Rookie Arms, Obscene Offenses, and Lefties in the Desert
I said the openers would feature great pitching matchups, but I’m not sure I expected a grand total of 14 runs between the three games. Wow.
Let’s see what in store for Thursday, shall we?
- Rockies at Phillies, 12 noon PT — Dropping Game 1 at home with Cole Hamels puts Philadelphia in a very uncomfortable position. Rookie Kyle Kendrick put up a nice ERA and win totals, but his complete inability to throw the ball past hitters could present a serious problem against the Rockies, who tend to hit the ball hard when they make contact. Another rookie, the even younger and less battle tested Franklin Morales, goes for Colorado. (When is the last time two guys age 22 or younger faced off in a playoff game?) Morales held left-handed batters to a .129/.206/.226 line this year. It’s a tiny sample, so who knows how telling this will be, but — well, I was going to note that the Phillies’ lineup is stacked with lefties, but despite that fact, they actually hit southpaws a little better. Eh, rookie pitchers. Who knows.
- Yankees at Indians, 3:30 p.m. PT — Two pitchers with identical 19-7 records square off in Cleveland. One of them is a leading candidate for Cy Young, while the other benefits from 7.04 runs per game behind him. The Yankees scored 968 runs this year, which is obscene. They’ve gotten well above average production from every position except center field, where they’ve been merely okay. To say that C.C. Sabathia will have his hands full would be to grossly understate the situation. Cleveland’s offense is pretty solid as well, but it has holes — notably at second base and in the corner outfield spots. Guess we’ll find out whether good pitching really does beat good hitting…
- Cubs at Diamondbacks, 7 p.m. PT — Arizona won a battle of the bullpens in the opener. Two left-handers hook up in Game 2: Ted Lilly and the eminently average (75-75 career record, 104 ERA+) Doug Davis. The latter tends to put guys on base via the walk (90+ each of the past three seasons), but the Cubs tend not to draw walks. Only Derrek Lee (71) and Mark DeRosa (58) had as many as 50 in 2007. Among National League teams, only the Pirates drew fewer bases on balls. Irresistible force, immovable object…
Happy watching!
Tags: baseball, cole_hamels, cy_young, c_c_sabathia, doug_davis, left_handers, mlb, phillies, pitchers, pitching_matchups, playoffs, rockies, southpaws, ted_lilly, yankeesRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Games Worth Watching, Playoffs
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