue Jays at Rays 6:10 ET
- Cubs at Astros 7:05 ET
- Tigers at Orioles 7:05 ET
- Royals at White Sox 7:05 ET
- Nationals at Braves 7:10 ET
- Mets at Reds 7:40 ET
- Pirates at Rockies 8:05 ET
- Dodgers at Diamondbacks 8:10 ET
