
On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups.
San Francisco Giants (39-54) at Chicago Cubs (56-37) - 1:05 PM ET
Here you go, boys and girls. The Cubs' answer to Brewer-mania is here. Sure CC Sabathia has made the Brewers about as popular as free gasoline or free beer. But the Cubs have been popular since William McKinley was president ... and as Rich Harden makes his Cubs debut today, I'm sure some of that free beer will be flowing up and down Addison. At first the beer will go down throats in celebration. But Cubs fans had better hope that Harden stays relatively healthy this season, or that beer will turn out to be nothing more than sorrowful suds.
By the way, Harden's career numbers against the Giants: Four starts, 2-0, 0.84 ERA, 0.61 WHIP, .074 BAA. Chew on that.
L.A. Angels of Anaheim (55-38) at Oakland Athletics (51-42) - 9:05 PM ET
In less publicized debuts, Sean Gallagher made his Oakland debut a highly successful one, beating the Angels with a two hit, two run seven inning gem. Another Cubs castoff, Matt Murton, contributed two RBI in the victory as well in his Oakland hello. That oughta keep the Athletic faithful from wondering why a team would trade their ace while within striking distance of the division for at least a few days, if not longer ... as Oakland is now four games behind L.A. of A. If the A's can somehow improve on their mediocre division record of 13-16, we might have a race.
Chicago White Sox (53-39) at Texas Rangers (49-45) - 7:05 PM ET
There's something eternally fascinating about a team that tries like heck to stay in the fringe of the pennant race as an "all-hit, no-pitch" team. You have to admit that it would be kind of cool to see the Texas Rangers go on a crazy Colorado Rockies-type run and slug their way to the title on the backs of Josh Hamilton, Milton Bradley and Ian Kinsler, and a team ERA over five. Is it going to happen? Nobody saw Colorado coming either.
Everyone else:
- Yankees at Blue Jays 1:07 ET
- Rockies at Mets 3:55 ET
- Diamondbacks at Phillies 3:55 ET
- Twins at Tigers 3:55 ET
- Cardinals at Pirates 7:05 ET
- Reds at Brewers 7:05 ET
- Red Sox at Orioles 7:05 ET
- Rays at Indians 7:05 ET
- Astros at Nationals 7:10 ET
- Mariners at Royals 7:10 ET
- Braves at Padres 10:10 ET
- Marlins at Dodgers 10:10 ET




