Today in the Daily Sports Roundup: The Phillies send their ace to the mound against the Astros, the Mariners battle the Red Sox, and the WNBA gets its playoffs underway.
Meeting up on the diamond . . .
On the American League schedule for Wednesday it’ll be Kansas City at Detroit, Tampa Bay at the Angels, Oakland at Cleveland, the Yankees at Toronto, Minnesota at Texas, Baltimore at the White Sox, and a doubleheader between the Mariners and Red Sox in Boston. Before Tuesday’s rainout at Fenway Park it was just scheduled to be Felix Hernandez (9-10, 2.51 ERA) vs. Jon Lester (13-8, 3.26 ERA) on Wednesday. Righthander Hernandez beat the Yankees last time out, holding them scoreless on four hits over eight innings of work and striking out 11 batters. Lefthander Lester will be looking to bounce back from an ugly loss to the Blue Jays in which he surrendered nine runs on eight hits over just two innings, walking three.
Meanwhile, the National League on Wednesday offers up Atlanta at Colorado, Cincinnati at San Francisco, St. Louis at Pittsburgh, the Cubs at Washington, Florida at the Mets, the Dodgers at Milwaukee, Arizona at San Diego, and Houston at Philadelphia. The Astros will go with J.A. Happ (3-2, 3.54 ERA) on Wednesday, and the Phillies will counter with Roy Halladay (16-8, 2.16 ERA). Lefthander Happ was beaten by the Marlins in his most recent trip to the mound, allowing three runs on five hits over his six innings of work. Righthander Halladay will be looking to pick up his seventh straight win on Wednesday; Halladay blanked the Nats over seven innings last time out.
Rounding out the Roundup . . .
Finally, the WNBA begins its postseason schedule on Wednesday with the first game of two conference semifinal matchups: Atlanta at Washington, and Los Angeles at Seattle. The Mystics (22-12 SU, 20-13-1 ATS) finished the season on a six-game winning streak to clinch top spot in the Eastern Conference standings; they’re listed as 4.5-point home favorites for Wednesday’s opener against the fourth-seeded Dream (19-15 SU, 16-17-1 ATS), with the total at 159.5. The Storm (28-6 SU, 18-14-2) cruised to the best record in the league this season and won the Western Conference by 13 games. Seattle is a 9.5-point home favorite over the Sparks (13-21 SU, 11-23 ATS), with that total listed at 150.
