Wednesday Baseball

Arizona (Schilling) San Francisco (Ortiz)

Going to back the visiting Diamond Backs with Schilling at a price you will not see him at very often.

Arizona sends Curt Schilling to the hill he has a record of 9-1 on the year with an ERA of 2.89 and a very solid WHIP of 0.914, his numbers improve when he hits the highway with a 5-0 record and an ERA of 2.13 and an even better WHIP of 0.737 in 38 innings of work on the road he has 56 strike outs and just 4 walks. He has a 5-3 record against the Giants since '97 with an ERA of 3.46 and a WHIP of 1.165.

The Giants counter with Russ Ortiz who is 4-3 on the year with an ERA of 3.37 and a WHIP of 1.203 but has been a little shaky in his last three trips to the hill with a 1-2 record and an ERA of 5.40 with a WHIP of 1.20. He has not fared well against the boys from the desert going 3-4 since '97 with an ERA of 5.23 and a very inflated WHIP of 1.706.

The Arizona offense is averaging 5.3 runs a game against Right-handed starters and are batting .277 as a team against them in their last 10 games. Defensively on the road they have been very solid allowing their opponents to score just 3.7 runs a game on average while limiting them to an on base percentage of .319. The bullpen has been up and down but with Schilling averaging over 7 innings a game against the Giants in his last 4 starts against them I don't see them being that big a factor in his current form.

The San Francisco offense does not have much luck scoring at home averaging 4.4 runs a game and batting just .246 as a team while in the friendly confines of Pac-Bell. Defensively they are allowing the opposition to score 3.8 runs a game on the year with an on base percentage of .357. The bullpen has been sharp with an ERA of 3.63 and a WHIP of 1.324.

Wally Bell is behind home plate he has a strike out to walk ratio of 2.15 which should help Schilling allot as he throws allot of strikes.

Bottom line is that Schilling is coming off of 5 days rest and a start where he threw just 81 pitches over 7 innings so he should be very well rested and is in very good form of late going against a Giants offense that has trouble scoring at home with a pitcher in Ortiz that has struggled lately.

Playing Arizona -141