With interleague play taking a break until the weekend the division leaders in the NL East, the AL Central, and the AL West face their pursuers in very interesting confrontations starting tonight.

The White Sox, barely alive in the Central, haven’t seen the Twins in 2002.

Manager Jerry Manuel is already accusing the press of being the negative force behind the Sox’ trouble.

Hey, Jerry how’s your pitching holding up this year? How’s the Big Skirt, Frank Thomas?

Most observers feel the Sox don’t come to play every night.

The Sox play the Twins 19 times this year, game number one is tonight.

They better bring their “A” game to the tough Metrodome, where the Twins have the best home record in the league.

How about the other leaders? Are they under pressure to win these crucial mid season games?

Read more and I’ll tell you.The A’s are now playing their best baseball of the season. Many would say and rightly so, that the pitching has carried the team to its June heights.

I think the A’s are doing the little things during the game to win. They are getting on base, scoring more than one run at a time, and not just on homers. Throwing to the right base, moving runners over, the things Seattle has been doing for three years.

Now, Cory Lidle gets a chance to turn his season around. I can’t believe he is this bad, but when you look at how many hits he has given up against his innings pitched, it is staggering.

This series has split written all over it. Freddy Garcia and Jamie Moyer go against the two weakest links in the A’s rotation, Lidle and Aaron Harang.

Tim Hudson and Barry Zito get James Baldwin and Rafael Soriano. Advantage A’s.

When you are chasing a division champion as the A’s are chasing the Mariners, it is crucial to at least get a split in the other team’s park.

If Lidle could get the job done tonight, it would be a huge boost for Oakland.

I think tonight is the key game for the A’s. The Mariners are hurting physically with Edgar out. Notwithstanding yesterday’s offensive explosion in Houston, the M’s aren’t hitting all that well.

Shut down Cirillo, Boone, and Cameron, as most teams do these days and you are on your way to beating Seattle.

It won’t be easy, but the A’s have the momentum. It feels like game one in New York last October.

Winning tonight takes the pressure off the whole series for the A’s.

Seattle takes pitches, works the count. The A’s do the same, but Seattle pitchers Garcia and Moyer throw strikes.

Seattle has great team speed, the A’s don’t have any. Advantage Seattle.

Lidle will have to find something in his arsenal that has been missing this season to shut these guys down tonight. The A’s don’t hit for a high average, so base running and the little things I talked about earlier are very important in tonight’s game.

The A’s may have to bunt tonight, the new A’s may be capable of playing small ball, they better because it may be the difference in the series. Seattle can and will move runners along any way they can.

Arthur Rhodes may not be at full strength. Advantage A’s because Rhodes kills the A’s lefthanded hitters.

October in June. Good baseball.

Minnesota won 14 of 19 against Chicago last year. Minnesota has the most hits in the league. Jon Garland has pitched well for Chicago in his last few starts other than against the Cubs last weekend. This is the biggest game of his young career in a very hostile environment.

Matt Kinney goes for the Twins. The real test will be for the Twins bull pen. If they dominate the Sox, like they have dominated everyone else so far, the Twins can win three of four.

Mark Buehrle pitches tomorrow night. Lefties give the Twins all sorts of trouble. Like the A’s if the Twins win tonight, it is huge since Buehrle can get the job done against a less than 100% Eric Milton (heel bruise) Tuesday

night.

The Mets are 7 1/2 games behind Atlanta and now get the Braves in Shea beginning tonight.

The Mets are not playing good baseball. They are last in the league in fielding, not a good stat.

The Braves are hitting, led by Chipper and Andruw Jones. Once Bobby Cox got Andruw out of the two hole, the offense has taken off.

Al Leiter goes for the Mets. He is a big game pitcher. Atlanta is just 5-5 against lefty starters. Kevin Millwood is a righty. The Mets lefties, Alomar, Vaughn, and Burnitz have some hope tonight.

The Mets play the Braves and then go to the stadium in the Bronx for the weekend.

The Braves just look for a split even without Greg Maddux tomorrow night, Maddux’ has a calf strain and may not pitch in the series.

With a strong bull pen, the Mets can pick up some ground against the Braves starting tonight.

Hey, don’t forget Anaheim, they are only two back of Seattle.

The Angels are down in Texas rooting for the A’s to sweep the Mariners.

Now this is a week of baseball that will catch everyone’s attention.