Dontrelle Willis pitches today for the Marlins against Carlos Zambrano and the Cubs. The way the Cubs hit Willis should be overpowering when facing this listless lineup.

I would expect close to 35,000 for this game. The Marlins are 5 games behind the Phillies in the wild card chase and are playing nice and loose right now.

The Cubs ought to go out and pull the trigger on a trade with Pittsburgh and grab Kenny Lofton for the rest of the season.

John Olerud is hitting around .130 in July and making Seattle very nervous at first base.

Kaz Sasaki threw without pain yesterday and gave Bob Melvin some reason to hope that he will be back sometime before Melvin retires.

Seattle is faltering, but you knew that already. Trouble is the A’s and the Angels are not showing any signs of consistent play and Seattle’s losing won’t go on forever.

The Angles starting rotation is not doing the job, but their bull pen is fantastic. Until the starters pick up the slack the Seraphs will win three, lose two, win two, lose two, and end up playing .550 ball which won’t be enough to get into the playoffs.

Now if Troy Glaus ever got out of his funk and the Angels offense reappeared, then they might have something to build on.

The A’s can bury the Angels next weekend when they meet Anaheim for four games in Disneyland.

Click below for more.Had Harold Reynolds on my new show “Inside Baseball Saturday Night” and he was very candid as usual about baseball.

He said the A’s had no “O” in the outfield, meaning no offense. How true!

He also said that rival GM’s would like to see Billy Beane fail in light of Beane’s comments in “Moneyball” and he would have a tough time making trades around the deadline without giving up some serious talent.

As long as Toronto is still in the league, Billy will have a trading partner.

Fascinating story out of Minnesota that said Bobby Kielty was coming to the A’s, Ted Lilly going to Toronto, and Shannon Stewart going to Minnesota, until someone backed out of the deal.

If your first name is Jason you had a good week. Jason Davis is pitching lights out for Cleveland and Jason Giambi is carrying the Yankees on his back right now.

How big are the August games between the A’s, Blue Jays, Red Sox and Mariners?

The big run machines of the East versus the pitching of the West. You know what they say “good pitching stops good hitting more times than not”.

Russ Ortiz threw 101 pitches in 5 innings yesterday and still got the win because Bobby Cox knows how to work his bull pen. Not bad having John Smoltz in the ninth inning either.

Chipper Jones has a bad wrist, a bad injury for a hitter.

I still think the Dodgers are putting too much pressure on Jeromy Burnitz and Rickey Henderson to turn their offense around. Rafael Palmiero would help LA, so would Juan Gonzalez.

How about Rafael Palmiero in Oakland? His defense is more than adequate, he hits with power, he is a veteran, and Texas wants to get rid of him.

Billy Koch is now safely relegated to the seventh or eighth inning for the White Sox. Damaso Marte and Tom Gordon are closing for the Sox.

KC’s Darrell May has been outstanding all season for the Royals.

Carlos Beltran added to his value last night with one of the best catches of the season when he scaled the wall in center field to rob Dan Wilson of a homer.

The first four for the Giants continue to shine. Ray Durham, JT Snow, Marquis Grissom, and Barry Bonds get the ball rolling each game.

Jesse Foppert comes back today and pitches against the Rockies and Denny Neagle. This one has runs written all over it, even in stingy Pac Bell.

Rod Beck got his 9th save last night for San Diego. Simply unbelievable since he doesn’t throw over 82 MPH.

Jeff Suppan and Kris Benson can help someone get to the playoffs.

It’s nice when your number eight hitter is hitting .334 like Bill Mueller is for Boston.

Pedro versus John Wasdin today is a Red Sox win for sure. Or so it seems after Wasdin got bombed by the Yankees in his only other start.

Kirk Saarloos is no Brad Lidge, hence Houston almost blew a 9-1 lead in the eighth and ninth inning before Octavio Dotel shut the Reds down.

Can Houston ride Lidge to Dotel to Wagner the whole season?

Good news for Mike Lowell his nagging groin injury is not related to his prior bout with cancer.

Doug Mientkiewicz is one heckuva baseball player. The A’s should consider him when thinking up their next three team trade.

Gil Meche lost it after five innings last night in KC, velocity decreased, pitches up, sayonara to the game.

Pitchers are different than hitters, once they hit the wall during the season, it’s tough to bring them back, while hitters can take a few days off and rebound nicely.

That is why the dog days expose tired pitching staffs. That is why the next month of the season will be fascinating to watch. That is why the A’s roll in August because they have the young guns on the mound who always seem fresh.

Rich Harden struggled from start to start in AAA with his command, so take it easy on the kid. Five plus innings per start will be all the A’s should hope for. He will be here for a long time, so let him ease in tomorrow night in KC.

Texas made a good trade picking up Ricardo Rodriguez from Cleveland for virtually nothing.

How about Sidney Ponson, he may win 20 for the Orioles.

The A’s and the Twins will have a see saw slugfest today in the Metrodome with Ted Lilly and Kenny Rogers on the hill, two underachieving lefties.

Think the Giants are concerned about Jason Schmidt’s tight elbow? Who would replace him? They will be watching Al Leiter’s start for the Mets today very carefully.

Kevin Jarvis has been very good so far in his comeback from arm miseries for San Diego, his opponent today five inning starter Randy Johnson. Jarvis has a live arm and just might outpitch the Unit.

Cards need a big game from Woody Williams tonight in LA because Wade Miller pitches against the Reds and Danny Graves, who seems to have hit the wall I talked about earlier.

Jeff Kent didn’t play Saturday for Houston. Not good news for the Astros.

Scott Shields should be in the Angels rotation with his 1.65 ERA.

Not that it matters, but Doug Glanville Texas centerfielder is finally hitting the ball.

Remember you can’t get excited about any team’s chances until they reach the .500 mark.

Everyone in the race is at .500 except the Twins and the White sox, so who says there is no competitive balance?

20 of the 30 teams have hopes for the postseason.

Hey Bud what do you think of that?