Two of the best pitchers in the American league pitched Tuesday night with varying results. Barry Zito had one of the best curve balls I have ever seen him have, but threw one too many inside fastballs to pinch hitter Bobby Kielty and the Twin pinch swinger hit a three run homer deep into the left field seats to win the game for Minnesota.

“Everyday” Eddie Guardado finsihed the game for the Twins who now are starting to put some ground between themselves and the rest of the AL Central.

Roy Halladay won his sixth in a row as Toronto closed to within 3 games of the lead in the AL East. The White Sox are no match for Toronto on the turf, in fact Paul Konerko and Frank Thomas sat this one out. As I thought he would, Bartolo Colon pitched his customary complete game, but to no avail as his mates could score only once against Halladay and that only helps if you can throw a shut out, which Colon did not.

Click read more!Last week I wrote that starting pitchers should try to finish what they start. It hasn’t worked out so well for Zito and Darrell May who lost his lead with two outs in the ninth inning on Sunday in Oakland.

I still like to see the starter try to finish. The concept is a work in progress, next time Zito will throw a great pitch and win the game. Who needed to see Chad Bradford or Jim Mecir in that situation. Now, Keith Foulke, maybe? The only second guess is that if you watched the game, Zito clearly was laboring and his pitches lost that beautiful snap that they had only one inning before. Foulke has been lights out for the A’s and was a potential choice for the manager. Only problem was he wasn’t up in the pen.

Back to the drawing board today for Oakland as they look to lefty John Halama to right the ship against Joe Mays. The Twins are tough to beat at home and seem to play their best against the A’s. When was the last time Minnesota self destructed against Oakland? The Twins play the A’s very tough. The A’s got some clutch hitting Tuesday night from Eric Byrnes, what else is new, and Scott Hatteberg and a homer from Ramon Hernandez. The A’s finally damaged part of the Minnesota pen by getting to JC Romero and LaTroy Hawkins for a run in the eighth.

The A’s can’t get to KC fast enough as the Mariners got loose for 20 hits against the Royals and 15 runs Tuesday behind seven decent innings from Freddy Garcia. Seattle is hitting the ball with authority. Seven of their twenty hits were for extra bases. Jeremy Affeldt, the best KC has, goes against the old pro Jamie Moyer. I have a hunch Affeldt will come up big for about six to seven innings today, only question will be, can the Royals score off the soft tossing Moyer who eats teams like KC for lunch, which coincidentally may help him since today’s game starts at noon central.

Derek Lowe versus Mike Mussina, classic baseball in the Bronx. Jason Giambi hit two doubles last night giving him (5) on the year. I imagine the Red Sox have seen the last of Bruce Chen as a starter, surely they must have someone better in the organization then this well used lefty. As Leslie Nielsen says “Don’t call me Shirley”. I always liked that line.

Tinkes to Evers to chance, a great combination from the ’06 Cubs. Now for the Astros, its Lidge to Dotel to Wagner. Three words you don’t want to hear if you are trailing Houston after six innings.

Jeff Kent, .333, 8 homers, and 37 RBI, are the Giants sorry yet? “You bet”.

The Cardinals obtained Esteban Yan from Texas it tells you something if Texas gave up on him. Todd Van Poppel designated for assignment, Todd we hardly knew ye.

Arizona’s team wide reaction to Bobby Valentine on ESPN declaring the Diamondbacks done in the NL West. He should know, he managed plenty of teams that were out of the race in May.

Arizona isn’t panicked, I don’t know why because they just don’t hit and I’m not sure this lineup is built to hit over the long haul.

Jason Schmidt threw his typically awesome game at Arizona Tuesday night.

As soon as I said the Pirates hit like a AAA team they go out and maul the Cubs. Kenny Lofton has a 25 game hitting streak and

Aramis Ramirez went 4-5 to raise his average to .288.

Alan Benes and Jeremi Gonzalez in Tampa Bay, I’m not sure who will be left standing on the mound when this one is done.

Kelvim Escobar will try to sweep the Sox today against an improving, but not there yet, Jon Garland.

Ramon Ortiz has pitched well against the Orioles in the past, but this Angels team is letting valuable games against lousy teams slip away. These losses will come back to haunt the halos in September.

Beautiful day in the Bay Area day, let’s play two.