Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
October 13, 2006
Playoffs Today

The Athletics and Tigers resume the ALCS this afternoon in Detroit as snow and cold loom in the weather forecast. Young Rich Harden takes on the experienced Kenny Rogers. Harden is an unknown in this game. He hasn't pitched much this season due to injury. His appearances result in a ton of strikeouts, a good number of walks and a few home runs. Although they've been better in the post season, Detroit's hitters were not known for their selectivity during the regular season. That could help Harden.

Rogers ranks 17th in the majors in ERA over the last two years (min. 300 IP). If you limit that to AL pitchers, he's sixth. And Rogers strength is exactly the strength you want versus Oakland, few walks allowed. The Athletics' OBA in the post season is .307, as the pitchers they faced do a great job of limiting the free pass.

The Tigers power goes down at home. With the cold weather, runs are likely to be scarce. If the A's can pop a couple of balls over the fence, that might be enough to win this game and give them a chance to comeback from a 2-0 deficit.

In New York, Chris Carpenter faces John Maine as the Cardinals try to even the NLCS at one game each. Chris is 2-0 so far in the playoffs, giving up a few base runners but not too many runs. His 12 strikeouts in 13 1/3 innings and no home runs allowed are his stand out accomplishments so far. Maine showed the same strengths and weaknesses in his one playoff start. The difference was he didn't go deep into the game. But Glavine did last night, so the pen should be in good shape if Maine throws a lot of pitches early. That might not be so difficult, as the St. Louis offense is scoring under three runs a game in the post season.

Enjoy!

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Posted by David Pinto at 12:00 PM | League Championship Series | TrackBack (0)
Comments

Carpenter's a great pitcher, but he can be roughed up (and as a fantasy owner of Carpenter, I can attest to it). If Maine can keep the Mets in the game at least, I think this lineup could potentially do some damage in the middle innings. Or they could be completely shut down.

Posted by: paul zummo at October 13, 2006 12:26 PM

Harden looked terrible in his last game of the regular season, walking batters left and right. If the Angels can lay off his pitches, I expect Detroit will pummel him.

Posted by: Rob McMillin at October 13, 2006 03:08 PM
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