Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
September 13, 2008
Games of the Day

Six double headers are on tap for today. The last time as many as four double headers were played in one day was August 13, 1991. You need to go all the way back to August 17, 1980 to find a day with six double headers. Given the rain in the midwest, all six may not get played today.

The Blue Jays' loss Friday night puts whatever remaining playoffs hope they had in doubt, so they need to sweep the double header today. A.J. Burnett goes for his 18th win of the season as he attempts to reach 20 this season. He may reach that mark with an ERA over 4.00. Paul Byrd takes the hill for the Blue Jays in game one. His ERA with Boston is under four despite seven home runs allowed in 33 innings. Ten of the fourteen runs scored against Paul came via the long ball.

Mike Mussina also goes for his 18th win in his quest for his first 20 win season. He'll face the Rays and James Shields in game 1. Mussina reached the 18 win level five other times in his career. If he does reach 20 wins, it will be by posting the lowest walk rate of his career. A win for Shields gives him 13 on the season, which would be a new career high for him.

There's the possibility of a huge turnaround in the AL Central today. Opposite sweeps by the White Sox and the Twins could put Chicago in command, or the Twins in first place. Chicago's record against Detroit stands at 9-6 on the season, while the Twins won 11 of 15 against Kansas City in 2008.

Randy Johnson returns to the mound against the Cincinnati Reds and Edinson Volquez. These pitchers went in opposite directions in the second half. Volquez looked like a Cy Young candidate early on, but posted a more Texas like 5.12 ERA after the All-Star break. His strikeouts and walks remained good, but his home run rate doubled. Johnson's career looked over at the break, but he rebounded to post a 2.48 ERA since. Johnson's strikeouts went up and his walks came down.

Finally, Tim Lincecum continues his bid for best pitcher in the league as he visits the Padres and Chris Young. If the Giants had give Tim some run support against San Diego he might be going for his 20th win tonight. In five starts, Tim is 2-0 against the Padres with an 0.79 ERA. He's allowed just three runs in 34 1/3 innings. Chris Young takes the hill in opposition. After dealing with injuries, Young pitched very well against the Brewers his last time out, taking a perfect game deep and pitching extremely efficiently. The efficiency is something I'd like to see him take forward.

Enjoy!

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Posted by David Pinto at 10:32 AM | Matchups | TrackBack (0)
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