Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
April 17, 2007
Games of the Day

The day starts off at 1 PM EDT with a battle of good, young pitcher as Tom Gorzelanny faces Adam Wainwright. The Pittsburgh lefty issued just one walk so far this season while striking out nine. Wainwright's wilder, issuing seven walks, but he's been tough with runners in scoring position. Both bring ERAs under 2.00 into the game.

In New York, Chase Wright makes his major league debut for the Yankees:

Wright made great strides in the past couple of seasons. A third-round draft pick in 2001, he went 13-21 with a 4.80 ERA between 2001 and 2004. Wright excelled in 2005-06, going a combined 22-7 with a 2.90 ERA. In spring training this year, he had a 2.84 ERA in four games.

"He's gotten command of the fastball," Cashman said, "and he has a pretty special changeup."

Andy Pettitte, another homegrown lefthander, was nearly 23 when he made his Yankees debut April 29, 1995. Wright is a little older than that, but Pettitte still had advice.

"The big thing is you just can't change what you've been doing if you've been successful," Pettitte said.

Of course, Ron Guidry was another Yankees lefty who was really a late bloomer. He earned cups of coffee at ages 24 and 25, then became a full time starter at 26. His career worked out just fine. Wright takes on Jake Westbrook, who is issuing a high number of walks this season. That's never a good idea against the selective Yankees lineup.

The Red Sox start an important run against two injury riddled AL East opponents as they send Daisuke Matsuzaka against the Blue Jays and Gustavo Chacin. The unusual movement in Dice-K's pitches might best be reflected in his platoon stats. Left-handed batters are hitting just .227 against the righties, while right-handers are batting .300. Chacin may be around the plate too much this season. He allowed just one walk so far, but four home runs.

Sammy Sosa visits one of his old haunts, the south side of Chicago as the Rangers play the White Sox:

Tonight, when the Rangers start a three-game series at the White Sox, Sosa will be appearing in Chicago for the first time since he reportedly left early from the Cubs' season finale in 2004. The appearance will be fleeting - Sosa isn't expected to start against right-hander Jon Garland, so he'll only be on the field for batting practice - but it might be just enough to raise the ire of Chicagoans who are still miffed at the one-time king of the city.

"I don't know what to expect," said Sosa, who is expected to play Wednesday against lefty Mark Buehrle. "I don't want to know. I'm just looking forward to it. Hopefully, they'll realize the effort I've put into trying to come back. We'll see what happens."

Two years is a long time to hold a grudge.

Jered Weaver makes his first appearance of 2007 as the Angels visit the Athletics. Oakland is just 7 for 51 against Weaver, all in the Coliseum. Chad Gaudin takes the mound for Oakland. His starts have been short, but he's only allowed three earned runs in 10 2/3 innings while striking out nine.

Enjoy!

Correction: Fixed the location of the Yankees game.


Posted by David Pinto at 08:20 AM | Matchups | TrackBack (0)
Comments

What grudge? He wasn't that good when he was with my Sox, became an even worse fielder when he was with the Cubs and most of us Sox fans ignored him. Now if he was playing at Wrigley, that would be a different story.

Posted by: Joseph Finn at April 17, 2007 11:14 AM

FYI - the Yankees/Indians game is in New York...

Posted by: Mark at April 17, 2007 12:03 PM

an honorable mention for chief garcia's first start in philly?

Posted by: Tim at April 17, 2007 01:07 PM
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