May 19, 2007
Games of the Day
I was looking forward to the Smoltz-Matsuzaka matchup, but according to Fox Dice-K is pitching the afternoon game and Smoltz remains scheduled for the evening. Smoltz is coming off a dislocated pinkie, so we'll see how he fares later today.
One of the best pitching matchups of the day takes place in the only National League game as Micah Owings faces Tom Gorzelanny. Tom ranks fifth in NL ERA with a 2.36 mark. He's issuing few walks and few extra base hits. Owings main weakness so far is issuing walks to left-handed batters, and when lefties do get hits against him, they tend to fall for extra bases.
The Dodgers try to even their series with the Angels after LAnahiem handed Brad Penny his first loss of the year. Mark Hendrickson takes on Jered Weaver. Since moving to the rotation, Hendrickson started walking batters. He allowed just one in eleven innings working in relief, but eleven in 27 innings as a starter. Weaver is pitching well overall, but lefties are pounding him. So far, that's balanced by Jered's domination of righties.
Finally, after beating up on Barry Zito, the Athletics try to do the same to Matt Cain. Matt issues a lot of walks, and the A's are second in the majors in drawing them. On top of that, the Giants face AL ERA leader Dan Haren. He a right-hander holding lefties to just a .158 BA and a .237 slugging percentage. His matchup against Bonds should be interesting.
Enjoy!