Anaheim received a big boost Saturday night when Scott Shields emerged from the bull pen and gave the Angels five and one third excellent innings in his start against Boston. The scouts raved about Shields and predict he will be a winner for the Angels.

Darrin Erstad is on the DL adding to the Anaheim woes. Now, they get to face Pedro on Sunday night ESPN Baseball and can only counter with John Lackey,who makes his third

Sunday night start of the season, getting rocked in every one so far (he hasn’t had a decent start in any other game either).

Anyone notice Nick Johnson is ripping the ball for the Yankees and is easing Jason Giambi into the full time DH roll?

The rotation is set for the A’s. It’s John (almost no hit ) Halama on Thursday in Chicago then Ted Lilly, Tim Hudson, and Barry Zito against David Wells, Jeff Weaver, and Roger Clemens against the Yankees over the weekend in NY.

A’s will see Mike Mussina the next weekend in Oakland. Is this series a big moment for the A’s? Nothing can compare to opening the ALDS in NY following Sept. 11th, 2001, and most of these A’s players were on that team, so, no, I don’t think this series will fluster anyone on the team including the new manager Ken Macha.

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Toronto’s bull pen did it again Saturday, blowing Cory Lidle’s 4-2 lead and giving another game away after the seventh inning. Jeff Tam was the culprit again throwing 40 misplaced pitches in one and two thirds painful innings.

Meanwhile, Kansas City won’t go away just yet and now can take the series today behind Runelvys Hernandez 4-0.

Who knows if the Royals can stay near the top of the AL Central, but closer Mike MacDougal (ten saves) is making a good case for the all star team.

If Mike Sweeney heats up and Carlos Beltran gets hot, then the Royals will score some runs since Joe Randa is a steady hitter, Raul Ibanez hits, and Ken Harvey can swing the pole too. If their pitching is still solid in another six weeks, then they bear watching.

Pitching in Colorado takes something out of every visiting pitcher who works in Coors Field, it will be interesting to follow the Cubs staff in its next series against the Giants in SF, especially Mark Prior who worked six tough innings in Colorado.

Today it’s Carlos Zambrano, very strong, but young against Darren Oliver who will see his early season success slip away, against the Cubs whose bats have awakened in Colorado.

Is Kevin Millwood healthy? The Braves let him go for a song in the off season. There were rumors that his arm was not 100%, he has been inconsistent so far in his starts for the Phillies. Millwood pitched extremely well against SF last season, he faces rookie Jesse Foppert in the Vet Sunday, this game is set up for the Phillies, but only if Millwood does his thing.

Tim Redding threw very well in NY in his last start and is matched up with Tomo Ohka in Montreal (8,000 there Saturday) who also is bringing it recently, this one looks like a pitchers duel since the Astros are in a slump with their offense.

Arizona plays two in NY against the suddenly hot Mets (7-3 in their last ten games). All eyes will be on Randy Johnson slated to pitch game two in the twilight, coming off the knee injury maybe Johnson will need the twilight to throw the ball past the worst offense in the NL.

Tom Glavine and Jae Soe counter for the Mets in an old fashioned doubleheader at Shea. I can just picture the fans with the banners on the field between games of the doubleheader, do they still do that in NY?

Good test for Pittsburgh and 4-0 Jeff Suppan against the Dodgers. Pirates don’t hit very much and really miss Brian Giles from the line up, but Suppan has been winning without much run support all season. Eric Gagne is becoming John Smoltz like for LA.

Rumors today that the Dodgers will trade Adrian Beltre, but who wants him? He isn’t fundamentally sound and truthfully hasn’t lived up to his potential. How about Lou Piniella to motivate him?

Speaking of the Devil Rays, they aren’t the worst team in the league. Cleveland, Detroit, and Baltimore are worse. Rocco Baldelli is still hitting .381 and will be Tampa’s all star.

What’s going on with the proposal to award home field advantage in the World Series to the winner of the All Star game? Players may OK the deal, but want certain playing rules changed, as well as keeping the TV reporters out of the dugout during the game (Jim Gray and company).

CC Sabathia pitches before the home folks in Oakland today (he’s from Vallejo), last time CC pitched here he was gone by the third inning, before his folks were settled in their seats. Cleveland has rocked Tim Hudson in the past, but that was when they could hit. Hudson threw 117 pitches Tuesday night, let’s see if it effects him today.

Cleveland infielder Brandon Phillips, the center piece of the Bartolo Colon trade last season, will be a player, the kid has a sense of humor, plus he wants to be a ball player and has all the tools to succeed.

Jim Edmonds is hitting .414. Say what you want about him (clubhouse pain in the butt), the guy can play CF and swing the bat.

St. Louis will not repeat in the Central without a power arm to close games.

Rafael Palmiero is inching closer to 500 homers, now has 497. Is he a hall of famer? In my book when his career is over, he is as legitimate as Eddie Murray as a hall of fame pick.

Jermaine Dye is out for three to five weeks. The A’s offense will be tested without Dye in the six spot. Even though he wasn’t hitting very well, he was a threat and made Terrence long better as well as Erubiel Durazo. Eric Byrnes will sink or swim over the next month. By the way, where is Adam Piatt lately?

Is Eric Chavez healthy? When was the last time he really turned on a ball? He may get loose this week in Chicago, a town where he really hits the pelota.

MVP in the AL? This year Alfonso Soriano doesn’t let it slip away. He’ll have his 40-40 with time to spare.

When did Marcus Giles arrive. Brian’s little brother has carried the Braves with a .347 average and 4 timely homers plus he hustles all the time. If he becomes a better fielder the Braves have something. Bobby Cox always comes up with a decent bull pen to set up his closer. it looks like he’s done it again with Ray King, Roberto Hernandez, and Gryboski.

Detroit is now 3-19 and 2-2 in its last four games.

See, I told you things eventually average out.

Enjoy your day, nothing like Sunday baseball.