Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
September 27, 2007
Games of the Day

This afternoon's matchup between Brandon Webb and Paul Maholm appears to favor the Diamondbacks. Not only is Webb the Arizona ace, but his ERA drops 0.3 runs on the road. This means, of course, that the Rockies won't see Webb this weekend. Maholm has pitched 4 2/3 innings in September and allowed 21 hits.

Update: I just looked at the boxscore, and Micah Owings is facing John Van Benschoten. Still, that favors the Diamondbacks.

Update: The Pirates broadcast said Webb was held back because of the chance of bad weather.

If Josh Beckett pitches 5 2/3 innings today without allowing an earned run, he'll move ahead of Carmona for the ERA lead. So while this isn't a huge game for the Red Sox, it could be a big game toward getting Beckett a Cy Young award.

The Phillies send youngster Kyle Kendrick against the ageless John Smoltz. John is posting his lowest ERA as a starter since 1998. Kendrick saved the Phillies rotation this year, although he is vulnerable to left-handed batters.

Pedro Martinez tries to go 4-0 tonight as he faces the Cardinals. The Mets need the bullpen saved a bit, so we'll see if Martinez can keep his pitch count low.

San Diego and Milwaukee are each fighting for their lives in their divisions, so this four game series could be a lot of fun. I suspect there will be a lot of managerial second guessing. Rookies open the series as Jack Cassel faces Yovani Gallardo. Yovani allowed just a .208 BA in Milwaukee this season. Cassel hasn't pitched much, but the league is batting .387 against him. I suspect we'll see the Padres bullpen early tonight.

And Colorado takes on the Dodgers as they try to extend their winning streak to eleven games. Franklin Morales hasn't allowed a run in his last three starts, allowing just seven hits in seventeen innings. He'll face Esteban Loaiza, who has an 8.53 ERA since joining the Dodgers. Athletics fans complained that Billy Beane got nothing for Esteban, but it looks like that's all he was worth.

I don't like the way the pitching matchups worked out for the massive tie. Both the Diamondbacks and Rockies should be favored to win, and one of them (but not both) needs to lose to keep the five-way tie intact.

Enjoy!


Posted by David Pinto at 11:50 AM | Matchups | TrackBack (0)
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