Matchups Archives

The Pittsburgh Pirates went 8-2 over their last ten games and are one of the hottest teams in the majors. They get a chance to gain on the division leader in the one non-interleague series this weekend as they play the Cubs. It's looking like a high scoring affair this afternoon as Tom Gorzelanny takes on Sean Gallagher. Both sport ERAs over 5.00. Sean hasn't pitched that much, but Tom has walked more batters than he's struck out, and almost one walk per inning.

Both the Yankees and Mets are off to disappointing starts as they square off in the Bronx. The Bombers find themselves in last place, while the Mets are only one game above .500. After lefty Scott Kazmir gave them trouble yesterday, the Yankees get to face Johan Santana. The Mets ace pitched very well during the regular season against the Yankees in his career, posting a 2.66 ERA. Rasner's been a bit of a savior so far, only allowing one walk in his first two starts.

Everyone will have an "A" on his cap tonight as the Braves host the Athletics. It's a battle of young pitchers acquired for veterans with Dana Eveland taking the hill against Jair Jurrjens. Eveland keeps the ball in the park as he's allowed just two home runs this season. Both of those came on the road, however, where his ERA is 4.88. Jurrjens owns the same strength, allowing just one long ball all season. His only one came at home, but his ERA in Atlanta stands at 1.96.

Somehow, I feel the need to include a pitching matchup between Shawn Chacon and Sidney Ponson in games of the day. It just proves that a pitching career is never really finished.

Finally, the all LA series features Hiroki Kuroda facing Joe Saunders. Kuroda's been very tough against the top of the order, allowing an .077 batting average in the first inning. Saunders is giving up fewer hits this season, bringing down his ERA. His line drive percentage is down to 13.5% from 20.7% last season. Line drives tend to turn into hits, so he's found some way to prevent batters from squaring up the ball.

Enjoy!

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It's a good afternoon to play hooky from work as nine games take place under the sun. Cleveland Indians starters hold a 43 1/3 inning scoreless streak as Aaron Laffey takes the hill against the Oakland Athletics. C.C. Sabathia was the last starter to allow a run, in the fifth inning against Toronto on May 9th. Laffey holds a 1.83 ERA this season, walking just four batters in 19 2/3 innings. He'll face one of the young stars of the Oakland rotation, Greg Smith. The A's picked up another high strikeout, low walk pitcher and it's paying off for them in Smith.

Greg Maddux returns to Chicago with 350 wins under his belt to face Ryan Dempster. The old man is posting the same strikeout and walk rates as in 2007, with fewer hits allowed. Dempster made a fantastic transition from bullpen to rotation, pitching better as a stater than he ever did for Florida or Cincinnati.

Ian Kennedy's minor league stint was a short one as he returns to the Yankees to face Scott Kazmir. Kennedy allowed just one hit in 7 1/3 inning start at Scranton, showing that the demotion was the kick in the pants he needed to get his act together. The Yankees don't give him an easy job, however, as he faces the first place Rays. Scott Kazmir signed a new contract yesterday, keeping him on the Rays through at least 2011. Since 2006, he's struck out more batters than innings pitched, and the Rays correctly see the value in locking in that skill.

The best pure pitching matchup of the day takes place in Arizona where Aaron Cook and Brandon Webb. Not only is Webb undefeated, he's won each of his eight starts. Cook, however, is 6-1 with a better ERA than Webb. Both do a great job of keeping the ball in the park, Webb allowing two home runs, Cook just three.

Enjoy!

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The Red Sox and Orioles continue their series this afternoon with Jon Lester facing Daniel Cabrera. Cabrera is coming off two nice starts in which he combined to walk three batters in 16 1/3 innings. The selective Red Sox hitters will be a good test of his new control. The Red Sox should be concerned with Lester's fall off in strikeouts. Last season he struck out 50 in 63 innings. This season he has just 29 in 51 innings, with no decrease in walks.

Jake Peavy takes on Ted Lilly as the Padres visit the Cubs. Peavy hasn't lost a step from last season, with his ERA a few points lower than in 2007. Last season, however, he was equally good home and away. In 2008 he's allowed a 4.58 ERA on the road. Lilly, too, isn't pitching that differently from last year despite a higher ERA. It's luck turning from good to bad. In 2007, he allowed a .220 batting average with runners in scoring position. This year, .300.

Finally, John Lackey returns to the Angels rotation tonight. LAnaheim weathered his injury well, their starters posting a 4.18 ERA in his absence, 7th in the AL. His first test will be against Jose Contreras of the White Sox. Jose is having his best year keeping the ball in the park, allowing just two home runs so far this season.

Enjoy!

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Two pitchers doing better than expected take the mound in Cincinnati as Mark Hendrickson faces Edinson Volquez. I scoffed when Hendrickson got the opening day nod for the Marlins, but he's now 5-1 with a 3.56 ERA. He's not doing things that differently in terms of strikeouts and walks, which suggests he may have a better defense behind him or the balls put in play against him are easier to field. Since his line drive percentage is down to 16.5% from 23% last year, it looks like the latter. Volquez upped his strikeouts, and despite playing half his games at GAB allowed only one home run so far this season.

The may be some fireworks in Texas tonight as Felix Hernandez and Kason Gabbard square off in Texas. Five days ago, Felix hit two Texas batters. When Gabbard threw one high over the plate to Richie Sexson, the big first baseman charged the mound and threw his helmet into Gabbard's back. Richie will continue serving his suspension tonight. With luck, they'll stick to pitching well. Hernandez is coming off two poor starts in which he allowed 10 runs in 10 2/3 innings. Gabbard continues to test the limits of how few strikeouts a pitcher can accumulate and still have a sub-2.00 ERA. He's walked 13 and struck out nine in 24 1/3 innings, but with only four extra base hits against him, those free passes haven't led to many runs.

Two years ago, Justin Verlander was the up and coming star and Zack Greinke was trying to get his head on straight. Now, Verlander is struggling to keep runs off the scoreboard and Greinke is fulfilling his potential. Zack's main weakness is the long ball, but four of his five home runs allowed came with the bases empty. Verlander has seen his K per 9 drop by over one this season from his career average. Opponents are putting more balls in play, and more are finding the fences at inopportune times as four of his seven homers allowed came with men on base.

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The Yankees open a four game series in Tampa Bay, trailing the Rays by 2 1/2 games in the AL East. At 13-7, the Rays are tied with the Twins for the second best home record in the American League. Andy Pettitte faces Matt Garza. Andy's pitched well on the road this season, posting a 2.81 ERA. He's kept the ball in the park away from Yankee Stadium, allowing just two home runs, versus for four in the Bronx (in fewer innings). Garza pitched well since returning from his injury, with a 3.06 ERA in three games. He's not striking out batters, however, just six in his last 17 2/3 innings.

Cliff Lee tries to extend his incredible start against the Blue Jays in the second game of a double header tonight. Lee has won each of his starts, posting a miserly 0.81 ERA. with no walks in his last game, Lee now owns a K/BB of 19.5. He'll face a very good pitcher in Shaun Marcum. While not posting the ultra-low walk rate of Lee, Shaun does fine walking a batter every three innings.

The first place Cubs host the struggling Padres as Carlos Zambrano takes on Randy Wolf. Carlos is off to a great start, trading fewer walks for fewer strikeouts, and so far it's working. Wolf may face a tough game tonight, as the Cubs hit lefties well, accumulating a .285 team batting average against southpaws.

Finally, a game of struggling aces pits Roy Oswalt against Barry Zito in San Francisco. Oswalt's strikeouts and walks are fine, it's just that balls are sailing out of the park against him. He's allowed eleven home runs so far this season; his career high is 18. Zito is perfectly awful, going 0-7 in his seven starts. The sign of hope in his last start after missing a turn in the rotation was that he struck out five and walked two. Despite that, he still has walked more than he struck out this season.

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The Florida Marlins go for a sweep of the Washington Nationals and their seventh win in a row this afternoon as Scott Olsen faces Shawn Hill. Olsen is 1/3 of an inning short of averaging seven per start. He's already 2-0 with a 2.45 ERA against the Nationals. A big reason for the Marlins early success is a 7-1 record against Washington. They're 15-13 against the rest of the league. Opponents have recorded 46 at bats against Hill at home and on the road this season, with a .217 BA in Washington and a .348 BA away.

With a win over the Angels today, the Tampa Bay Rays move into the wild card slot in the American League. That's no mean feat for a team that's basically never been in contention. Andy Sonnanstine gets the ball for the Rays. He's won his last four starts, posting a 2.45 ERA without allowing a home run. He'll take on the undefeated Ervin Santana. Magic continues to be tough with men in scoring position, allowing a mere .107 BA on three hits in the situation.

Randy Johnson and Carlos Zambrano square off at Wrigley field this afternoon. The Big Unit still strikes out a ton of batters, but he's been hurt by three of his four home runs allowed coming with men on base. Zambrano cut his walk rate in half this season and is on his way to the lowest ERA of his career.

The pitching matchup of the afternoon amazingly takes place in Texas where Rich Harden returns from the disabled list to face the rejuvenated Sidney Ponson. Harden held opponents to one run in eleven innings before he went down with a shoulder strain. Ponson is keeping the ball in the park. He allowed seven home runs in 37 2/3 innings for Minnesota last season, but in 2008 opponents are yet to take him deep in his 20 1/3 innings pitched.

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The Mets play a split admission double header to make up for last night's rain out. Those going out to game one get to see Johan Santana face Matt Belisle. Belisle may be one of those pitchers with too much control. He's given up 25 hits in 14 1/3 innings, but just two walks. I guess his pitchers are so hittable that batters have no reason to go deep in the count. It's tough to score against Santana unless a batter hits a home run, as nine of the 16 runs scored against Johan came on the long ball.

Ben Sheets makes his third start since returning from an injury, and the first two didn't go that well. He walked a ton of batters in the first, gave up lots of hits in the second, and both resulted in the opposition scoring four runs against the Brewers' ace. Joel Pineiro pitches for St. Louis, and his 4.33 ERA looks high for someone with so few walks and home runs allowed. He's allowed a .409 batting average with runners in scoring position so far this season.

There will be a nice contrast in styles on display in San Francisco as Tim Lincecum hosts Jamie Moyer. Young vs. old, fast vs, slow, right vs. left. Lincecum is not unhittable, as he .261 BA against shows. It's just tough to hit him hard, as his .350 slugging against shows. Moyer's usefulness may be at an end. The Phillies need to score lots of runs to support his 4.15 ERA. But he's no longer an innings eater, as Jamie isn't averaging six innings a game.

Scott Kazmir tries to keep the Rays winning streak alive versus Joe Saunders and the Angels tonight. Kazmir pitched poorly in his first start back from rehab, allowing nine base runners in just four innings. Saunders was just what the Angels needed to weather their pitching injuries. His ability to keep batters off base allows him to compensate for a .303 BA allowed with runners in scoring position.

Finally, Greg Maddux goes for win 350 again. He's on long rest, having pitched six days ago. He's at home, in a park that doesn't allow much offense. He's pitching against a slumping Rockies team, although there are signs of them hitting better. He's facing Ubaldo Jimenez, who sports a 5.82 ERA and pitches worse away from Coors. The stars should be aligned for Greg tonight.

Enjoy!

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A few games today feature a good pitcher facing a good pitcher having a bad year. The first takes place this afternoon in Chicago where Dan Haren visits Ted Lilly. Haren is living up to his trade, positing an ERA just 0.05 higher than his mark for Oakland last season. Ted Lilly's ERA soared by 2.00 runs from his 2007 level, mostly due to a lack of control leading to more hits against him.

Toronto travels to Cleveland as Roy Halladay takes on C.C. Sabathia. With four complete games this season, Roy is on his way to setting a new career high (9). He's the king of complete games in the aughties with 33. After making two good starts in a row, Sabathia was roughed up a bit by Kansas City his last time out. He maintained his good control, however, walking just one.

There's a battle of first place teams in Minnesota as the Red Sox challenge the Twins. Both teams are hot, with the Red Sox winning eight of their last ten and the Twins seven in that span. Boston's offense is starting to kick into gear as they've scored 51 runs in their last seven games. The Twins scoring isn't quite as consistent, but they have hit double digits in runs in three of their last ten games.

The best pitching matchup of the day takes place in San Diego as Aaron Cook takes on Jake Peavy. Both sport ERAs in the low 2.00s. Cook is doing a good job of keeping the bases empty, allowing a .281 OBA with none on. That has led to all three home runs against him resulting in one run. Peavy's given up the long ball a little more frequently this season, although four of the five came on the road.

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It's a good day to take a long lunch as there are plenty of afternoon baseball games happening. The Braves go for a sweep of the Padres as Wilfredo Ledezma takes on Jo-Jo Reyes. With the injuries to the rotation, Reyes is getting a second look in Atlanta after control problems in 2007. Ledezma gets a rare start. He sports a low ERA this season despite a high number of walks and hits allowed. The may turn out to be a high scoring game, which would be good for Chipper Jones keeping his batting average above .400.

Brandon Webb goes for his eighth win in eight starts as he faces Brett Myers and the Phillies. Webb's ERA is three times higher at Chase Field than on the road, but he gets more offensive support as well. Myers tendency to give up home runs in his career became even more exaggerated this season as he's allowed eleven in 44 innings. That would be 50 over a 200 inning season. Look for some long balls today from the Diamondbacks hitters.

A pair of struggling aces take the mound in the Detroit as Josh Beckett visits Justin Verlander. Beckett, in terms of hits, walks, home runs and strikeouts isn't doing a lot that's different from 2007. One tiny difference is that last season, only four of his 17 home runs allowed came with men on base. This season two of his four came with men on. Verlander's walk rate jumped this year, leading to the hits he allows doing more damage.

Finally, Kason Gabbard comes off the disabled list to take on Seattle's Felix Hernandez. The Rangers moved past the Mariners last night with a 2-0 win. Gabbard pitched well before the injury, although he's walked nine and struck out just eight. Felix is coming off a ten K game, and struck out at least seven in each of this last four starts.

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The Cubs and Reds get us started with an early afternoon game featuring Jon Lieber and Edinson Volquez. Lieber makes his first start of the season after nine effective relief outings. He's only walked two batters in 19 1/3 innings pitched. Volquez cools the fans at GAB by inducing a large number of strikeouts. He's currently second in the NL with 10.7 strikeouts per nine innings.

The Red Sox try to make it three in a row at Comerica as two young starters take the hill for Boston and Detroit. Buchholz tries to make it four good starts in a row. He's only allowed 13 hits in his last 19 1/3 innings. Armando Galarraga, making his fifth start of the season, has only allowed 13 hits in his 24 innings. He's also cut down his walks by 1/3 vs. his cup of coffee in 2007.

The premier matchup, however, takes place in New York where the undefeated battle. Cliff Lee brings a 5-0 record against 6-0 Chien-Ming Wang. Lee is pitching like Bob Gibson, Tom Seaver, Roger Clemens and Greg Maddux all rolled into one. His K/BB is 16 to 1. He's allowed 19 hits in 37 2/3 innings. He's averaging over seven innings a start. Only one ball left the park against him. Right now, he's the perfect pitcher.

Wang is pitching the best ball of his career as well. His 6.4 K per 9 is well above his 4.0 career average. He struck out nine Indians in their first meeting of the season, holding the Tribe to four hits and no runs over seven innings.

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The Yankees and Indians face off in the Bronx with Fausto Carmona taking on Andy Pettitte. Fausto 2.60 ERA is looking very vulnerable to me. He's walked 26 batters and struck out just 13 so far this season. I don't think that kind of ratio is sustainable long term. With all the innings he threw last season, he's a candidate for a break down in 2008, and we may be seeing the start of that. Yankee Stadium is supposed to help left-handed pitchers, but Andy Pettitte pitched poorly in his first two starts of 2008 at home. He's allowed three homers in 11 innings at home, just two homers in 25 2/3 innings on the road.

In Atlanta, Young visits a young pitcher as Chris Young takes the hill against Jair Jurrjens. Atlanta's righty pitches well against left-handed hitters, allowing a batting line of .181/.253/.250. The pitching Chris Young is keeping opposition batting averages low (.213) with his strikeouts, but his walks are allowing a decent OBA (.324).

There's a nice matchup of aces in Cincinnati as Carlos Zambrano takes on Aaron Harang. Both sport ERAs under 3.00, but Zambrano is 4-1 while Harang sites 1-4. A big difference in the two is that Harang has a .100 point higher BA allowed with runners in scoring position than Zambrano While half his batters faced have been lefties, Carlos has yet to allowed a home run to a batter from that side.

The Twins lead the White Sox by two games in the AL Central as the two team start battle in Chicago. Youngsters take the hill as Nick Blackburn hurls against Gavin Floyd. With few strikeouts, Blackburn is dependent on his defense, and so far ball in play have gotten through to the tune of a .315 BA allowed. Floyd also strikes out a batter about every other inning, but the White Sox defense held opponents to just a .176 BA behind him.

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The Red Sox travel to Detroit to face a new Tigers lineup and Jeremy Bonderman. It's tough to believe Bonderman is just 25 years old. He's in his sixth season with the Tigers, and when I look at this stats I wonder if he'll ever be a great pitcher. He has good strikeout, walk and home run numbers; good, not great. Still, they seem to be better than his 4.74 career ERA. It's tough to see any reasons in his career splits. Maybe it's just a career of bad luck.

Daisuke Matsuzaka challenges the Tigers tonight. He seems to have learned from his 2007 season, and is doing a better job of holding down his hits allowed. He's starting to look like the great pitcher the Red Sox thought they purchased.

Dustin McGowan tries to make Ozzie Guillen's head explode as the Blue Jays go for a sweep of the White Sox. The Jays starters are on quite a role with eight consecutive quality starts. Over that time, they posted a 1.22 ERA. McGowan faces Javier Vazquez, who finally found a way to keep the ball in the park. He's allowed just one home run this season. It's not clear why, as his groundball percentage is way down this season.

The Phillies travel to the land of the rising bird to face Max Scherzer in his first major league start. He's rocketed through the minors, with an impressive K per 9 of 11.4. He does tend to walk batters. He'll face the old man of the hill, Jamie Moyer. It's hard to believe that Moyer's ERA is just 4.50 with the opposition slugging .526 against him. Most of those extra base hits came with the bases empty, however.

Enjoy!

Correction: Corrected Dustin McGowan's name.

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Greg Maddux makes his fourth attempt at 350 wins. His first attempt he took one for the team after a marathon 22 inning game. His last two attempts, he pitched well enough to win but first his offense, then his bullpen let him down. He'll face a Florida Marlins team that's starting to slide. They've lost four of their last five games, allowing 36 runs. Maddux faces former Tiger Andrew Miller. Miller looked like he made some progress in his penultimate start, but he still gave up nine hits in five innings. He hasn't struck out a batter in his last two appearances.

Roy Halladay tries to break a rare three game losing streak against the White Sox this afternoon. Rare in that he completed all three games:

Their losing pitcher in the 19th straight loss was Mickey Lolich. It marked his seventh straight start in which he did both of these things: He threw a complete game, and he lost.

That is the longest such streak of complete-game losses in at least the last half-century, according to baseball-reference.com.

Toronto's Roy Halladay has pitched a complete-game loss in each of his last three starts. If he does so again today against the White Sox, he'll become the first pitcher in 28 years to have a complete-game loss in four straight starts.

The last pitcher to incur this fate was Oakland's Rick Langford, who had six straight complete-game losses in 1980. They came early in a streak in which manager Billy Martin abused Langford by having him throw 22 straight complete games (by far the longest such streak in the last half-century). Langford's career faded soon thereafter.

As you can see, Halladay pitched very well over the three games, not allowing a home run and only one walk a game. Jose Contreras takes the hill for Chicago. He's doing a better job of keeping the ball in the park, allowing just two home runs so far. That's tough when half the games are at the White Sox home park.

Scott Kazmir makes his 2008 debut as he tries to prevent a Red Sox sweep of the Rays. He'll face fellow lefty Jon Lester. Lester has walked more than he struck out this season, but he's coming off a great start in which he shutout the Blue Jays for eight innings. The Rays managed a 4.04 team ERA, good for sixth in the AL without Kazmir in the rotation. I suspect it will get even better now.

The matchup of the day takes place in Philadelphia where Cole Hamels hosts the Giants Tim Lincecum. Hamels pitches at his best at home this season, posting a 2.15 ERA and allowing just two home runs in 29 1/3 innings. Lincecum allowed just one round tripper all season. Tim's overall batting against numbers aren't that impressive (.265 BA, .345 OBA), but he's allowed a mere .111 BA with men in scoring position. It's the bend, don't break strategy.

Two former AL aces battle in the desert later today as Johan Santana faces Dan Haren. Dan faced the Mets twice in interleague play and posted very good numbers in a small sample size. This is Santana's first crack at the snakes.

Finally, the Cubs and Cardinals play the rubber game of their series with first place in the NL Central on the line. Jason Marquis and Todd Wellemeyer do battle. Last season, the former Cardinal Marquis showed St. Louis they were wrong to let him go, compiling a 3-1 record and a 3.60 ERA against them. Welllemeyer's strikeouts and walks indicate he should be better than a 4.14 ERA, but his six home runs allowed negate that somewhat.

Enjoy!

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There are no outstanding pitching matchups today, although there are outstanding pitchers. Felix Hernandez leads off the day as he takes on the Yankees in the Bronx. Despite a 2.22 ERA, Hernandez is just 2-1 in six starts. Part of that is poor bullpen support. In the nine innings they've pitched in Felix's starts, they've allowed seven runs, fifteen hits and six walks.

Brandon Webb goes for his seventh win of the season, facing the Mets in Arizona. To win 30 games in this era, a pitcher needs to win every start he makes, and so far Webb accomplished that. He's pitched out of tight situations; batters are 0 for 5 against him with the bases loaded with three strikeouts, and are hitting just .088 with men in scoring position.

James Shields continues to improve on his 2007 season by lowering his home runs allowed. Only twice has he served up gopher balls this season. He will once again duel Josh Beckett. They faced each other in their last starts, with Shields walking away with a 3-0, complete game victory. A win moves them back ahead of the Red Sox for first place in the AL East.

Finally, Jake Peavy faces Florida in San Diego. In four starts at PETCO this season, Peavy allowed just three runs for an 0.87 ERA. He's averaging just a hair over three hits per start in those games. The Marlins have given Peavy some trouble in his seven starts against them. His record is just 3-4, despite an 11.6 K per 9 mark. He pitched well enough to win three of the four losses.

Enjoy!

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Four percentage points separate the Rays and the Red Sox as Tampa Bay opens up a four game series in Boston to decide which team will remain in first place. Edwin Jackson faces Clay Buchholz in game one tonight. Jackson came up at a young age, and now at 24 he's finally finding his way. He still walks too many people, but he's cut down on home runs and with the defense lowering his hits allowed, Jackson is posting a good ERA. He's an object lesson for all who are worried about their young pitchers turning out well. Buchholz is one of those youngsters off to a rough start. His last two appearances, however, are what Boston fans expect as he struck out 15 in 14 innings pitched while walking four.

The Mariners and Yankees offer a great matchup of undefeated pitchers as Erik Bedard faces Chien-Ming Wang. Erik pitched well at the stadium in his career, posting a 3.45 ERA. He only has a 1-1 record to show for it, however. Wang is baffling left-handed hitters this season, holding them to a .299 slugging percentage. They do, however, have the only home run hit off the Yankees ace.

Cincinnati travels to Atlanta and sends rising star Edinson Volquez against Tim Hudson. Volquez is wild but tough to hit as he's allowed 20 hits and 16 walks in 29 1/3 innings. Hudson is causing some worries as in two of his last three starts he lasted just three innings while allowing four runs.

The Cubs trail the Cardinals by 1/2 game as Chicago travels to St. Louis. Rich Hill takes the hill versus ace Adam Wainwright. Hill posted a K/BB of nearly 3.0 in 2007, but in 2008 he's even at 14/14. That's never a good sign for a pitcher. The trick to getting to Wainwright is to fill your lineup with lefties. Those batters are slugging .625 against the Cardinals right hander. The Cubs, however, only have three position players right now who bat left-handed.

Finally, the Mets and Diamondbacks do battle in Phoenix as John Maine takes on slugger Micah Owings. The two own similar ERAs but Owings took home two more wins. Maine's had bad luck on the road so far, posting a 5.40 ERA away from the friendly confines of Shea Stadium. Owings is glad he doesn't have to face himself as a batter. He's hitting .421, his opponents just .195.

Enjoy!

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The Royals offense came to life against Texas, scoring nine runs in each of the first two games of the series. Unfortunately, they only split those games as Texas scored eleven last night. Zack Grienke tries to bring the Texas hitters under control as he goes for his fourth win of the season. It's been a bend, don't break year for Zack as he's allowed a .304 batting average with the bases empty but just .091 with runners in scoring position. He'll face Sidney Ponson, who was the victim of poor fielding in his first start, allowing five runs, four unearned.

As Milwaukee comes off a Wednesday night pounding to play a Thursday afternoon game, they'll depend on Yovani Gallardo to shut down the Cubs run machine. The only run against Gallardo in his two starts came on a solo home run. He takes on Cubs ace Carlos Zambrano. Carlos is off to a much better start than last April. He gave up the same number of hits, but did it over six more innings. On top of that, he cut his walks by ten.

Finally, the Blue Jays and Red Sox try to find some offense as A.J. Burnett pitches against Tim Wakefield. Burnett sports a 6.07 ERA and Wakefield comes in at 4.07. A .302 BA allowed and a .382 OBA allowed by Burnett matches the Red Sox strengths. Wakefield is wild, walking seventeen in twenty nine innings. We'll see how good these pitchers are today at leaving runners on base.

Enjoy!

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Cliff Lee tries to end his incredible April 5-0 as he faces the Seattle Mariners. He's only allowed one earned run in the month. His strikeout to walk ratio is 14.5 to 1. His stats are a sabermetric marvel.

The Brewers can tie the Cubs with a win tonight as Jeff Suppan takes on Ryan Dempster. Suppan is not striking out many batters this season, eleven in 31 1/3 innings. I wouldn't want too many Cubs putting the ball in play, as they are hitting .281 as a team. Dempster is walking a high number of batters, about one every other inning. He's not getting hit, however, and with only two home runs allowed, the walks haven't cost him. So far, the move from the pen to the rotation is working well.

The Athletics and Angels play game three of their four game series with first place on the line once more. Dana Eveland and Ervin Santana are both off to good starts. The Magic is back for Santana as he's cut down his hits allowed and with it his home run rate. Eveland is starting out as a reverse lefty. Think Tom Glavine at his best, the type of left-hander that does better against righties than lefties. He should do well against the Angels who put few lefties in the lineup.

Enjoy!

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The Pirates travel to New York as aces Ian Snell and Johan Santana do battle at Shea Stadium. Snell has pitched much better than his 4.45 ERA. His strikeouts, walks and home run allowed (just one) indicate he should be having a pretty good season. His ERA is 1.42 runs higher than his FIP, possibly indicating bad luck. Batters are hitting a high percentage of line drives off him, and his defense isn't turning balls into outs very well. He also has an extremely strange platoon split. A right-handed pitcher, lefties are hitting .194 against him, righties .403 in equal numbers of at bats.

Johan Santana is doing pretty much what's expected from the ace. He's recorded lots of strikeouts, few walks and fewer hits than innings pitched. In 2007, however, home runs hit off the lefty rose, and that rate doesn't appear to be a fluke as Santana continues on pace to allowed about 30 home runs in 200 innings.

On the west coast, the battle for first place in the AL West commences as the Oakland Athletics open a four game series with the Angels in Anaheim. The series kicks off tonight with Chad Gaudin facing Jon Garland. It was the Angels who were supposed to dominate in pitching, but right now the Athletics own the lowest ERA in the American League by 0.4 runs. The Oakland staff has done a great job of keeping their walks and home runs low, and Gaudin is a good example of that. He walks one batter every four innings and allows a home run every twelve innings.

Garland is the victim of a strikeout rate that fell off a cliff. He's only struck out four batters in 30 1/3 innings this season, the lowest rate by far in the majors. This has led to lots more balls in play, many more hits (a .336 BA allowed) and more power (a .516 slugging percentage allowed).

The Angels strength is their offense, which ranks second in the AL in runs per game at 5.0, 0.4 runs better than Oakland ranked sixth. We'll see if Gaudin's good pitching can beat the Angels good hitting.

Enjoy!

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Sometimes there's one matchup so outstanding, it just jumps to the top of games to watch. That game takes place in San Diego where Brandon Webb faces Jake Peavy. Consider:

• Both pitchers are undefeated.
• Both have ERAs in the low twos.
• There in the best pitchers park in the majors.

Webb is off to a 5-0 start and averages seven innings a game. Opponents are hitting under the Mendoza line with a .188 batting average, and they are barely registering extra base hits with a .258 slugging percentage. Not only do few batters get on against Brandon, but his batting average allowed goes down as the opposition threatens; .158 with runners on, .103 with men in scoring position.

Brandon is actually allowing a line drive percentage higher than any of his last four seasons. With a very high DER behind him, I wonder if those liners are being hit right at people? If that's the case, we might see a turnaround in his numbers as the year goes on.

In 2007, Peavy was just as effective on the road as he was at pitcher friendly PETCO. So far in 2008, that's not true. He's nearly unhittable at home, as the opposition posts a line of .117/.200/.169 against him.

On the road, however, batters are hitting .340 against Jake with a .617 slugging percentage. So today's game puts Jake in the perfect place to do well against Arizona. Like Webb, he gets tougher with men on base allowing, his averages allowed dropping to .163 with men on and .115 with runners in scoring position.

Unlike Webb, Jake lowered his line drive percentage this season, raised his ground ball percentage, and is doing a great job on keeping fly ball against him on the infield.

Since the start of the 2004 season, Peavy and Webb rank third and eighth respectively in ERA among pitchers with 500 innings. Both are great at keeping the ball in the park, but Webb's rank of third in the majors over that time is all the more amazing given his home park. This should be a great duel this afternoon.

Enjoy!

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Baltimore and Chicago play two after rain postponed Friday night's game. A sweep by the Orioles would assure a tie for first place in the AL East, while a sweep by Chicago will help them fend off the surging Indians. Game one offers the most interesting matchup as Brian Burres faces John Danks.

Burres's last two outings are quite a contrast. He allowed five hits and four walks in 4 2/3 innings against Tampa Bay, resulting in six runs, then allowed five hits and four walks in 5 2/3 innings against the Yankees, and left with a shutout intact. Danks is turning out to be very tough to hit this year. Not only has he limited opponents to a .202 batting average, only one of his seventeen hits allowed went for extra bases, a double.

A pair of aces pitch in St. Louis as Roy Oswalt faces Adam Wainwright. Oswalt found his groove after a rough start, allowing four runs in his last fourteen innings pitched. It's interesting that his walks have gone up a bit but the hits against him went down. Maybe he was around the plate too much. Adam is doing everything right so far this season as he's struck out three times as many as he's walked and only allowed one home run.

The Diamondbacks are 8-4 on the road with a 2.23 ERA this season. They send the undefeated Micah Owings against the Padres and the winless Justin Germano. The opposition is getting the bat on the ball versus Justin as he's only struck out seven in 23 1/3 innings. That's not going to cut it in the majors. All three home runs allowed by Owings this season came off the bats of left handers.

Finally, Oakland continues to win while rebuilding and sends Justin Duchscherer against Seattle's Erik Bedard. Justin pitched well in his first start since 2003, striking out six in five innings and allowing just one run. Bedard makes his first start in three weeks. So far this season, he's been a bit wild and hit hard as he's walked eight and allowed three home runs in eleven innings pitched.

Enjoy!

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A good pitching matchup in New York tonight between two young pitchers. Mike Pelfrey takes on Jair Jurrjens. Pelfrey's 3.18 ERA is only 0.06 behind Johan Santana. Mike pitched much better at Shea this year, giving up the same number of hits as on the road, but in almost twice the at bats. Jurrjens has walked nine batters in 25 1/3 innings, but his control is better than that. Four of those walks were intentional, tied for the most in the majors.

Only 0.38 separate the ERAs of Ryan Dempster and Odalis Perez, but their records are opposite as the Cubs Dempster comes in at 3-0 while the Nationals Perez lies at 0-3. Dempster has been wild, walking eleven batters in 24 innings, but he's allowed a mere .167 BA with runners in scoring position. The Nationals have not scored more than four runs in any of Perez's starts, averaging a little over two runs in the games he pitched.

Minnesota and Texas send two evenly matched pitchers to the mound as well. Nick Blackburn comes off 7 2/3 shutout innings against Cleveland, and is getting twice as many balls hit on the ground compared to hit as flies. Millwood pitched well against the Red Sox his last time out, but his bullpen couldn't hold the lead he helped establish. Kevin is giving up a lot of hits, but he's helped by the great majority of them going for singles. His opponents isolated power is just 0.062.

Finally, the Marlins head north to take on the Brewers. Scott Olsen is undefeated for the Fish, his 2.60 ERA a result of holding right-handed batters to a .190 batting average. Yovani Gallardo makes his second start since returning from the disabled list. He allowed just one run in his first start, and now holds a 3.53 ERA in his 117 1/3 innings major league career. Although a right-handed pitcher, left handed batters hit about nine points lower against Gallardo.

Enjoy!

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The Red Sox call up Justin Masterson to start in their ailing rotation. Too bad he's not a pinch hitter, so that in a tight situation the crowd could start chanting, "Bat Masterson!" He'll face a tough opponent in Joe Saunders. The Angels starter walks a batter every five innings and that has helped him keep his ERA down to 2.15.

Francisco Liriano makes his third start of the season, and hopes to pitch better this time. His control is awful, with ten walks in 9 2/3 innings. Greg Smith's control hasn't been great for the Athletics, but he's been tough to hit as Smith allowed just a .222 batting average.

Hank Steinbrenner's outburst appeared to have a positive effect on Mike Mussina Wednesday night, and we'll see if it does the same for Phil Hughes. The league is hitting .357 against The Franchise right now, so he has no where to go but up. The White Sox counter with Gavin Floyd, off to a great start this season. However, his walk rate is a bit high and his strikeout rate is a bit low. That should be a poor match for the Yankees offense.

The Indians and Royals play two games to make up for last night's rainout. Both offer great pitching matchups as Carmona and Tomko square off in game one and Lee and Bannister take the mound in game two. While aces Sabathia and Meche have struggled this season, the 2-3-4 starters for both teams are off to very good starts.

Finally, Tim Lincecum takes his 3-0 record into San Diego to face the reeling Padres. They've lost seven of their last eight games and send Chris Young to the mound. Young hasn't found the magic that made him unhittable in 2007. His strikeouts are good, but he's walking so many teams can wait for good pitches in the strike zone. The last time I watched Lincecum pitch, the broadcasters wondered if he would turn out to be Steve Carlton 1972, putting up a great record on a lousy team.

Enjoy!

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Daisuke Matsuzaka goes for his fifth win of the season tonight as the Red Sox continue their series with the Angels. So far this year, Matsuzaka lowered his ERA over a run by trading hits for walks. In 2007, his WHIP was 1.32. This year it's down to 1.22, despite a higher walk rate. We'll see how long that can last.

The Angels send Jon Garland to the mound. He was never much of a strike out pitcher, but his rate is dropping like a stone as he's only struck out three batters in 24 1/3 innings. I can't imagine it's good for a pitcher to allow lots of balls in play at Fenway Park.

Talk about taking Moneyball to an extreme, the Red Sox roster currently holds six players with over fifty plate appearances whose OBAs are over .400. I suspect David Ortiz will join them eventually.

Johan Santana and Tim Redding own nearly identical ERAs as they face each other tonight in Washington. Tim's done a great job of keeping runners off base this season, but once they're on he gives up extra base hits. The best time to get Santana is at the start of the seventh. He allows a .165 BA through six, but that jumps to .353 after that.

Greg Maddux makes his second attempt at winning his 350th game, this time against the San Francisco Giants. The struggling Matt Cain tries to keep Greg one short. Cain is simply wild, walking 15 batters in 20 1/3 innings. That gives the opposition a .375 OBA. Home runs are once again a problem for Greg. Moving to the big parks of the west coast helped keep those totals down, but he's already allowed four in just twenty five innings. Of course, when the cleanup hitter is Bengie Molina, he shouldn't worry about it that much.

Finally, a contrast in control in Seattle as Daniel Cabrera faces Carlos Silva. Since he entered the league in 2004, no one has walked more batters than Daniel Cabrera. In that same time period, only Brad Radke walked fewer batters per nine than Carlos Silva.

Enjoy!

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Correction: Garland is not a lefty.

First place teams battle in Boston as the Angels visit the Red Sox. Josh Beckett seems more worried about ice cream than his ERA of late. He comes into the game with a 5.12 ERA, Although he's improved in each of his last two starts. He's given up five extra-base hits this year, four with men on base. Jered Weaver comes to town with a good ERA but a 1-3 record. He's pitched two games which the Angels lost 3-2.

The other Los Angeles team, the Dodgers, continue their series against the Reds. Hong-Chih Kuo makes his third start for Los Angeles. He's been effectively wild, walking six batters in seven innings as a starter, but allowing just three hits. Cincinnati sends Edinson Volquez in opposition, who is having similar results. He's walked nine in fifteen innings, but batters are hitting just .226 against him, and are 1 for 10 with runners in scoring position.

Cleveland is looking up at the Kansas City Royals right now, and tonight C.C. Sabathia tries to turn around his season as he faces Gil Meche. C.C. brings a kiloliter size ERA into the game, 13.50. He's already walked more than a third of batters he walked in all of 2007, and given up 1/4 of the home runs. Meche is off to a slow start as well, although with Gil it's more timing, as batters have hit .391 so far against him with runners in scoring position.

Barry Zito gets a tough assignment as he tries to pick up his first win of the season, Brandon Webb and the Diamonbacks. Arizona hits lefties better so far this season, a .300 BA. They're at .269 vs. righties. Given how hard he's been hit this season, Zito's 4.50 ERA is probably generous. Webb is pretty much the opposite in all regards. He won his first four starts, keeps hits against him low, struck out many more than he walked and lefties are hitting just .171 off him.

There are also a number of good aces in action tonight as Wang, Smoltz, Felix Hernandez and Jake Peavy take the mounds for their clubs. All are undefeated, as is Kyle Lohse who currently sports an unexpected 1.48 ERA.

Enjoy!

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It's the one they kept versus the one that got away in Boston this morning. Today's the annual 11 AM Patriots Day game at Fenway with Kason Gabbard taking on Clay Buchholz. So far, Gabbard's pitched well for Texas. In eleven starts with the Rangers, he's 3-1 with a 4.58 ERA, but he's started 2008 with a 2.41 mark. He does depend on the opposition putting the ball in play, something that's always dangerous at Fenway. Buchholz is off to a tough start in 2008. The strikeouts are there, the walks aren't, but the opposition is hitting .370 against him with runners in scoring position.

Toronto hosts their neighbor Detroit in an early start as well as Armando Galarraga visits Shaun Marcum. Galarraga pitched very well in his first start of the year, striking out six and walking none as he allowed just two runs in 6 2/3 innings. Marcum appears to have made a leap this season as he's ratcheted up his strikeouts and dialed down his walks. The result so far is an ERA about 1 1/2 runs better than 2007.

The first place Marlins continue their easy schedule as they visit Pittsburgh to take on the reeling Pirates. Despite just nine strikeouts in 22 2/3 innings, Mark Hendrickson is limiting the number of hits against him and is 3-1 with a 3.97 ERA. He is easy to run on, however, as opposition base stealers are 4-0 against him. Matt Morris takes the mound for the Pirates and brings along a 7.02 ERA. He is simply getting pounded as he's allowed a .356 BA so far with ten of the twenty six hits going for extra bases. I doubt he'll last much longer in the majors if those numbers continue.

Finally, Mich Owings hosts Kevin Correia as the Giants visit the Diamondbacks. Correia has pitched better than his ERA. He hasn't timed his extra base hits allowed well as they tend to come more often with men on base. Owings, like Marcum, upped the strikeouts and downed the walks. With a 2.29 ERA and a .200 BA, he might end up with a higher batting average (times 10) than his ERA.

Enjoy!

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Yovani Gallardo makes his 2008 debut as the Brewers go for a sweep of the Reds. So far, Milwaukee has doubled the Reds runs in the series, outscoring them 10-5. That might be more difficult today and Aaron Harang takes the mound for Cincinnati. Aaron is holding the opposition to a .271 OBA, but his four home runs allowed accounted for more than half his runs allowed. Gallardo impressed in his rookie season, striking out 101 while walking just 37.

Texas starters are pitching decently, posting a 4.11 ERA, but are just 4-8 on the season. Kevin Millwood suffered the most here as he comes into this game against the Red Sox with a 1-2 record despite a 2.42 ERA. Millwood seems to be one of those pitchers where luck evens out. His .348 OBA allowed indicates his ERA should be higher, but four double plays and three caught stealings helped him out. He'll face Tim Wakefield, who is in the same boat. Wakefield is allowing a .392 OBA, but since he's allowed a .217 BA with runners in scoring position, it hasn't killed him. I wonder how long he can pitch on the edge like that.

Two relative newcomers face off in Atlanta as Hiroki Kuroda visits Jair Jurrjens. The latest Dodgers import is showing great control as Kuroda walked just two in 18 2/3 innings so far this season. Jurrjens has yet to allow a home run in his first 18 1/3 innings of work, and has only allowed four in his first 49 major league innings.

The Pirates and Cubs feature two D's on the mound as Zach Duke faces Ryan Dempster. Duke is another pitcher with a great ERA despite the opposition getting on base a lot. In Duke's case, he's limited the opposition's power with men on base. Dempster is trading walks for hits as he's allowed nine of each in nineteen innings so far. He's only issued two with runners on base however, so he's making the opposition earn their movement around the bases.

Finally, it's a Randy battle in Phoenix as Johnson faces Wolf. The Big Unit starts at home for the first time since his surgery. Errors kept the three runs allowed in his first start unearned. Wolf sports a 1.42 ERA and a very Johnson like eighteen strikeouts in nineteen innings.

Enjoy!

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There are a number of good young pitchers taking the mound today. Johnny Cueto faces the Milwaukee Brewers and Jeff Suppan. The Reds Rookie already faced the Brewers once and struck out eight in 6 2/3 innings, although he did not get the decision. Suppan is off to a rough start, as his strikeouts have fallen off to the point that he's now walked more batters than he's K'd.

Tim Lincecum is emerging as the ace of the Giants rotation. No other San Francisco starter owns an ERA under 4.00, and Tim stands at 2.25. He also has the best batting average on the team at the moment, as he's 2 for 4 on the season.

Lincecum stepped up his strikeout rate this season, sending down 12.4 batters per nine via the K. He's yet to allow a ball to leave the park. He'll face Joel Pineiro who had a very rough outing versus San Francisco six days ago. We'll see if he's better in his second start since returning to the Cardinals.

Even though he's been around since 2004, Zack Greinke is still rather young at 24 years old. He continues to impress on the mound, boasting an 0.75 ERA so far this season. Unlike Cueto and Lincecum, however, Zack does not rely on the strikeout for his success. He tries to keep the ball on the ground, with 47% of ball in play going that route. His fly balls stay in the park as well, as he's only allowed one home run this season.

Greg Smith, one of the many off-season Oakland trade acquisitions is off to a good start himself. So far his control hasn't been great, but it appears he's effectively wild as batters are hitting just .186 against him. This matchup of youngsters might be the best of the day.

The Mariners and Angels split their first four games in rather high scoring fashion as the teams are averaging 12 runs per game in their meetings. Jarrod Washburn and Ervin Santana will try to quell the opposing offenses tonight. About the only time Washburn's been hit this year is with a man on first only. With runners on he's allowed a .333 BA, but with men in scoring position that drops to .154. So far this season Santana cut his home run rate by 1/3 as compared to 2007. The result is an over two run drop in ERA.

Enjoy!

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The Mets travel to Philadelphia for a huge pitching matchup as Johan Santana faces Cole Hamels in a battle of elite lefties. Hamels is posting an 0.82 ERA despite a rise in his walk rate and a fall in his strikeout rate compared to 2007. He's become tougher to hit, however, as the league is batting just .143 against him, .083 with runners on base. Santana pitched well in all three starts, but ran into trouble with the gopher ball the last time out against Milwaukee. That's a danger as well when facing Philadelphia.

Cleveland travels to Minnesota where the rejuvenated Cliff Lee faces the recovering Francisco Liriano. Lee has been about as perfect as you could expect from a starter. In 14 2/3 innings so far he's recorded twelve strikeouts, walked just one and allowed no home runs. Liriano didn't look ready to return to the majors as he walked five in his first start. He walked 32 in 121 innings before his injury sent him to surgery in 2006.

In Anaheim, Joe Saunders tries to continue his ace-like pitching against the Seattle Mariners. He's only allowed one extra base hit so far, so his opponents OBA (.253) is higher than his opponents slugging percentage (.233). R.A. Dickey makes his first start for the Mariners. He spent last year in the Brewers system converting to a pure knuckleball pitcher. He pitched one perfect inning of relief so far, so we'll see if this start goes better the last start in which he just threw the knuckleball at the major league level.

Enjoy!

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The Cardinals go for their eighth win at home and the Brewers try to close the gap in the NL Central as these two rivals face off this afternoon. Manny Parra takes the hill for Milwaukee. Parra's allowed a few runs so far due to four singles with men in scoring position. His strikeout, walk and home run numbers, however, indicate a good pitcher in the making. Kyle Lohse continues to be the surprise signing of the spring. Opponents managed just one extra-base hit off the Cardinals pitcher in three starts leading to a mere .290 slugging percentage against.

Edinson Volquez tries to keep the Reds from a sweep as he takes on Ted Lilly and the Cubs. Volquez is one of the young guns who is turning the Reds rotation into a solid staff. He's yet to allow a hit with runners in scoring position this season. Lilly, like a few starters detailed yesterday, is simply getting hit. He's allowed nineteen hits so far, and nine of those resulted in extra bases for an opposition slugging percentage of .614.

In New York, the Yankees and Red Sox finish up their five games in seven days as Josh Beckett faces Mike Mussina. After a rough first start against Toronto, Josh pitched decently against the Yankees, allowing three runs over 6 2/3 innings and receiving the win. His control was back, as he walked just one against a very selective team. The matchup on the other side to watch is Mussina and Manny. Mike has pluses and minuses against Ramirez. Manny's been held to a .321 OBA, but his hits tend to go for extra bases as he's slugging .561 against Mike.

Enjoy!

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Four aces in trouble take the mound today. Barry Zito and the Giants host Brandon Webb and the Diamondbacks this afternoon. In Zito's strong seasons, he allowed fewer hits than innings pitched. So far in 2008, he's given up 23 hits in 16 innings. The good news is that his walks are low. The bad news is the Diamondbacks are hitting well and Brandon Webb is pitching well. Webb is in the sweet spot, where he's striking out batters at a high rate, and his defense is turning a high number of the batted balls against him into outs. The Hardball times lists the DER behind Webb at .810.

C.C. Sabathia, like Zito, is giving up a ton of hits, and unlike Zito is also walking batters. Thirty three runners reached base against Sabathia in just 14 innings. He's getting the Tigers at the wrong time, as their slumbering offense awoke to score 17 runs in the last two games.

Roy Oswalt takes the hill for the Astros after their disastrous loss against Philadelphia Tuesday night. Oswalt's been pounded in his three starts, allowing 30 hits in 16 innings. He's only walked two, but it looks like his opponents are seeing pitches in the strike zone just fine. He's allowed five home runs so far, after giving up just 15 in 2007. Kyle Kendrick opposes him for Philadelphia. Kendrick's ERA is 6.00, and his control is awful. Kendrick allowed eight walks and struck out just one batter so far in 2007.

Finally, Gil Meche tries to earn his ace money against the Angels. In 2007, Gil got his walks under control, but so far in 2008 they are up over one every other inning. Jered Weaver goes for the Angels, and he hasn't allowed a run at home yet.

Enjoy!

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The Giants celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first major league game in San Francisco with a 1:34 start against the Diamondbacks. That's the minute the Giants' first game played at Seals Stadium took place. That was an 8-0 victory for over the Dodgers.

Today, a pair of 2.63 ERA pitchers take the mound as Micah Owings battles Kevin Correia. Kevin is off to a good start in an effort to drop his ERA for the fourth year in a row. The righty is having great success against left-handed batters so far, holding them to a .222 OBA and a .269 slugging percentage. Owings is simply blowing away hitters, striking out 13 in his first 13 2/3 innings.

Toronto and Baltimore continue their battle in the tight AL East with the best pitching matchup of the day in the league. Shaun Marcum faces Steve Trachsel. Marcum's been consistent in his first two starts, going seven innings, walking one and striking out eight in each. That kind of performance makes a manager's life easy. Despite an ERA of 3.00, Trachsel is living on the edge. With more walks than strikeouts, he's being saved right now by lefties hitting just .083 against him, vs. .350 for righties. That reverse platoon difference is unlikely to last.

In Chicago, converted closer Ryan Dempster hosts Reds ace Aaron Harang. Dempster is pitching like a closer, striking out ten and allowing just four hits in 13 innings so far. Harang is averaging seven innings a start and holding the opposition to a .238 OBA early in the season.

Finally, the Yankees and Rays battle again with Andy Pettitte taking the mound against Edwin Jackson. Pettitte pitched one good game and one poor game so far, the poor start coming against this Tampa Bay team. Jackson is the surprise of the year. His 0.64 ERA is the result of allowing fewer hits, although his strikeout and walk rates are about the same as in 2007. He might be the pitcher the Rays improved defense is helping the most.

Enjoy!

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The Red Sox head to Cleveland as these two teams face each other for the first time since the 2007 ALCS. Jon Lester takes the hill for Boston and his 2008 season is off to a lackluster start. He's walked ten in sixteen innings while striking out just seven. Walks in general have been a problem for the Boston starters this year as they've walked 43 in 72 2/3 innings, or 5.3 per 9. Westbrook's been in the strike zone in his two starts as he walked just one.

Two first place teams face off in Chicago as Greg Smith and the Athletics take on Mark Buehrle and the White Sox. This will be the first time Nick Swisher plays against his former team in the regular season. Swisher is providing a great OBA at the top of the order for the White Sox, posting a .444 OBA there. Ryan Sweeney, one of the players the A's acquired in the deal, is putting up very good numbers for the Athletics, although an injury and the expected cold weather will likely keep him out of these games.

It's also a game that pits two teams with different strengths. The White Sox score over six runs per game, the A's just over four. But Oakland allows about 0.8 runs less than Chicago per game, so we'll see if good pitching stops good hitting.

Finally, Randy Johnson makes his first start of the 2008 season in San Francisco. It's a good opponent for the Big Unit, as they are tied with the Padres for lowest runs per game in the National League. Randy faces Jonathan Sanchez. The Giants pitcher struck out 95 in 92 innings his first two years in the majors, but has yet to record a K in 10 innings this year, and this year struck out 18 in 10 innings. With Arizona boasting the highest runs per game in the majors, this will be a tough assignment for the young left-hander.

Enjoy!

Correction: I read the wrong column when looking at Sanchez's K rate.

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The Mets and Brewers play the rubber game of their series at Shea this afternoon as Jeff Suppan takes on Oliver Perez. Both are off to great starts. Suppan is spreading out his hits allowed nicely, as batters are hitting .303 against him with the bases empty but .133 with men on. Batters are not hitting Perez at all, as opponents are an aggregate .200 against him and have yet to score a run.

Johnny Cueto makes his third start, and so far batters are having a tough time making contact. He's struck out 18 in 13 1/3 innings, over 12 per nine innings, and he's done it without walking a batter. Of the 28 balls in play against Cueto, only six have resulted in hits.

His opponent, Tom Gorzelanny, is the exact opposite. He's walked more batters than he's struck out, and twelve of 29 balls in play against him would up as hits.

Burke Badenhop makes his first major league start this afternoon against the Wandy Rodriguez and the Houston Astros. It's not that compelling a matchup, but Badenhop is now my favorite baseball name.

Francisco Liriano makes his first major league appearance since the 2006 season. He's returning from Tommy John surgery. His two minor league outings were unimpressive save for the strikeouts in the FSL. I get the feeling the Twins are rushing him back. He'll face Brian Bannister, who has proven tough to hit this season. Not only is he holding opponents to a .171 BA, he hasn't allowed an extra-base hit.

The Mariners go for the sweep against the Angels in Seattle with Erik Bedard facing Joe Saunders. Saunders is earning a permanent spot in the rotation with his 0.56 ERA. He's walked just three batters in sixteen innings of work. Bedard's ERA is a good 3.27, but he hasn't shown much control yet, walking eight in eleven innings. The free passes haven't hurt him that much as he's allowed a