Please see yesterday’s post for a discussion of the Rays/Red Sox game.

NL Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum takes the hill as the Giants and Brewers open in San Francisco. He’ll face Jeff Suppan. In his second season in the majors, Lincecum struck out an impressive 265 batters in just 227 innings. What might have been more impressive is that despite pitching 77 more innings than in 2007, Tim lowered his home runs allowed from 12 to 11. He prevents batters from putting the ball in play, and when they do it doesn’t go far. We’ll have to see if the heavy workload early in his career takes a toll this season.

Jeff Suppan’s home runs allowed went in the opposite direction last year. He pitched 29 fewer innings, but allowed 12 more home runs.

The other opener happens in Chicago, where the White Sox and Royals attempt to play their Monday snow-out. Gil Meche takes on Mark Buehrle. Meche is a different pitcher since coming over from the Mariners. His 4.65 ERA with Seattle is down to 3.82 with the Royals. He did it by cutting down his walks per 9 by 30% and his home runs per 9 by 27%. Buehrle improved in 2008 over 2007, although his ERA rose. His FIP dropped from 4.33 to 3.98, he was just less lucky as more balls found their way through the infield for hits.

Enjoy!

Correction: Fixed link.