Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
May 22, 2008
Games of the Day

Texas and Minnesota are both hanging in their division races and offer a fine pitching matchup today as Vicente Padilla faces Livan Hernandez. Padilla is posting an ERA 2 1/2 runs less than his 2007 mark, and already equalled his 2007 win total of six. A few more strikeouts have led to fewer hits per nine innings. Livan has bought into the Minnesota system of not walking batters, leading to fewer runners scoring on the home runs he allows.

The Braves go for the sweep of the Mets in Atlanta. It's been a drubbing so far as they've out-scored the Mets 23-7 over the first three games. New York sends Johan Santana to the mound to try to salvage the last game. While home runs have been a problem for Johan this season, it's mostly a Shea phenomenon. He's allowed six at home in 18 1/3 innings, five on the road in 41 2/3 innings. Tim Hudson is pitching in quantum states this season. He's either in the greatest pitcher in the league category, or the I can't get anyone out category. He sports a 3.06 ERA despite three poor starts, including his last one against Oakland in which he allowed five runs in five innings.

The Marlins go for a sweep of the Diamondbacks, sending Andrew Miller against Dan Haren. So if the Marlins sweep the best team in the league, defeating the best two pitchers on the team, does that mean they're for real? The Marlins have a chance as Haren pitched poorly in three road starts this season with a combined ERA of 5.09. Of course, Miller sports a 6.18 ERA. He's getting better, however, as he's only allowed four earned runs in his last three starts, good for a 1.93 ERA.

Finally, the White Sox go for the sweep of the Indians to try to further cement their lead in the AL Central. The matchup of Laffey and Buehrle would seem to favor the Indians left-hander, as his ERA is about four runs lower than Buehrle's. The White Sox hit lefties well, however. Their OBA and slugging percentage go up against southpaws as opposed to right-handers. The Indians produce a higher batting average against lefties, but with reduced power.

Enjoy!

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Posted by David Pinto at 08:39 AM | Matchups | TrackBack (0)
Comments

Today Hudson is pitching in Georgia. Is that a quantum state?

Posted by: Casey Abell at May 22, 2008 12:04 PM
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