Friday’s streaking and slumping starters
By JASON LOGAN
Streaking
A.J. Burnett, Toronto Blue Jays (18-10, 4.19 ERA)
Burnett is one of the best finishers in baseball. He may have his problems early in the season but no one ends on a high note like A.J.
Last season, Burnett went 5-2 in the final two months of the schedule and in 2006 he closed out the year with an 8-4 tally in August and September.
Burnett is 7-1 with a 3.07 ERA since late July and is only getting hotter as the season dies down. He hasn’t allowed an earned run in his last two trips to the mound – one of which was a six-inning, three-hit, six-strikeout performance against Boston last weekend.
The righty is 5-0 with a 2.37 ERA in seven career starts versus the BoSox.
Brett Myers, Philadelphia Phillies (10-11, 4.06)
What a difference a trip to the minors can make. Myers seems to be scared straight and is toting a 7-2 mark and a 1.80 ERA in his last 11 major league starts since his stint in Lehigh Valley.
He is coming off a complete-game, one-run, two-hit showing against the Brewers last Sunday and has the red-hot bats of the Phillies backing him up. Heading into Thursday night, Philadelphia was a half-game ahead of New York in the NL East.
Slumping
Edwin Jackson, Tampa Bay Rays (11-11, 4.33 ERA)
The Rays’ right-hander has dropped three straight decisions and is 2-4 in his last six starts. He is posting an ERA just below 11 in his previous three games – mostly due to a two-inning showing against the Yankees on Sunday in which he was knocked around for six runs including a grand slam.
Jackson is 5-6 in 14 home starts and posts a 4.83 ERA inside Tropicana (almost a run higher than his road ERA) this season. He is 0-2 with a hefty 18.90 ERA in five career starts versus Minnesota.
Jake Peavy, San Diego Padres (9-11, 2.77 ERA)
My, how the mighty have fallen. The reigning NL Cy Young champ is 1-5 in his last eight starts and hasn’t recorded a win in over a month. Peavy’s troubles on the mound escalated in his most recent appearance when the right-handed hurler was dinged for five runs on five hits, two of those leaving the park, against the Giants last Friday.
The blame can’t solely fall on Peavy’s shoulders. During this skid, he’s carried an ERA of 3.00 but is getting just 2½ runs of support per game from the Padres. San Diego has scored three or fewer runs of support in 14 of Peavy’s 26 starts this season.
Baseball Today
Friday, Sept. 19
Philadelphia at Florida (7:10 p.m. EDT). In the opener of a key three-game series the Phillies send rejuvenated starter Brett Myers (10-11, 4.06 ERA) to the mound against Josh Johnson (5-1, 3.30). Myers has won five of his last six starts, including a two-hitter against Milwaukee on Sunday.
STARS
Thursday
— Geovany Soto, Cubs, hit a tying three-run homer with two out in the ninth and Chicago went on to beat the Brewers 7-6 in 12 innings.
— Mike Aviles, Royals, hit a three-run homer to lead Kansas City to a 12-0 victory over the Mariners.
— James Loney, Dodgers, singled to score the go-ahead run in the 12th after Pittsburgh reliever Craig Hansen walked the bases full, and Los Angeles inched closer to winning the NL West with a 4-3 win.
— John Baker, Marlins, drove in four runs and scored two, leading Florida over the fading Astros 8-1 for its eighth straight victory.
— Bobby Abreu, Yankees, homered twice and drove in six runs in a 9-2 win over the White Sox.
GONE, THREE TIMES
Evan Longoria hit three home runs for Tampa Bay in an 11-8 loss to Minnesota. Longoria hit a two-run homer in Tampa Bay’s five run first against Glen Perkins. He added solo shots off Philip Humber in the fourth for his third multihomer game and Bobby Korecky in the seventh for an 8-6 lead. Longoria joined Jonny Gomes as the only Rays to hit three home runs in a game in the club’s 11-season history.
AND ANOTHER ONE
Kendry Morales, Mike Napoli and Brandon Wood hit consecutive home runs in a span of four pitches from Keith Foulke in the seventh inning of the Angels’ 6-4 victory over Oakland. The Angels hit three straight homers for the first time since May 24, 2004, at Toronto, helping Joe Saunders (16-7) win his second straight decision—just his second victory in nine starts. The Angels had hit back-to-back homers three other times this year.
SWEEP
With a 4-3 victory over the Braves, Philadelphia became the first team to sweep a season series longer than four games in Atlanta. They swept three three-game series at Turner Field by a combined score of 49-24. Cole Hamels (14-9) gave up six hits and two runs in six innings to improve to 3-0 in four starts against the Braves this season.
WHY HE MAKES THE BUCKS
New York ace Johan Santana (14-7) improved to 7-0 with a 2.26 ERA over his last 14 starts, giving up one run and eight hits and striking out eight in seven innings of the Mets’ 7-2 win over the Nationals.
COULD BE COSTLY
The Brewers carried a 6-2 lead into the bottom of the ninth, but the Cubs staged an improbable four-run rally with two outs against Salomon Torres, capped by Geovany Soto’s three-run homer. Derrek Lee hit an RBI single in the 12th to lift Chicago to a 7-6 win. The loss dropped the Brewers 1 1/2 games back of New York in the wild-card race.
CRUISIN’
Zack Greinke combined with two pitchers on a three-hitter and the Royals routed Seattle 12-0 to complete their first four-game sweep of the Mariners in 19 years. Kansas City led 9-0 after four innings, roughing up Ryan Feierabend on its way to its first four-game sweep of the Mariners since Aug. 17-20, 1989, in Seattle. The Royals had at least 10 hits (13) for the sixth time during a seven-game winning streak, their longest since opening the 2003 season 9-0.
FADING FAST
Houston has struggled since Hurricane Ike hit the Gulf Coast. The Astros had won six straight and 14 of 15 before the storm, but have since dropped five straight, including an 8-1 loss to Florida on Thursday.
BACK IN THE W COLUMN
St. Louis’ Kyle Lohse (14-6) matched his career high for wins after serving a five-game suspension from Sept. 10-14 for throwing a pitch near the head of Reds pitcher Edinson Volquez—his opponent Thursday—on Aug. 17. The 5-4 win over Cincinnati was Lohse’s first since beating Philadelphia on Aug. 1. He was 0-3 in seven starts since. The former Reds right-hander gave up six hits and three runs—two earned—with two walks and five strikeouts in 6 2-3 innings.
DENIED
The Diamondbacks blew a lead for Randy Johnson for the fifth time this season, again depriving the 44-year-old left-hander of his 295th career victory. Johnson gave up a run in the first and scattered eight hits through seven innings, striking out four and walking one. He left with a 2-1 lead.
SLUMPING
The last-place Orioles have lost 19 of 22 games and dropped their past nine series overall, including a 3-2 loss to Toronto on Thursday. Baltimore has gone 2-17 in its past 19 one-run games after starting the season 18-10 in such contests.
GIVING ‘EM UP
Minnesota pitchers allowed five home runs in a game for the second time in five days. The Twins have given up a major league-high 33 home runs in September, 18 over the past five games.
SPEAKING
“A real nice day kind of went haywire right away.”—Milwaukee interim manager Dale Sveum after the Brewers blew a four-run lead in the ninth inning and lost 7-6 to the Chicago Cubs in 12 innings.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Philadelphia (86-67) at Florida (80-72)
The two hottest teams in the National League kick off a three-game series at Dolphin Stadium, with the Phillies’ Brett Myers (10-11, 4.06 ERA) set to take the mound opposite the Marlins’ Josh Johnson (4-1, 3.30).
Philadelphia arrives in South Beach riding a seven-game winning streak after completing a three-game sweep in Atlanta with Thursday’s 4-3 victory. The Phillies, who lead the N.L. East by a half-game over the Mets and 5½ games over the Marlins, are on additional positive runs of 4-1 on the road, 18-8 on Fridays, 48-22 in series openers, 5-1 behind Myers overall and 4-1 with Myers working on the road.
Florida ran its major-league-best winning streak to eight in a row with an 8-1 home rout of the Astros on Thursday, yet the Fish still trail the Mets by five games in the wild-card race. During their eight-game winning streak, the Marlins are 6-0 at home, 5-0 against the N.L. East and 7-0 against right-handed starters.
Florida leads the season series against Philadelphia 9-6, winning six of the last eight meetings overall and six of the last eight at home.
Myers pitched a complete-game, two-hitter on Sunday at home, beating the Brewers 6-1. The veteran righthander has produced 10 quality starts in 11 outings since the All-Star break, with the Phillies going 8-3 during this stretch. However, Myers is just 3-7 with a 5.46 ERA in 15 road starts in 2007.
Johnson is coming off his eighth straight quality start, a 4-2 home victory over Washington as he gave up just two runs on six hits with nine strikeouts in six innings. The Marlins are 9-3 in the right-hander’s 12 starts this season and 7-0 in his last seven versus divisional rivals. At home this year, Johnson is 2-0 with a 4.02 ERA in five starts, four of which Florida has won.
Myers has enjoyed very little success against the Marlins in his career, going 6-9 with a 5.04 ERA. In fact, going back to 2006, the Phillies are 1-6 when Myers faces Florida, including 0-4 in Miami. Meanwhile, Johnson is 2-1 with a 3.62 ERA in six games (four starts) against Philadelphia, including 1-0 with a 1.42 ERA in two starts this year (both Florida victories).
The under is 8-1-1 in Myers’ last 10 starts overall, 4-0-1 in his last five on the road, 6-3 in his last nine against Florida and 5-0 in Johnson’s last five trips to the hill. The under is also on runs of 15-8-2 for the Marlins overall, 14-7-1 for the Marlins at home, 7-1-2 for the Marlins on Fridays, 2-0 for Philly overall and 5-0 for the Phillies on Fridays. Finally, the under is 5-1 in the six meetings between these teams in Florida this year.
ATS ADVANTAGE: FLORIDA and UNDER
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Minnesota (83-70) at Tampa Bay (90-61)
The Twins, who are fighting for their playoff lives, go for back-to-back upset wins at Tropicana Field when they send rookie Nick Blackburn (10-9, 3.89) to the mound, while the Rays counter with Edwin Jackson (11-11, 4.33).
Minnesota snapped an untimely four-game slide with an 11-8 victory at Tampa Bay in last night’s series opener to move within 1½ games of the first-place White Sox in the A.L. Central. The Twins, who play their home games in a dome, are 31-13 in their last 44 games on artificial turf and 18-5 in their last 23 on Friday. However, they’re still mired in slumps of 5-12 against the A.L. East and 5-9 versus right-handed starters.
Despite Thursday’s setback, the Rays still lead the Red Sox by 1½ games in the A.L. East. They’re also on runs of 51-16 at home, 18-5 on Fridays and 22-10 against righty starters.
Minnesota has owned the Rays in recent years, winning 32 of the last 43 meetings overall (2-1 this year), including 12 of the last 17 in Tampa Bay.
Blackburn is coming off his worst outing since the end of June, allowing six runs on nine hits in four innings in Sunday’s 7-3 loss at Baltimore. The Twins are 1-6 in the right-hander’s last seven starts overall, including four straight losses on the road. In fact, Minnesota is just 5-12 when Blackburn toils on foreign turf this year, with the pitcher going 3-6 with a 4.72 ERA in those 17 outings.
Jackson is 0-3 with a 10.95 ERA in his last three trips the bump, and like Blackburn, he gave up six runs in his most recent start, lasting just two innings in Sunday’s 8-4 loss at the Yankees. At home this year, the right-hander is just 5-6 with a 4.83 ERA.
Blackburn has never faced the Rays in his young career, while Jackson is 0-2 with a horrid 18.90 ERA in five career appearances (two starts) against the Twins, allowing 17 runs (14 earned) in 6 2/3 innings.
For the Twins, the over is on runs of 12-4-1 overall, 9-2 on the road, 6-1 against the A.L. East, 4-0 on Friday, 5-0 when Blackburn faces a winning club and 4-1 when Blackburn faces the A.L. East. For Tampa Bay, the over is on runs of 5-1 overall, 9-1 at home, 10-2 on artificial turf, 5-1 versus the A.L. Central and 4-1 when Jackson pitches at home.
ATS ADVANTAGE: OVER
Gametimepicks.com