On Deck: Those Creeping Yankees

On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing matchups

Kansas City Royals (43-57) vs. New York Yankees (54-46)-8:10PM Est.

Do you think they're getting nervous in Boston yet? The Yankees have won six in a row and are now within 6.5 games of the Red Sox in the AL East. There's also the fact that Alex Rodriguez is only one home run shy of 500 in his career. The first candidate to give it up to A-Rod is Jorge De La Rosa who's 7-10 with a 5.61 ERA this season. The Royals had been playing pretty well, winning four of their last five to catch the White Sox, before the Yankees came to town and steamrolled them in the first three games of this series. Now they'll be trying to deny the Yankees a seventh straight win and four game sweep. Kei Igawa will start for the Yankees, he's 2-2 with a 6.67 ERA and hasn't won a game as a starter in three months. Since picking up a win in relief at the end of April, Igawa is 0-2 with an 8.13 ERA in seven starts.

San Francisco Giants (42-57) vs. Atlanta Braves (54-48)-7:05PM Est.

With A-Rod in Kansas City looking for 500, all eyes will be in San Francisco where we once again wait on Barry Bonds to catch and pass Hank Aaron. Bonds didn't play yesterday, but will be in the lineup tonight. He'll be facing Braves starter Buddy Carlyle, who's 5-2 with a 4.05 ERA, for the first time in his career. Ever since hitting home runs 753 and 754 last week in Chicago, Barry has gone 2-for-14 and is still mired in a slump. Tim Lincecum starts for the Giants, and it appears he's turned things around. After a horrible stretch in June where Lincecum went 0-2 with a 10.61 ERA over four starts, Lincecum has gone 3-0 with a 1.05 ERA in his last five starts.

Seattle Mariners (54-45) vs. Oakland Athletics (48-53)-10:05PM Est.

The Mariners are very happy to be home again. They just finished a seven game road trip that saw them go 1-6, losing their last six games. If they're going to avoid their season-high seventh straight loss tonight, it's not going to be easy. Dan Haren is starting for Oakland, and he's only 11-3 with a 2.41 ERA on a losing team. The good news for Seattle is that they're the only team to beat Haren twice this season. Sure, Haren has a 2.19 ERA against Seattle this year, and his defense is what's cost him those games, but the Mariners will take whatever motivation they can get at the moment. Jeff Weaver gets the start for Seattle, and he's still been pitching very well lately even if it hasn't shown up in his record yet.