Monday’s Streaking and Slumping Starting Pitchers
Streaking
Jered Weaver (15-5, 3.71 ERA), Los Angeles Angels
For a little while last season, Jered’s older brother Jeff had the bragging rights. But Jered has bounced back with another great season.
The young hurler has allowed only three runs in his last three starts and has struck out 14 and walked just one in his last 13 1-3 innings.
“Jered’s done a terrific job of keeping us in games and giving us a chance to win on a consistent basis,” Halos manager Mike Scioscia told MLB.com. “That’s what you’re looking for from your starting pitchers, and has come through for us.”
Los Angeles is 7-3 in Weaver’s last 10 outings.
Wandy Rodriguez (13-9, 2.76), Houston Astros
The Astros ace is smoking hot over his last five trips to the mound. Houston is 3-2 in those games and the under is 4-0-1 and 7-2-1 in his last 10 starts.
He’s allowed just five earned runs over his last 35 innings pitched.
“Wandy’s been great for us,” manager Cecil Cooper told reports following a recent start against the Phillies. “I thought he was real sharp. That’s a pretty good hitting team, a good offense on the other side, and I thought he commanded the zone really good with his fastball and used his breaking ball.
“He kept them off balance, and that’s what you have to do with good hitting teams.”
Slumping
David Hernandez (4-7, 5.05), Baltimore Orioles
This former reliever doesn’t provide much relief for Baltimore backers when he toes the rubber. Hernandez has given up 11 earned runs in his last two starts (7 2-3 innings) and he’s been taken out of the park seven times over the same stretch by opposing hitters.
“All of those homers were supposed to be fastballs away, but they were in the middle,” Hernandez told reporters after given up four dingers to the Sox in his last start. “Right now I’m a thrower out there. I’m not a pitcher. The worst part is when you make mistakes they’re all going to get hit hard.”
The O’s are 0-5 in the right’s last five outings and the over is 3-2
Baseball Today
SCOREBOARD
Monday, Sept. 14
Colorado at San Francisco (10:15 p.m. EDT). The Giants hope to gain on the NL wild card-leading Rockies. Reigning Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum is scheduled to start for San Francisco after missing his last start because of back trouble. Jason Hammel starts for Colorado.
STARS
Sunday
-Kyle Davies, Royals, carried a no-hit bid into the sixth inning and won his fourth straight start, pitching Kansas City past Cleveland 7-0.
-Hideki Matsui, Yankees, homered and drove in five runs and New York avoided a three-game sweep against last-place Baltimore with a 13-3 victory.
-Dustin Pedroia, Red Sox, hit a tiebreaking, two-run homer in the eighth inning to send Boston to a 3-1 victory in the opener of a doubleheader sweep of Tampa Bay.
-Javier Vazquez, Braves, took a shutout into the ninth inning and Atlanta beat St. Louis 9-2 to complete a three-game sweep.
-Paul Maholm, Pirates, pitched eight shutout innings and Pittsburgh snapped a 13-game road losing streak with a 2-1 victory at Houston.
HIT MACHINE
Ichiro Suzuki became the first player in major league history with at least 200 hits in nine straight seasons. The Mariners' right fielder set the mark with an infield single in the second inning of the nightcap of doubleheader against the Texas Rangers. In his second at-bat of the game, Suzuki beat out a slow roller to shortstop Elvis Andrus to break a tie with Willie Keeler, who did it for eight consecutive seasons (1894-1901).
RUN, DEREK, RUN
Derek Jeter scored three times in the Yankees 13-3 win over Baltimore to give him 101 runs on the season, reaching the century mark for the 12th time.
DURABLE
Mark Buehrle became the first pitcher in the 109-year history of the White Sox to make 30 or more starts in nine consecutive seasons. He has thrown 1,988 1-3 innings since the start of the 2001 campaign, the most in the majors during that stretch, and is two innings from reaching 200 for the ninth straight year.
RECORD BREWING
Prince Fielder homered to tie Milwaukee's single-season RBI record in a 5-3 victory over Arizona. Fielder's fourth-inning home run gave him a major league-leading 126 RBIs and tied him with Cecil Cooper for the Brewers' franchise record. Cooper, the Houston Astros' manager, set the mark in 1983.
KEEP SKIDDING
The Red Sox beat Tampa Bay 4-0 and 3-1 for a doubleheader sweep, handing the AL champion Rays their 11th consecutive loss. Tampa Bay's losing streak is the longest by a major league team this season.
RIGHT AT HOME
Brad Penny (3-0) has a perfect record since signing with the Giants on Aug. 31 - that after he lost his final four decisions with the Red Sox before they released him.
PACK IT IN
With a 5-2 loss to the Cubs, the Reds were officially eliminated from the NL Central race. They were 26-20 and 1 1/2 games out of first place on May 28 but are 38-58 since and have fallen 19 1/2 behind St. Louis. The Reds took the Central title in 1995, the first year of three-division play, but haven't won it since.
STATS
The Tigers have 150 victories since their next-door neighbors, the Lions, last won a game. ... St. Louis' Chris Carpenter gave up seven runs in six innings of a 9-2 loss to Atlanta. His league-leading 2.16 ERA coming in jumped to 2.45. He now trails the Giants' Tim Lincecum (2.34).
SPEAKING
"Typical Ted. You know what he's going to do: locate, change speeds, keep them off-balance. That's why he wins so often.'' - Chicago catcher Koyie Hill after Ted Lilly pitched six scoreless innings in Sunday's 5-2 victory over the Reds. Lilly leads all National League pitchers with 44 victories since the start of 2007, when he joined the Cubs.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Colorado (82-62) at San Francisco (85-59)
The Rockies will try to put some more distance between themselves and the Giants when they open a three-game set in San Francisco with Jason Hammel (8-8, 4.37 ERA) on the hill opposite the Giants’ Tim Lincecum (13-5, 2.34).
Leading San Francisco by five games in the N.L. wild-card race, Colorado will try to get back on the winning track after losing two straight in San Diego over the weekend, including Sunday’s 7-3 setback, coming on the heels of an eight-game winning streak. The Rockies are still on streaks of 62-31 overall, 44-20 against right-handed starters, 4-0 in series openers and 5-1 on Mondays, but they are just 1-5 in their last five roadies and 0-5 in their last five against winning teams.
The Giants snapped a four-game losing streak with Sunday’s 7-2 home win over the Dodgers. It was only the second time in 10 outings they scored more than three runs in a game. San Francisco is 6-2 in its last eight series openers and 21-7 in its last 28 at home against teams with winning road records, but the team is also on slides of 1-4 against the N.L. West and 1-4 at home.
The Rockies have won six of Hammel’s last eight outings, including Wednesday’s 4-3 win over the Reds in Colorado when he allowed two runs in 7 1/3 innings. His last road start was in San Francisco on Aug. 30 when he gave up two runs in five innings but the Rockies lost 9-5. Hammel has lost all three outings against the Giants this season, despite only allowing a combined five runs in 17 innings (2.65 ERA). Colorado is just 2-6 in Hammel’s last eight starts on the road, but they are 10-4 in his last 14 when he gets four days of rest.
Lincecum is an astonishing 8-1 at home with a 1.83 ERA, and he’s held the opposition to three runs or less in seven of his last eight starts. The reigning Cy Young winner hasn’t pitched since Sept. 3, when he held the Phillies to two runs in seven innings but lost 2-1. Lincecum allowed no earned runs in three of his last five home starts, including an Aug. 28 outing against the Rockies when he blanked them on four hits over eight innings of a 2-0 win. The Giants are 6-2 in Lincecum’s last eight starts against N.L. West foes and 4-0 in his last four on Monday.
Colorado has topped the total in four of Hammel’s last five roadies and five of six when he faces a winning team, while as a team the Rockies are on “under” runs of 7-2 on the road, 6-1 overall and 8-3 against divisional rivals. It’s a plethora of “unders” when Lincecum pitches, including 8-2 overall, 6-0 against winning teams and 4-1 within the division, while the Giants have stayed below the number in seven of their last 11 overall. Finally, the “under” is 6-1 in the last seven head-to-head meetings between these teams at AT&T Park.
ATS ADVANTAGE: UNDER
AMERICAN LEAGUE
L.A. Angels (86-56) at N.Y. Yankees (92-52)
Division leaders clash for a quick make-up game in Yankee Stadium as the Angels send Cy Young Award candidate Jered Weaver (15-5, 3.71 ERA) to the mound to face the Yankees’ Joba Chamberlain (8-5, 4.45).
Los Angeles just completed a six-game homestand with a 5-1 record, including Sunday’s 3-2 win over the White Sox. The Angels are riding several positive streaks, including 27-12 on the road, 56-27 overall, 47-23 against A.L. East teams and 20-8 in series openers.
New York is 5-2 on its current 10-game homestand and used an eight-run inning to blow out the Orioles 13-3 on Sunday. The Yankees have dominated the league the last three months, riding streaks of 41-15 overall, 42-15 as a home favorite, 19-7 in series openers and 37-15 against right-handed starters in Yankee Stadium.
The Angels have won each of the last four meetings with New York, but they are just 1-4 in the last five clashes in the Big Apple.
Weaver is 6-3 with a 4.98 ERA on the road this season, and lately he’s been dominant, going 2-0 with a 1.40 ERA in his last three starts. On Wednesday, the right-hander allowed two runs in 6 1/3 innings as the Angels beat Seattle 6-3 in Anaheim. In his last roadie, Weaver held the Royals to one run in seven innings of a 2-1 victory.
Weaver has made two starts against the Yankees this season, allowing a combined eight runs (seven earned) on eight hits in 12 innings (6.75 ERA), with L.A. winning 14-8 at home after losing 10-9 in New York. Behind Weaver, the Angels are on runs of 16-5 overall, 9-3 when he goes in a series opener and 10-4 against A.L. East teams.
Chamberlain has been limited to just three innings of action in each of his last three starts, allowing two runs in each outing. Against the Rays on Wednesday, he gave up the two runs on three hits in three innings, and the Yankees went on to win 4-2. He’s made one career start against the Angels, allowing five runs (four earned) on nine hits in 4 1/3 innings of a 10-6 loss back on July 10. With Chamberlain on the hill, New York is on streaks of 16-6 overall, 18-4 when he starts at home, 24-9 when he’s favored and 8-3 when he faces winning teams.
With Weaver pitching, the Angels are on “over” runs of 11-3-1 overall, 5-1 on the road, 5-0 in series openers, 4-1 on Monday, 9-3-1 as a favorite, 8-3-2 against the A.L. East and 5-0 against the Yankees. As a team, however, the Angels are on “under” streaks of 14-3-1 overall, 5-0 on the road, 8-0-1 as a favorite and 4-0-1 against winning teams. Meanwhile, the Yankees have topped the total in 10 of Chamberlain’s 14 starts overall and five of his six at home, while as a team they have gone over the total in 19 of 30 against the A.L. West and eight of 12 as a favorite.
Finally, the over is 21-7 in the last 28 clashes between these squads and 5-0 in the last five in the Bronx.
ATS ADVANTAGE: OVER
Gametimepicks.com