Matt Fargo’s Diamond Preview

Monday, May 19th

Tampa Bay Rays at Oakland A’s 10:05 PM ET

It will be interesting to see how the young Rays respond in this opening game in Oakland. Tampa Bay took the first game in St. Louis over the weekend but dropped the last two contests, both in the Cardinals last at-bats. Those losses are sometimes hard to overcome, even for perennially top teams so this could be the start of a downward spiral. Tampa Bay is 16-8 at home but just 9-11 on the road including 6-10 in its last 16. Oakland is back home following a dreadful 2-7 roadtrip.

Tuesday, May 20th

Arizona Diamondbacks at Florida Marlins 7:10 PM ET

This is Game One between the two first place teams in their respective divisions. Arizona comes in as the hotter of the two with wins in five of its last six games while the Marlins have dropped five of their last six games. The Diamondbacks have the best home record in baseball and are still a game over .500 on the road. Florida had won four straight games at home prior to this past weekend where it dropped two of three to the Royals. Arizona took six of the seven meetings last season.

Wednesday, May 21st

Kansas City Royals at Boston Red Sox 7:05 PM ET

This will be the season debut for Bartolo Colon for the Red Sox. He has been plagued by injuries the last two seasons as he has made only 28 starts and last year was easily the worst of his 11-year career. In three minor league starts, Colon went 2-0 with a 0.64 ERA and 0.50 WHIP while hitting 95 M.P.H. on the radar gun. He faces a surprisingly good Kansas City team that simply will not fold. He has faced the Royals 24 times and is 14-7 but he has posted a below average 4.88 ERA covering 151.1 innings.

Thursday, May 22nd

New York Mets at Atlanta Braves 7:10 PM ET

The final game of this series takes place on Thursday and it has the making of a pitching classic. Johan Santana toes the rubber for the Mets and while his numbers are good, they are not exactly spectacular. He is 5-2 with a 3.30 ERA and 1.12 WHIP. One of those losses came against the Braves but it was a tough luck loss as he allowed only one run in seven innings. The Braves counter with Tim Hudson who is coming off his worst outing of the season. He was hit hard by the Mets in his last start against them in late April.

Friday, May 23rd

Seattle Mariners at New York Yankees 7:05 PM ET

The disappointing Mariners head to New York to take on the disappointing Yankees in the opener of this three-game set. Both teams were preseason division contenders but heading into the week, the Mariners are nine-games under .500 while the Yankees are four-games under .500. The Yankees look to have the best shot at recovering and turning their season around as slow starts have become a Yankee tradition. New York swept the Mariners to start the month by a combined score of 19-4 in the three-game series.

Saturday, May 24th

Cincinnati Reds at San Diego Padres 10:05 PM ET

All eyes will be on Jake Peavy as he will be making his first start since skipping his scheduled start on Monday. That is if everything goes well in the examination of his sore pitching elbow. He has complained of discomfort in his last four outings so this could be something more. The Reds send Bronson Arroyo to the hill and heading into his first start of the week on Monday, he is coming off his two best starts of the season. His ERA has dropped nearly two runs after allowing just one run in 15 innings.

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