Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
August 28, 2008
Games of the Day

The Red Sox and Yankees play their last game at Yankee Stadium this afternoon. The first major league game I attended was played between the Red Sox and Yankees at the old stadium. What I remember most was Mel Stottlemyre's triple and that I got to see recent call-up Thurman Munson catch. Both teams were out of it but it was exciting to finally see the ballpark. There's something about walking into a green enclave in an urban area. I got the feeling that I stepped into an oasis. Twice more I would experience the same emotion; the first time I entered Harvard Yard and the first time I saw the grass at Fenway Park. They remain my three favorite green islands in areas of urban bustle.

They'll end with a fine pitching matchup as Jon Lester faces Mike Mussina. The two come in with nearly identical ERAs, Lester slightly better at 3.45 than Mussina at 3.49. Jon's pretty much shut down the Yankees this season, allowing just two runs in 16 innings while striking out 16. As an example of how much Mike improved over last year, in 7 1/3 more innings he's walked 14 fewer batters and allowed 16 fewer hits.

The Dodgers try to win a game on their road trip before they head to Phoenix for a showdown with the Diamondbacks. Clayton Kershaw takes on John Lannan. The Dodgers have a chance as Lannan is terrible at home, going 2-7 with a 6.27 ERA. Kershaw is nearly as bad away from Los Angeles, posting a 5.79 ERA on the road.

The replay era kicks off at Wrigley Field (last night game, first replay) as Cole Hamels opposes Ryan Dempster. Ryan's held opponents to a .213 BA this season, with very little difference between left and right handed hitters. Lefties do hit for a bit more power. Hamels opponents are batting .220 against him, but for some reason lefties hit him for power. Hamels held the platoon advantage against hitters in 24% of the at bats against him, but those lefties delivered 33% of the home runs off Cole.

Enjoy!

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Posted by David Pinto at 11:21 AM | Matchups | TrackBack (0)
Comments

The Sox-Yanks game just took an interesting turn. Francona pulled Lester after 6 2/3. Okajima immediately gave up a two-run shot to Giambi to tie the game. The slumbering crowd awakened and made more noise on this bit of offense than for the first two games combined.

Pitching is 75% of the game. Hitting is 75% of the gate.

Posted by: Casey Abell at August 28, 2008 03:44 PM

Arod's having another big game.

Posted by: Bandit at August 28, 2008 04:06 PM
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