Everyone knows who Johan Santana is and what he's accomplished during his career. I'll only mention that since being traded to Mets, his overall numbers have stayed pretty much the same while on some special occasions his most important stat has been much worse compared to his AL days. I'm talking about WHIP - a stat which shows us the amount of walks and hits pitcher surrendered over the inning. Considering Santana will be pitching on 5 days rest tonight, this just wasn't his best spot so far because his WHIP in this situation stands at 1.42 while at the same time he allowed the opponents to bat .284 vs him. His record (3-2) and especially ERA (2.43) stayed as good as ever. Another important information - Santana has posted only 1-2 record at Angels Stadium with very ugly 5.16 ERA, although he's 2-3 4.05 ERA vs Angels for his career.
As for John Lackey, he's been next to outstanding since he joined the Angels rotation, coming back from DL. Lackey is 3-1 for the season with 1.83 ERA while going 2-0, 1.61 ERA 0.76 WHIP over his last 3 starts - all 3 won by Angels. He's been very durable as well, totalling 22.1 innings over that span. Unlike Santana, Lackey will be going on 6 days rest, where he's 2-0 with 1.23 ERA and 0.95 WHIP while limiting the opponents to only .218 BA. Also unlike Santana who's been getting around 4.5 runs per start, Angels have been averaging only 2.5 runs for Lackey but knowing his numbers along with the quality of the Angel's pen - that seems to be enough.
Now some offensive numbers for each team. Santana is well known inside Angels clubhouse, because they've seen him pitch so many times. That especially counts for Torii Hunter, who's used to play behind him, in CF for the long time in Twins uniform. This will be the first time those two will stand against each other so it will be interesting to see who'll come on top From other Angels, Anderson has .273 BA (22AB), Matthews .286 BA (14AB), and those two have actually fared the best vs Santana, hitting cumulative 3 homers. Figgins and Guerrero are batting only .200 in 30AB against him. From the Mets current lineup, Castillo, Delgado and Easley have fared the best against Lackey, combining for .464 BA (28AB) with 2 HRs and a double. Interesting but Beltran, Anderson, Castro, Chavez and Reyes are combined 0-for-20 vs Lackey. Trot Nixon, a longtime Red Sox is also only .250 hitter vs Lackey (16AB) with a double.
While the Mets are averaging around .240 BA .300 OBP and 3.5 RPG vs lefties lately, the Angels have been averaging around .300 BA .380 OBP and 6.0 runs per game vs southpaws, going 13-3 vs them for the season (with 7-1 at home last 8 times).
Looking at both team's pens - Mets have only Joe Smith (15.43 ERA 2.57 WHIP L3) and Scott Schoenweis (3.86 ERA 0.43 WHIP L3) rested while their closer Billy Wagner has been used last night and has a 6.00 ERA with 2.00 WHIP over the last 3 appearances. Both Heilman (3.38 ERA 0.75 WHIP L3) and Feliciano (5.40 ERA 1.80 WHIP L3) have pitched cumulative only 1 inning last night so let's say they should available, too.
From the Angels pen - Darren O'Day is on a 2 days rest (5.06 ERA 1.69 WHIP L3), while both Scot Shields (0.00 ERA 0.86 WHIP L3) and F-Rod (3.00 ERA 1.33 WHIP L3) are on a 1 day of rest. Shields has pitched a total of 3.2 innings over their last 8 games and his WHIP is only 0.63 while he's got 4 strikeouts over that period. Imo, those two are the most probable for being used if everything goes as planned tonight (with Lackey going 7 quality innings).
Im on the Angels tonight -115
As for John Lackey, he's been next to outstanding since he joined the Angels rotation, coming back from DL. Lackey is 3-1 for the season with 1.83 ERA while going 2-0, 1.61 ERA 0.76 WHIP over his last 3 starts - all 3 won by Angels. He's been very durable as well, totalling 22.1 innings over that span. Unlike Santana, Lackey will be going on 6 days rest, where he's 2-0 with 1.23 ERA and 0.95 WHIP while limiting the opponents to only .218 BA. Also unlike Santana who's been getting around 4.5 runs per start, Angels have been averaging only 2.5 runs for Lackey but knowing his numbers along with the quality of the Angel's pen - that seems to be enough.
Now some offensive numbers for each team. Santana is well known inside Angels clubhouse, because they've seen him pitch so many times. That especially counts for Torii Hunter, who's used to play behind him, in CF for the long time in Twins uniform. This will be the first time those two will stand against each other so it will be interesting to see who'll come on top From other Angels, Anderson has .273 BA (22AB), Matthews .286 BA (14AB), and those two have actually fared the best vs Santana, hitting cumulative 3 homers. Figgins and Guerrero are batting only .200 in 30AB against him. From the Mets current lineup, Castillo, Delgado and Easley have fared the best against Lackey, combining for .464 BA (28AB) with 2 HRs and a double. Interesting but Beltran, Anderson, Castro, Chavez and Reyes are combined 0-for-20 vs Lackey. Trot Nixon, a longtime Red Sox is also only .250 hitter vs Lackey (16AB) with a double.
While the Mets are averaging around .240 BA .300 OBP and 3.5 RPG vs lefties lately, the Angels have been averaging around .300 BA .380 OBP and 6.0 runs per game vs southpaws, going 13-3 vs them for the season (with 7-1 at home last 8 times).
Looking at both team's pens - Mets have only Joe Smith (15.43 ERA 2.57 WHIP L3) and Scott Schoenweis (3.86 ERA 0.43 WHIP L3) rested while their closer Billy Wagner has been used last night and has a 6.00 ERA with 2.00 WHIP over the last 3 appearances. Both Heilman (3.38 ERA 0.75 WHIP L3) and Feliciano (5.40 ERA 1.80 WHIP L3) have pitched cumulative only 1 inning last night so let's say they should available, too.
From the Angels pen - Darren O'Day is on a 2 days rest (5.06 ERA 1.69 WHIP L3), while both Scot Shields (0.00 ERA 0.86 WHIP L3) and F-Rod (3.00 ERA 1.33 WHIP L3) are on a 1 day of rest. Shields has pitched a total of 3.2 innings over their last 8 games and his WHIP is only 0.63 while he's got 4 strikeouts over that period. Imo, those two are the most probable for being used if everything goes as planned tonight (with Lackey going 7 quality innings).
Im on the Angels tonight -115
