Top matchups heading into this weekend
WEEKEND PREVIEW
By Mark Simon, ESPN Research
The first full weekend of baseball this season features a number of intriguing combinations, most notably a postseason rematch, and a couple of pitching matchups on Sunday featuring the best pitchers in their respective leagues.
SUNDAY NIGHT BASEBALL |
| • White Sox at Tigers, 8:05 p.m. ET, ESPN2 |
The Rockies have to be happy to return home to Coors Field, where they'll play for the first time after losing two of three games to the Cardinals in St. Louis in their first series. They will play the Diamondbacks, whom they dominated at the end of last season, particularly in the National League Championship Series. The other appealing battle will pit the Mets against the Braves, with the capper coming on Sunday when Johan Santana will go toe-to-toe with John Smoltz.
In the American League, one series to keep an eye on is the Blue Jays and Red Sox. Toronto needs to put its mark on the early part of the season after losing two of three games to the Yankees and can't afford to fall far back early in the East race. They'll have to find a way to beat Clay Buchholz and Josh Beckett in the final two games of the weekend, and again Sunday is one to watch, with Beckett squaring off against Roy Halladay.
Friday
National League
• Diamondbacks (Micah Owings) at Rockies (Mark Redman), 4:05 p.m. ETThe first game of a rematch of the 2007 NLCS, won by the Rockies in a four-game sweep. Owings was the losing pitcher in Game 4 of that series, and this will be Owings' first start of the season ... remember that he hit .333 with four home runs and 15 RBIs last year.
American League
• Rays (Andy Sonnanstine) at Yankees (Ian Kennedy), 7:05 p.m. ET
Sonnanstine closed the 2007 season by winning four of his last five decisions and one of those wins was one of the best games pitched against the Yankees last year. He allowed one run and two hits in eight innings in a 9-1 Rays victory on Aug. 31.
• Rangers (Kason Gabbard) at Angels (Dustin Moseley), 10:05 p.m. ET
Rangers killer Vladimir Guerrero will get his first crack at Texas this season. He's hitting .412 with 21 home runs in 71 career games against the Rangers. That's the highest batting average of any active player against the Rangers (minimum 100 plate appearances), 10 points better than Aaron Rowand.
Saturday
National League• Mets (Mike Pelfrey) at Braves (Tom Glavine), 3:55 p.m. ET
Glavine will make his first start against the Mets since Sept. 28, 2002, and will try to avoid his 200th career loss. Glavine pitched for the Mets from 2003-2007, and went 61-56 with a 3.97 ERA. It was a rather eventful stint, one that included losing 15-2 in his Mets debut, winning two playoff games in 2006, earning his 300th career win, then allowing seven runs in one-third of an inning in his final start of the season, costing the Mets a chance at a postseason appearance.
• Dodgers (Brad Penny) at Padres (Jake Peavy), 3:55 p.m. ET
Penny has won his last eight decisions in April. He hasn't lost in April since April 7, 2004 against the Expos. Peavy, meanwhile, is 7-0 with a 1.91 ERA in his last 13 starts against the Dodgers.
American League
• White Sox (Gavin Floyd) at Tigers (Dontrelle Willis), 3:55 p.m. ET
It will be the Tigers debut for Willis, who had a lousy spring, going 1-3 with an 8.64 ERA. Willis pitched against the White Sox once last season, allowing six runs in one inning of work.
Sunday
National League• Mets (Santana) at Braves (Smoltz), 1:35 p.m. ET
It will be the first start for Smoltz and the second start for Santana this season. This is somewhat similar to 2005 when, on the first Sunday of the season (April 10), new Met Pedro Martinez faced Smoltz in a classic pitchers' duel. Smoltz struck out 15 in 7 1/3 innings, but couldn't hold a 1-0 lead in the eighth inning. The Mets went ahead for good on home run by Carlos Beltran and won the game, 6-1.
American League
• Red Sox (Beckett) at Blue Jays (Halladay), 1:07 p.m. ET
A potentially great matchup of two of the best pitchers in the AL. Halladay has struggled against Boston in the last two seasons. Since 2006, he's 2-4 (with a 5.71 ERA) against the Red Sox and 30-9 against all other teams.
• Mariners (Erik Bedard) at Orioles (Brian Burres), 1:35 p.m. ET
Bedard, who starred for the Orioles in 2006 and '07 and during that span went 28-16, will pitch against his former team. He is 20-18 in his career at Camden Yards, and 14-8 in the park since 2006.
Archive of past Baseball Tonight Clubhouses: April 2 | April 1 | March 31 | March 30
NEWS AND NOTES
• According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Reds right-hander Johnny Cueto was the first pitcher to throw five perfect innings in his major league debut against the Diamondbacks on Thursday since the Mariners' Ken Cloude retired the first 16 batters he faced on Aug. 9, 1997, against the White Sox.• After completing a sweep of their series against the Tigers on Thursday, the Royals are 3-0 for the first time since winning their first nine games in 2003. Last year, Kansas City didn't win a series until its sixth attempt, when they took two of three games against Minnesota from April 20-22.
BBTN ON THE AIR: FRIDAY
| TIME | WHO'S ON? |
| Midnight ET ESPN2 |
Host: Steve Berthiaume Analysts: Tim Kurkjian, Fernando Vina, Chris Singleton |
BASEBALL TONIGHT MINUTE: BOWA SUSPENDED
FANTASY: PREVIEW OF FRIDAY'S GAMES
Tristan Cockcroft examines the pitching matchups in store for the 15 games on Friday's schedule in the AL and NL.
He also looks at current injuries and details player reports that could help you shape your rosters for this weekend's upcoming slate of games. Daily Notes
THURSDAY'S NOTEWORTHY PERFORMANCES
| GOOD |
 • Returning to Minnesota for the first time since signing with the Angels this past offseason, Torii Hunter hit his first home run of the season -- a solo shot in the seventh inning -- in the Angels' 5-4 win over the Twins. The Angels won the final three games in the four-game series. |
BAD |
 • Matt Holliday went 0-for-3 with a walk in the Rockies' 3-0 loss to the Cardinals. Holliday is now batting .100 (1-for-10) with no extra-base hits in the Rockies' first three games. |
UGLY |
 • Ivan Rodriguez went 0-for-4 and stranded three baserunners, including one in the bottom of the eighth inning when he struck out to end a potential rally, in the Tigers' 4-1 loss to the Royals. Rodriguez is now batting .083 (1-for-12) with four strikeouts in Detroit's first three games. |
PHILLIES WALK OFF WITH FIRST WIN OF SEASON
THIS DATE IN MLB HISTORY (APRIL 4)
• 1974: In his first swing of the season, Hank Aaron hit a three-run home run off Jack Billingham as the Braves lost to the Reds, 7-6. The home run was Aaron's 714th, tying him with Babe Ruth for the all-time lead.
• 1993: At Camden Yards in Baltimore, Bill Clinton became the first United States president to throw the first pitch of the season from the pitcher's mound. • 1999: In the first season opener ever played outside of the United States or Canada, the Rockies defeated the Padres, 8-2, before an overflow crowd of 27,104 in Monterrey, Mexico. Dante Bichette had four hits, including a home run, and four RBIs for the Rockies. Local hero Vinny Castilla also had four hits for the Rockies. • 2001: The Red Sox defeated the Orioles 3-0 as Hideo Nomo hurled a no-hitter in his Boston debut. It was Nomo's second career no-hitter, making him the fourth pitcher in history to hurl one in both the National League and the American League. • 2003: At Cincinnati's new Great American Ball Park, Sammy Sosa became the first Latin American player and 18th overall to hit 500 career home runs. The milestone was reached in the seventh inning as Sosa drove a 1-2 pitch from Scott Sullivan into the right-field seats.
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