Baseball fans couldn’t have asked for a better start to the grind of the August schedule as the scores unfolded Tuesday night.

What’s up with Mike Mussina? The righty got whacked around again last night by the Kansas City Royals. Yes, the same Royals who haven’t shown signs of life for the past month.

Whenever a strong pitcher like Mussina gets hit the way he has been getting hit, I suspect physical ailments are lurking.

The A’s and Giants play important games tonight for different reasons.

I’ll explain below.The Giants need to make a run right now to get back into the division race. With Arizona due to come back to earth, the Giants need to close the gap between the two clubs to something manageable by the end of the month.

At some point soon, these high pitch counts thrown by Johnson and Schilling will come back to haunt the veterans.

Russ Ortiz vs. Kerry Wood is an excellent match up. Wood has not thrown particularly well in SF in the past and the Cubs truly are a poor team. Their lack of any quality relief pitching potentially dooms them to failure night after night. They can score some runs, but their pitching is awful and they give the runs right back.

I don’t think Bonds will hit 600 tonight, but tomorrow is another story. By the way, 599 was simply crushed into rightcenter field.

Aaron Harang needs to keep the ball down in Fenway. Harang looks like he has put on weight since he has been sitting around for so long without pitching. He worries me. Mark Mulder threw the kitchen sink at Boston and got the job done. Harang doesn’t have the arsenal Mulder has and may get shelled in Fenway. The bull pen better be ready tonight. John Burkett is a junk baller. Texas crushed him in his last outing. Burkett has handled the A’s many times and the A’s will be in a tough game tonight.

I said yesterday Oakland should get a veteran starting pitcher in a waiver deal while they have the chance. No other contender in the AL can block their claims right now, but things could change quickly once they go ahead of Boston, which seems inevitable.

Boston is desperate for pitching help and will be scouring the waiver wire this month for sure.

A win tonight by the A’s will set off more panic moves in Beantown.

Seattle ran into Roy Halladay in Toronto and lost the game before Halladay left after seven strong innings. Toronto has been tough on the turf, but Esteban Loaiza should not be much of a mystery tonight.

Roger Clemens comes back today for NY. The Yankees hit and Jeff Suppan is vulnerable to the long ball. I expect the Rocket to make a triumphant return tonight.

Rick Helling returns for Arizona. Greg Maddux will be a 300 game winner one of these days and should take a step closer tonight. Helling was throwing 84 MPH before he got hurt and may be all right for three or four innings tonight, but then watch out. Both bull pens were worn out last night, and the Braves pen may be deeper.

Kevin Appier usually pitches to the level of the competition and tonight Gary Glover won’t give him much, which means another spotty performance on tap for Appier. Jarrod Washburn wasn’t particularly sharp last night and ended up throwing 115 pitches in 6 innings. Watch his next start. Newly acquired Alex Ochoa can hit and will help the Angels off the bench. Good pick up.

Mark Redman looks like a lock tonight against the Tigers. Lefties dominate the Rangers and Redman showed me something last week in Oakland. He’s got it.

Houston is charging and faces a tough test in AJ Burnett tonight. Oswalt is on track to lead the Astros to the title and Jimy Williams is smiling because his bull pen is finally clicking.

St. Louis continues to struggle. Tonight Jason Simontacchi tries to right the ship. Don’t count on it. It’s just a matter of time before the Cards are looking up at Houston in the Central.

Without days off, these races are going to be amazing as fortunes will change on a weekly basis.

Sit back and enjoy the book about baseball 2002, it’s another chapter every day.