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

Boston Red Sox (74-55) at Baltimore Orioles (67-62) 1:07 PM ET

Daisuke Matsuzaka is the very case study of new breed vs. old guard. The old guard will see Matsuzaka's 15-2 record and his 2.77 ERA and tell you that he's gotta be one of the best pitchers in baseball. The new breed of fan will tell you that his 1.37 WHIP and his 77 walks in 126+ innings tell the future of a man who's been lucky to get out of jams that he created for himself against mediocre teams. Which side are you on?

Today, Dice K goes up against the Blue Jays ... and while everybody is talking about the job that Jerry Manuel is doing for the Mets after taking over mid-season, there's been a similar, quieter turnaround in Toronto, where Cito Gaston is 32-23 this season after taking over for John Gibbons, who started the season 35-39.

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

New York Yankees (68-60) at Baltimore Orioles (61-66) 7:05 PM ET

I remember it being early April, 2007. I was just starting out at FanHouse, and I was blogging my ever-loving heart out while wearing some new pajamas that I had bought to celebrate my arrival here. It was then when all of a sudden, a loud "whoosh" rattled my windows and knocked me off of my seat. I thought it was some sort of freakish weather pattern, or an airplane flying a bit too low while landing at LaGuardia.

Turns out there was nothing to worry about. It was just Carl Pavano falling off the face of the earth.

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

Philadelphia Phillies (65-58) at San Diego Padres (48-75) 8:05 PM ET

Premature to say that this game against the downtrodden San Diego Padres is a must game for the Phillies? Definitely. And just because the Mets are on an upswing against league dregs like Washington and Pittsburgh and the Phillies were swept by a division leader doesn't mean the Phillies are dead and buried. But just five days ago the Phillies were up on the Mets by two games. On this day, it's the reverse. So this is a valley that the Phillies would do well to dig out of starting tonight. The Phillies have the right guy on the mound to do that in Cole Hamels.

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

Los Angeles Dodgers (58-58) at San Francisco Giants (49-66) 4:05 PM ET

Barry Bonds returned to the Giants last night. Somewhat.

He made a surprise appearance at a celebration of the Giants best outfielders of the last 50 seasons as part of their anniversary season in San Francisco. He made a Schwarzenegger type "I'll be back" proclamation when he stood at the podium, pointed at Joe Torre and said: "You heard me Torre, I beat you before and I can beat you again. I haven't retired. Thank you."

Could Barry Bonds make another surprise appearance at the ballpark today? As a pinch hitter? Somehow, I doubt Torre is worried with the Giants eight and a half behind them.

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

Fair warning: If you're one of those who is sick of the big market teams like the Yankees, Mets, and Red Sox, you might want to look away. Because today, it's nothing but the big cities. New York. Miami. Boston. Chicago. The O.C. Metropolis, ho!

Florida Marlins (61-55) at New York Mets (61-54) 7:10 PM ET

Pennant races are fun. And three teams are more fun than two teams. The only thing better than a game featuring the two teams that are chasing the Phillies would be a game featuring all three teams. But it wouldn't exactly be settling if you decided to curl up with these two. The Mets beat Florida last night to move ahead of the Marlins and close to a game back of Philadelphia. But the Marlins have the pitching matchup they want as Scott Olsen goes for the Fish, while injuries have forced Brian Stokes to make his first start as a Met after spending the season in the minors.

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

Before the season started, the Detroit Tigers were the popular pick amongst baseball fans and experts alike as the eventual World Series champion. After adding Miguel Cabrera to a potent lineup that already included hitters like Magglio Ordonez, Gary Sheffield, Carlos Guillen, Curtis Granderson, and Ivan Rodriguez, there was talk that the Tigers would score 1,000 runs this season.

Who knew they'd need to? Though most people were aware that the Detroit bullpen would be a problem area, I don't think anybody thought they would be as bad as they have been in 2008. So now here we sit on August 7th, and the Tigers find themselves in a tailspin.

After building up some momentum in recent weeks to get back into the AL Central race, the Tigers have now lost six in a row to fall three games under .500. They're also on the verge of being swept by the division leading Chicago White Sox and falling 9.5 games out of first place, which could effectively end any hope they have of playing this October.

So will the Tigers pull the plug on their season tonight, or are they going to rise up and start mauling people again? Find out after the jump.

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

Do you remember last year when the Milwaukee Brewers jumped out to a big lead in the NL Central, but then began fading as the season wore on? A lot of the blame for this collapse was placed on the front office not making any moves at the trade deadline by the team's fans. So as a response to such criticism last season, the Brewers went out and made a couple of moves this season.

The biggest one (both literally and figuratively) of course being the addition of CC Sabathia to the starting rotation.

Well, they may have a new philosophy, but unfortunately for the citizens of Milwaukee, they're still the same old Brewers. After climbing to within a game of the Chicago Cubs last week, the Brew Crew had a pivotal four-game series with their divison rivals in their home park. Instead of taking advantage of the opportunity, the Brewers collapsed under the pressure and before they knew it, they were being swept out of their own park.

Now Milwaukee has lost eight of it's last eleven games, and have fallen five games back of Chicago. Instead of working together to fight through this slump and beat the other team, they've begun fighting amongst themselves.

Can the Brewers get their act together tonight, or are they doomed to another late season fade? Find out after the jump.

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

While they have had many chances to take over the AL Central lead from the Chicago White Sox, the Minnesota Twins had been faltering all summer to capitalize on Chicago's mistakes. They would get to within a half-game of the White Sox only to lose every time Chicago opened the door.

That is, until yesterday. After taking three of four from the Sox and two of three from the Indians over the weekend, the Twins are finally on top of the division (again) where nobody expected them to be (again). Now today the Twins will begin to find out that sometimes the only thing tougher than catching the team in front of you is staying ahead of them once you get there.

Is it a coincidence that on the day the Twins finally woke up and brought Francisco Liriano back from minor league purgatory that they gained control of the division? Probably, but his presence in the rotation will go a lot further in helping them hold onto it than Livan Hernandez would have.

Will they hold onto their lead, or let it slip through their grasp? It's still too early to tell but they will begin their quest to put some distance between themselves and the competition after the jump.

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

Arizona Diamondbacks (57-53) at Los Angeles Dodgers (55-55)- 4:10 PM EST
Did you hear? Manny Ramirez hit a home run last night! He plays for the Dodgers now! He might cut his hair! Manny being Manny hype aside, the Dodgers win last night pulled them to within two games of the Diamondbacks in the NL West. A win today makes it one, while a loss keeps them three back. Since the Manny trade, people have acted like the Dodgers winning the NL West is a foregone conclusion. The Diamondbacks have Brandon Webb, Dan Haren, and Randy Johnson, making it far from a sure thing that they're going to just hand the division over. None of those guys start today, though, and it's Doug Davis against Jason Johnson. Davis got shelled in his last outing against the Dodgers, so maybe this thing is about to get a little closer.

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

Oakland Athletics (53-55) at Boston Red Sox (62-48)- 7:05 PM EST
As debuts go, making two nice catches and scoring both of your new teams' runs in a 2-1 win that helped end a slide of 5 losses in six games is a pretty nice way to start off a career with a new team. That's exactly what Jason Bay did last night with the Red Sox. The thing is, anyone that follows the Red Sox can tell you that it's going to take a whole lot more than that from the guy that's replacing Manny Ramirez in the lineup.

Tonight, he gets his second start in left field at Fenway while the Red Sox try to stave off the Yankees (who they're 2.5 games up on) and/or catch the Rays (who they're three) games behind. Whatever happens to the Red Sox down the stretch, Bay's going to play a huge part in it.