Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
August 09, 2005
Games of the Day

Two important games today that will help decide division and wild card races. The Nationals travel to the Juice Box to take on the NL wild card leading Houston Astros. Since the All-Star break, these teams have gone in very separate directions. The Nationals are 6-17, the worst record in the NL, while the Astros are 16-8, the best in the league. Jon Patterson faces Ezequiel Astacio. Patterson is Washington's best starter. Although you don't hear his name mentioned in the Cy Young race, Patterson is third in the NL in ERA. He hasn't lost at home this season, but he also hasn't won on the road. Astacio doesn't go deep in his starts, but he's pitched very well lately, lowering his ERA 4 1/2 runs in his last four outings.

It's an A+ matchup on the west coast as the Angels and Athletics battle for first place in Oakland. John Lackey takes the hill for LAnaheim against Rich Harden. Lackey is on a roll since the Angels gave him extended time off around the all-star break. He's 3-0 in four starts with a 1.33 ERA in that time, and struck out 33 batters in 27 innings. Harden is extremely effective vs. left-handed batters this year. Lefties have a lower slugging percentage against Rich (.260) than their OBA (.260)!

Enjoy!

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SIA

Posted by David Pinto at 08:50 AM | Matchups | TrackBack (0)
Comments

Patterson has the sharp home/road splits that you often see with a park as extreme as RFK. A home-away 1.67/4.02 ERA split, a .498/.730 OPS allowed split.

On the road Patterson is little better than a league-average pitcher. That won't win him many games (as David points out, none this year) with Washington's pitiful offense.

He's an extreme fly ball pitcher, and RFK makes him look good by swallowing up all those aerial shots. If the Astros manage to pull him at Minute Maid, those fly balls could turn into lots of runs.

So he'll probably pitch a complete game shutout, just to prove the stats wrong.

Posted by: Casey Abell at August 9, 2005 10:34 AM
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