Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
May 19, 2008
Games of the Day

The Cubs lead the Central by two games over St. Louis and 2 1/2 over Houston as the Astros host Chicago tonight. This is a matchup between two hot power hitters, Lance Berkman and Alfonso Soriano. Since May 2nd, each played 16 games and each hit eight home runs. Soriano's driven in 21 to Berkman's 19, but Lance has scored 22 to Alfonso's 15. Seems backward for a leadoff hitter and a middle of the order slugger. Berkman is slugging 1.065 in that time and Soriano .891. The Cubs are 10-6 over that stretch, the Astros 12-4.

In a very tight AL Central, the Royals are in striking distance of first place despite standing one game under .500. They travel to Boston tonight as Luke Hochevar faces Jon Lester. In his first full season in the majors, Hochevar is posting a good ERA of 3.94 despite walking close to a batter every other inning. He's extremely tough to hit in the first three innings, with opponents batting .149 against him, 7 for 47. Lester is posting a similar ERA and similar walk numbers in about twice the innings. The walks probably favor the Red Sox tonight as Boston is ranked high in AL in walks drawn, KC fairly low.

On the west coast, a battle of good, young teams take place as Tampa Bay takes on Oakland. Both teams sit a close second in their division. James Shields takes the hill for the Rays. Shields has only allowed two home runs all year, and none in his last four starts. He'll face Joe Blanton, whose nickname this season should be "Bad Luck." Despite a 3.69 ERA, Joe sports a 2-6 record. The A's have scored 2 runs or less in games Joe pitched four times.

Enjoy!

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Posted by David Pinto at 02:50 PM | Matchups | TrackBack (0)
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