Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
April 13, 2008
Games of the Day

The Mets and Brewers play the rubber game of their series at Shea this afternoon as Jeff Suppan takes on Oliver Perez. Both are off to great starts. Suppan is spreading out his hits allowed nicely, as batters are hitting .303 against him with the bases empty but .133 with men on. Batters are not hitting Perez at all, as opponents are an aggregate .200 against him and have yet to score a run.

Johnny Cueto makes his third start, and so far batters are having a tough time making contact. He's struck out 18 in 13 1/3 innings, over 12 per nine innings, and he's done it without walking a batter. Of the 28 balls in play against Cueto, only six have resulted in hits.

His opponent, Tom Gorzelanny, is the exact opposite. He's walked more batters than he's struck out, and twelve of 29 balls in play against him would up as hits.

Burke Badenhop makes his first major league start this afternoon against the Wandy Rodriguez and the Houston Astros. It's not that compelling a matchup, but Badenhop is now my favorite baseball name.

Francisco Liriano

Francisco Liriano
Photo: Icon SMI

Francisco Liriano makes his first major league appearance since the 2006 season. He's returning from Tommy John surgery. His two minor league outings were unimpressive save for the strikeouts in the FSL. I get the feeling the Twins are rushing him back. He'll face Brian Bannister, who has proven tough to hit this season. Not only is he holding opponents to a .171 BA, he hasn't allowed an extra-base hit.

The Mariners go for the sweep against the Angels in Seattle with Erik Bedard facing Joe Saunders. Saunders is earning a permanent spot in the rotation with his 0.56 ERA. He's walked just three batters in sixteen innings of work. Bedard's ERA is a good 3.27, but he hasn't shown much control yet, walking eight in eleven innings. The free passes haven't hurt him that much as he's allowed an .077 BA with runners in scoring position.

Finally, the Yankees and Red Sox play their rubber game with young Phil Hughes facing Japanese sensation Daisuke Matsuzaka. Phil pitched well against Toronto and poorly against the Royals in his two starts so far, the difference coming down to walks. Dice-K has been up and down with walks, too, this season, but through it all he's been nearly unhittable, allowing a .131 BA, .074 against lefties.

Enjoy!

Try Bodog Sports for information on baseball betting.


Posted by David Pinto at 11:52 AM | Matchups | TrackBack (0)
Comments
Post a comment









Remember personal info?