The Excitement of Inter League Play

The start of inter-league always brings some excitement to the MLB. Some fans oppose the idea as they feel it takes away from the true rivalries, but you have to admit how exciting it is to see different teams play each other. This year brings some exciting match ups with some top tier teams squaring off this weekend.

The Philadelphia Phillies mixed together some strong starting pitching and some timely power hitting to take down the New York Yankees. The Yankees were on a powerful nine game win streak, but Brett Myers managed to slow them down long enough for the team's bats to take over. The Phillies have been struggling this year so far thanks to inconsistent pitching but it seems to be coming around. They are getting strong efforts from Cole Hamels and Brett Myers and are finally starting to shake off their World Series Hangover.

The New York Mets also put an end to another winning streak as they took down the red hot Boston Red Sox. Johan Santana was his usual dominant self as he sent the Red Sox packing one by one and the offense took over thanks to David Wright in a 5-3 victory. The win was huge for the Mets as they are a damaged unit barely able to field an entire team. The Red Sox missed out on an opportunity to take over the AL East lead as both the Yankees and the Blue Jays lost their inter-league games.

Speaking of which, the Blue Jays lost a pitcher's duel to the Atlanta Braves by a score of 1-0. Roy Halladay turned in another dominating performance going seven scoreless innings before being pulled for a pinch hitter. The Braves came back strong in the eighth inning and scored just enough to pull out the victory. Kenshin Kawakami turned in the best start of his young career as he baffled the Blue Jays through eight innings. The Jays are now on a 4 game losing streak and are quickly losing their grip on the AL East lead.

The St. Louis Cardinals managed to keep their very hot streak alive against the Kansas City Royals by a score of 5-0. Todd Wellemeyer turned in the fourth straight excellent start from a Cardinals pitcher and it seems that no team is capable of standing in their way this year. The Cardinals are on path to become the top team in the MLB and are showing no signs of slowing down, especially with the return of perennial all star Chris Carpenter to the starting rotation.

The Detroit Tigers started off very slow this season but have now put together an impressive 7 game winning streak. They continued their roll with a 4-3 victory over the Colorado Rockies and are in a perfect position 40 games into the season. There were many doubters of the team early on, but the team has pushed their slow start aside and look ready to climb atop the league leaders.