June 30, 2010

Games of the Day

Roy Halladay and Aaron Harang face off in Cincinnati as the Phillies and Reds play the rubber game of their series. Halladay is Mr. Consistency. If you take his pitching line and double the counting stats, you pretty much get his pitching line for each of the last two seasons, only with a lower ERA. Over these 2 1/2 seasons, he owns the third lowest ERA in the majors among hurlers with at least 300 innings, and he’s pitched the most innings. Harang was as consistent from 2005 through 2007, his seasonal age 27 through 29 seasons. His ERAs were over four before and after that, giving him a very short peak to his career.

The Arizona Diamondback call up Barry Enright, who is pitching very well at AA. They need a spot starter as they are going to skip Edwin Jackson after his high pitch count no-hitter. Barry is a control artist, so maybe he’ll take over for the out of control Dontrelle Willis. He doesn’t get an easy start as he’ll face the Cardinals and Jeff Suppan. Jeff is posting a 3.95 ERA for St. Louis after giving Milwaukee a 7.84 effort. I don’t see much of a change in his K/BB/HR/Hits from one team to the other, so I don’t expect his ERA to stay that low for long.

The Rockies go for a sweep of the Padres as they send Jeff Francis against Clayton Richard. Francis is a different man since returning from a year off due to injury. Fifty two percent of the balls in play against him are ground balls, compared to 43% for his career. That’s brought down his home runs allowed significantly, and lowered his ERA as well. Richard with the White Sox owned a .479/.405 home/road opposition slugging percentage split. With the Padres, that’s .301/.435. He hasn’t improved that much as a pitcher, he’s just pitching in a part that helps instead of hurts him.

Jake Peavy takes on Zack Greinke in a battle of good pitchers who have had some trouble this season. Peavy put it together in his last four starts, posting a 1.20 ERA with very good K/BB/HR numbers. The competition wasn’t exactly top notch, however. For Greinke, the biggest difference is that left-handed batters figured out how to hit him. In 2009, they posted a .250/.294/.358 slash line against him, while this season that’s up to .278/.324/.483. That’s a big boost in power, and those extra home runs hurt Zack this season.

Finally, Omar Beltre makes his major league debut for the Texas Rangers against Scott Kazmir and the Angels. Beltre was banned from entering the United States for five years due to his part in a human trafficking ring, which is why he’s making his debut at seasonal age 28. He’s striking out 10.5 batters per nine innings at AAA. Kazmir’s K rate dropped for the third straight year, and each drop brings a rise in his ERA.

Enjoy!

1 thought on “Games of the Day

  1. John

    It may not be as big of a deal nationally but in Atlanta we are excited to see JJ return to the mound tonight.

    ReplyReply

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