The day promises an early hit parade

Originally Published: April 22, 2005

By Buster Olney | ESPN The Magazine

• 1:05 ET: The Rangers pitch Chan Ho Park against the Yankees' Jaret Wright. Hitters, start your engines.

• 1:05: The Reverse Lock of the Day pits Cincinnati's Matt Belisle, sporting a 6.75 ERA, against the Marlins' Dontrelle Willis.


	Clemens


	Mulder

• 2:15: The Best Matchup of the Day. Roger Clemens faces Mark Mulder in a duel between the starters of last year's All-Star Game. So far, Clemens has allowed 12 hits and 2 walks in 21 innings with 26 strikeouts. Heck, he might eventually break Cy Young's record of 511 victories if he keeps pitching like this (just kidding).

• 7:10: Jose Contreras takes the White Sox winning streak and tries to advance it, throwing against the Royals' Zack Greinke.

• 9:40: Jake Peavy of the Padres starts against Arizona's Brandon Webb. The way the Padres are playing, they'll need Peavy to win a huge share of his games this year.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly from Friday


	Perez

The Good: Tampa Bay's Eduardo Perez is making a case for himself as a guy who could help a contender late this season. Earlier in the week, he slammed a couple of homers off the Yankees' Randy Johnson, and on Friday, he crushed a walk-off job off Alan Embree. Right-handed hitting role player, anyone?

The Bad: The Blue Jays had a 5-4 lead in the eighth inning of a series with Baltimore -- an AL East rival -- and Justin Speier and other Toronto relievers let the game get away, allowing nine runs in the last two innings.

The Ugly: Nomar Garciaparra could be out for months, and on Friday, he answered speculation about whether he used steroids.

Buster Olney is a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine. His book, "The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty," is being released in paperback May 1 and can be ordered through HarperCollins.com.