Nolasco, Marlins stay hot, drop Astros again
Nolasco, Florida Marlins stay hot, drop Astros again on Wednesday
Just 3½ behind the Phils in the NL East, the Florida Marlins send Ricky Nolasco to the mound in Miami looking to stop the Astros for a third-straight evening.
Several Wednesday matchups will get more ink than the Astros, Marlins contest in Miami. The Rays and Angels in Anaheim, Tigers at Fenway to meet the Red Sox, Dodgers against the Giants in San Fran and the ESPN featured match between the Phillies and Cubs at Wrigley will trump this game in terms of national attention.
Still, there’s a special feeling swirling about this contest between Houston and Florida and there’s definitely some money to be made for bettors on the right side.
With Houston wasting two golden opportunities in the first two games of this match, and the surging Marlins taking advantage to win them both, the Astros are facing something of a do-or-die situation now. After letting a balk call open up a three-run sixth in Monday’s 8-6 loss, Houston blew a 7-2 lead last night with their ace Roy Oswalt on the hill. The Fish scored six in the sixth and seventh innings and eventually won Tuesday’s tilt on Dan Uggla’s RBI single in the 11th.
Now the best Houston can hope for is a series split, and that would mean first winning tonight with rookie Bud Norris (2-0, 1.69) on the hill. Florida meanwhile has one of their top pitchers opposing Norris in Ricky Nolasco (13-8, 4.86)
Nolasco comes into this one with the Marlins 4-0 in his most recent trips to the mound. With the exception of one bad outing in Arizona just before the All-Star break, the righthander has been among the NL’s top hurlers since he was sent to the minors for a short stay in late-May. Florida is 9-3 in the dozen starts Nolasco has made after being recalled, with the fourth-year pitcher owning a 2.57 ERA in that span which includes the seven-run shelling he took at the hands of the D-Backs.
He’s made two starts against Houston in his career, the last a gem here at Land Shark Stadium last September and the Marlins 2-0 in the two games. Hunter Pence has taken him deep twice in five at bats, so the confrontations between the two on Wednesday bear extra attention.
This will be the third start for Norris and what I’ve seen so far has been outstanding. Granted, I am an Astros fan and so there is some bias that comes with any ‘scouting analysis’ I might give about one of their players. But he simply goes about business, or has in the previous two starting gigs, looking like anything but a rookie.
His effort against the Cardinals about 10 days ago, taking a no-hitter into the sixth and eventually working seven scoreless, two-hit innings. But I was even more impressed in his start last Friday night when he worked around five walks in beating the Brewers 6-3. Wildness is a problem for Norris to date with 10 free passes in his first 16 innings of work. At the same time, the righty has been very stingy giving up the hits with only 12 so far all while striking out 16 in those 16 frames.
As for the weather and the man behind the mask calling the pitches tonight, the forecast calls for a 30%-40% chance of t-storms in the Miami area today. That means it will at least be a warm, muggy evening for the 3,000 fans or so that actually show up for tonight’s contest. The wind is listed in the 6-10 MPH range out of the Southeast (in from RF to 3B).
Jim Joyce will be making the ball-strike decisions on Wednesday, bringing a 12-10 mark in favor of the home team and 8-14 O/U record into the game. The line opened around -155 in favor of the Marlins and Florida backers have already driven that up into the -170 to -175 range. Home favorites in the -145 to -185 range are 3-1 in games Joyce has worked this season. He’s got a 5-12 O/U lean in games with a total in the 8½-10 run span, with this total set at 8½.
Give me all of the chalk in this one with a small play on Nolasco and the Marlins plus the Under.
NOTE: The W-L records shown for starting pitchers are their team's W-L mark when they start games. Statistical sources for this article were Retrosheet.org, Baseball-Reference.com and ESPN.com
Just 3½ behind the Phils in the NL East, the Florida Marlins send Ricky Nolasco to the mound in Miami looking to stop the Astros for a third-straight evening.
Several Wednesday matchups will get more ink than the Astros, Marlins contest in Miami. The Rays and Angels in Anaheim, Tigers at Fenway to meet the Red Sox, Dodgers against the Giants in San Fran and the ESPN featured match between the Phillies and Cubs at Wrigley will trump this game in terms of national attention.
Still, there’s a special feeling swirling about this contest between Houston and Florida and there’s definitely some money to be made for bettors on the right side.
With Houston wasting two golden opportunities in the first two games of this match, and the surging Marlins taking advantage to win them both, the Astros are facing something of a do-or-die situation now. After letting a balk call open up a three-run sixth in Monday’s 8-6 loss, Houston blew a 7-2 lead last night with their ace Roy Oswalt on the hill. The Fish scored six in the sixth and seventh innings and eventually won Tuesday’s tilt on Dan Uggla’s RBI single in the 11th.
Now the best Houston can hope for is a series split, and that would mean first winning tonight with rookie Bud Norris (2-0, 1.69) on the hill. Florida meanwhile has one of their top pitchers opposing Norris in Ricky Nolasco (13-8, 4.86)
Nolasco comes into this one with the Marlins 4-0 in his most recent trips to the mound. With the exception of one bad outing in Arizona just before the All-Star break, the righthander has been among the NL’s top hurlers since he was sent to the minors for a short stay in late-May. Florida is 9-3 in the dozen starts Nolasco has made after being recalled, with the fourth-year pitcher owning a 2.57 ERA in that span which includes the seven-run shelling he took at the hands of the D-Backs.
He’s made two starts against Houston in his career, the last a gem here at Land Shark Stadium last September and the Marlins 2-0 in the two games. Hunter Pence has taken him deep twice in five at bats, so the confrontations between the two on Wednesday bear extra attention.
This will be the third start for Norris and what I’ve seen so far has been outstanding. Granted, I am an Astros fan and so there is some bias that comes with any ‘scouting analysis’ I might give about one of their players. But he simply goes about business, or has in the previous two starting gigs, looking like anything but a rookie.
His effort against the Cardinals about 10 days ago, taking a no-hitter into the sixth and eventually working seven scoreless, two-hit innings. But I was even more impressed in his start last Friday night when he worked around five walks in beating the Brewers 6-3. Wildness is a problem for Norris to date with 10 free passes in his first 16 innings of work. At the same time, the righty has been very stingy giving up the hits with only 12 so far all while striking out 16 in those 16 frames.
As for the weather and the man behind the mask calling the pitches tonight, the forecast calls for a 30%-40% chance of t-storms in the Miami area today. That means it will at least be a warm, muggy evening for the 3,000 fans or so that actually show up for tonight’s contest. The wind is listed in the 6-10 MPH range out of the Southeast (in from RF to 3B).
Jim Joyce will be making the ball-strike decisions on Wednesday, bringing a 12-10 mark in favor of the home team and 8-14 O/U record into the game. The line opened around -155 in favor of the Marlins and Florida backers have already driven that up into the -170 to -175 range. Home favorites in the -145 to -185 range are 3-1 in games Joyce has worked this season. He’s got a 5-12 O/U lean in games with a total in the 8½-10 run span, with this total set at 8½.
Give me all of the chalk in this one with a small play on Nolasco and the Marlins plus the Under.
NOTE: The W-L records shown for starting pitchers are their team's W-L mark when they start games. Statistical sources for this article were Retrosheet.org, Baseball-Reference.com and ESPN.com
