It’s something old and something new, and even something blue as Roy Halladay and the Blue Jays take on the Rays and David Price. The Rays took the first two games in consecutive walk-offs, one low scoring, one high scoring. Today’s lunchtime game might be just right. David Price isn’t pitching all that well right now, but there was a time when Roy Halladay wasn’t very good either. Price performs poorly in two of the three legs of the pitching tripod; he’s walking too many batters and allowing too many home runs. Halladay walked 13 fewer men in 78 more innings.
Alfredo Aceves moves out of the bullpen for a game to replace the injured Chien-Ming Wang as the Yankees go for a sweep of the Twins against Francisco Liriano. Aceves strength as a pitcher is keeping his walks down. In his brief career, he’s averaged 2.2 walks per nine innings. Liriano never really got his control back after the Tommy John surgery. He walked 2.4 per nine innings before injuring his arm, 4.0 since.
The Braves travel to Colorado and pit their rookie sensation, Tommy Hanson, against Rockies veteran Aaron Cook. Hanson, a righty, is doing a good job of pitching around lefites. Both right and left-handed batters collected 66 at bats against Hanson, but he’s walked 12 LHB and only six RHB. He survives the walks to lefties as he’s holding them to just a .227 BA and a .318 slugging percentage. In his last six starts, Cook owns a 1.98 ERA with just six walks in 41 innings pitched.
The Mariners stand 4 1/2 games behind the Rangers as the two open a four-game series leading into the All-Star break. Tommy Hunter faces Felix Hernandez to start things off. Hunter made three starts last season, lasted 11 innings and allowed 20 runs. He’s improves, lasting 17 innings in his three starts this year, allowing just six runs. Hernandez is pitching about as well as the Mariners hoped he would when they brought him up at 19. He’s allowed eight home runs this year, but just two since June 1. He’s allowed just seven earned runs in his last 45 1/3 innings, a 1.39 ERA.
Finally, the Padres travel to San Francisco to face Tim Lincecum and the the Giants. Tim owns a pretty amazing line against the Padres for his career. In ten starts he posted a 1.43 ERA, but just a 3-2 record. Four times he pitched short shutouts (one of those of the complete game variety), and three of those represent his three wins. Maybe the Giants can get him some run support against Josh Geer, who comes into the game with a 5.46 ERA. He’s allowed 19 home run in 84 innings, a rate of 45 per 200 innings. I didn’t think that was possible pitching half your games at PETCO.
Enjoy!
Posted by David Pinto at 10:35 am | Games | Permalink | No Comments
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