MOTN!

Matchups Of The Night!



Holy crap, this is a sad group of games, but there are a few nuggets worth paying attention to.



Sox-Yanks. Wang v. Wakefield. I think this is the last shot Wang is going to have to win over the New York faithful this year. I mean, he is really bad. Sure he had that amazing 2007 (19-7 3.70 ERA, ok, so not amazing, but that would make him the 2nd best pitcher in the Yanks staff this year). Wakefield is Wakefield, he could go 6 hitless and give up 8 runs in the 7th inning. It happens, but this season he has been everything the Red Sox could ask of him and more. Lately he has been going through one of his phases of giving up lots of runs (14 ER in 17 1/3 innings in his last 3 starts). Advantage-Red Sox

A fun pitching duel tonight could take place at the Astros-Cubs game. The Cubbies have been on a little bit of a roll lately (4 wins in their past 5 games) and toeing the rubber tonight is the man threatening to retire, Carlos Zambrano, who was the shut down ace they need him to be in his last start, with 6 2/3 shutout innings while striking out 7 (he also walked 5, but gave up only 2 hits so we will see where his command is tonight). Opposing him tonight in Houston is Wandy Rodriguez, who despite a filthy start to the season, has cooled off in his last 3 starts, going 0-3 and giving up 18 runs (12 earned) in 13 1/3 innings. He did strike out 16 while walking only 8 in that span so he could turn it around. Lets see how he does against a hot Cubs team, but at the end of the day...Advantage Cubs.

The last game I think is somewhat exciting is the Rockies-Brewers games. Colorado is hot, winning their last 6 games, including a 3-2 win in last night's tilt against the Brewers in Milwaukee. Jorge De la Rosa is on the mound for the Rockies tonight facing his former team, and opposing him is Dave Bush who is charged with stopping a Rockies team that has outscored their opponents 46-14 in their last 6 games (1 v. Houston, 4 v. STL, 1 v. Mil). The Rockies Pythagorean record is 30-28, which is 4 wins more than they have to show so far this season so on the surface it looks like they are heading in the right direction and have been victims of bad luck. Advantage Colorado.

Other games to watch. Mets v. Phillies, obviously when Cole Hamels takes the mound it is always fun to watch. He did pitch a career high in innings last year so hopefully his arm will recover soon, at least Philadephia hopes so.

Toronto v. Texas should be a fun game, with the young Ricky Romero facing off against Kevin Millwood and his surprising start to the season (5-4 2.96 ERA).

Other pitchers are on the mound tonight as well, Justin Verlander who is 6-0 in his last 8 starts with a 1.12 ERA is pitching against one of last years surprises John Danks (4-4 5.10 ERA in 60 innings, but he has 54 K's v. 24 BB's so that is nice to see).

Jair Jurrjens looks to continue his hot start (5-3 2.84 ERA 48 K's 24 BB's in 73 innings) at home against the Pirates, who send recently acquired Charlie Morton to the mound against his former team (he was involved in the Nate McLouth trade).

As always, enjoy the games!