July 17, 2007
Games of the Day
The Twins dispatched a wild card rival over the weekend, and now they go after the division leader as the Tigers come to town. One thing in the Tigers favor is Detroit's offensive strength is the Twins pitching weakness. The Tigers hitters are second in the league in home runs hit, and the Twins pitchers are second in the AL in most home runs allowed. The Tigers send Nate Robertson to the mound, and he's a pitcher who can be hit. He brings a .300 BA allowed with a .360 OBA into the game. For the Twins, Matt Garza makes his second start of the season for the Twins. So far, in two relief innings against the White Sox and six innings starting against the Yankees, he's yet to allow a run. A sweep of the three game series would pull the Twins to three games behind the Tigers.
Jeremy Guthrie found a home in Baltimore, and he'll take his 3.07 ERA against the Mariners and Felix Hernandez. After a great June, his ERA is on the rise as he's allowed 12 earned runs in his last 17 2/3 innings. He's only allowed 18 hits, but five of them were home runs. Hernandez's last start was bend but don't break effort as he allowed ten hits but just two runs as the Tigers were just 2 for 11 with men in scoring position against King Felix.
The Mets and Padres battle again tonight, and it won't be easy for New York to get their offense going as they face Jake Peavy. About the best you can hope for against Jake is to get his pitch count high so he starts issuing walks. He's issued sixteen walks in his first 75 pitches, seventeen after that. Orlando Hernandez will try to out pitch Peavy. The Padres don't run much as a team, but with Hernandez giving up thirteen stolen bases in fifteen attempts, it might be a good night to try.
Enjoy!
Posted by David Pinto at
03:39 PM
|
Matchups
|
TrackBack (0)