Saturday: 5-2-2, + 3.57 units. I should be pissed about pushing on the Royals game considering how it all shook out in the 9th, but KC should have scored a few more runs earlier when they were playing footsies with Kazmir and the other crappy Indian middle relievers. Considering how well Santana pitched, that game should have been 5-0 or 7-0 going into the 9th. I also felt fortunate in the Arizona game considering how many times Miley was on the ropes and escaped. Long season...
Tampa-1 (-104) 3 units. Tampa has faced some of the toughest pitching in the past week… Sale, Peavy, Milone, Sabathia, Petite, Parker, Anderson- and has hit fairly well, and with power, limiting their Ks, and getting on base. Yanks, Oakland, and Chicago also have good bullpens. Now Axelrod has pitched well, and has a decent slider- but his fastball and change up are pedestrian and have to be perfectly placed. He has a 9:13 walk, K ratio and last year struggled with the long ball(one per 6.5 IPs). But the main reason I like this is that I think David Price is finally coming into his dominant self again. This happened last year. He started to pitch really well about the 4th game, and even admitted that he takes a few starts to really get his command and velocity back to normal. The White Sox, meanwhile, have been slumping badly against good pitching. They are hitting .197 in the past week, and are 2nd from the bottom in the AL vs. LHP in OBP. In fact, they have one of the worst BB:k ratio for the entire mlb this year- down there with Houston, Seattle and the Cubs. Their record has been okay due to a very good pitching staff, but their lineup is struggling at the top, middle and the bottom. Tampa has always been a good road team, have a decent bullpen and are led by a top notch manager.
Tampa-1 (-104) 3 units. Tampa has faced some of the toughest pitching in the past week… Sale, Peavy, Milone, Sabathia, Petite, Parker, Anderson- and has hit fairly well, and with power, limiting their Ks, and getting on base. Yanks, Oakland, and Chicago also have good bullpens. Now Axelrod has pitched well, and has a decent slider- but his fastball and change up are pedestrian and have to be perfectly placed. He has a 9:13 walk, K ratio and last year struggled with the long ball(one per 6.5 IPs). But the main reason I like this is that I think David Price is finally coming into his dominant self again. This happened last year. He started to pitch really well about the 4th game, and even admitted that he takes a few starts to really get his command and velocity back to normal. The White Sox, meanwhile, have been slumping badly against good pitching. They are hitting .197 in the past week, and are 2nd from the bottom in the AL vs. LHP in OBP. In fact, they have one of the worst BB:k ratio for the entire mlb this year- down there with Houston, Seattle and the Cubs. Their record has been okay due to a very good pitching staff, but their lineup is struggling at the top, middle and the bottom. Tampa has always been a good road team, have a decent bullpen and are led by a top notch manager.
