A nice matchup in New York today as John Lackey and the Angels face Pedro Martinez and the Mets. Pedro pitched very well against the Angels during his stay in Boston, accumulating a 9-1 record with a 2.12 ERA. Watch Lackey starting around the fourth inning. His opponents start hitting him for power then. Their batting average goes up 28 points in innings 4-6 compared to innings 1-3, but their slugging percentage goes up over 100 points. John may not be changing his pitching pattern enough the second time through the order.

The Royals at the Diamondbacks offers a very good pitching matchup as D.J. Carrasco faces Brandon Webb. Although the Royals lost 3 of his 5 starts, Carrasco's had only one bad outing. He's allowed just 2 runs in his last 21 innings. Webb's been pounded by lefties this season. They're hitting .313 against him with a .494 slugging percentage. Six of the seven homers he's allowed came off the bats of lefty batters. The Royals could start up to six lefties against Webb today.

Enjoy!

Through June 16, 2005, receive a 5% discount at the Baseball Musings Ticket Store with offer code bmintro.