It's the first day of the final month of regular season baseball. Many of you have already switched over to football mode with the NFL ready for the first week of their regular season, but this is BaseballGuys not football folks. Therefore, I've got your back all the way to the end, and that starts by looking at matchups for September 1st.

* NOTE: Players are listed in alphabetical order for the sake of making them easily sortable/findable. The matchups are also generated based on Batter vs. Pitcher data. Just because a player is not listed does not mean that he is a bad or good play. The players listed below are mentioned merely because of the BVP data for the matchup.

DISH DIAMONDS – The Best Hitting Matchups of the Day
 
Alexi Amarista has six hits in 13 at-bats against Trevor Cahill

It would be a shame if the ankle injury Miguel Cabrera suffered kept him out of action Monday. He's destroyed Corey Kluber (.536-3-7 in 28 ABs). Victor Martinez should be in there and he's hit .381 with two homers in 21 at-bats. 

All Robinson Cano has done against Jason Hammel is bat .387 with a homer and five RBIs in 31 at-bats. 

Chris Johnson has a .350 batting average over 20 at-bats against Cole Hamels. Justin Upton has one homer and a .310 batting average over 29 at-bats. 

Nick Markakis finally broke out of a prolonged slump Sunday. He's hit also hit .320 with two homers and seven RBIs in 50 at-bats against Phil Hughes. Delmon Young has six hits in 16 at-bats (.375).

Starling Marte has seven hits in 16 at-bats against Lance Lynn (.438). Josh Harrison has a homer and a 1.167 OPS in 12 plate appearances. Jose Tabata has slapped the ball around to the tune of a .353 average in 17 at-bats. Neil Walker has also found success batting .321-2-6 over 28 at-bats. 

David Ortiz is 4-for-7 with a homer against Drew Smyly. He also crushed it in August hitting .342 with a .603 SLG for the month. 

Hunter Pence is batting .429 against Franklin Morales (14 at-bats).

And you thought you were good at peek-a-boo

Josh Willingham must be monitored, he's been missing time with a sore back, but he's crushed Colby Lewis with a .333 batting average and four dingers in a mere 24 at-bats. 

David Wright continues to be a mess. At the same time he's blasted Henderson Alvarez, hard. In 19 at-bats he has a homer and a .474 batting average. 

DISH DISASTERS – Worst Hitting Matchups of the Day

Michael Brantley (1-for-10) and Michael Bourn (1-for-8) have had little success against the struggling David Price

Marlon Byrd has a mere two hits in 14 at-bats against Julio Teheran. Meanwhile Domonic Brown has one hit in 10 at-bats. 

Josh Donaldson has one hit in nine at-bats against the suddenly slumping Chris Young

Curtis Granderson is slumping in the second half and Henderson Alvarez seems to have his number. In 25 at-bats Granderson has seven punchouts an a .385 OPS. Lucas Duda is better, but not by much. In 18 plate appearances he's hit .167 and hasn't drawn a walk. 

Adam Jones against Phil Hughes equals advantage hurler. Hughes has held Jones to a sickly .182/.182/364 line over 44 plate appearances. Chris Davis is batting .238 with nine Ks in 21 at-bats. J.J. Hard is batting .208 with a .583 OPS over 24 plate appearances. 

Ian Kinsler has one hit in 13 at-bats against Corey Kluber. Torii Hunter is batting .188 with six strikeouts in 16 at-bats. Meanwhile Alex Avila stinks too. He's hitting .176 in 17 at-bats. 

Andrew McCutchen versus Lance Lynn equals advantage pitcher. McC has 12 strikeouts in 32 at-bats he's he's also driven in just one while batting .125. Those are as bad a numbers as you will find with the MVP candidate. 

Miguel Montero has two base knocks in 15 at-bats against Tyson Ross

Can rocks walk? Not really.

Michael Morse has one hit in 11 at-bats (.091) against Franklin Morales. Angel Pagan is 0-for-8 with five strikeouts. 

Giancarlo Stanton hasn't been able to figure out Zack Wheeler at this point. In 12 at-bats he has but one single. Marcell Ozuna has one hit in 11 at-bats (five Ks). Garrett Jones has one hit in his 12 at-bats. Bringing up the rear is Christian Yelich who has one hit in 10 at-bats. 

B.J. Upton cannot be in the lineup Monday. He's come to the plate 18 times and all he has to show for it is one walk. He doesn't have a single hit. Andrelton Simmons has one hit... in 14 at-bats. Freddie Freeman has hit a mere .231 with 14 strikeouts in 39 at-bats in the matchup. 


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MOUND MAVENS – Starting Pitchers to Target

We're at the point that Henderson Alvarez always starts at home. In 12 outings in his home yards he looks like Christy Mathewson with a 6-2 record, 1.46 ERA and 1.01 WHIP. He faces a Mets team that has hit .235 with a .665 OPS against righties this year. 

Trevor Cahill on the road against the Padres. In San Diego the Padres have hit .231 with a .649, both marks the second worst in baseball. Cahill is coming off a terrible start (6 R, 3.1 IP), but in each of the previous five outings he posted a “quality start.”

Gerrit Cole has made three starts against the Cardinals in his career with a 2.25 ERA and 1.05 WHIP. In his last turn on the bump he permitted two runs, one walk and had nine strikeouts over six innings against the Cardinals to give him back-to-back outing since returning from injury with at least six innings pitched and two runs allowed. 

Roberto Hernandez is set to face the Nationals at home. In four outings against the Nats he's allowed a total of five runs, and the last time they faced off he allowed one run, unearned, over eight innings on August 1st. 

Lance Lynn held the Pirates to two runs over six innings in his last outing. He gets a rematch Monday. Lynn has lowered his ERA to 2.79 on the year, and in 15 starts at home this year he's got a flashy ERA of 2.34 an a solid 1.19 WHIP. 

Tyson Ross has a 2.64 ERA and 1.17 WHIP through 28 starts. The last time he allowed more than three runs in an outing was on June 16th. He's allowed two homers his last nine games. He's also sporting a 1.90 ERA and 0.99 WHIP in 14 home starts. He faces the D'backs in San Diego. 

Zack Wheeler has had success against the Marlins in his young career. The current Marlins' roster has the following slash line in 115 plate appearances: .167/.254/.196. The entire team has also failed to go deep a single time in 102 at-bats. A pretty good start given that the last time he allowed more than three earned runs was back on June 25th. 

MOUND MESSES – Starting Pitchers to Avoid

Jason Hammel was the Dr. last time out, but more often than not as an Athletic he's been Mr. Hyde. In eight starts he's gone 1-5 with a 5.77 ERA and 1.64 WHIP. How can you trust that? He pitches at home against the Mariners. 

Jimmy Nelson has failed to complete six innings in his last two outings. He's allowed eight runs in those two outings. He's also sporting a 4.40 ERA and 1.57 WHIP during five day starts (he's gone 1-4 in those outings). He faces the Cubs at Wrigley at 2:20 PM EDT.

Maybe your partner really isn't drunk after all?

Jacob Turner has a 5.84 ERA on the year. The last time out he allowed six runs, three earned, in 3.2 innings. His WHIP is over 1.60. Why would anyone be starting him against the Brewers is beyond me. 

Yordano Ventura versus the Rangers in Kansas City. He was scratched from his last start with back stiffness, and his numbers continue to be much less impressive than the hype suggests. A 3.40 ERA and 1.30 WHIP are solid numbers, as is his 2.36 K/BB ratio, but those aren't numbers that pop.

Chris Young is on the road against the Mariners. Young is a very blah play, and that appears to be the upside. He had his last start pushed back to Monday. The last time out he allowed 12 base runners in 3.2 innings When pitching on the road this season he has a 4.11 ERA and 1.39 WHIP as well. 


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