Duel of the Day – Friday, September 4, 2009
A great start by Pedro Martinez and 3 straight saves by Brad Lidge, yet the offense was still quiet. At least they had a reason for it though, it was Tim Lincecum. That was a nice win for the Phillies, the game and the series.
Pitchers who went 7 innings: Carlos Torres (W, 5 hits, 0 runs, 0 walks, 6 K’s), Ryan Dempster (L, 9 hits, 3 runs – 0 earned, 1 walk, 7 K’s), Pat Misch (W, 4 hits, 2 runs, 2 walks, 3 K’s), Tim Lincecum (L, 4 hits, 2 runs, 1 walk, 11 K’s), Pedro Martinez (W, 5 hits, 1 run, 0 walks, 9 K’s), Jon Garland (W, 5 hits, 2 runs, 1 walk, 6 K’s)
The Duel of Yesterday: Tim Lincecum v. Pedro Martinez
The Matchups:
Minnesota Twins (Carl Pavano, 11-10, 5.11 – 2-2, 4.06) at Cleveland Indians (Jeremy Sowers, 5-9, 4.88)
Florida Marlins (Sean West, 6-5, 4.22) at Washington Nationals (Garrett Mock, 3-6, 5.01)
Texas Rangers (Scott Feldman, 14-4, 3.72) at Baltimore Orioles (Chris Tillman, 1-2, 4.24)
St. Louis Cardinals (Adam Wainwright, 16-7, 2.47) at Pittsburgh Pirates (Kevin Hart, 4-4, 4.34 – 1-3, 6.04)
New York Yankees (Joba Chamberlain, 8-4, 4.38) at Toronto Blue Jays (Roy Halladay, 13-8, 3.13)
Chicago Cubs (Carlos Zambrano, 7-6, 3.91) at New York Mets (Bobby Parnell, 3-7, 5.81)
Cincinnati Reds (Bronson Arroyo, 11-12, 4.35) at Atlanta Braves (Derek Lowe, 13-8, 4.38)
Detroit Tigers (Justin Verlander, 15-7, 3.38) at Tampa Bay Rays (Jeff Niemann, 12-5, 3.80)
Philadelphia Phillies (Cliff Lee, 12-10, 2.83 – 5-1, 1.80) at Houston Astros (Wandy Rodriguez, 12-9, 2.93)
San Francisco Giants (Barry Zito, 9-11, 3.94) at Milwaukee Brewers (Jeff Suppan, 6-8, 5.20)
Los Angeles Angels (Jered Weaver, 13-5, 3.89) at Kansas City Royals (Gil Meche, 6-10, 5.09)
Boston Red Sox (Paul Byrd, 1-0, 0.00) at Chicago White Sox (Freddy Garcia, 0-2, 5.94)
Arizona Diamondbacks (Dan Haren, 13-8, 2.78) at Colorado Rockies (Jason Hammel, 8-7, 4.40)
Seattle Mariners (Ryan-Rowland Smith, 2-2, 3.95) at Oakland Athletics (Clayton Mortensen, 0-1, 12.86)
San Diego Padres (Wade LeBlanc, 0-1, 9.58) at Los Angeles Dodgers (Clayton Kershaw, 8-7, 2.94)
The Rundown:
Cliff Lee showed us Phillies fans his human side in his last outing, we’d rather not ever see it again. He allowed 6 runs on 10 hits in just 5 innings of work, his shortest outing since June 30th. But I have faith that he’ll be able to bounce back from this game with no problem, should be a pretty tough matchup though facing off against Wandy Rodriguez. Rodriguez, while not being quite as dominant as Lee, has pretty much the same overall ERA for the season, which was surprising to me. Since the start of July, he has allowed over 1 run in a game just twice, its just a shame that one of those times it was 10 runs. He does have 2 straight losses however, but I don’t think that really bothers him, he didn’t pitch all that bad in either game.
The Notables: Scott Feldman is 5-0 in his last 6 starts, and has 14 wins on the season. Adam Wainwright has been downright greatness for the past few months and I really think I would give the Cy Young to him at this point. Roy Halladay is in a slump, not only with his pitching, but I think his mindset too, I think he’s done with Toronto. Derek Lowe has had many good starts lately, but with a bad one in between. Justin Verlander and Jeff Niemann face off once again, and it could be a duel. Nobody seems to be giving him much credit, but Barry Zito has been incredibly strong recently, he just went 8.1 innings against the Rockies. Dan Haren has been better, but still not as good as he was early in the season, still, he’s a good one to watch.
The Pitcher's Duel 