October 05, 2006
Playoffs Today
The Tigers and Yankees play the make up game of their rain out at 1 PM on ESPN. Verlander and Mussina get the nod once again.
The Cardinals attempt to take a 2-0 lead from the Padres by sending Jeff Weaver against David Wells. I wonder if Bochy will start Bard at catcher today. Weaver has a huge lefty-righty split this season and with Bard Bruce can get six lefties in the lineup. Wells makes his 17th post-season start and his 27th appearance. He's 10-4 with a 3.15 ERA. Left-handers give St. Louis trouble, as their slugging percentage drops about 40 points vs. southpaws.
There was some hope that game 2 of the Dodgers/Mets series would feature Maddux against Glavine. But Greg will start in Los Angeles instead and Hong-Chih Kuo faces Tom in a battle of lefties. Left-handed pitchers are effective at reducing the Mets power at Shea, which is one reason Kuo is getting the start. Kuo, however, issues a lot of walks, which plays into another Mets strength. The Dodgers, on the other hand, hit better vs. lefties than righties.
Enjoy!
Compare Kuo's walk rates in the first half vs. the second half of the season. You'll see a big improvement.