Marc Rzepczynski makes his major league debut for the Blue Jays against James Shields and the Rays tonight. I thought he might challenge Javier Vazquez for highest scoring Scrabble name of all time, but falls short. Marc Rzepczynski scores 48 points, while Javier Vazquez is still champion at 53. Of course, if he changed the spelling to Mark Rzepczynzki, he would blow Javy out of the water. 🙂

Rzepczynski rose quickly, playing in the minors for less than two seasons. He couples a high strikeout rate with a ridiculously low home run rate, giving up five homers in 243 1/3 innings. That led to a 19-11 record with a 2.85 ERA combined A and AA. James Shields gives up the long ball, but still is on track to lower his ERA for the third straight season. For his career, he allows 25.1 home runs per 200 innings.

The Dodgers travel to New York with both Joe Torre and Manny Ramirez returning home. Clayton Kershaw takes the mound for the Dodgers against Mike Pelfrey of the Mets. Kershaw appears to be a Dodger Stadium pitcher. His ERA is well below two at home, well above five on the road. Pelfrey is poor at either end of a rally. He allows a .354 OBA with none on and none out and a .313 BA with runners in scoring position.

St. Louis holds a one game lead on Milwaukee with the two even in the AFILC as Yovani Gallardo hosts Adam Wainwright. Adam already exceeded his 2008 strikeout total by 10 in 18 fewer innings, but he’s exceeded his walk total as well. Gallardo’s last eight games shows that pitching isn’t the only problem on the Brewers. Yovani is 4-3 in that span despite a 1.70 ERA.

Finally, the 1-2 punch for the Orioles reunite as Jeremy Guthrie and Erik Bedard face-off in Seattle. After two consistently good years in 2007 and 2008, Guthrie’s ERA ballooned to 5.20 this season. Teams are hitting the long ball against him, as his home run rate is 38.5 per 200 innings. Bedard is posting the best ERA of his career, although he still missed half a dozen starts due to injury. He’s showing the power and control that Seattle expected when they traded for him, however.

Enjoy!