Preview/Prediction

I guess the off day, and coming home after a nine game losing streak was exactly what the Jays needed. A sweep would have been nice, but considering the circumstances, taking two of three from the Boston Red Sox and pulling within a game of them is pretty good.

There is another much needed off-day today, so our series with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim starts tomorrow at the Rogers Center. Here are the pitching match-up previews.

Roy Halladay (8-1, 2.63 ERA) vs. Joe Saunders (6-3, 3.26 ERA)

Advantage: Jays

In Seacaucus, NJ, Matt Vasgersian highlights the big plays in last night's games. Harold Reynolds weighs in with his opinions on players in slumps or pitchers who are dominating. The tile on the floor shines with newness as Victor Rojas walks across to his office.

It's baseball heaven.

It's been a long road here, to Seacaucus, for some young players. It will be soon that they will participate in the beginning event of their budding Major League career, the Amateur Player Draft of 2009.

The Texas Rangers are 30-19, leading the Angels in the AL West by 5.5 games after play on Saturday. The Rangers’ quick start can be attributed to their potent offense, which ranks fifth in the Majors, scoring 5.44 runs per game.

Ian Kinsler, Michael Young, and Nelson Cruz have led the way for Texas, combining to hit .303 through the first two months of the season.

Josh Hamilton, however, hasn’t been quite as productive, posting a miserable .234 batting clip while battling through a groin injury.

The St. Louis Cardinals are not scuffling, but they aren't red hot either.

The Cardinals have two big holes to fill sooner rather than later, and by "later" I mean the July 31st trade deadline.

The first hole that needs to be filled is a third head to the mighty pitching dragon.

Chris Carpenter is an ace—he bleeds dominance. Adam Wainwright is in that same class as well, when he is right. The only downside is that both have their problems—more so Carpenter than Wainwright.

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The Mariners started off the 2009 red-hot and gave us all a glimmer of false playoff hope when they were a top the AL West at one point with a 15-10 record. We seemed to forget this was a team that was supposed to be in a full-blown rebuilding mode.

I know this is looking way, way ahead, but I'm extremely excited about the future O's. I think this team can contend for a wild-card spot next year if the pitching is intact. They're offense will be a force to be reckoned with, especially with the top and middle of the order. If the pitching holds up, they will do well in years to come.

Just when we thought it couldn’t get any worse on the injury front. It looks like Carlos Beltran will be held out of today’s starting lineup due to a stomach virus that caused him to leave yesterday’s loss to the Marlins. Instead, the Mets will put Angel Pagan in center field, and they will hope for the best.

An achy back sidelines your dominant young hurler.

A freak accident causes a hairline fracture to the thumb of your hot-hitting all-star second baseman.

A strange ailment that started as mysterious dizzy spells and has changed to a stress-related condition has put your best hitter on the DL.

Just like that, the promising season of the Cincinnati Reds has begun to unravel.

The young Cincinnati Reds are a hanging tough at 26-20.

They are currently 1 1/2 games behind the division-leading St. Louis Cardinals in the NL Central.  They also trail the Milwaukee Brewers by a half game.  The Reds are leading the preseason favorites, the Chicago Cubs, by three games.