Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
April 11, 2008
Games of the Day

There are a ton of interesting pitching matchups and team matchups today. Here's the best of the best.

The Yankees and Red Sox meet for the first time this year as Chien-Ming Wang and Clay Buchholz faceoff at Fenway. Opponents are not generating much power versus Wang as they managed a .229 slugging percentage against the big righty, based on ten hits and one double. Tonight marks Clay's first appearance against the Yankees. In his short major league career, Buchholz averaged nearly four walks per nine innings, something the selective Yankees can use to their advantage.

The Cubs face the Phillies in an inter-divisional battle of aces. Carlos Zambrano takes on Brett Myers. Unlike 2007, Carlos is off to a great start, striking out 12 and walking just one in his first 13 2/3 innings. Myers showed unusual control issues so far, walking five in his first ten innings.

Another matchup of aces takes place in Cleveland where the Athletics pit Joe Blanton against the Indians C.C. Sabathia. Blanton pitched well in his two starts but has yet to win a game. He's never been much of a strikeout pitcher, but his K rate is below 4.5 per nine for the first time. Sabathia has already walked one fifth of the batters he passed in 2007.

On the west coast, what may be a long pitching duel sees Jered Weaver visit Felix Hernandez. The two already faced off four times, with Weaver going 3-0 while Hernandez came in at 0-2. Both are pitching extremely well with neither allowing a home run yet.

Finally, Peavy and Penny meet for the second time this season, this time at Dodger Stadium. Jake won the first matchup, throwing a complete game two-hitter. Penny didn't allow a run in his first home start and is 24-9 with a 3.32 ERA at home since his trade to Los Angeles.

Enjoy!

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Posted by David Pinto at 03:23 PM | Matchups | TrackBack (0)
Comments

I'm interested to see if Wang has figured out what he needs to do to pitch well at Fenway (check is career ERA there, it's ugly). If he can use his change effectively against the Sox lefties, he should be ok. If not, he may be in for a beating.

The Yankees offense is still sputtering (6 runs off two scrubs does not a breakout make). Jeter & Posada are banged up, and one or both may not play at all (Posada might DH or pinch hit, I'm less clear on Jeter's status).

Lowell is out for the Sox. I'm very interested to see Jed Lowrie play.

Posted by: Rob in CT at April 11, 2008 04:53 PM

Francis vs. Webb as well.

Posted by: Kyle at April 11, 2008 05:01 PM

That Peavy/Penny match up, in particular, should be fun to watch.

Posted by: Richard at April 11, 2008 05:05 PM

Looks like Wanger figured it out, Rob. But I'm sorry you didn't get to see Lowrie. Did you like Casey?

Posted by: James at April 11, 2008 11:09 PM
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