Good young pitcher Sunday starts in Cleveland as Felix Hernandez faces Justin Masterson. At 24, Hernandez seems like a grizzled veteran as he pitches in his sixth season. Felix is pitching as well as in 2009, but with a poor offense behind him his 2.71 ERA yields just an 8-9 record. Masterson, a year older than Hernandez, failed to improve any aspect of his game this season. His walks and home runs rates are about the same, while his strikeouts fell and his hits allowed rose.
Homer Bailey returns to the Reds rotation as they host the Marlins and Anibal Sanchez. Sanchez set a career high this year in innings pitched, the healthiest year in the majors for him. He’s also posting his lowest home run rate. Bailey pitched well in the minors, with a high K and a low BB rate. He has yet to make those translate to the majors, however.
Rookies Barry Enright and Stephen Strasburg battle in Washington as the Diamondbacks visit the Nationals. Enright allowed six home runs so far in 47 2/3 innings, but five of those came in his home ball park. They haven’t hurt him too, much, as five of those were solo shots. Strasburg makes his second start since coming off the disabled list and pitching poorly. We’ll see if he shows better control of his secondary pitches today.
Ubaldo Jimenez goes for his 18th win as he faces Manny Parra and the Brewers in Colorado. Parra gives up lots of hits for a pitcher with a ton of strikeouts, opponents hitting .295 against him. I wonder what he would do on a good defensive team? His walk and homer rates would still hurt him, but I suspect his ERA would be about a run lower. His career FIP is 0.8 runs lower than his ERA. Ubaldo went seven innings and allowed one earned run in each of his last three starts. Last time out was his second tough-luck loss of the season, otherwise he might be going for his 20th win today.
New millionaire Ricky Romero takes on old money Dan Haren as the Blue Jays challenge the Angels. I admire the Blue Jays front office for rewarding Romero’s improvement in all three true outcomes with a long-term deal. Haren was walking a batter every 4.8 innings with the Diamondbacks. He’s walking one every nine innings with the Angles, and that helped his ERA drop from 4.60 to 3.00. He still tends to give up the long ball, however.
Finally, the Padres send Wade LeBlanc against Tim Lincecum in San Francisco in the rubber game of their series. The Giants can cut San Diego’s lead to 1 1/2 games with a win. Batters hit LeBlanc well outside of PETCO Park with a .300 BA and a .505 slugging percentage. Lincecum started the season with a fantastic eight-game stretch. He’s been inconsistent since, with a 4.35 ERA and control problems, walking 4.0 per nine innings. Given the amount of innings he pitched at a young age, the Giants have to be happy they signed him to a two-year, instead of a long-term contract right now.
Enjoy!