The A’s take on the Chicago White Sox in Comiskey Park sending hometown lefty Mark Mulder against Mark Buehrle, a southpaw who has had mixed results against the Athletics.

There are times when Buehrle simply outpitches the A’s batters, then there are the times that the A’s simply crush the lefthander.

Mulder gets to face Carl Everett again since the enigmatic outfielder is now a White Sox instead of a Ranger. Let’s hope Chad Bradford doesn’t see Everett since the switchhitter has hit at least three homers off of Bradford this season.

The White Sox bull pen has been reduced at the end of the game to Damaso Marte and Tom Gordon. It is not clear who is the closer since Gordon has failed to hold the lead at least twice this week against KC.

In any case, Keith Foulke who always has something to prove against his former club should be a safer bet than either of the two Chicago short men. Billy Koch is not going to be a factor in the series unless he blows a mid inning lead to the Athletics. He is one mixed up dude right now when he comes into a game.

Eric Chavez is hot. Eric Chavez still doesn’t hit lefties with much authority. The A’s need Chavez to continue to hit well in the third spot, Chavez has hit some long homers in this park, too. It will be on his shoulders tonight to show his hot streak is not just a short term thing, but one the A’s can rely on to carry them this month. He is looking forward to seeing Jon Garland a righty tomorrow.

The A’s made so many mistakes yesterday it isn’t worth repeating them here, however Barry Zito pitched a decent game against a very bad ball club, giving hope that his next start against the Red Sox might be a good one.

For Zito’s sake he better not hang too many curves against Boston’s line up, they ain’t the Tigers.

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Seattle moves into New York, throwing Ryan Franklin against the Yankees and Jeff Weaver.

The Mariners got some good news Thursday as Freddy Garcia didn’t get lit up by Cleveland although he lost the game.

Franklin gives up homers by the dozen, not a good trait for pitching in Yankee Stadium. Weaver can be upset at the slightest mistake his teammates might make, but he did hang in through seven tough innings in Oakland last week.

The Yankees should hit Franklin tonight. The Yankee bull pen is still another story. Mariano Rivera didn’t have a clean ninth last night, Jeff Nelson walked one of the two batters he faced in the eighth, and I think Joe Torre is still not sure just what he is going to get when he goes to the pen in the eighth inning.

How about the Devil Rays? One thing is for sure, the usual end the season in August this team has had in the past won’t be happening this year under Lou Piniella. You can count on surprises everytime they hit the field, maybe it shouldn’t be a surprise if they continue to win at a .500 or better clip.

Tonight, Kevin Appier throws for the Royals who are hanging onto a 1/2 game lead in the central. Jeremi Gonzalez is capable of beating Appier who has elbow trouble.

The Red Sox throw Derek Lowe and Casey Fossum against Rick Helling and Eric Dubose in a day night doubleheader in Fenway. Key words: in Fenway.

These games have runs written all over them, with the Red Sox pen playing a major role in both games.

Minnesota goes into Detroit with Johann Santana against Mike Maroth. The Twins are in this thing, Shannon Stewart keeps hitting, and if they can get four runs on the board they will win this game.

Billy Traber has thrown a one hitter against NY and now seven shut out innings against Seattle, the Indians may have something here.

The Giants face the Phillies in Pac Bell this weekend.

Randy Wolf has been terrific all season and might be the best pitcher Philly has. Jesse Foppert needs to keep his team close because all of a sudden the Giants have stopped their clutch situational hitting.

The Marlins need to get by Ben Sheets, then it will be clear sailing for the weekend. I suspect they will be leading the Wild Card come Monday morning after leaving Milwaukee. Carl Pavano, their fifth starter, has pitched extremely well lately.

Arizona still looms out there and is the one team capable in the West of rolling off 15 of 20. The Giants must keep the snakes back for another three weeks and then they can relax. If Arizona can cut the lead to six games by the end of the month, September becomes very intersting for SF, a team that has numerous injuries to deal with (Ray Durham for one).

Can Shawn Estes beat the Dodgers? It was a real crapshoot every time he pitched against them when he was with the Giants.

Sammy Sosa is showing why he is one of the premier players in the game leading the Cubs back into the race. Of course as I said earlier, five reliable starters don’t hurt either.

Javier Vazquez and Jeriome Robertson in Houston tonight, now that is a pitching matchup. Is Jimy Williams burning out the Astro bull pen? We will certainly see this month as the Astro manager isn’t letting up on Lidge, Dotel, and Wagner.

Tom Glavine goes tonight in Arizona, another Questec park, not good news for the Mets lefty who is getting squeezed by umps who work in those parks. More news for the Mets, they face Brandon Webb, he of the power sinker.

Mike Piazza will be back shortly, first time since injuring his groin in May.

Is Russ Ortiz a worthy Cy Young candidate, let’s see what he does against the Cards tonight in St. Louis.

The Braves crush lefties and see Jeff Fassero in that game. The Cards got a terrific start from Brett Tomko last night and some sheer hustle from Bo Hart, leading to two very important insurance runs.

Nice weather, good baseball, this will be a good weekend no matter where your team is playing.