On Deck: Pitcher's Duel at PetCo

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

San Diego Padres (52-41) vs. Philadelphia Phillies (47-47)-10:05PM Est.

There's a pretty good matchup between to of the National League's you All-Star starters. Chris Young is 8-3 and sports the lowest ERA in the Majors at 1.97. He's held his opponent scoreless in five of his last eight starts. He's also won his last four decisions, and it would have been five had his bullpen not let him down in his last start. Cole Hamels goes for the Phillies, and though his ERA is a bit higher than Young's at 3.83, he has three more wins on the season. A win against the Padres tonight, and Hamels will be tied with Carlos Zambrano for the league lead in victories. Cole is also a San Diego native, and will make the second start of his career in his hometown. The first one was nearly a year ago to the day, when Hamels recieved a no decision on July 17th, 2006.

Los Angeles Dodgers (54-41) vs. New York Mets (52-42)-10:10PM Est.

The Mets may not treat octogenarians very nicely, but they don't have a problem with pitchers in their forties. Tom Glavine will be looking for his fourth win in his last five starts, and it would also be the 299th victory of his Hall-of-Fame career. Twenty of Glavine's 298 wins have come against the Dodgers, whom he holds a 3.98 ERA against. Derek Lowe will start for the Dodgers, and he's 0-2 in his last four starts despite his 2.62 ERA during that span. It's been that kind of season for Lowe, who has a very respectable ERA of 3.05 on the season, yet is only 8-8. The Mets have already played three games at Dodger Stadium this season back in June, and they lost all three.

Texas Rangers (41-53) vs. Cleveland Indians (55-39)-8:35PM Est.

The Indians are hoping that a road trip will help them start winning again. They just finished a 6-game homestand against the two worst teams in the AL Central, and only managed to go 3-3 against the Royals and White Sox. That one loss against the Royals came on the day C.C. Sabathia last started. Sabathia gave up six runs in seven innings as he failed to become the first pitcher to 13 wins on the season. It was Sabathia's second straight sub-par start, and he'll try to get back on track tonight in Arlington. The Rangers will counter with Kameron Loe, and he's coming off of his worst start of the season. Aside from that, the Rangers have been playing pretty well at home lately, winning ten of their last 15 games there.