The best pitching matchup of the day is in Cleveland, where Ryan Drese leads the resurgent Texas pitching staff against Milliliter Sabathia and the up and down Indians. Cleveland is on a four game winning streak right now and is coming off a sweep of the A’s in which they outscored Oakland by four runs. Watch for the Soriano-Sabathia matchup; Alfonso is 5 for 15 with 2 HR vs. CC in his career.
The Reds and the Marlins are proving to be very entertaining. Yesterday’s back and forth slugfest was a good example. Aaron Harang and Brad Penny will try to have the pitching dominate today. Penny, with his 6-2 record and 2.12 ERA has jumped ahead of Beckett and Willis as ace of the staff. He’s doing a great job against the table setters in the opposing lineups, keeping them off base for the power hitters. Opponent 1-2 hitters are 9 for 59 vs. Penny with five walks.
Finally, the Giants try to extend their winning streak to 11. The Diamondbacks will send Steve Sparks to the mound against Dustin Hermanson to try to stop them. Hermanson has allowed 5 earned runs in his last 18 innings. However, he has not gone deep in those last three games, so look for Alou to use the bullpen early and often.
Enjoy!