Baseball has some good match-ups coming up this week and here are some to keep your eyes on: the St. Louis Cardinals (33-24) visit the Los Angeles Dodgers (33-24) for three games in a rematch of last year's NLDS. The Dodgers have been on a tear as of late and I think they'll be able to take two of three although I really hope the Cards slow them down. The Los Angeles Angeles of Anaheim (31-28) visit the Oakland Athletics (30-28) for a key four game series between AL West foes. The A's have been scuffling a bit and would be well served to at least gain a split for psychological purposes for their positioning in the division. The Angels have been surging as of late and I think they'll win 3 of 4. The Toronto Blue Jays (33-25) visit the Tampa Bay Rays (37-20) for three games at Tropicana Field. The Blue Jays have been playing some good baseball but nobody has been talking about them at all. If they sweep this series then people should start talking and the division race could really tighten up. I actually think they will take two out of three as they have come off of winning two of three at home this weekend against the New York Yankees (35-22).
As for my San Francisco Giants (30-25), they just took two of three competitive games from the Pittsburgh Pirates (23-33) at PNC Park. The Pirates proved tough and I think the Giants showed some resiliency in winning the series whereas if they had given up they could have lost all 3 games. They had spirited comebacks, one of which was successful, in Friday and Saturday's game, and survived a blown save from Brian Wilson (who to his credit has been very good all season) on Sunday to win the game in 10 innings. Tim Lincecum seemed to gain some of his old form back on Sunday's start, pitching 7 innings and giving up 3 earned runs. Freddy Sanchez had a great series against his old team and I'm officially glad he's off of the disabled list and back playing. He had the game-winning sacrifice fly in the tenth inning.
The Giants next head to Cincinnati to face the Reds (33-24) for four games. The Reds have been playing surprisingly well this year and are tied for first place in the NL Central with the St. Louis Cardinals. I'm thinking this will be a split and a competitive series. Barry Zito and Matt Cain start the first two games of the series and the Reds will throw out Johnny Cueto and Mike Leake to bookend the series. The most surprising thing about the Reds this year is their pitching and Cueto and Leake are two of the guys having really good years.
The Giants are in third place and trail the San Diego Padres (33-23) by 2.5 games in the tightly contested National League West. The Padres finish up their four game wraparound series in Philadelphia against the Phillies (30-25) on Monday night before visiting the New York Mets (30-27) for three games. The Colorado Rockies (29-27) are still within striking distance in the division and host the Houston Astros (22-35) for four games this week. The Arizona Diamondbacks (22-35) just took two of three from the Rockies after suffering through a miserable 10 game losing streak and aren't a threat to compete for the division crown. The Snakes host the Atlanta Braves (33-24) for four games this week. The Braves have been playing really well as of late en route to taking the lead in the NL East and should take 3 if not 4 of the games in that series.
Highly touted Washington Nationals (27-31) rookie pitcher Stephen Strasburg makes his much-anticipated major league debut on Tuesday night at home. I'll have more on that later.
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