Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
August 10, 2003
Games of the Day

Some really good pitching matchups today in some big games. In the category of "Old Guys Who Can Still Pitch," we have Jamie Moyer taking on Roger Clemens at Yankee Stadium. Both post ERAs in the mid 3's, despite each being over 40 years old. Moyer is 4-0 over his last five starts despite a 4.88 ERA. And at 41, Roger Clemens is still striking out nearly a batter an inning. I wondered when the last time two 40-year-olds with ERA's under 4.00 faced each other in a game. I couldn't do it exactly, so I found pitchers with ERA's under 4.00 for the season. The last time this happened was June 15, 1945, when Mike Ryba of the Boston Red Sox faced Johnny Niggeling of the Washington Senators in Washington. If you discount the war years, the last time was 6/18/1933, when Dazzy Vance of the Cardinals faced Eppa Rixey of the Cincinnati Reds. They were both 42 at that point, and had hooked up two years earlier on 7/26/31 at age 40. It's a rare event, be sure to tune in.

Another "old" matchup takes place in Arizona where Al Leiter faces Randy Johnson. Niether lefty is having his best year, but both have pitched better lately, posting ERA's under 3.00 in their last five starts.

On the younger side, A's rookie Rich Harden takes on AL ERA leader Esteban Loaiza. Harden has made four good starts against KC, Anaheim, Cleveland and Detroit. The last two were not much of a test, but this game will be. Loaiza continues to be consistent, with a 2.30 overall ERA and a 2.36 ERA over his last five starts.

The West Coast serves up two good matchups as well. Brett Myers hurls against Jason Schmidt as the Phillies face the Giants in a possible NLDS preview. The Giants are 2-3 vs. the Phillies, but 3-0 vs. the Marlins, so the Giants may want to knock the Phillies out of the wild card race.

In LA, the Cubs Mark Prior goes against the Dodgers Kevin Brown. Prior is 6th and Brown #1 in the NL ERA race. Both have great control and strikeout a lot of batters. The LA fans should keep cool in the breeze.

Lots of great action today. Enjoy!


Posted by David Pinto at 10:46 AM | Games | TrackBack (0)