On Deck: Blue Sunday

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

Arizona Diamondbacks (57-53) at Los Angeles Dodgers (55-55)- 4:10 PM EST
Did you hear? Manny Ramirez hit a home run last night! He plays for the Dodgers now! He might cut his hair! Manny being Manny hype aside, the Dodgers win last night pulled them to within two games of the Diamondbacks in the NL West. A win today makes it one, while a loss keeps them three back. Since the Manny trade, people have acted like the Dodgers winning the NL West is a foregone conclusion. The Diamondbacks have Brandon Webb, Dan Haren, and Randy Johnson, making it far from a sure thing that they're going to just hand the division over. None of those guys start today, though, and it's Doug Davis against Jason Johnson. Davis got shelled in his last outing against the Dodgers, so maybe this thing is about to get a little closer.

Detroit Tigers (55-55) at Tampa Bay Rays (65-44)- 1:40 PM EST
The talk of late has focused on the moves made by the Yankees and Red Sox and how they're going to use them to catapult ahead of the Rays to take the AL East and the Wild Card. Maybe they will, but the Rays aren't going down without a fight. They've won four in a row and still hold a three game lead on the Red Sox, which is nothing to sneeze at in August. The Tigers are still fighting to stay on the brink of things in the American League, finding themselves 6.5 behind the White Sox and 7.5 behind the Red Sox in the Wild Card. They need another big start out of Armando Galarraga today if they're going to stay relevant.

Philadelphia Phillies (60-50) at St. Louis Cardinals (62-51)- 8:05 PM EST
After fighting back from last week's four-game sweep by the Brewers, the Cardinals had managed to tie Milwaukee up in the Wild Card standings again on Friday and Saturday. After a loss to the Phils yesterday, they're again a game back. Can they keep their smoke and mirrors act up? Meanwhile, the Phillies are still in first in the East, but with two teams within two games. The entire division decided to ignore the trade deadline (unless you count Joe Blanton), so it's pretty much status quo for the East from here on out. The pitching matchup for this one tonight features Brett Myers, who's looked decent since coming back from AAA, and Todd Wellemeyer, who hasn't looked decent at all lately.

Everyone else:
Angels at Yankees- 1:05
Rockies at Marlins- 1:10
Reds at Nationals- 1:35
A's at Red Sox- 1:35
Brewers at Braves- 1:35
Mets at Astros- 2:05
Indians at Twins- 2:10
White Sox at Royals- 2:10
Pirates at Cubs- 2:20
Giants at Padres- 4:05
Orioles at Mariners- 4:10
Blue Jays at Rangers- 8:05