Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
May 22, 2007
Games of the Day

For the third day in a row, most of the good pitching matchups are on the west coast. Farther east, however, there are some good series starting that may allow teams to move up in the standings. The Orioles lead Toronto by 1/2 game in the AL East, but the teams are heading in opposite directions. The Blue Jays season looked over when appendicitis felled Roy Halladay, but the team is 6-3 since that day. Meanwhile, the Orioles lost six of their last eight, including two late innings meltdowns by the bullpen. A.J. Burnett faced Daniel Cabrera. With a high strikeout rate, Cabrera is keeping opposition hits down, but he hurts that strength with too many walks. Burnett handles lefties extremely well this season, but doesn't do so well when he holds the platoon advantage. If he can keep lefties at bay while improving against righties, he should pitch up to the standards of his contract.

In the NL East, the Phillies lead the Marlins by one game. It's a chance for Florida to move up in the standings, but they'll have to go through 6-1 Cole Hamels. Keep your eye on the NL strikeout battle as Hamels trails Jake Peavy by one for the NL lead, and both pitch tonight. The Marlins send Scott Olsen, who tends to get hit early. Twenty two of the fifty nine hits he allowed came in the first two inning of work.

And while the Phillies and Marlins battle for third, the Mets and Braves contest first place in the NL East. Former Braves pitcher Jorge Sosa is off to a good start for New York, allowing just nine hits in twenty innings of work. His opponent, Kyle Davies walks too many batters, and is hittable when he comes in the strike zone.

The top three NL Central teams find themselves on the west coast together, facing three good pitchers. The Cubs send Rich Hill against Padres ace Jake Peavy. Both pitchers send a lot of batters back to the dugout without making contact, but Rich's May hasn't lived up to his April promise. The strikeouts are still there, but batters and picking up more hits when they do make contact. Jake's only allowed one home runs this season. Among pitcher with at least 45 innings, only Brad Penny allowed fewer.

Finally, Roy Oswalt takes on Tim Lincecum in San Francisco. After a rough first start against the Phillies, Lincecum last seven innings against the Rockies and these same Astros, striking out sixteen in total. Oswalt bested him for those seven, allowed no runs, but the Giants won the game late 2-1. This should be the duel of the night.

Enjoy!


Posted by David Pinto at 12:59 PM | Matchups | TrackBack (0)
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