Tagged: Brian Bannister
Duel of the Day – Friday, August 7, 2009
Great game yesterday for the Phillies, Cliff Lee didn’t bring his best, but, being the ace that he is, he didn’t need his best. Brad Lidge was the best i’ve seen him all year as well.
Pitchers who went 7 innings: Cliff Lee (W, 6 hits, 1 run, 1 walk, 9 K’s), Tommy Hunter (W, 3 hits, 3 runs – 2 earned, 2 walks, 4 K’s), Jason Vargas (L, 9 hits, 8 runs – 7 earned, 3 walks, 0 K’s), Randy Wolf (ND, 9 hits, 4 runs, 3 walks, 4 K’s)
The Duel of Yesterday: Nick Blackburn v. Fausto Carmona
The matchups:
Boston Red Sox (Josh Beckett, 13-4, 3.27) at New York Yankees (A.J. Burnett, 10-5, 3.89)
Arizona Diamondbacks (Jon Garland, 6-10, 4.26) at Washington Nationals (Collin Balester, 1-1, 3.68)
Minnesota Twins (Anthony Swarzak, 3-4, 4.25) at Detroit Tigers (Armando Galarraga, 5-10, 5.22)
St. Louis Cardinals (Chris Carpenter, 10-3, 2.10) at Pittsburgh Pirates (Paul Maholm, 6-6, 4.75)
Baltimore Orioles (Jason Berken, 1-9, 6.93) at Toronto Blue Jays (Ricky Romero, 10-4, 3.53)
Florida Marlins (Ricky Nolasco, 7-7, 5.00) at Philadelphia Phillies (Joe Blanton, 7-5, 4.02)
Milwaukee Brewers (Carlos Villanueva, 2-8, 5.98) at Houston Astros (Bud Norris, 1-0, 0.90)
Oakland Athletics (Vin Mazzaro, 2-8, 5.73) at Kansas City Royals (Brian Bannister, 7-7, 3.59)
Cleveland Indians (Jeremy Sowers, 3-7, 4.97) at Chicago White Sox (Mark Buehrle, 11-5, 3.79)
Chicago Cubs (Carlos Zambrano, 7-4, 3.35) at Colorado Rockies (Ubaldo Jimenez, 8-9, 3.76)
Texas Rangers (Scott Feldman, 10-4, 3.91) at Los Angeles Angels (Joe Saunders, 9-6, 5.07)
New York Mets (Oliver Perez, 2-3, 7.03) at San Diego Padres (Kevin Correia, 7-9, 4.73)
Tampa Bay Rays (Jeff Niemann, 10-5, 3.62) at Seattle Mariners (Felix Hernandez, 12-4, 2.78)
Atlanta Braves (Jair Jurrjens, 9-8, 2.85) at Los Angeles Dodgers (Chad Billingsley, 11-6, 3.82)
Cincinnati Reds (Homer Bailey, 2-3, 7.06) at San Francisco Giants (Tim Lincecum, 12-3, 2.18)
The rundown:
It’s Red Sox/Yankees, it’s former teammates, it’s got playoff implications, and it could be a good pitchers duel. Josh Beckett is having another season of domination (has anyone else noticed that he goes like every other year?), in his last 8 starts he is 6-1, with 2 complete game shutouts. A.J. Burnett is having a bit of a different season, before he got slammed in his last start, he was 7-1 dating back to the last time he faced Boston. I think the excitement of the game will turn in some emotion-on-your-sleeve performances.
In a battle of aces, Carlos Zambrano will take on Ubaldo Jimenez. In his last start, Zambrano left with a stiff back after only 3 innings, his season hasn’t been much to write home about, but his ERA is still very good at 3.35, but he’s hovering around only 6 innings per start. Ubaldo Jimenez would like a better record, but he’s been able to keep that ERA under 4.00, he’s coming off a good start in Cincinnati and he’ll look to have that carry over.
Jeff Niemann has been the surprise of the season for the Rays, he has been incredible. Originally he was slated to be no better that the 5th starter, but he has become a staple in that rotation. 3 of his last 4 starts have been 8 innings or more, one being a complete game shutout, I look for him to do really good against the Mariners. Speaking of the Mariners, they are throwing Felix Hernandez to the hill, and what can you say? His ERA was on a nice little roll, getting to 2.45, and then he got rocked for 7 runs in Toronto, but the guy is still having a great season.
The notables:
Chris Carpenter will face the Pirates, Ricky Romero takes on the Orioles, Brian Bannister has the A’s to contend with, Mr. Perfect 2009 Mark Buehrle faces division rival Cleveland, Scott Feldman is have a good campaign with the Rangers and he’s facing the Angels, Jair Jurrjens and Chad Billingsley are facing off again, it could be good, Tim Lincecum rounds out the day against the Cincinnati Reds
The winner:
I think you have to take Beckett/Burnett just because it’s Red Sox/Yankees, but you could always catch the Niemann/Hernandez game afterwards
Duel of the Day – Sunday, August 2, 2009
Oh how good it feels to be back. I didn’t realize how much I truly loved baseball until I was unable to watch it for a week, I was dying on the inside. I did go to two live games, which were a lot of fun. Free baseball in both games as Padres/Nationals went to the 10th and Royals/Orioles went to the 11th. That Cliff Lee trade blew my mind, i’m still rather disappointed they gave up Lou Marson, because I think he can be a much better backup that Paul Bako (I wonder why?). Regardless, an amazing start by Lee and i’m hoping for many many more.
Pitchers who went 7 innings: Josh Beckett (W, 6 hits, 0 runs, 2 walks, 5 K’s), Felix Hernandez (W, 6 hits, 2 runs, 4 walks, 2 K’s), Joe Blanton (L, 7 hits, 2 runs, 0 walks, 5 K’s), Brett Cecil (W, 6 hits, 4 runs, 1 walk, 3 K’s)
Pitchers who went 8 innings: Jeff Niemann (W, 4 hits, 1 run, 0 walks, 7 K’s), Rick Porcello (ND, 4 hits, 1 run, 1 walk, 3 K’s), Ubaldo Jimenez (W, 5 hits, 2 runs, 0 walks, 8 K’s), Tim Lincecum (W, 7 hits, 0 runs, 1 walk, 8 K’s)
Pitchers who went 9 innings: Chris Carpenter (W, 8 hits, 1 run, 0 walks, 5 K’s)
The matchups:
Detroit Tigers (Armando Galarraga, 5-9, 4.84) at Cleveland Indians (Carl Pavano, 8-8, 5.66)
Arizona Diamondbacks (Jon Garland, 5-10, 4.42) at New York Mets (Mike Pelfrey, 8-6, 4.72)
Colorado Rockies (Jason Marquis, 12-7, 3.47) at Cincinnati Reds (Bronson Arroyo, 10-10, 5.17)
Boston Red Sox (Clay Buchholz, 1-1, 3.52) at Baltimore Orioles (Jason Berken, 1-8, 6.21)
Washington Nationals (Collin Balester, 1-1, 4.00) at Pittsburgh Pirates (Paul Maholm, 6-5, 4.70)
Kansas City Royals (Brian Bannister, 6-7, 3.80) at Tampa Bay Rays (James Shields, 6-7, 3.87)
New York Yankees (CC Sabathia, 10-7, 3.83) at Chicago White Sox (Mark Buehrle, 11-4, 3.45)
Los Angeles Angels (Jered Weaver, 10-3, 3.71) at Minnesota Twins (Glen Perkins, 6-6, 5.42)
Houston Astros (Bud Norris, 0-0, 3.00) at St. Louis Cardinals (Adam Wainwright, 12-6, 2.80)
Milwaukee Brewers (Carlos Villanueva, 2-8, 6.61) at San Diego Padres (Kevin Correia, 7-8, 4.75)
Philadelphia Phillies (Cole Hamels, 7-5, 4.42) at San Francisco Giants (Barry Zito, 6-10, 4.54)
Toronto Blue Jays (Ricky Romero, 9-4, 3.59) at Oakland Athletics (Vin Mazzaro, 2-7, 5.16)
Chicago Cubs (Ryan Dempster, 5-5, 4.31) at Florida Marlins (Ricky Nolasco, 7-7, 5.24)
Los Angeles Dodgers (Chad Billingsley, 10-6, 3.96) at Atlanta Braves (Jair Jurrjens, 9-7, 2.69)
Seattle Mariners (Ian Snell, 2-8, 5.36) at Texas Rangers (Scott Feldman, 9-4, 3.99)
The rundown:
I still like the Bannister v. Shields matchup, I think both of these guys can be even better than they are now. I actually saw Bannister pitch when I was in Camden Yards last week, he got a no deciscion and pitched alright. For some reason I can see this being a fairly good duel. Shields is a well known workhorse, which is a great quality to have. Bannister can be just as good, he just has the tendancy to leave his curveball very high.
CC Sabathia and Mark Buehrle, this one will be good. CC hasn’t been quite as dominant as he was last season, but he is still CC Sabathia. Mark Buehrle can’t really be any better than he has been as of late. I’m going to make a bold prediction right now, both of these guys are pitching into the 8th inning, I just have a feeling. What better way to spend a Sunday?
I’m not a huge fan of Billingsley, but he is the ace of the Dodgers pitching staff, and he knows what he’s doing. Jair Jurrjens, on the other hand, is someone i’m a big fan of, with his ERA, his record deserves to be better. I’m not sure if this is the ESPN game or if it’s Mariners/Rangers (usually there aren’t two 8:00 games on Sunday), but I think this is the one to watch.
The notables:
Jason Marquis looks to continue his incredible season against the Reds, one of my favorite’s Jered Weaver takes on the Twins, Adam Wainwright has been incredible; he’ll take on the Astros, Cole Hamels will face Barry Zito in a potential pitchers duel, Ricky Romero takes on the A’s, and Scott Feldman, who has been pretty good, will face the Mariners.
The winner:
Sabathia/Buehrle looks to be pretty good and I did make that bold prediction, i’m just looking forward to watching baseball again.
Duel of the Day – Friday, July 17, 2009
I’d like to thank the Washington Nationals for allowing Rich Harden to have a good start. Vintage Harden, 6 innings, 7 K’s, 0 earned runs (1 run). Another good performance was put up by Cliff Lee, who pitched a complete game against the Mariners. Wandy Rodriguez pitched 6 solid innings and Ervin Santana went 8 against Oakland. Yesterday’s star for me was Jamie Moyer, Moyer turns it on against the Fish and yesterday was no exception, 7 shutout innings in a 4-0 win.
The matchups:
Detroit Tigers (Lucas French, 1-0, 1.93) at New York Yankees (A.J. Burnett, 8-4, 3.77)
Chicago Cubs (Carlos Zambrano, 5-4, 3.53) at Washington Nationals (Craig Stammen, 2-4, 4.45)
Seattle Mariners (Felix Hernandez, 9-3, 2.53) at Cleveland Indians (Tomo Ohka, 0-3, 6.40)
San Francisco Giants (Tim Lincecum, 10-2, 2.33) at Pittsburgh Pirates (Paul Maholm, 6-4, 4.60)
Boston Red Sox (Clay Buchholz – First Start) at Toronto Blue Jays (Ricky Romero, 7-3, 3.00)
Milwaukee Brewers (Jeff Suppan, 5-6, 4.70) at Cincinnati Reds (Bronson Arroyo, 9-8, 5.38)
Philadelphia Phillies (Cole Hamels, 5-5, 4.87) at Florida Marlins (Ricky Nolasco, 6-7, 5.76)
New York Mets (Mike Pelfrey, 7-4, 4.47) at Atlanta Braves (Jair Jurrjens, 7-7, 2.91)
Minnesota Twins (Glen Perkins, 4-5, 4.71) at Texas Rangers (Vincente Padilla, 7-4, 4.53)
Tampa Bay Rays (James Shields, 6-6, 3.42) at Kansas City Royals (Brian Bannister, 6-7, 3.66)
Baltimore Orioles (Jason Berken, 1-6, 5.87) at Chicago White Sox (John Danks, 7-6, 3.91)
Arizona Diamondbacks (Jon Garland, 5-8, 4.53) at St. Louis Cardinals (Chris Carpenter, 7-3, 2.47)
Colorado Rockies (Ubaldo Jimenez, 6-9, 3.81) at San Diego Padres (Josh Geer, 1-4, 5.79)
Los Angeles Angels (Joe Saunders, 8-5, 4.65) at Oakland Athletics (Trevor Cahill, 5-8, 4.67)
Houston Astros (Roy Oswalt, 5-4, 3.85) at Los Angeles Dodgers (Chad Billingsley, 9-4, 3.38)
The rundown:
Clay Buchholz has been tearing up Triple-A, but hasn’t seen the big leagues this season. He has stuggled in the past in the majors, but we’ll see if it’s different this time around. Ricky Romero has been very good this year, in his first MLB season. This one should be a good AL East battle with some youngsters on the mound.
James Shields has been solid again this season and so has Brian Bannister. It’s hard to so anything more or anything less because you know these guys can pitch, somedays they go out and get smashed and the next time they’ll throw a gem. I’d like to see a couple of gems right here. James Shields has a good opportunity for a complete game I believe.
Oswalt/Billingsley is the ace vs ace matchup with should be really good. Oswalts season isn’t anything too outstanding, but you know he’s good. Billingsley has been the pitcher for the Dodgers this season and he’s always ready to go out there and blow that fastball by you. Dodgers were shutout yesterday so maybe Oswalt can do it again.
The notables:
Felix Hernandez is on the mound facing the Cleveland Indians, Tim Lincecum makes his way to Pittsburgh, my man Cole Hamels takes on the Florido Marlins, hopefully his second half will be better than his first. Jair Jurrjens takes on the Mets and you know I hope he runs them down. Chris Carpenter is also pitching today as he faces the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The winner:
I’d probably be most interested in Buchholz/Romero, but you really can’t go wrong with any of them. Enjoy the pitching!
The Pitcher's Duel 