Friday, June 13, 2008

Say Yer Prayers, Here Come The Padres!

The Padres’ starting pitcher tonight has an ERA of 0.39. He is twenty-six year old right-hander Josh Banks. He is 2-0 with 23 innings pitched. So far, lefties hit .231 against him and righties hit .250.
The Indians’ starting pitcher tonight has an ERA of 6.91. He is twenty-five year old left-hander Jeremy Sowers. He is 0-1 with 14.1 innings pitched. So far, lefties hit .357 against him and righties hit .311.
Ok, that’s not an ideal match up but let’s dig a little deeper;
(The Padres have played one more game this season than the Indians)
The Indians have outscored the Padres in runs, 301 to 253.
The Padres have out hit the Indians in hits, 575 to 550.
The Indians have more RBIs that the Padres, 289 to 242.
The Padres walk more than the Indians, 238 to 225.
The Padres strike out more than the Indians, 536 to 458.
The Indians steal more bases, 33 to 21.
OBP, Indians .324, Padres .318.
SLG, Indians .388, Padres .372.
And last but not least, The Indians are 1 percentage point ahead of the Padres in batting average, .245 to .244.
Crunching all those numbers, I like the Indians chances against the Padres for the series.
But keep in mind that both teams have had a revolving door with the disabled list most of the season so you can throw the numbers out.
For tonight, the bottom line is, the Tribe hitters must get to Banks early and often with much patience early on in the counts. Sowers must get his groove back and step up to be the pitcher the Indians need him to be.
Prediction: with the pitching match ups, this is the one game of the three that the Indians shouldn’t win, with Lee on Saturday and Sabathia on Sunday. However, Sowers pitches well enough and the Indians’ hitters score early and often to stay ahead. Final score tonight, Cleveland 9, San Diego 6.

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