Detroit (Greisinger) @ Cleveland (Sabathia)
Going to play the Cleveland Indians tonight here to avoid losing this series to the woeful Detroit Tigers.
Detroit sends Seth Greisinger to the mound who has not fared well on the road going 1-2 with an ERA of 4.50 and a WHIP of 1.333 in 28 innings of work on the road he has just 7 strike outs. He has not done had much luck against the Indians either with two starts and an 0-2 record with an inflated ERA of 15.12 and a WHIP of 2.400.
Cleveland counters with C.C. Sabathia who had a rough start to the year with a 4-4 record and an ERA of 5.10 and a WHIP of 1.417 but has brought those numbers down considerably in his last 3 starts with an ERA of 3.32 and a WHIP of 1.21 and with a little runs support would have a much better record which he should get today. He has been a solid bet against the Tigers going 2-0 against them with an ERA of 3.79 and a WHIP of 1.000 since '97.
The Detroit offense has had allot of trouble scoring against left-handed starters averaging just 2.8 runs a game against them, while allowing their opponents to score 5.7 runs a game and have committed a very high 51 errors on the year and the bullpen has been anything but impressive with an ERA of 6.22 on the road and a WHIP of 1.603 giving up 12 home runs in 68 innings pitched.
The Cleveland offense is scoring 4 runs a game at home this year while allowing their opposition to score 4.5, while the bullpen has been very solid lately in their last 3 games they have an ERA of 2.66.
Home plate umpire Tim Welke is a hitters umpire calling 7 overs to 3 unders he has a strike out to walk ratio of 2.12 and when he is behind the plate teams average 9.82 runs a game.
So why am I playing the Indians? Well Sabathia is pitching better and has had allot of success against the Tigers with his teams going 3-0 against them since '97, while the Tigers are struggling against lefties and send Greisinger to the mound who has not pitched well lately with an ERA of 5.29 in his last 3 starts.
Playing Cleveland -150