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First Pitch 8/31: Twins/Sox, Joba Rules Again, Greinke Good

Twins and White Sox, Joba Rules Again, and the Giants prove the old cliché get Monday’s First Pitch going.

Twins with Chance to Bury White Sox

The White Sox had a ton of mojo when it looked like Jake Peavy was returning shortly. Now, Peavy has a sore elbow and will get examined shortly. But, today, the Twins will welcome the White Sox to the dome for a three game series. The Twins are just 65-65 on the season, but they are winners of seven of their last ten and have a 37-29 record home while the White Sox have a 28-37 record on the road. The White Sox are reeling and their playoff chances could be crushed with a poor series against the Twins followed by another series against the Red Sox (they are currently 6 games behind the Tigers). The Twins have won the last four games against the White Sox and 14 of 16 at home against the Pale Hose. The Series’ pitching matchups are: Gavin Floyd (10-8, 3.95 ERA) vs. Nick Blackburn (8-9, 4.29 ERA), Jon Danks (12-8, 3.82 ERA) vs. Jeff Manship (0-0, 5.14 ERA), and Mark Buehrle (11-7, 3.89 ERA) vs. Brian Duensing (2-1, 4.37 ERA).

Joba Rules

Protecting a young pitcher is paramount. The Yankees are trying to limit Joba Chamberlain’s innings in order to keep their prize right-hander fresh for the playoffs. They experimented with skipping starts, but it appeared Chamberlain couldn’t get a rhythm going after layoffs of eight days between starts. Now, the Yankees have reversed course and will pitch him on normal rest, but for just three or four innings for the next few starts before building him back up. While the idea of changing the plan yet again makes the Yankees look foolish, they are better equipped for this plan than they were last season when they were trying to move him back in the rotation. With Alfredo Aceves, Chad Gaudin, and Phil Hughes all capable of throwing multiple innings and with rosters expanding on Tuesday, they can afford a few short starts for Chamberlain. It’s not ideal, but his health is the primary concern, especially with a six game lead. The trick will be to build him back up so he is effective in the playoffs.

Giants are a Cliché

If you are a baseball fan, you have heard of the cliché “Good pitching beats good hitting any day”. Well, the Giants swept the Rockies this weekend to pull even in the Wild Card race. Tim Lincecum shut out the Rockies, 2-0 with another gem, making his case for the Cy Young Award. Barry Zito followed that up 8.1 innings of 1 run baseball to beat the Rocks 5-3 on Saturday night. Sunday, the Giants got a mediocre outing from Matt Cain, but actually produced nine runs against the Rockies staff for a 9-5 win. The Rockies have lost five straight and are showing signs that their great run is coming to an end. With a thin pitching staff and a streaky offense, they will stay in the hunt, but the Giants have the best rotation in the National League and are quickly becoming a team nobody wants to meet in the playoffs. The Giants head to Philadelphia while the Rockies welcome in New York on Tuesday.

Ok, Greinke is Pretty Damn Good

 

Zack Greinke followed up his 15 strikeout performance against the Indians on Tuesday with a Sunday performance of a complete game, one hit, shutout. With a 2.32 ERA, a 1.08 WHIP, and 202 strikeouts in 190.1 innings, he is clearly the best pitcher of the 2009 season despite his 13-8 record for the hapless Royals. Greinke leads the league in ERA, shutouts, complete games, and WHIP while being second in strikeouts. That sounds like a Cy Young winner here. Perhaps voters can look past the record to see the best pitcher of 2009.

More Kazmir

Today’s feature was about Scott Kazmir, but there is more Scott Kazmir. Read (Here) for my latest article with Rick Peterson on the Biz of Baseball website. In this article, Coach Peterson discusses his recent work with Scott Kazmir and his ongoing work with Mark Mulder.

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