Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
June 29, 2007
Games of the Day

The Mets and Phillies open a four game series with a double header this afternoon and this evening. It's not every day a pitcher with a 94.50 ERA gets included in Games of the Day, but J.D. Durbin gets the start for the Phillies vs. Orlando Hernandez this afternoon. Durbin allowed seven runs in 2/3 of an inning in his only appearance this season. Durbin's had a long minor career, not bad but not great. But in his very short time in the majors he's simply been wild and hit hard, never a good combination.

The night cap might be the best matchup of the day as John Maine takes on Cole Hamels. Maine faced the Phillies twice this season, both times in New York, and came away with a 3.09 ERA. He did not get a decision in either outing as the Mets spilt the games with the Phillies. Hamels is tied for most HR in the NL with Woody Williams, and he's pretty evenly split the long balls home and road. With his low OBA allowed, however, most of those home runs have been solo shots.

The other candidate for best pitching matchup of the day goes to Minnesota at Detroit where Johan Santana faces Justin Verlander. I suspect there will be a few strikeouts in this game. The Twins are six games behind the first place Tigers, so this is a chance to gain some ground before the second half of the season starts. Johan walks fewer and strikeouts more per nine innings, but Verlander gives up fewer long balls, and hence the better ERA. Johan is 10-3 in his career against the Tigers, although for most of that career the Tigers weren't very good. He's 3-2 since the start of 2006.

And a big series starts on the west coast as the Padres visit the Dodgers. The team are separate by just .001 in the standings, with the Padres in first place. Tonight's matchup appears to favor San Diego as Chris Young visits Hong-Chih Kuo. Kuo's 6.33 ERA appears high for his stats. That's because opponents are hitting .400 against him with runners in scoring position. Young is tough to hit in any situation. Since joining the Padres at the start of the 2006 season, Chris has allowed a .201 batting average overall, and .180 with runners in scoring position.

Enjoy!


Posted by David Pinto at 12:18 PM | Matchups | TrackBack (0)
Comments

David, of note re the nightcap, Cole Hamels was unhappy with LoDuca post HR in the last go round. Post game comments carried a veiled threat, mild. LoDuca, after the Mets recent swoon, and more nonsensical NY Press garbage, is in a foul mood. If Hamels hits him we might well have a donnybrook on our hands.

Posted by: abe at June 29, 2007 01:59 PM
Post a comment









Remember personal info?