The 2012 MLB regular season is well underway with a full month of baseball already in the books. It is still a long road to October baseball but paths are already starting to take shape and many surprises have already occurred along the way. The beginning of the year brings promise but at this point in the season anything can still happen.

The highlight of the day will be when the Tampa Bay Rays visit the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium in New York, N.Y.

James Shields (5-0, 3.05 ERA) will take the mound for the Rays looking for his sixth win of the season facing off against Ivan Nova (3-1, 5.58 ERA) of the Yankees. In this bitter AL East rivalry game, Tampa Bay is battling it out with the surprisingly red-hot Baltimore Orioles for the top spot in the division while the Yankees are slowly working their way back into the fight.

With a number of great games to be played on the day, this will be one of the better ones.

Check your local listings for game times and channel listings in your area. With MLB.TV all games are also available nationwide (local blackouts apply).

Note: All start times Eastern

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Chicago White Sox at Cleveland Indians, 7:05 p.m.

New York Mets at Philadelphia Phillies, 7:05 p.m.

Tampa Bay Rays at New York Yankees, 7:05 p.m.

Texas Rangers at Baltimore Orioles, 7:05 p.m.

Washington Nationals at Pittsburgh Pirates, 7:05 p.m.

Atlanta Braves at Chicago Cubs, 8:05 p.m.

Miami Marlins at Houston Astros, 8:05 p.m.

Los Angeles Angels at Minnesota Twins, 8:10 p.m.

Boston Red Sox at Kansas City Royals, 8:10 p.m.

Cincinnati Reds at Milwaukee Brewers, 8:10 p.m.

St. Louis Cardinals at Arizona Diamondbacks, 9:40 p.m.

Colorado Rockies at San Diego Padres, 10:05 p.m.

Toronto Blue Jays at Oakland Athletics, 10:05 p.m.

Detroit Tigers at Seattle Mariners, 10:10 p.m.

San Francisco Giants at Los Angeles Dodgers, 10:10 p.m.

Sources:

All data provided by MLB.com

Paul Rados is a Cleveland based freelance sportswriter and Featured Contributor for the Yahoo! Contributor Network. Follow him on Twitter @PSRados or leave him a message on Facebook.

Forgiveness: the act of forgiving or the state of being forgiven.

When you attain the historical level to which the New York Yankees franchise has you do so with both heroes and villains. The heroes are worshiped. The villains are vilified. However, this year, I will be the better person and choose to forgive.

Here are the 10 Yankees I have chosen to forgive despite their shortcomings in pinstripes:

Cliff Johnson

The 1979 season was a disastrous year for the New York Yankees. It started with the Yankees shipping Sparkly Lyle to Texas and proceeded to get only worse from there, as Cliff Johnson brawled with reliever Rich Gossage, subsequently tearing ligaments in Goose’s thumb. Gossage spent over two months on the DL. Johnson was quickly shipped to Cleveland.

Billy Martin

We all blamed Reggie for his strained relationship with Billy Martin. Yet, history shows Martin’s excessive drinking and Reggie’s larger-than-life persona were just a powder keg waiting to explode. In retrospect, Reggie was just being Reggie while Billy Martin let his anger and resentment control circumstances.

Roger Clemens