Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
September 04, 2006
Games of the Day

Arizona is 9-17 versus the NL East this season, a big reason they're falling out of the wild card race. They'll visit the Marlins in Miami this afternoon, winners of 12 of their last 14 games to bring their record to .500. Eight of those 12 wins were by 2 runs or less. Brian Moehler host Enrique Gonzalez. Moehler is one of the few veterans who survived the winter purge, but he's getting hit hard this year. He's striking out less than 4.5 per 9 innings, and the balls in play are finding the gaps and the seats. Opponents are hitting .328 against him with a .527 slugging percentage. The league figured out Gonzalez after the break, as they hit just .219 in the first half against him, but .311 since.

The once and future king face off in Philadelphia this afternoon as Roger Clemens meet Cole Hamels. Cole showed Clemens like control in the minors, and lately he's shown it in the majors. In his last nine starts he's struck out 62 and walked 11. Clemens, at age 44, is posting a K/BB ratio over 4.00.

Texas is 10 games out in the AL West with twenty four games to play, but they have a chance to make a dent in the race as they open a three-game series with Oakland. Robinson Tejeda challenges Barry Zito. Tejada's control problems could be deadly against the Athletics lineup. He's walked more than he struck out. Zito comes into the game with a career record of 101-61. That's a season of games, and most team with 101 wins are going to make the playoffs.

The Reds come home after a 2-8 road trip. They've been outscored at home as they've been on the road, but they have a winning record at GAB. They'll send their best pitcher to the mound against the Giants as Aaron Harang goes against Brad Hennessey. Aaron pitches well at home except for the long ball, as 14 of his 20 home runs were hit in Cincinnati. Hennessey, a righty, handles lefties very well, allowing just a .221 batting average, although 13 of the 29 hits by lefties went for extra bases.

Jon Garland and Chien-Ming Wang both go for their 17th wins tonight, each trying to be the first to reach that plateau. Garland faces the Red Sox, going against Julien Tavarez on short rest. Francona is being creative with the rotation, throwing in a bullpen game after three days of rest. Boston will get Nixon and Varitek back tonight, and according to Tavarez, Manny will play as well. Boston really needs a sweep of the three game series to get back in the race. However, Garland is pitching very well since the start of July, going 9-1 with a 2.89 ERA.

Wang gets a somewhat easier assignment as he faces the Kansas City Royal and Luke Hudson. But the Royals are doing a good job playing spoiler, taking two out of three from both Minnesota and Chicago in their last two series. Wang's been hot since June 1, posting an 11-3 record and a 3.15 ERA.

Enjoy!


Posted by David Pinto at 10:23 AM | Matchups | TrackBack (0)
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