I was in Vegas over the weekend. I think I'm sober. It only took two days. Is that bad? Is it wrong of me to have slept 17 minutes the first night I was there? Probably, but I don't really care. In the words of Cartman of South Park, I do what I want. Oh yeah, this is a baseball column isn't it. Here are the matchups for Wednesday, September 10th. 


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DISH DIAMONDS – The Best Hitting Matchups of the Day

Alex Avila, and I don't think I've mentioned that name all year in a positive light in this column (maybe), has hit .321 with two homers and six RBIs over 28 at-bats against James Shields. Miguel Cabrera has hit .380 with two homers and eight RBIs in 50 at-bats. Victor Martinez hit .317 with a homer and six runs batted in. Torii Hunter has 56 at-bats and has hit .321, even though he has only one RBI.

Andre Ethier has a .324 average with two homers in 34 at-bats against Ian Kennedy. Carl Crawford is batting .346 with five steals over 28 plate appearances. 

Freddie Freeman has three homers and nine RBIs against Stephen Strasburg. He's also walked six times. Add all that up and check out the slash line: .455/.533/.909 in 28 plate appearances. WOW.. and yes, I'm leaving that in capitol letters. Jason Heyward has hit .429 with a homer and four RBIs in his 28 at-bats. Chris Johnson has hit .305 with three runs batted in over 23 at-bats. Meanwhile, Justin Upton has a homer and three steals over 21 at-bats. 

Marwin Gonzalez has seven hits in 12 at-bats, a .583 average, in 12 at-bats against Hisashi Iwakuma. Jose Altuve has eight hits in 19 at-bats (.421). Slacker. 

Bryce Harper has six hits in 11 at-bats against the suddenly slumping Aaron Harang

Aaron Hill has an out of control .520 batting average in 25 at-bats against Ryan Vogelsong. He's gone deep twice with six RBIs. Miguel Montero doesn't have a homer but he's batting .308 with a .419 OBP over 29 plate appearances. 

Leonys Martin has five hits in seven at-bats against Matt Shoemaker. Is that worth mentioning?

Dustin Pedroia meet the pinata that is Wei-Yin Chen. Pedroia has hit .519 with a 1.344 OPS over 30 plate appearances in the matchup. He may be done for the year though with an ailing wrist, so check the lineup card. Makes Daniel Nava and his 7-for-13 effort look impressive. Then there is David Ortiz who sits at .389-1-5 in 19 at-bats and Will Middlebrooks who has a cool .421 batting average over 19 at-bats. 

Buster Posey meet Bugs Bunny. When the Giants star faces Josh Collmenter stupid things happen. Posey is hitting .727 with two homers and seven RBIs over 11 at-bats. 

Josh Willingham has an impressive .381/.519/.810 slash line over 26 plate appearances against Rick Porcello. He has two homers and eight RBIs. That is ownage. Billy Butler has goner .340-1-8 over 47 at-bats. That's ownage too. Eric Hosmer has hit .316 with two homers in 19 at-bats while Alex Gordon has hit .324 with two homers and seven RBIs over 34 at-bats. 

DISH DISASTERS – Worst Hitting Matchups of the Day

Gregor Blanco has one hit in 11 at-bats against Josh Collmenter. Pablo Sandoval is batting .188 in 16 at-bats. Hunter Pence is batting .158 in 19 at-bats. 

Alcides Escobar has no shot against Rick Porcello. He's produced a single base hit in 26 at-bats. Salvador Perez seems like a giant by comparison with a .188 average over 16 at-bats. 

Rajai Davis has two hits in 18 at-bats when James Shields is on the bump. Ian Kinsler is better, but it's relative. He's hit .200 over 45 at-bats and has gotten on base at a .265 clip.

Matt Holliday isn't 100 percent physically and he's hit .182 in 11 at-bats against Alfredo Simon

Justin Morneau has one hit in 14 at-bats against Bartolo Colon. He also has only one RBI. 

Brandon Phillips is 1-for-8 with four strikeouts against John Lackey

Yasiel Puig stinks. He's also a mess against Ian Kennedy batting .167 with seven strikeouts over 18 at-bats. Juan Uribe is batting .188 in 16 at-bats while Hanley Ramirez is batting .143 over 21 at-bats. Heck, Dee Gordon has a .190 average and .561 OPS over 22 plate appearances. 

I'm not sure quite what to do with this... other than laugh?

Giancarlo Stanton has hit, well, zero against Wily Peralta. He also has four strikeouts in nine at-bats. Marcell Ozuna has one hit in his nine at-bats. 

Will Venable has seven punchouts an a .118 batting average over 17 at-bats against Dan Haren.

Jayson Werth cannot hit Aaron Harang. No idea why that is either. In 22 at-bats he's hit .136 with a massive total of 10 strikeouts. Ian Desmond is 2-for-16 as well. 

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MOUND MAVENS – Starting Pitchers to Target

Jarred Cosart faces the Brewers in Milwaukee. In six starts with the Marlins he owns a 1.99 ERA and 0.98 WHIP. He's also won his last three outings and he's allowed a total of five earned runs over his last  four outings. 

Dan Haren pitches at home against the Padres. This season he's rolled up a 3.79 ERA and 1.13 WHIP in 13 home starts, two starts ago he allowed two earned runs to the Padres over six innings, and he's allowed two or fewer earned runs in five of his last six starts overall. 

Ian Kennedy has pitched well against the Dodgers this year. I know he's 0-2 and that ERA is 3.90 in the matchup but... he has 30 Ks in 30 innings and three of his last 10 starts are against the club from L.A. and two of the outings resulted in 15 innings and one run allowed. 

Tyler Matzek faces the trashed Mets in New York. Over his last four outings he's produced four quality starts. He's won his last three decisions. He's allowed a total of two earned runs over his last three outings and five runs over the last four. 

Rick Porcello pitches at home against the Royals. He hasn't been very good at home with a 6-5 record and 4.31 ERA on the year. However, he has a 1.93 ERA an a 2-0 record against the Royals this season and over his last 10 starts he's tossing up a solid 3.11 ERA while walking a total of six batters. 

Ryan Vogelsong has dominated at home this season with a 3.17 ERA and 1.05 WHIP over 14 starts. Remove the bashing he took last outing (8 ER, 5 IP) and he was working on 6-straight efforts of three or fewer earned runs. 

MOUND MESSES – Starting Pitchers to Avoid

Wei-Yin Chen has been pitching well but is it smart to start him against the Red Sox? The current group has 158 at-bats against him and is bashing the ball to the tune of a .354/.399/.525 slash line. Holy crap is right. Do you trust that 3.57 ERA he's had in three starts this year? I don't. I see a .308 average this season and that history. 

Josh Collmenter has allowed three runs over his last three outings to drop his ERA to 3.81. His ERA against the Giants is 3.74 for his career. Still, he's awful on the road this season (5.46 ERA and 1.63 WHIP) so I'm recommending caution.

John Lackey has allowed a homer in 4-straight starts and over his last eight outings he's been taken deep nine times. He also has a 4.87 ERA and 1.42 WHIP over seven starts with the Cardinals. He faces the Reds on the road, and in 14 road starts this season his ratios stink (4.79 ERA, 1.32 WHIP).

Jake Odorizzi has faced the Yankees twice this season with awful results (5.59 ERA, 1.66 WHIP, .310 BAA). He pitches in Yankee Stadium this time and he's been bad on the road this season (5.61 ERA, 1.52 WHIP).

Wily Peralta has 15 wins but he's lost his last three starts and four of his last five trips to the hill as his ERA has gone from 3.36 to 3.84 (that includes 16 earned runs his last 14 innings). He's also posted a 4.06 ERA at home this season. He faces the Marlins.

Nick Tepesch has faced the Angels twice this season and has been solid with a 3.46 ERA and 1.23 WHIP. He's also struck out only three batters. Still, he does have a passable 4.03 ERA and 1.13 WHIP at home this seasons. He just doesn’t strike anyone out (48 in 104 innings) and doesn't win (4-9). 


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