Wednesday’s Streaking and Slumping Starting Pitchers
Streaking
Rich Harden (9-8, 4.04 ERA), Chicago Cubs
It’s hard to believe the Cubs put this guy on waivers in August. His WHIP (walks + hits per inning) is always a bit too high, but you’ve got to love his ability to get out of a jam with a timely strikeout.
Chicago has won four of his its last five games with the flame-throwing righty on the bump. He doesn’t go too deep into games (14 innings in his last three outings) but he keeps things close.
Jorge De La Rosa (14-9, 4.37), Colorado Rockies
De La Rosa is enjoying a fantastic final month of the regular season. Despite walking 13 over his last 18 innings, the lefty hurler is 2-0 with a 1.50 ERA in September.
The Rockies have won six of De La Rosa’s last seven starts dating back to Aug. 10.
His teammates will have to deliver a few more runs for De La Rosa to be successful Wednesday night. Entering Tuesday’s game, Colorado has scored just six runs in its last six games.
Joe Saunders (13-7, 4.81), Los Angeles Angels
Saunders appears to have finally shaken injuries and returned to his 2008 form. The lefty has given up just five runs in his last four starts and the Halos have in each of his last four appearances.
Saunders is 4-0 with a 1.85 ERA since coming off the disabled list with shoulder stiffness. The under has also hit in three of those four games.
Slumping
Andy Sonnanstine (6-9, 7.15), Tampa Bay Rays
The last time Sonnanstine started a game for the Rays, he got tagged for eight runs in a little over two innings of work. That was just over a week ago. Problems with rotation have forced Joe Maddon to return to the righty pitcher to the five-man group.
He was down in the minors for most of July and August, but was recalled to fill in following Scott Kazmir’s departure.
He proved to be just as ineffective in his two return starts (0-2, 13 runs allowed in 7.2 innings pitched), but the slumping Rays don’t have many other options for a No. 5 starter.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Colorado (82-64) at San Francisco (79-66)
The Giants hand the ball to All-Star Matt Cain (13-5, 2.61 ERA) as they go for a three-game series sweep of the suddenly slumping Rockies, who will turn to southpaw Jorge De La Rosa (14-9, 4.37) at AT&T Park.
San Francisco has hammered the Rockies the last two nights by scores of 9-1 and 10-2 and is now 2½ games behind Colorado in the wild-card race. The Giants have won three in a row after a four-game slide, and they’re on additional hot streaks of 36-17 at home, 45-20 as a home chalk, 6-1 on Wednesday and 9-3 against southpaw starters.
Colorado has followed up an eight-game winning streak with four straight losses – two in San Diego over the weekend and two in San Francisco. The Rockies are in additional funks of 1-7 on the road, 3-13 as an underdog (1-11 as a road pup) and 0-7 versus winning teams, but Jim Tracy’s squad is 4-1 in its last five on Wednesday and 44-20 in its last 64 versus right-handed starters.
The Giants hold a 10-7 lead in the season series against the Rockies, including six straight wins at home. In fact, the host has won eight straight and 10 of 11 in this rivalry.
De La Rosa has given up one earned run in each of his last three starts, going 2-0 with a 1.50 ERA during this stretch, with the Rockies winning all three games, including a 4-1 victory in San Diego on Friday. The Mexican native has given up two earned runs or fewer in eight of 11 outings since the All-Star break, going 8-2 with a 3.21 ERA. He’s 5-3 with a 3.84 ERA in 12 road starts, yielding three earned or fewer in 10 of those contests.
The Rockies are 15-3 in De La Rosa’s last 18 starts overall, 6-1 in his last seven on the road, 6-1 in his last seven versus N.L. West foes and 6-0 in his six career starts against the Giants. He’s 5-0 with a 3.35 ERA in nine career appearances (three relief) against San Francisco, including 2-0 with a 5.40 ERA in two games this year.
Cain is coming off Friday’s 10-3 home loss to the Dodgers in which he gave up four runs in six innings. It was the second time in his last three starts and the fourth time in his last eight that Cain allowed at least four runs in a game, and the right-hander is 1-3 with a 3.83 ERA in eight outings since the beginning of August.
Behind Cain, the Giants are on runs of 18-6 overall, 17-5 at home, 10-2 as a home chalk and 6-1 versus divisional rivals. After the loss to L.A. on Friday, he’s now 6-3 with a 2.74 ERA in 15 games at AT&T Park, and he’s 8-5 with a 3.16 ERA in 17 career starts against Colorado (2-1, 3.60 ERA in four games this season).
Colorado carries “under” trends of 6-3 overall, 7-4 on the highway, 8-5 versus N.L. West rivals, 7-0 on Wednesday and 5-1 against right-handed starters. However, the over is 7-2 in San Francisco’s last nine at home and 5-0 in its last five against the N.L. West, but otherwise it is on “under” streaks of 5-0 on Wednesday, 4-1 against lefty starters,11-5 overall when Cain pitches and 8-2 when Cain starts at home against Colorado.
Finally, the under is 6-3 in the last nine Rockies-Giants battles at AT&T Park, though the first two games of this series have flown over the posted price.
ATS ADVANTAGE: SAN FRANCISCO
AMERICAN LEAGUE
L.A. Angels (86-58) at Boston (85-58)
The Red Sox shoot for their sixth straight win when they send Paul Byrd (1-1, 6.08 ERA) to the Fenway Park mound to oppose the Angels and Joe Saunders (13-7, 4.81) in the middle game of a three-game series.
Daisuke Matsuzaka pitched by far his best game of the season Tuesday as Boston rolled to a 4-1 win in the series opener. The Red Sox are a perfect 6-0 on their current homestand, allowing a total of nine runs in the process (with five of those nine coming in one game) and they’ve built up a 5½-game lead on Texas in the wild-card race. Terry Francona’s club enters tonight on positive streaks of 50-19 at Fenway Park and 4-1 on Wednesday, but they’re still just 4-7 in their last 11 against A.L. West foes.
Los Angeles has now dropped two in a row and three of four after a four-game winning streak. The Angels are still on impressive runs of 57-29 overall, 27-14 on the road, 47-25 against the A.L. East (12-5 last 17), 6-3 versus right-handed starters and 4-1 on Wednesday.
The Angels still hold a 4-3 edge in the season series with Boston, and they’re 13-6 in the last 19 meetings overall (6-3 at Fenway).
Saunders has been brilliant since returning from a stint on the disabled list, going 4-0 with a 1.85 ERA in four outings, including a 7-1 rout of the White Sox on Friday in which he yielded just the one run on three hits in seven innings. The southpaw is 7-4 with a 5.38 ERA on the road this year, but 2-0 with a 1.50 ERA in his last two on the highway (10-0 win in Seattle; 7-2 win in Kansas City).
With Saunders on the bump, L.A. is on hot streaks of 41-18 overall, 4-0 on the road, 9-2 against the A.L. East, 7-1 all-time versus the Red Sox and 4-0 when he pitches in Beantown. The one loss to Boston came on April 11 when he gave up four runs in seven innings, with the Halos falling 5-4 at home. Saunders has won all three of his regular-season starts at Fenway Park (2.75 ERA).
Byrd has made three starts since joining the Red Sox on Aug. 30, and he followed up a horrendous outing at the White Sox on Sept. 4 (seven runs allowed in 2 1/3 innings) with a two-run, five-inning stint a week ago tonight against Baltimore, getting a no-decision in his team’s 7-5 victory. The veteran right-hander has allowed just those two runs over 11 innings in two games at Fenway (1.64 ERA).
Going back to last year, the Red Sox are on an 8-2 roll behind Byrd, going 4-1 in his last five at home. For his career, he’s 4-2 with a 4.94 ERA in nine career starts against the Angels.
L.A. is riding “under” streaks of 16-3-1 overall, 7-0 on the road and 12-1-1 against right-handed starters, but the over is 12-5-1 in the Halos’ last 18 against the A.L. East, 14-3 in Saunders’ last 17 starts overall, 7-1 in his last eight on the road and 15-5-1 in his last 21 against the A.L. East (3-1-1 versus the Red Sox. Also, the over is 16-8 in Boston’s last 24 at Fenway.
ATS ADVANTAGE: BOSTON
Gametimepicks.com
Looking-Good
By SportsPic
Halos enter the second of this three game set with ideal conditions on their side sending Joe Saunders (13-7, 4.81) to the bump. The southpaw in great form has a four game win streak on the go surrendering 20 hits, 5 runs, sitting down 15, walking 7 to give the hurler a 1.12 WHIP, 10.08 Avg-Base-Runner-Allw/9, 15.08 Batter-Out-Rating/9 over the span. Keep in mind starters with a high Batter-Out-Rating naturally leads to less men on base (Avg-Base-Runners-Allowed) thus making it harder for the opposition to score runs. Road teams with a starter producing a high BOR (>14), low ABRA (<12) win at a 64.3% clip (496-275) outscoring host clubs 4.4 to 2.6. Consider Los Angeles knowing Halos are 7-1 vs Red Sox with Saunders, 9-2 vs. American League East w/Saunders and 13-5 last eighteen in September with the lefty.
Baseball Today
SCOREBOARD
Wednesday, Sept. 16
Colorado at San Francisco (10:15 p.m. EDT). Jorge De La Rosa (14-9, 4.37 ERA) pitches for the Rockies against All-Star Matt Cain (13-5, 2.61) in the finale of a three-game series with major playoff implications. Cain and the Giants are trying to catch their NL West rivals in the wild-card race.
STARS
Tuesday
-Andre Ethier, Dodgers, hit a two-run homer in the 13th inning - his major league-leading sixth walkoff hit of the season - giving Los Angeles a 5-4 victory over Pittsburgh.
-Cliff Lee, Phillies, struck out nine in a six-hitter, leading Philadelphia to a 5-0 win over Washington.
-Adam LaRoche, Braves, homered twice and drove in three runs in Atlanta's 6-0 victory against the New York Mets.
-David Ortiz, Red Sox, hit his record-breaking 270th homer as a designated hitter and had an RBI single in Boston's 4-1 victory over the Los Angeles Angels.
-Travis Snider, Blue Jays, homered twice and drove in three runs to power Toronto to a 10-4 victory at the New York Yankees.
-Barry Zito, Giants, struck out a season-high nine and allowed five hits and two runs in seven efficient innings, leading San Francisco to a 10-2 win over Colorado.
-Alberto Callaspo, David DeJesus and Miguel Olivo, Royals, each hit a three-run homer in Kansas City's 11-1 win at Detroit.
-Mark Reynolds, Diamondbacks, hit a two-run homer in the ninth inning off Padres closer Heath Bell, leading Arizona to a 4-2 win over San Diego.
-Matt Wieters, Orioles, homered and had a career-high five RBIs to lift Baltimore to a 10-5 win against Tampa Bay.
-Geovany Soto, Cubs, homered and drove in three runs to help Chicago to a 13-7 win against Milwaukee.
-Rajai Davis, Athletics, matched a career best with four RBIs in Oakland's 6-1 victory at Texas.
MR. CLUTCH
Andre Ethier hit a two-run homer in the 13th inning for his major league-leading sixth walkoff hit of the season, giving Los Angeles a 5-4 victory over Pittsburgh. Four of Ethier's game-ending hits have been home runs.
RUMBLE IN THE BRONX
Yankees star Jorge Posada and Toronto reliever Jesse Carlson got into a fight near home plate, leading to a frenzied, bench-clearing brawl during the Blue Jays' 10-4 victory. Carlson threw behind Posada in the eighth, but trouble was avoided. After scoring on Brett Gardner's double, Posada brushed Carlson, who was on his way to back up the plate. Carlson shouted curses at the star catcher, who spun around and came back at Carlson. The two wrestled to the ground as the benches and bullpens emptied and other scuffles broke out between home plate and the New York dugout.
WELCOME BACK
Daisuke Matsuzaka returned from a three-month stint on the disabled list and pitched six shutout innings to lead Boston to a 4-1 victory over the Angels. An 18-game winner last year, Matsuzaka (2-5) got a standing ovation when he was relieved after one batter in the seventh. Matsuzaka, who gave up three hits, was placed on the disabled list with right shoulder problems on June 21.
YOUTH IS SERVED
Rookies Tommy Hanson of Atlanta, Sean West of Florida and Matt Wieters of Baltimore each had a nice day. Hanson pitched seven innings in the Braves' 6-0 win over the New York Mets; West had a season-high nine strikeouts to outpitch 18-game winner Adam Wainwright in the Marlins' 2-1 victory against St. Louis; and Wieters homered and had a career-high five RBIs to lead the Orioles to a 10-5 win over Tampa Bay.
CLOSING TIME
All-Star closer Joe Nathan reached a milestone in Minnesota's 5-4 win over the Cleveland Indians. Nathan gave up a one-out solo homer to Matt LaPorta in the ninth but got his 40th save, reaching that figure for the third time in his career and first since recording 43 in 2005.
TOO SOON
Michael Young returned to Texas' lineup against Oakland but left after one at-bat as the designated hitter. The All-Star third baseman, who had missed two weeks because of a strained left hamstring, flied out in the first inning. The Rangers said Young felt OK but just wanted another day or two before playing full-time again. Texas lost 6-1 to the Athletics and is 5 1/2 games behind AL wild-card leader Boston.
SPEAKING
"I don't want my kids to see that. ... Fight in the middle of the field, benches clearing - that's a bad example.'' - Yankees catcher Jorge Posada after his fight with Toronto reliever Jesse Carlson touched off a frenzied, bench-clearing brawl during the Blue Jays' 10-4 victory over the Yankees.
Giants go for sweep
By Brobury Sports
The San Francisco Giants have the brooms ready as they meet the Colorado Rockies in the Bay Area tonight.
San Francisco is a -135 home favorite with the first pitch coming at 10:15 pm ET. The Over/Under is 7.5 runs.
San Francisco trails Colorado by just 2.5 games in the NL Wild Card after winning last night 10-2. Barry Zito got the victory giving up two runs in seven innings. The Giants won the opening game on Monday (9-1) with Tim Lincecum throwing another home gem.
The Giants (48-25) have the best home record in the NL. They are 7-1 at home versus Colorado this season, winning six straight. However, San Fran is 2-7 in their last nine Game 3’s of a series.
The Rockies are 3-14 in their last 17 road games against a team with a winning record. They have a three-game series at Arizona next, but then return home for a nine-game homestand. A win tonight would give them much needed breathing room.
Jorge De La Rosa (Colorado) vs. Matt Cain (San Fran)
Cain (13-5, 2.61 ERA) is the Giants co-ace along with Lincecum although he has struggled a bit of late. Cain has a 4.74 ERA in his last three starts and San Fran is 4-4 in his starts since August. That compares very unfavorably with their 16-5 record in his first four months.
Cain surprisingly has a 6.75 ERA in two home starts versus Colorado this year. One came on August 30th and he got the win despite giving up four earned in six innings. Cain is 2-0 with a minuscule .69 ERA in two starts at Coors Field this year.
De La Rosa (14-9, 4.37 ERA) has never had more than 10 wins in a season before this year. His K-rate is 9.18 per nine innings and he has been tremendous in three September starts (2-0, 1.50 ERA).
This is his first start at San Fran this year and he’s 2-0 with a 5.40 ERA in two home starts versus them. Colorado is 15-3 in De La Rosa’s last 18 starts.
Can San Francisco make the NL Wild Card race even closer?