Old Time Family Baseball

Time is money. Here’s how you should waste both.

Friday:

St. Louis Cardinals (J. Garcia 1-0 0.69) at San Francisco Giants (T. Lincecum 3-0 0.90) 10:15 ET

If you’re planning on going out Friday night, don’t. I don’t care how early in the season it is, it’s rare to see two pitchers battle it out with sub 1.00 ERA’s. The Giants are looking to Lincecum to stop the bleeding after being swept by the Padres. And after a history of arm trouble, the Cardinals must be wondering if the 23 year-old Garcia could be their third legitimate ace in the rotation. Add Garcia to Carpenter and Wainwright, and all of a sudden the Phillies have some senior circuit competition.

Saturday:

Chicago Cubs (T. Lilly N/A) at Milwaukee Brewers (D. Davis 0-1 11.25) 7:10 ET

Coming into the season the Cubs and Brewers were the only Central teams that had a shot at competing with St. Louis. And now both are scuffling. Ted Lilly returns from the DL to make his first start, forcing Lou Pinella to move Carlos Zambrano to the pen. (You know. So Carlos Silva could start more games.) The Brewers brought in Doug Davis to support their meager pitching staff, a move that has blown up in their face. These two pitchers are key to their clubs’ chance of success and they get to pitch against each other. I’m expecting an offensive shootout, so naturally I’ll probably be proven wrong and they’ll both go Harvey Haddix on me.

Sunday:

Atlanta Braves (T. Hanson 1-1 2.81) at New York Mets (M. Pelfrey 3-0 0.86) 8:05 ET

A week ago, the Braves looked to be in step with the Phillies and the Mets looked like a last place club. Coming into the last game of the series, the Mets could end up in second place. Tommy Hanson is the young fireballer who only needs to watch out for his pitch count. And Mike Pelfrey, having struggled his first few seasons in the bigs, may be putting it together at the age of 26. Plus, who doesn’t want to watch Jason Heyward?