May 6, 2016

Games of the Day

The Nationals try again to stop the Cubs juggernaut as Max Scherzer faces John Lackey in the Friday matinee. Scherzer comes off his best start of the season, shutting down a good Cardinals offense with no walks and nine strikeouts in seven innings. Overall, his three-true outcome rates have all degraded from last season, so we’ll see if he can put together two good starts in a row. Lackey owns a 3-1 record, but the last two games the Cubs lost were both Lackey starts.

The Dodgers head to the Great White North to face the Blue Jays. Kenta Maeda battles Marcus Stroman. Maeda’s MLB career is off to a great start. His 1.41 ERA is due to excellence in all three-true outcomes. Stroman allowed four home runs so far this season, but has yet to allow one at home.

Kansas City and Cleveland are both four games behind the White Sox in the AL Central as Yordano Ventura takes on Danny Salazar. Ventura sports a terrible walk rate, issuing 20 free passes in 27 innings. His low hit rate has saved his ERA so far, but how long can that last? Salazar is also effectively wild, but at a much more reasonable walk every other inning. He’s allowed fewer hits (14) than walks (15).

Undefeateds square off in Detroit as 3-0 Cole Hamels and the Rangers try to beat 5-0 Jordan Zimmermann. Batters are going a good job of getting on base versus Hamels, with a .365 OBP, but so far have hit just .165 with runners in scoring position. Zimmermann allowed just four extra base hits this season, and three of them (including the lone home run) came with the bases empty.

The Rockies and Giants try to knock each other out of first place as Chad Bettis faces Madison Bumgarner. Despite playing his home games at Coors, all five of Bettis’s home runs allowed came on the road. Bumgarner is blowing away batters with 45 strikeouts in 35 2/3 innings, but has allowed a .254 BA. The BABIP against him this season stands at .333, versus .290 for his career.

Finally, the Mets send Noah Syndergaard against the Padres and Drew Pomeranz. In his short career, Syndergaard struck out 210 batters in 182 1/3 innings with just 37 walks. Pomeranz makes just his second home start of the season, so his excellent ERA is more than the PETCO effect. He’s holding opponents to a .194/.280/.311 slash line.

Enjoy!

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