Monthly Archives: October 2014

Oct 05

ALDS Day Three, 2014

Posted on by

Orioles at Tigers, 12:30PM PT, TV: TBS

The Tigers, down 2-0 in a five-game series, send out David Price, their mid-season acquisition who was 4-4 with a 3.59 ERA after coming over from the Rays at the trade deadline this summer. The Orioles ask Bud Norris (15-8, 3.65 ERA) to close out the series.

Price needs to go really really deep in this game, because the Tigers’ bullpen has been awful so far.

Angels at Royals, 4:30PM PT, TV: TBS

The Angels, down 2-0 in a five-game series, send out C.J. Wilson in the hope he can stop the unlikely juggernaut that is the Royals, while the KC team sends James Shields to the hill and asks him to put an end to the Angels’ frustration.

The history of teams falling behind 2-0 and coming back to win three straight is short: it’s only happened five of the 44 times it’s happened. But the Angels have had 13 winning streaks of three or more this year, so they and their fans are hanging their hopes on that.

Oct 04

NLDS Day Two, 2014

Posted on by

Giants at Nationals, 2:30PM PT, TV: Fox Sports 1

After winning Game One the Giants hope Tim Hudson (9-13, 3.57 ERA; 1-3, 3.46 ERA postseason) can keep the momentum going. They’re facing Jordan Zimmermann (14-5, 2.66 ERA; 0-1, 11.25 ERA postseason), and all he did his last time out was pitch a no-hitter for his fourteenth win.

The Giants have won nine straight postseason games. The record is twelve, held by the Yankees (twice), the As and the Red Sox.

Cardinals at Dodgers, 6:30PM PT, TV: MLBN

The Dodgers have to shrug off yesterday’s stunning loss and regroup, and they’ll send Zack Greinke (17-8, 2.71 ERA; 2-2, 4.30 ERA postseason) out to face Lance Lynn (15-10, 2.74 ERA; 5-4, 4.81 ERA postseason).

Oct 03

NLDS Day One, 2014

Posted on by

Giants at Nationals, 12:00PM PT, TV: FS1

The Giants start 13-year veteran Jake Peavy, the mid-season acquisition who was 1-9 with a 4.72 ERA for the Red Sox but 6-4 with a 2.17 ERA when he got back to the National League with the Giants. Their ace, Bumgarner, pitched and won the wild card game on Wednesday and won’t be available until Game 3 of this series on Monday. The Nationals have had their rotation set for two weeks, and tomorrow they start Stephen Strasburg, who was 14-11 with a 3.14 ERA this season. He’ll be making his postseason debut; in a controversial move the Nats’ management shut him down before the season ended in 2012, the last time the Washington team made the playoffs. (They missed the wild card by four games last season, and Strasburg was recovering from Tommy John surgery anyway).

Cardinals at Dodgers, 3:30PM PT, TV: FS1

Clayton Kershaw vs. Adam Wainwright. The best pitching matchup of any of these four series. We could see a double no-hitter.

Can Molina stop Dee Gordon and the other Dodger base stealers? Can the Dodgers keep from going into another hitting slump like they did last year?

We’ll find out this afternoon.

Oct 03

ALDS Day Two, 2014

Posted on by

Tigers at Orioles, 9:00AM PT, TV: TBS

Down one game to none, Detroit sends the second of their three former Cy Young winners, Justin Verlander, out to stop the Orioles and their third-year big leaguer Wei-Yin Chen. Chen was 16-6 with a 3.54 ERA in the regular season, while Verlander had an uncharacteristically bad year, going 15-12 with a 4.54 ERA.

If Detroit loses, they’re in serious trouble. They’d be down 0-2 in a five-game series, and only five times in 44 tries has a team in that position turned the series around and won.

Royals at Angels, 6:30PM PT, TV: TBS

The Royals, fresh off two extra-inning wins, ask rookie Yordano Ventura (14-10, 3.20 ERA) to keep their streak going. The Angels, in an 0-1 hole, ask star rookie Matt Shoemaker (16-4, 2.94 ERA) to plug the dike and send the series to Kansas City tied at one game apiece.

The same caveat applies to the Angels as to the Tigers: if they go down two games to none their chances of winning the five-game series are pretty bad.

Oct 02

ALDS Day One, 2014

Posted on by

Tigers at Orioles, 2:30PM PT, TV: TBS

Royals at Angels, 6:00PM PT, TV: TBS

The Os-Tigers matchup appears at first to come down to whether the Tigers’ pitching, starting with Max Scherzer tonight, can hold down the Orioles’ penchant for home runs (they were the only team to hit over 200 dingers this season in either league). Chris Tillman starts for the Orioles.

The hook for the Angels-Royals game tonight is that the starters were college teammates at Long Beach State back in 2004 and took the 49ers to the Super Regionals in the runup to the College World Series. The Angels send out Jared Weaver while the Royals counter with Jason Vargas.

Oct 01

NL Wild Card Game, 2014

Posted on by

Giants at Pirates, 8:07PM ET, TV: ESPN

The Giants send out Madison Bumgarner and his 18-10, 2.98 ERA to face the Pirates’ Edinson Volquez, who was 13-7 with a 3.04 ERA during the regular season. Bumgarner only faced the Pirates once this season and it was a forgettable outing. On July 28 he gave up five earned runs on six hits in four innings. Volquez (who was briefly a Dodger last season, you may recall) didn’t face the Giants this season, and he’s had minimal success against them over the past few years: he’s winless in nine starts against the Giants since beating them twice in 2008. He’s had a renaissance this season with the Pirates, though.

The Pirates have the second-best home record in all of baseball: they’re 51-30, one back of the Angels’ 52-29. To counter that, the Giants’ Bumgarner has an 11-4 record and a 2.22 ERA in 18 starts away from AT&T Park.

For further discussion of the matchups, I again refer you to Bleacher Report. That’s the same post I linked to yesterday; just scroll down to see the National League discussion.