Two games today. Unfortunately, they’re played at the same time. This is very disappointing, as I like to concentrate on one game at a time. I’ll be using the flashback button on my remote quite a bit to switch games between pitches.
It’s a battle of lefties in Chicago tonight as Jarrod Washburn faces Mark Buehrle. Washburn did not pitch in the ALDS as an illness took him out of a game four start. One question tonight is how well he’s recovered. The White Sox may want to change their strategy tonight and be less aggressive with Washburn. Forcing him to throw lots of pitches early will likely wear him down and give Chicago a chance to score some runs before the bullpen arrives.
Buehrle’s only weakness is a moderate strikeout rate, just 5.7 per 9. He depends on the great defense behind him to turn batted balls into outs. The Angles should have a fairly easy time putting balls in play, the question is will they fall for hits.
The lefty-lefty matchup helps both offenses. Each did better against lefties than righties this year. But while the Angels hit for a higher batting average against south paws, the White Sox win out in OBA and have a big advantage in slugging percentage, finishing over 30 points ahead of the Angels.
In St. Louis, it’s left vs. right as Andy Pettitte takes on Chris Carpenter. Pettitte made three starts against the Cardinals this season, posting a 1.35 ERA giving up just three runs in 20 innings. His record was 0-1, and his team’s record was 1-2. On June 3rd, Pettitte allowed 1 run over 7 innings, but Carpenter pitched eight shutout innings for the win. On July 15th, Pettitte went the same number of innings giving up the same number of runs, but this time Mulder held the Astros at bay until the bullpens battled to a 4-3 Cardinals win in extra innings. Even the win the Astros took home on April six saw Jason Marquis battle Pettitte to a draw over six innings.
The Cardinals pitchers can hang with Pettitte. I suspect another close game. The winner tonight can easily come down to which bullpen performs better.
Enjoy!
Washburn pitched Sept 9 against chicago, since then he has thrown a grand total of 8 innings.
If tonight’s NLCS game comes down to the bullpens, I take the Astros. Their bullpen is utterly sick.
But before the bullpen, I see this is an issue of Chris Carpenter vs. Andy Pettitte. While FOX keeps calling Carpenter a “Cy Young candidate” and Andy Pettitte a “former Yankee,” they both are Cy Young candidates and Pettitte’s been better down the stretch. From August 1 to the end of the season, Carpenter had a 3.71 ERA with 7.0 K/9 IP in 87.3 innings. Pettitte threw 82.6 innings and had a 7.4 K/9 and a measley 2.07 ERA. (I love the day-by-day database.) I like the ‘Stros tonight.
The Astro’s always get dissed. I’ll take the Astros in 5. Bullpen is going to be the difference and I smell some bats getting hot. Or maybe that is my hot wings burning! Gotta go. Pour some beer on it!
The Sox’s layoff seemed to hurt’em…….but I feel a comeback and Houston the Cards are gonna sweep !