Baseball Musings: Games of the Day

September 27, 2006

Games of the Day

The Phillies try to get back to winning as they send young ace Cole Hamels against Pedro Astacio in Washington. Hamels has been especially effective in keeping the bases empty, allowing just a .280 OBA with no one on. Astacio is terrible with men on base. Opponents are slugging .568 with men on. That will drive in a lot of runners.

Houston goes for their eighth straight win as they play the role of the 1964 Cardinals and St. Louis takes the place of the 1964 Phillies. The Astros send Jason Hirsh to face Shawn Chacon. This strikes me as the type of game that will be settled by the bullpen. Houston's relief ERA is 3.99, the Pirates 3.98.

Chris Michalak makes his sixth start of the season for the Reds. This really isn't the time of year to trot out a pitcher who doesn't strike out many batters and walks quite a few. His job is even tougher as he faces Anibal Sanchez of the Marlins. Anibal is tough to beat at home where opponents are hitting just .172 against him.

As long as San Diego keeps winning, they earn a spot in the post season. Chris Young proved to be an excellent off season acquisition, and he'll take the mound in St. Louis against Anthony Reyes. Young's batting average allowed is a mere .209. However, you can run on the starter, as the Padres thwarted only four of forty three steal attempts against him. Reyes' main problem is his tendency to give up home runs. Not only is his rate high (1.7 per 9), they tend to come with men on base (8 of the 15).

Finally, the Dodgers try to maintain their wild card lead as Aaron Cook hosts Derek Lowe in Colorado. Lowe's allowed 8 runs in 11 2/3 innings at Coors this season. Cook actually pitches better in Coors than on the road, allowing both a lower batting average and slugging percentage in Denver.

Enjoy!

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Posted by David Pinto at 01:17 PM | Matchups | TrackBack (0)

Comments

re: the 64 cards and 64 phils

if the cards do collapse, we also have to bring up these miracle teams:

the 1914 boston braves
the 1951 ny giants overtaking the dodgers

and my alltime favorite, the 1969 ny mets managed by gil hodges overcoming the 1969 chicago cubs managed by leo durocher.

I like the 1969 race because in the very first year of divisional play ever, the NL East got the very best pennant race since the NL league had gotten since 1964 and maybe since 1951.

Also because the Mets were such a one time phenomenon, and because the Cubs were so cursed.

I've already commented elsewhere on this website that I believe St. Louis' collapse is more related to the age of its veterans and the fact that they were not rested than to any other major factor. That and the failures of its bullpen. Pujols is basically the only young player while Edmonds Rolen Eckstein Encarcion etc. are all old players well beyond the 30 year old decline phase.

While Houston also has veterans, Houston was in the World Series last year, they have last year's rookie of the year in Taveras, and they traded for some youth down the stretch. As bad as Biggio has been, that's how good Berkman has been, and they certainly know how to drive down the stretch.

If the Phils hadn't swept the Astros a couple weeks ago, the Astros would be tied right now with St. Louis.

--art kyriazis, philly

--art kyriazis

Posted by: art kyriazis at September 27, 2006 03:36 PM

The longer Reyes is around Dave Duncan, the more likely he is to pitch poorly (that is, when he's immediately recalled from the minors he does okay, but then gets worse and worse). So I wouldn't expect a good game from him tonight.

Posted by: JeremyR at September 27, 2006 06:24 PM