Wednesday, July 14, 2010

The Weekend: East vs West

Two big baseball series pepper the weekend, among others (such as LA/StL):

Mets vs Giants
Rangers vs Red Sox

Basically you're looking at East division vs West Division contenders in both cases. One NL, one AL.

Predictions: Believe it or not I'm going to select the Giants to take three of four at home. They tend to play well there, and I imagine the 1-2-3 for SF beats the 1-2-3 for NY. And looking at probables...

Dickey vs Lincecum: Are you kidding me? Timmy will dominate compared to R.A. Dickey. Dickey can barely get a wiffle ball across the plate!
Niese vs Zito: Going with the experience here. Zito is a workhorse and will keep the Giants in the game throughout. All he needs is some run support.
Pelfrey vs TBA: Well it's that always tough TBA... TBA really has a wicked curveball and an underrated slider. More importantly, Big Pelf has come apart in the last week. I think TBA will display more poise.
Santana vs TBA: No telling who Bochy will start here, but if he goes with Cain, this might be a tight, 0-0 game. But I do think the Mets gut it out to break the sweep.

For the Rangers and Red Sox:

Hunter vs Wakefield: Gotta give the edge to the youngin'. His stuff easily beats Wakefields 50/50 knuckleball. You can never tell for sure, but I'd go Hunter for the win.
Lewis vs Doubront: No idea. Not familiar with either pitcher but I imagine they cancel each other out. I'll give it to Boston on the strength of Home Field.
Lee vs TBA: Jury's still out on Lee. He *has* pitched at Fenway before, but he has a career ERA of 5.79 there with a WHIP of 1.6! Go for TBA.
Wilson vs TBA: You'd have to think the Red Sox would find a way to work in Jon Lester or possibly Clay Bucholz in this series. If either pitches in this game, I go with the Red Sox.

In total, I think both the Rangers and Red Sox split the four games.

So predictions are set... let's play ball! (tomorrow)

note: R.I.P. George Steinbrenner. He was an iconic figure and a memorable character. I don't know if he was good for the game of baseball. We'll know for sure as the years go by.

No comments: