Marquee pitching duels will warm up weekend
Friday’s Major League Baseball slate proves the old aphorism; you can’t have too much pitching.
After nearly two weeks of action, we’re back to the top of the rotation for most teams, including the Boston Red Sox and Seattle Mariners. Opening Day starters Curt Schilling and Jamie Moyer are the pitching probables for Friday night’s matchup at Fenway Park, the first of a four-game series.
It’s a classic study in contrasts: Schilling, the power right-hander who can still hit the mid-90s with his fastball, and Moyer, the southpaw junkballer whose pitches travel so slowly, he could probably run from the mound to behind the plate and be his own catcher, a la Bugs Bunny.
Both styles have proved successful in the past. After coming over from Boston, Moyer strung together a record of 132-58 between 1996 and 2003. Schilling’s most dominant years were between 1997 and 2004, when he went 143-83. There are two key differences, however, when looking at Friday’s matchup.
One, illustrating the deceptive nature of the "wins" statistic, Moyer had the luxury of pitching for Seattle teams that had plenty of power in the lineup, while Schilling suffered though several losing seasons in Philadelphia before joining the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2000.
Two, Schilling still has something in the tank. Moyer’s junk works well at Safeco Field, where he compiled a 3.71 ERA between 2003 and 2005 inclusive. On the road, that number swelled to 4.81. Moyer is also 0-2 this season with a pair of decent starts at Safeco, giving up six earned runs over 12 1/3 innings combined and leaving Seattle supporters two units in the red.
Schilling, meanwhile, is mowing down batters as usual (when healthy), allowing just three runs over 14 innings to go 2-0 and earn Boston supporters two units. That could very well become three units at Fenway with the Seattle batting order in a bit of a slump after a hot start. People who subscribe to NESN can watch this game starting at 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time; FOX Sports Northwest also has coverage for those in the Mariners’ market.
Moving over to the National League, the rivalry between the San Francisco Giants and the Los Angeles Dodgers will be renewed at Chavez Ravine as the two former New York clubs do battle in the first of a three-game set. Jason Schmidt takes the mound for the visitors against Brad Penny, a matchup of two pitchers trying to recapture their magic after injury.
Schmidt came into his own in 2001 when he escaped the Pittsburgh Pirates and joined a Giants team on the rise. The 6-foot-5 flamethrower was well on his way to a Cy Young campaign in 2004 when he suffered a groin injury in a mid-August tilt with the Montreal Expos. Schmidt was 15-4 with a 2.53 ERA at that point. It’s been pretty much all downhill from there. Schmidt was merely decent last year with a 4.40 ERA, his highest since joining San Francisco; this year, he’s already coughed up nine earned runs in 14 innings. The Giants split those two starts to break even at the pay window.
Penny, six years younger than Schmidt at age 27, has enjoyed much greater success since coming off a strained right biceps in 2004. He was part of then-GM Paul DePodesta’s much-maligned trade that sent popular catcher Paul LoDuca to Florida. At the time, there was talk of flipping Penny to the Diamondbacks for Randy Johnson, but that never materialized.
That may turn out best for L.A. in the long run, although DePodesta has already lost his job. Penny rebounded in 2005 with a decent 3.90 ERA and a VORP (Value Over Replacement Player) of 29.6 to Schmidt’s 17.5. He’s also jumped out of the gate in 2006 with two strong starts, allowing just two earned runs over 12 innings to earn Dodgers’ bettors 2.31 units.
Both pitchers will be relied upon to prop up their questionable batting orders. The Dodgers suddenly find themselves without Nomar Garciaparra (strained ribcage muscle) and Kenny Lofton (strained left calf muscle), although Lofton is due to come off the disabled list on Friday.
San Francisco was still waiting for that first home run of the season from Barry Bonds – although he did have seven walks in his first five games – but the club did manage to get off to a 4-2 start thanks to the work of Moises Alou (1.109 OPS) and Omar Vizquel (1.062 OPS). Viewers of KCAL and FOX Sports Bay Area will get to see if the rapidly aging Giants can still produce some runs. First pitch is at 10:40 p.m. Eastern.
Friday’s Major League Baseball slate proves the old aphorism; you can’t have too much pitching.
After nearly two weeks of action, we’re back to the top of the rotation for most teams, including the Boston Red Sox and Seattle Mariners. Opening Day starters Curt Schilling and Jamie Moyer are the pitching probables for Friday night’s matchup at Fenway Park, the first of a four-game series.
It’s a classic study in contrasts: Schilling, the power right-hander who can still hit the mid-90s with his fastball, and Moyer, the southpaw junkballer whose pitches travel so slowly, he could probably run from the mound to behind the plate and be his own catcher, a la Bugs Bunny.
Both styles have proved successful in the past. After coming over from Boston, Moyer strung together a record of 132-58 between 1996 and 2003. Schilling’s most dominant years were between 1997 and 2004, when he went 143-83. There are two key differences, however, when looking at Friday’s matchup.
One, illustrating the deceptive nature of the "wins" statistic, Moyer had the luxury of pitching for Seattle teams that had plenty of power in the lineup, while Schilling suffered though several losing seasons in Philadelphia before joining the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2000.
Two, Schilling still has something in the tank. Moyer’s junk works well at Safeco Field, where he compiled a 3.71 ERA between 2003 and 2005 inclusive. On the road, that number swelled to 4.81. Moyer is also 0-2 this season with a pair of decent starts at Safeco, giving up six earned runs over 12 1/3 innings combined and leaving Seattle supporters two units in the red.
Schilling, meanwhile, is mowing down batters as usual (when healthy), allowing just three runs over 14 innings to go 2-0 and earn Boston supporters two units. That could very well become three units at Fenway with the Seattle batting order in a bit of a slump after a hot start. People who subscribe to NESN can watch this game starting at 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time; FOX Sports Northwest also has coverage for those in the Mariners’ market.
Moving over to the National League, the rivalry between the San Francisco Giants and the Los Angeles Dodgers will be renewed at Chavez Ravine as the two former New York clubs do battle in the first of a three-game set. Jason Schmidt takes the mound for the visitors against Brad Penny, a matchup of two pitchers trying to recapture their magic after injury.
Schmidt came into his own in 2001 when he escaped the Pittsburgh Pirates and joined a Giants team on the rise. The 6-foot-5 flamethrower was well on his way to a Cy Young campaign in 2004 when he suffered a groin injury in a mid-August tilt with the Montreal Expos. Schmidt was 15-4 with a 2.53 ERA at that point. It’s been pretty much all downhill from there. Schmidt was merely decent last year with a 4.40 ERA, his highest since joining San Francisco; this year, he’s already coughed up nine earned runs in 14 innings. The Giants split those two starts to break even at the pay window.
Penny, six years younger than Schmidt at age 27, has enjoyed much greater success since coming off a strained right biceps in 2004. He was part of then-GM Paul DePodesta’s much-maligned trade that sent popular catcher Paul LoDuca to Florida. At the time, there was talk of flipping Penny to the Diamondbacks for Randy Johnson, but that never materialized.
That may turn out best for L.A. in the long run, although DePodesta has already lost his job. Penny rebounded in 2005 with a decent 3.90 ERA and a VORP (Value Over Replacement Player) of 29.6 to Schmidt’s 17.5. He’s also jumped out of the gate in 2006 with two strong starts, allowing just two earned runs over 12 innings to earn Dodgers’ bettors 2.31 units.
Both pitchers will be relied upon to prop up their questionable batting orders. The Dodgers suddenly find themselves without Nomar Garciaparra (strained ribcage muscle) and Kenny Lofton (strained left calf muscle), although Lofton is due to come off the disabled list on Friday.
San Francisco was still waiting for that first home run of the season from Barry Bonds – although he did have seven walks in his first five games – but the club did manage to get off to a 4-2 start thanks to the work of Moises Alou (1.109 OPS) and Omar Vizquel (1.062 OPS). Viewers of KCAL and FOX Sports Bay Area will get to see if the rapidly aging Giants can still produce some runs. First pitch is at 10:40 p.m. Eastern.