FanHouse Chuck James

On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups

Philadelphia Phillies (60-54) vs. Atlanta Braves (61-54)-7:35PM Est.

Both of these teams are fighting to catch the New York Mets in the NL East, but this weekend they'll have to get through each other first. Currently the Braves trail New York by 3.5 games, and the Phillies trail by 4 games. There's also the wild card well within each team's reach, so this series is rather important. Life as been good in Atlanta since they added Mark Teixeira and Octavio Dotel, as the Braves have won seven of their last ten games. Tonight Chuck James starts for Hotlanta, and he's never lost to the Phillies. He's made four starts in his career against the Phils and is 2-0 with a 2.81 ERA. Cole Hamels starts for the Phillies, and Philly has won six of his last seven starts at Citizens Bank. So you should really take some time out of your busy Friday night schedule of not getting any and tune into this game. You never know, maybe Chipper Jones will say Ryan Howard is on steroids too.

On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing matchups

Arizona Diamondbacks (54-48) vs. Florida Marlins (48-53)-9:40PM Est.

I don't know about you, but I'm trying to figure out how in the hell Scott Olsen is being allowed to make a start for the Marlins tonight. It's one thing when you're getting into fights with your teammates and opponents, that's the heat of battle. When you're driving drunk and kicking cops before being treated to a taser? That's not exactly the behavior of a normal human being. Yet for some reason baseball hasn't taken any action against the guy. I mean, if you accidentally brush up against an umpire you're sitting a game, or if you argue a call a little to loudly you'll be sitting a game. Get drunk and get beat up by cops? Eh, not a big deal. Maybe if the Marlins were atop the NL East I could understand their reasoning, whether I agreed with it or not, but they have no excuse for this. I don't normally do this, but I hope the Diamondbacks beat Olsen as bad tonight as those police officers did. Wouldn't mind seeing a line drive off of his shin either.

On Deck is The Fanhouse's look at the day's most intriguing matchups

Atlanta Braves (37-33) vs. Boston Red Sox (44-24)-ESPN 7:05PM Est.

When Curt Schilling isn't too busy writing on his blog, playing online video games, calling sports radio stations, or letting bloggers know that he doesn't have a Facebook account, he pitches for the Boston Red Sox. Sometimes he even comes painfully close to throwing a no-hitter. Today Scythehands takes on the Atlanta Braves in Atlanta, where he's had a lot of success. Since 1999, Schilling is 6-1 with a 1.98 ERA and two complete games pitching in the ATL. He's also done well on the road this season, going 4-1 with a 2.52 ERA in his last five starts away from Fenway Park. The Braves meanwhile have lost 10 of their last 15, yet only trail the Mets by 1.5 games in the NL East. They send Chuck James to the mound tonight.

On Deck is The Fanhouse's look at the day's most intriguing matchups

New York Yankees (31-31) vs. Arizona Diamondbacks (37-28)-ESPN 7:05PM Est.

I mentioned in yesterday's On Deck that this series was a rematch of the 2001 World Series. (You might have also noticed that I used a picture of Justin Verlander in yesterday's On Deck as well. So, you're welcome, Justin.) At the time I failed to notice that this was one of three World Series rematches going on right now. The Yankees have now won seven straight games, and a large part of it's due to Bobby Abreu. Over the last eleven games, Abreu is hitting .488 with two home runs and 12 RBI. Which basically means I really wish that Jermaine Dye/Bobby Abreu trade had happened at this point. Forget his contract. Mike Mussina will be facing Livan Hernandez in today's matchup. As for the team Hernandez won the World Series MVP with, they've got their own rematch as well.

Florida Marlins (32-33) vs. Cleveland Indians (37-26)-7:05PM Est.

It's not the greatest week to be a Cleveland sports fan right now, is it? Sure, the Cavs are in the Finals, but they're getting destroyed. Now they have to relive that ground ball through Tony Fernandez's legs in 1997 as well as the Indians face the Marlins again. Florida is catching Cleveland at the right time, as they've been in a bit of an offensive slump lately. They were shutout by the Marlins 3-0 last night, and they'll look to avoid their longest losing streak of the season, four games, tonight against Byung-Hyun Kim. Kim just gave up 7 runs in 2.2 innings during his last start against Tampa Bay, and is 0-1 with a 6.97 ERA in his career against the Tribe. All of which means Cliff Lee should have plenty of support tonight.

Minnesota Twins (31-31) vs. Atlanta Braves (35-30)-8:10PM Est.

It's been some time since the Twins and Braves met in 1991's World Series, but it was one of the best World Serieseses I've ever seen. Minnesota looks like they're starting to come out of a slump as they've won their last two games, and are once again at .500. The Braves meanwhile have also been struggling as of late, and are falling farther and farther behind failing to gain any ground on the struggling Mets in the NL East. Chuck James goes for the Braves, and he's pitched well for them lately. In six of his last seven starts, James has allowed two or fewer earned runs. His record during that span? 2-3. That's not cool. That's not cool at all. Score some runs for the guy.

Like a ship losing its steam, the Atlanta Braves aren't afraid to lose cargo to move faster. First, it was Craig Wilson with his .172 batting average and $2 million contract. Tonight, it's Mark Redman who got "chopped" (sorry) off the Braves as -- like Wilson -- he failed to put up any sort of numbers that made him a better option than anything the Braves had in Richmond. You'll remember that Redman was originally signed to help ease the pain of losing Mike Hampton for the first two months of the season (which turned into the entire season). But Redman's numbers were atrocious: an 0-4 record, an ERA of 11.68, and 38 hits in 21 and 2/3's of an inning.

But the story here isn't so much that Redman got cut ... the story is that the Braves aren't afraid to cut veterans who aren't providing anything. It not only speaks of a good farm system, but of a team not afraid to use it. They never have been afraid as players constantly come up out of seemingly nowhere to fill whatever holes they might have, from Jeff Francoeur to Chuck James to Jarrod Saltalamacchia to Scott Thorman and on and on and on. Look at the outing Kyle Davies had tonight: eight solid innings (and a three run HR!) against the New York Mets to bring them to within one and a half games behind them for first place. 2005 first round pick Joey Devine will be the next Braves farm guy to show he's worthy of sticking with the Braves as he was called up in Redman's place.

A good farm system means you don't ever have to be afraid to cut your losses and say you're sorry for making mistakes in free agency (although Redman was a mistake out of necessity). The next player on the chopping block is surely Andruw Jones and his .212 average.

Not really.

Previously on The Fanhouse:
Braves Sign Mark Redman
Mike Hampton has a Setback

The last game the Mets played, as well as the last game that Oliver Perez pitched, were both disasters. So there was a lot of redemption to be had on Saturday afternoon. The Mets did well on both parts with a 7-2 victory.

After a game where Perez became the first Mets pitcher in history to walk or hit five straight batters, Perez went through a stretch where he threw 20 straight pitches for strikes (talk about a model of inconsistency). But one thing worth noting, even with a small sample size, is that Perez has looked his best this season against the Atlanta Braves (Perez has not walked a single Atlanta Brave in two starts this season). So as long as Perez saves his clunkers for the rest of the division and league and continues to defeat Atlanta, his spot in the starting rotation will be secure.

As for the Mets, their bats came back to life as Carlos Beltran went four for five while just a home run short of the cycle, they got home runs from Jose Reyes (who had three hits), Ramon Castro and ... of all people ... Damion Easley, who got the start against lefthander Chuck James leaving Jose Valentin on the bench. (That's what's called "pushing the right buttons"). Reyes and Beltran had seven of the Mets 11 hits.

The nastiness of this rivalry may be slowly bubbling to the surface soon. After Easley's home run, James came up and in on Perez. Not dangerously close, but close enough for Perez to glare at the mound and nod his head. Nothing came of it, but I wonder if it will remain in the backs of the minds of the New York bench.

For the first time in practically a year and a half (technically a year and three days), the Atlanta Braves have returned to the tip top of the N.L. East with their late inning 3-2 victory over the Mets. Who knows how long they will stay there ... but beating the defenders of the division two out of three certainly makes a statement. The statement, in case you thought I was just throwing out the "statement" cliché, would be that they now have the bullpen to shut down people in the late innings in Mike Gonzalez, Rafael Soriano, and Bob Wickman. Meanwhile the Mets have to do at least a little bit of worrying about theirs, as it was Aaron Heilman who gave up the lead in the eighth to Atlanta on three straight doubles to help give them their victory.

The bad news for Atlanta is that Mike Hampton's recovery might not be as quick as first thought, as a sore throwing elbow curtailed his bullpen session today...

"We shut down due to discomfort in his elbow," Braves pitching coach Roger McDowell said. When asked if Hampton was frustrated, McDowell said "Probably so. I think anybody would be."

With starters five deep in Smoltz, Hudson, James, Redman, and Kyle Davies who pitched well today, the Braves aren't going to miss Mike Hampton all that much as long as their bullpen keeps pitching as well as they have been. Mike Hampton will merely make a good team better when (if?) he makes his grand return in 2007.

The Braves pitching corps got a boost when Bobby Cox revealed that Mike Hampton might not miss two months with his oblique strain after all.

After evaluating how Hampton rebounds on Sunday, Braves manager Bobby Cox will begin to set a timetable for his return.

"We're trying to get one that gets him here around May 7," said Cox, who has been amazed by the surprising improvement Hampton has realized over the last week with his strained left oblique muscle.

Even if the Braves were to miss Hampton for the full two months, they seem to have enough starting pitching depth to get them by with John Smoltz, Tim Hudson, and Chuck James up top ... along with Kyle Davies, Mark Redman, and Lance Cormier at the back of the rotation. Two of them will eventually strengthen an improved bullpen when Hampton does return. A scenario which only sees Hampton miss five starts is good news ... the only question would be how long it would take Hampton to shake off the rust.

Previously on The Fanhouse:
Mike Hampton Swings His Way to Injury