The battle for the AL Central takes place in Kansas City tonight. The White Sox throw Mark Buehrle against the Royals Darrell May.

Both teams have hit lefthanders very well lately, both will employ lefties in this game.

Buehrle has been a big part of the Chicago resurgence. May has been a godsend to this team. He has pitched a team high 121 innings and generally gives a superior effort every time out. KC bolstered its bull pen last night by picking up lefty Graeme Lloyd from the Mets. I have always liked Lloyd and he will definitely help the Royals.

KC started the season by sweeping the Sox , May didn’t make his first start of the year until April 13th, the Royals were well on their opening season roll by then and he stepped right into the rotation which at that time included Miguel Asencio (whatever happened to his minor elbow problem).

The Sox trail the Royals by 4 and have Esteban Loiaza ready to go in this series too.

The A’s got great pitching from Barry Zito but little else losing to Anaheim 2-1. The good news is that they have only 28 road games to go as opposed to 29 home games where they are vastly superior.

By the way, Chad Bradford is known around the club as a terrible fielder, he often gets in the way, he got in the way last night trying to catch a ball that Mark Ellis would have easily gotten to, Bradford deflected the ball, the Angels scored and that’s all she wrote.

Good last at bat by Erubiel Durazo who took Troy Percival’s 97 MPH heater deep to right center for a homer in the ninth.

The A’s face Brian Anderson tonight who unbelievably took a no hitter into the seventh inning against them his last time facing Oakland in Cleveland on May 18th before the A’s rallied to win 8-5.

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You knew Bob Boone’s days were numbered when he put Adam Dunn in the leadoff spot earlier in the season while the 6′ 5″ slugger was hitting .205.

The Reds were an awful team to watch, with very little starting pitching and an overworked bullpen. Jim Bowden brought Ken Griffey Jr in from Seattle, now the Reds will undoubtedly move Griffey to the first taker once he is healthy again with Bowden gone too.

A’s assistant GM Paul DePodesta would be the perfect choice to revitalize this franchise, the oldest in the NL. I hope he gets the job.

Seattle faces Detroit at home with Gil Meche on the hill. Detroit can be trouble at times, Meche will need to pace himself and get to the sixth inning before running out of gas. No doubt the dog days will affect Gil Meche. Seattle’s bull pen will be needed tonight and that is another story that will develop over the next month too.

The Red Sox go to Arlington where the temperature should be around 100 or so. Texas is a very dangerous team at home. Of course the problem is holding the opposition to five runs or less, not an easy task for the Rangers. They turn to RJ Dickey tonight. Good luck.

Damian Moss needs to keep the Giants in the game against Chicago if he wants to keep his spot in the possible postseason rotation the Giants are contemplating.

Sammy Sosa is very hot and can carry the Cubs. When will we hear how Mark Prior is doing with his shoulder injury?

The Cubs won two of three from SF earlier in the year and this time they have them at Wrigley.

The Marlins are one game behind the fading Phils in the wild card. Rookie Miguel Cabrera is the real deal and he had a big game last night against the Diamondbacks.

Two horses tonight in Miami, Brandon Webb and Brad Penny, who came up in the Arizona organization.

Webb possesses the best sinker I have seen in a long time, very tough to hit, this one could be a very low scoring game.

The Phils bull pen once its strength is starting to wilt. Turk Wendell gives up runs more often than not, and Jose Mesa would make me very uncomfortable right now if I was the manager.

La’s Kaz Ishii, who walks too many for me against Vincente Padilla in the City of Brotherly love.

Ben Sheets is finally pitching the way the 2000 Olympic hero should. He gives the Brewers a great chance tonight in NY.

Can Russ Ortiz win the Cy Young award? Give me another candidate in the NL? Ortiz pitches against Roy Oswalt in a playoff preview type game. The bull pens will decide this game and Houston’s is better.

Atlanta simply crushed the ball in Montreal, but the Expos hit the Braves hard too. Vladimir Guerrero has the best bat speed this side of Barry Bonds. Guerrero is the guy someone should pay 100 million for and not look back.

The Orioles want him and he would make their team a contender again.

Kelvim Escobar should be making his last start in a Toronto uniforn tonight against the Devil Rays who, don’t forget, win one surprise game per series. Jeremi Gonzalez their pitcher tonight has pitched well at times this season. Could tonight be the night? Stay tuned.

San Diego is dangling Oliver Perez (Xavier Nady too) in the proposed Pirate deal for Brian Giles and Jason Kendall. Perez is on the hill tonight versus Piitsburgh who will get a first hand look at the lefty.

Pittsburgh has some assets: Matt Stairs, Reggie Sanders, Jeff Suppan and of course the two mentioned above. Once Kris Benson is cleared to pitch he is out of there too.

St. Louis must be ready to pull the trigger on some deals and soon. Tonight Garett Stephenson tries to hold the Expos down in Montreal. It won’t be easy and Livan Hernandez is pitching for next year’s contract. The Cards could leave town with Hernadez also, he is on their wish list too.

The Indians have looked pathetic against lefthanders lately and sure enough they will see Mulder and Ted Lilly the first two games of the series.

The A’s need to bolster their bullpen and it should be obvious with the Yankees coming in this weekend.

The deals should begin to happen as we speak, only 48 hopurs to go.