Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
May 23, 2008
Games of the Day

Texas tries to extend Cleveland's losing streak as they send Kason Gabbard against Fausto Carmona. Gabbard is having success this season despite walking more batters than he strikes out. His walks are low however, so he'll mostly get hurt if his defense doesn't play well behind him. Carmona is even more egregious in this regard. Despite walking 35 in 56 innings, he's posting a 2.25 ERA. I wonder when pitchers like Carmona and Matsuzaka will have their high walk totals catch up to them?

It's not a great team matchup, but Zack Greinke versus Roy Halladay should be a showcase of pitching talent. Greinke does give up home runs, but six of his seven allowed came with the bases empty. Halladay leads the AL in complete games. His four are twice James Shields second place level, and they're the only pitchers with more than one.

The Orioles visit the Tampa Bay "Wild Card" Rays trailing them 2 1/2 games in the standings. Baltimore sends Jeremy Guthrie against Matt Garza. Guthrie gave up six home runs in April, but only two in May indicates he has that under control. The Rays play like champions at home, winning 16 of 24 so far in 2008.

Doug Davis returns from his treatments for cancer to face Jo-Jo Reyes and the Atlanta Braves. Davis pitched a good game and a poor game before hitting the DL. Reyes is striking out many more batters per nine than he did in his brief visit to the majors last year.

The Angels and White Sox split four games last week in Anaheim, and they meet again tonight in a battle of first place teams. Joe Saunders was the one starter Chicago didn't see in that meeting. He's holding the opposition to a .286 OBA and a .324 slugging percentage. Gavin Floyd miss the series as well, and he's also holding batters to low averages, .297 OBA and .349 slugging.

Finally, a youthful Edinson Volquez takes on a rejuvenated Shawn Estes. I suspect Shawn is looking forward to beating the Reds, especially if it's a hot night. Volquez can bring the heat, however, and unlike most of the Reds staff, he doesn't wilt on the road.

Enjoy!

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Posted by David Pinto at 03:05 PM | Matchups | TrackBack (0)
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