Mark J. Rebilas/US PRESSWIRE

Josh Hamilton's bat could cause problems for some teams vying for playoff berths.

THE JOY OF PLAYING SPOILER

By John Kruk, ESPN

I played on losing teams for nine years of my career and during the boring, hot, sticky and insufferable days of August and September the main thing that kept me and my teammates going was playing the role of spoiler. There was nothing better than having some playoff contender come into our stadium and take a beating in a game they had no business losing because of the disparity in our win-loss records.

In 1988, I played for the San Diego Padres and we played the future World Series champion Dodgers six times in the month of August, and ended up winning four of the six games. At one point, Kirk Gibson came out in the media during one of the series and said, quite bluntly, that we shouldn't even be on the same field as them and that losing to us was an embarrassment.

Needless to say, there were a lot of smiles in the locker room the next day -- especially when we beat his butt again that night.

This year, there are several teams that could do a great job playing the spoiler role -- and the New York Yankees are No. 1 on that list. They have two series left against the Boston Red Sox and the Tampa Bay Rays, as well as a series against the Chicago White Sox. The Yankees are a dangerous enough team to cause a lot of trouble for those teams.

Another team that has that kind of offense, like the Yankees, is the Texas Rangers, who even with the loss of Ian Kinsler can still put up some big numbers. They can chase a pitcher and get deep into a bullpen to make a manager have to make some uncomfortable decisions to try and get a win.

The other team that could do a great job of spoiling a team's playoff chances is the Toronto Blue Jays, just because of the presence of Cy Young candidate Roy Halladay and A.J. Burnett. Those two guys can shut down an opposing offense just long enough for their offense to squeak out a couple of 4-1 wins and ruin a team's postseason chances.

Past Baseball Tonight Clubhouses: Aug. 24 | Aug. 21 | Aug. 20 | Aug. 19 | Aug. 18 | Aug. 17

FORWARD THINKING: TUESDAY

• Mets at Phillies, 7:05 p.m. ET: Two experienced pitchers head to the mound. The numbers for Pedro Martinez (4-3, 4.97 ERA) don't make sense. His ERA at home is 3.60, but his record is 1-2. On the road, his ERA is 6.15, but his record is 3-1. Despite being 45 years old, Jamie Moyer is showing no signs of tiring, posting a 2.19 ERA so far in August.

• Red Sox at Yankees, 7:05 p.m. ET: Tim Wakefield (7-8, 3.67 ERA) has never quite figured out the Yankees. He is 9-17 with a 5.14 ERA against them in his career. He has also served up 38 homers, the most he has allowed to any team. Andy Pettitte (13-9, 4.17 ERA) has been the exact opposite, owning the Red Sox over his career: he has a 16-7 record against Boston, with a 3.54 ERA.

• Brewers at Cardinals, 8:10 p.m. ET: Ben Sheets (11-7, 3.16 ERA) has hit a rough stretch, losing five of his past six decisions. In four of the five losses, the Brewers provided two or fewer runs of support. Todd Wellemeyer (11-4, 3.79 ERA), meanwhile, has won his past four decisions.

• Complete list of pitching probables for Tuesday's games

TOUCH 'EM ALL

Who went deep? Keep track of all the home runs hit each day on "Baseball Tonight" and on the Baseball Tonight Clubhouse page.

Click here to find out who hit the longest home run. For more, check out the Home Run Tracker page.

Home Run Tracker
NAME	HR	OPP	PITCHER	SITUATION
G. Sizemore, Cle	30	Det	Galarraga	Top 1: 1-0, 0 Outs. None on.
C. Delgado, NYM	27	Hou	Moehler	Bot 1: 1-0, 1 Outs. 2 on.
M. Thames, Det	22	Cle	Jackson	Bot 2: 3-2, 2 Outs. None on.
G. Sizemore, Cle	31	Det	Galarraga	Top 3: 0-0, 0 Outs. None on.
A. Ramirez, ChC	23	Pit	Karstens	Top 3: 2-2, 1 Outs. 2 on.
B. Moss, Pit	4	ChC	Lilly	Bot 4: 0-0, 2 Outs. None on.
E. Renteria, Det	8	Cle	Jackson	Bot 5: 0-1, 0 Outs. None on.
N. Cruz, Tex	1	KC	Meche	Top 3: 1-1, 2 Outs. 2 on.
A. LaRoche, Pit	18	ChC	Lilly	Bot 6: 0-1, 1 Outs. 1 on.
J. Thome, CWS	28	Bal	Waters	Top 6: 0-1, 1 Outs. None on.
C. Delgado, NYM	28	Hou	Wright	Bot 7: 1-2, 2 Outs. 2 on.
F. Gutierrez, Cle	8	Det	Glover	Top 10: 0-1, 1 Outs. None on.
C. Davis, Tex	13	KC	Peralta	Top 8: 2-1, 0 Outs. None on.
Y. Torrealba, Col	6	SF	Cain	Top 2: 1-0, 0 Outs. 1 on.
D. Barton, Oak	7	LAA	Weaver	Top 3: 3-2, 1 Outs. None on.
M. Napoli, LAA	14	Oak	Braden	Bot 6: 0-0, 0 Outs. None on.
J. Gerut, SD	14	Ari	Rauch	Bot 9: 0-0, 2 Outs. 1 on.
A. Beltre, Sea	21	Min	Crain	Bot 11: 0-0, 1 Outs. 1 on.