Cleveland at Chicago, 8:05 PM (STO)
Starting Pitchers:
Cleveland: Cliff Lee (11-10, 4.63 ERA)
Chicago: Mark Buerhle (12-11, 4.71 ERA)
Altoona at Akron, 7:05 PM
Eastern League Playoffs
Semifinals, Best-of-5 (AKR 1-0)
Starting Pitchers:
Akron: Aaron Laffey (8-3, 3.53 ERA)
Altoona: Josh Shortslef (6-2, 4.45 ERA)
Salem at Kinston, 7:00 PM
Carolina League Playoffs
Southern Division Series, Best-of-3 (KIN 1-0)
Starting Pitchers:
Kinston: Scott Lewis (3-3, 1.48 ERA)
Salem: Rory Shortell (8-7, 3.23 ERA)
This should an interesting four days in the AL Central: the Twins and Tigers also play a four game set in Minnesota starting tonight. The Twins can claim a share of the division lead with a four-game sweep, and the White Sox can gain a game on one of the two teams ahead of them with each win this weekend.
Travis Hafner is still day-to-day, but I'd think he'd love to be hitting tonight against Buerhle if at all possible. He's also been named a finalist for the AL Hank Aaron Award, given to the best offensive player in each league. You and I know that this should be Pronk's award to lose, but....
The other finalists are Derek Jeter, David Ortiz, Justin Morneau, Paul Konerko (!), and Vladimir Guerrero.
AL VORP Totals:
- Hafner - 81.1
- Jeter - 70.0
- Ortiz - 60.4
- Guerrero - 56.6
- Konerko - 40.3