Arizona is the hottest team in the National League right now and they'll take advantage of a team that's cold at the plate today. Win number two will have to wait for Young.
The first place Diamondbacks welcomed the San Diego Padres to town with a 9-0 whipping last night in game one of this three game set. Tonight Chris Young (1-1, 5.17) tries to get the D-backs back on the winning track; he’ll be opposed by 25 year old right hander Edgar Gonzalez (0-1, 4.50).
Chris Young will have his work cut out for him as he attempts to shut down the number one offense in all of baseball; Arizona leads the league with 102 runs and is second in the league with 25 Home Runs. Young is off to a rough start this season after enjoying immense success in 2007, a season that saw him record nearly 50 more Ks than Hits allowed and maintain a WHIP under 1.11. A big difference between his start to ’08 and his ’07 campaign has been the increased number of long balls given up; Young has given up three HR’s in his last 10 IP. In addition to his struggles with keeping the ball in the park, the big right hander has seen his K/BB ratio drop, his average against increase, his walks per nine increase, and his K’s per nine decrease. Young has always been an extreme fly ball pitcher which is a perfect fit for his home park, but not necessarily Chase Field in Arizona.
Edgar Gonzalez is a young right hander that makes you put the ball in play; over the last couple seasons he’s had a BB/9 ratio well below the MLB average. When you watch Gonzalez you aren’t likely to be overwhelmed by his raw stuff, but he locates well and manages to keep the ball off the barrel of the bat. In 2007 the D-Backs hurler only gave up about 15% line drives on balls put in play against him, that’s a tremendous statistic for someone posting over 100 innings. Early on in 2008 that percentage is up a bit, but still in a good range, though there is only eight innings worth of data on him thus far.
To get a win today the Padres bats are going to have to wake up; currently their offense ranks last in runs scored and home runs. Gonzalez really struggles to keep the ball in the park against lefties in 2007, which means Adrian Gonzalez, Brian Giles, Josh Bard, and Jim Edmonds will be called on to knock the ball around tonight and get this offense jump started. Unfortunately, Gonzalez and Edmonds are each batting less than .160 over the last week while Bard is at just .250.
Arizona is hot at the dish right now; Conor Jackson, Justin Upton, Eric Byrnes, and Chris Snyder are all batting over .330 in the last seven days. Five of the Diamondbacks have more than five AB’s vs. Young and the only one with decent success has been Stephen drew who has four hits and two doubles in six at bats. Overall, Young has held this AZ roster to a batting average under .200 while managing 26K to just 14 hits allowed over 83 AB’s.
Young has struggled with the long ball so far this season, is a notorious fly ball pitcher, and he’s facing an offense that’s second in the majors in home runs. Chris is the more talented pitcher, but I’m going to take the hottest team in the NL at a decent price.
Arizona (-110)
The first place Diamondbacks welcomed the San Diego Padres to town with a 9-0 whipping last night in game one of this three game set. Tonight Chris Young (1-1, 5.17) tries to get the D-backs back on the winning track; he’ll be opposed by 25 year old right hander Edgar Gonzalez (0-1, 4.50).
Chris Young will have his work cut out for him as he attempts to shut down the number one offense in all of baseball; Arizona leads the league with 102 runs and is second in the league with 25 Home Runs. Young is off to a rough start this season after enjoying immense success in 2007, a season that saw him record nearly 50 more Ks than Hits allowed and maintain a WHIP under 1.11. A big difference between his start to ’08 and his ’07 campaign has been the increased number of long balls given up; Young has given up three HR’s in his last 10 IP. In addition to his struggles with keeping the ball in the park, the big right hander has seen his K/BB ratio drop, his average against increase, his walks per nine increase, and his K’s per nine decrease. Young has always been an extreme fly ball pitcher which is a perfect fit for his home park, but not necessarily Chase Field in Arizona.
Edgar Gonzalez is a young right hander that makes you put the ball in play; over the last couple seasons he’s had a BB/9 ratio well below the MLB average. When you watch Gonzalez you aren’t likely to be overwhelmed by his raw stuff, but he locates well and manages to keep the ball off the barrel of the bat. In 2007 the D-Backs hurler only gave up about 15% line drives on balls put in play against him, that’s a tremendous statistic for someone posting over 100 innings. Early on in 2008 that percentage is up a bit, but still in a good range, though there is only eight innings worth of data on him thus far.
To get a win today the Padres bats are going to have to wake up; currently their offense ranks last in runs scored and home runs. Gonzalez really struggles to keep the ball in the park against lefties in 2007, which means Adrian Gonzalez, Brian Giles, Josh Bard, and Jim Edmonds will be called on to knock the ball around tonight and get this offense jump started. Unfortunately, Gonzalez and Edmonds are each batting less than .160 over the last week while Bard is at just .250.
Arizona is hot at the dish right now; Conor Jackson, Justin Upton, Eric Byrnes, and Chris Snyder are all batting over .330 in the last seven days. Five of the Diamondbacks have more than five AB’s vs. Young and the only one with decent success has been Stephen drew who has four hits and two doubles in six at bats. Overall, Young has held this AZ roster to a batting average under .200 while managing 26K to just 14 hits allowed over 83 AB’s.
Young has struggled with the long ball so far this season, is a notorious fly ball pitcher, and he’s facing an offense that’s second in the majors in home runs. Chris is the more talented pitcher, but I’m going to take the hottest team in the NL at a decent price.
Arizona (-110)