Duel of the Day – Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Quite the throwdown in Philadelphia yesterday. Rich Harden throws 7 innings, giving up 1 run and striking out 6. Joe Blanton also went 7, also gave up a run, but he only struck out 5. Then the bullpen’s dueled until the 13th, when Jayson Werth hit an incredibly 3 run walk off homer. Braden Looper worked 7 scoreless innings giving up 4 hits and 3 walks. The performance of the night goes to John Lannan who pitched a complete game shutout giving up 7 hits, all singles, and walking none. Another complete game was thrown by Cliff Lee, who also gave up 7 hits, he also allowed 1 run. Brett Cecil, facing Lee, threw 7 shutout innings, striking out 9. Jeff Niemann went 8, giving up 8 hits, 2 runs, 0 walks, and he struck out 7. His opponent Clayton Richard also went 8, allowing 4 hits, 1 run 2 walks, and he too struck out 7. Chris Volstad threw 7 innings, allowing 1 run and 4 hits against the Padres. Anthony Swarzak and Dallas Braden also went 7 allowing 2 runs.
The matchups:
Milwaukee Brewers (Jeff Suppan, 5-7, 4.43) at Pittsburgh Pirates (Paul Maholm, 6-4, 4.28)
Baltimore Orioles (Jason Berken, 1-7, 6.44) at New York Yankees (A.J. Burnett, 8-4, 3.81)
Chicago Cubs (Carlos Zambrano, 6-4, 3.36) at Philadelphia Phillies (Jamie Moyer, 9-6, 5.58)
Arizona Diamondbacks (Jon Garland, 5-9, 4.45) at Colorado Rockies (Ubaldo Jimenez, 7-9, 3.82)
Minnesota Twins (Glen Perkins, 5-5, 4.75) at Oakland Athletics (Trevor Cahill, 5-8, 4.72)
Florida Marlins (Ricky Nolasco, 6-7, 5.77) at San Diego Padres (Josh Geer, 1-5, 6.02)
San Francisco Giants (Tim Lincecum, 10-2, 2.27) at Atlanta Braves (Jair Jurrjens, 8-7, 2.77)
Seattle Mariners (Felix Hernandez, 10-3, 2.51) at Detroit Tigers (Armando Galarraga, 5-8, 5.09)
New York Mets (Mike Pelfrey, 7-5, 5.07) at Washington Nationals (Craig Stammen, 2-5, 4.46)
Cleveland Indians (Carl Pavano, 8-7, 5.13) at Toronto Blue Jays (Ricky Romero, 7-4, 3.25)
Boston Red Sox (Clay Buchholz, 1-0, 1.59) at Texas Rangers (Vincente Padilla, 7-5, 4.67)
St. Louis Cardinals (Chris Carpenter, 8-3, 2.26) at Houston Astros (Roy Oswalt, 6-4, 3.65)
Los Angeles Angels (Joe Saunders, 8-6, 4.72) at Kansas City Royals (Brian Bannister, 6-7, 3.66)
Tampa Bay Rays (James Shields, 6-6, 3.75) at Chicago White Sox (Carlos Torres – First Start)
Cincinnati Reds (Bronson Arroyo, 10-8, 5.07) at Los Angeles Dodgers (Chad Billingsley, 9-5, 3.76)
The rundown:
This one has greatness written all over it. Tim Lincecum has been absolutly incredible this season, he is well on hjs way to Cy Young #2 (unless they look past win/loss record, then Dan Haren would have something to say). Jair Jurrjens lives under the radar so not many may know of him, but this kid can pitch. These two could easily put up scoreless inning after scoreless inning, something tells me Tim can pick up the win though, he is just too good.
Chris Carpenter has been fantastic this year, I don’t know if the Cardinals expected this much from him, but they can be happy that he’s given them what he has. Roy Oswalt hasn’t quite been himself this season, but he still has loads of talent and some nasty stuff. I hope Carpenter can keep this up though, it’s good to see, I think he can dispatch the Astros lineup tonight with relative ease.
The notables:
A.J. Burnett is facing the Orioles, Carlos Zambrano is facing my Phillies (go easy on us big man), King Felix is going to take it to the Tigers tonight, one of my favorites Ricky Romero will take on the Indians, James Shields will look to put the White Sox away easily and not give any more heart attacks to a Mr. More Cowbell. To wrap it up, Chad Billingsley will take on Cincinnati in the only 10:00 game of the day.
The winner:
Have to give it to Tim/Jair, this one looks like it will be incredible and I hope it lives up to my expectations, good day everybody, enjoy the pitching!
The Pitcher's Duel 
Lannan’s comlete game was definately the best yesterday, it was sweeter that it was against the Mets, but what was really amazing he did it all with just 1 strike out. I just hope Moyer produces a good game today….
Outside the Phillies looking In
http://devilabrit.mlblogs.com
Ugh. What a junky game tonight. Actually, it wasn’t that bad, but when you have a 3-1 lead late and then lose by 1, it kind of hurts. That 7th inning was brutal.
I’m hoping Kazmir gives us a shot at winning. How do you see the matchup?
http://raysfanboy.mlblogs.com/