April 23, 2007
Games of the Day
The Red Sox continue their two week stretch against the injured Blue Jays and Yankees as they host Toronto Monday night. So far, Boston took five of six games against the AL East rivals to secure first place in the AL East. The Jays send Tomo Ohka against Tim Wakefield. Ohka's allowed the highest HR per 9 IP in the majors this season (15 IP). Given the Red Sox home run performance Sunday, that's a worry. Meanwhile, Tim Wakefield leads the American League in ERA with a 1.35 mark. He's yet to allow a home run, and batters are hitting a mere .167 against Tim. What's even more impressive is those 12 hits came on 61 balls in play, a .197 BABIP. Even when batters are making contact, they're not hitting the ball hard.
Chris Sampson of Houston is another pitcher at the top of the early season ERA leaderboards. Like Wakefield, he's not striking out many batters, but his BABIP is just .208. We'll see how long that lasts against a Phillies team that appears to be coming out of their offensive doldrums. Adam Eaton takes the mound for Philadelphia. He's pitched better than his ERA, but Adam gave up both his home runs this season with men on base.
The pitching matchup of the night throws Mark Buehrle against Gil Meche in Kansas City. Buehrle comes fresh off his no-hitter and has allowed a mere .127 batting average this season. With the Royals batting just .240 as a team, he might have a shot at another. Meche is controlling his walks well this season, helping him to a .315 OBA allowed.
Enjoy!
Posted by David Pinto at
11:21 AM
|
Matchups
|
TrackBack (0)