At 10:15pm our complimentary selection is on the San Francisco Giants over the Washington Nationals. At first glance it would seem that Nats starter Daniel Cabrera and Giants starter Randy Johnson are having parallel seasons. But actually nothing could be further from the truth. While Johnson has been alternating great and poor outings, Cabrera has just been consistently bad. And while, surprisingly, Johnson''s ERA is the higher of the two, there are at least two reasons for his team to be very optimistic about this evening.

First, it''s time for one of the Big Unit''s strong starts, as he had almost identical seven-inning shutout performances two starts back and four starts back. Second, both of those starts (his two best starts of the year by far) were his only two at home, and tonight Johnson will be on the mound at AT&T Park for the third time. Don''t try to find any pattern in Cabrera''s performances to date. Just as was the case for most of the time with the Orioles, Cabrera has had trouble finding the plate and staying consistent. Even when he has several good innings in a row, it seems like a blow-up is right around the corner, as happened in his last start against the Dodgers when he was pretty effective through the first four innings, only to come apart in innings five and six. Cabrera has give up 10 total walks in his last two starts covering just 11 1/3 innings. It''s uncertain how long the Nats will stick with him in their rotation, but it''s unlikely they will be as patient as the Orioles were before finally giving up on him at the end of 2008 after five full seasons of frustration. Take the Giants. As always, good luck...Al McMordie.