Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
August 07, 2008
Games of the Day

We'll know the state of the NL East by late afternoon as both the Mets and Phillies host matinees today. It's a good none matchup at Shea as Josh Banks faces Johan Santana. Banks holds a 2:1 strikeout to walk ratio despite a very low strikeout rate. He only walks a batter once every four innings. One worrisome stat for the future for Johan is that for the first time since 2001, he's striking out less than nine batters per nine innings. His 2007 rate of 9.7 K per 9 dropped to 7.5 this season.

The Marlins and Phillies play the rubber game of their series with Chris Volstad facing Cole Hamels. There's been speculation that Hamels is hurt as he's allowed 14 runs, 8 earned in his last two starts. He's also allowed 8 home runs in his last five outings. Volstad showed great control in the minors, averaging 2.4 walks per nine. So far, it's been a respectable 3.6 walks per nine in the majors.

Texas needs a win to take three out of four from the Yankees and actually gain some ground in the wild card race. They'll send Scott Feldman against Mike Mussina. Scott is the kind of pitcher the Yankees should beat. He strikes out too few, walks too many, and is susceptible to the long ball. Mussina's ERA has gone down every month this season, and he's started August with a 1.29 mark.

The Rays fly as far as they can for their next game as they travel to Seattle for a series against the Mariners. They draw Felix Hernandez in game one. King Felix cut down on his home runs up upped his walks this season. He already walked as many as in 2007 in 54 fewer innings. Andy Sonnanstine is about at his 2007 inning total. He allowed two fewer walks and five fewer home runs, lowering his ERA about one run.

Enjoy!

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Posted by David Pinto at 08:44 AM | Matchups | TrackBack (0)
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