Thursday baseball preview: Contenders face-off

Today is yet another action-packed day with games all day long. As usual, all times Pacific because I live out there.

AFTERNOON:

New York Mets at Philadelphia Phillies, 10 a.m. I don’t think I had ever seen a game end on an obstruction call before Wednesday, when the Mets were called for obstruction on a play that would’ve scored the tying run if it weren’t for the call. Wow. Here’s Mets’ fan reaction, and here’s Philly fan reaction — just a tad different. The Mets have lost three in a row to the Phillies since Monday and could use a win tonight — if not, Philly’s officially back in the race for real.

Boston Red Sox at New York Yankees, 10 a.m. The one bad thing about my Angels sweeping the Mariners is that the Yankees are now tied for the wild-card lead with Seattle. One of the many good things — the Angels are now only one game behind Boston for the best record in the major leagues.

EVENING:

Seattle Mariners at Cleveland Indians, 4 p.m. This is one of those makeup games from when the Mariners were snowed out in Cleveland back in April. Lookout Landing took the sweep a bit hard and admits that the Angels just have more talent than the Mariners. But I’m still pulling for them to win the Wild Card (over the Yankees) — just stay far enough behind the Angels where I feel secure.

Milwaukee Brewers at Chicago Cubs, 5 p.m. I’ve run out of jokes about how bad the NL Central is. The Brewers won Wednesday with the return of Ben Sheets, 6-1. The Brewers are back at .500, and the Cubs’ lead over them is reduced to 1.5 games (and 2 ahead of the Cardinals).

NIGHT:

Arizona Diamondbacks at San Diego Padres. The Padres have won three in a row against the D’Backs, tying them for first place in the NL West (with the other getting the wild card). The winner of tonight’s game will be alone in first.