On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups.
Chicago White Sox (41-32) at Chicago Cubs (46-28) - 1:05 PM ET
Friday was the first time that both Chicago's baseball teams entered a series against each other in first place. The initial game did not disappoint, with Aramis Ramirez smacking two home runs, including the walk off extravaganza in the ninth to win the game for the Cubs. But the Cubs have more surprises for the White Sox. Before the game yesterday, Ozzie Guillen took another shot at Wrigley Field, saying that under the right field bleachers, there are "rats out there are lifting weights" while the assembled media laughed. Little does Guillen know that Lou Piniella is thinking about using a couple of those rats in key pinch hitting situations today. Then ... who will be laughing?
St. Louis Cardinals (43-32) at Boston Red Sox (46-30) - 3:55 PM ET
Daisuke Matsuzaka returns today for the Red Sox ... and not a moment too soon as his return from the disabled list comes one day after Curt Schilling announced he was done for the year, and just days after Bartolo Colon went on the disabled list from trying to swing like Babe Ruth. But it's not like they've missed Dice-K all that much ... the Sox were 14-7 without Matsuzaka on the roster, and Colon was 4-2 this season while helping fill in. Also, the Sox gained two games on Tampa while Dice-K was on the shelf. So as good as Tampa's been playing lately (and having just swept the Cubs I'd say they're doing all right), they're still looking up at Boston even through their injuries. Scary.
Florida Marlins (39-34) at Oakland Athletics (40-33) - 9:05 PM ET
During Friday night's extra inning Oakland win, the A's announcers were raving about the Marlins lineup ... especially middle infielders Hanley Ramirez and Dan Uggla (Uggla hit two dingers including a game tying shot off of Huston Street in the ninth). Here's the dirty little secret about the Marlins: although they lead the league in HR's and are seventh in RBI, they're also near the bottom of the league in batting average and on base percentage. An incredible 48% of their runs have come as a result of home runs. That's an incredible pace to keep up for a team who's hitters also lead baseball in strikeouts. If the home runs run dry, there will be trouble.
Everyone else:
- Reds at Yankees 1:05 ET
- Indians at Dodgers 3:55 ET
- Astros at Rays 6:10 ET
- Blue Jays at Pirates 7:05 ET
- Orioles at Brewers 7:05 ET
- Angels at Phillies 7:05 ET
- Rangers at Nationals 7:10 ET
- Giants at Royals 7:10 ET
- Diamondbacks at Twins 7:10 ET
- Mariners at Braves 7:10 ET
- Mets at Rockies 8:05 ET
- Tigers at Padres 10:10 ET
