Jason Jennings, RH Daniel Cabrera, RH
(3-7, 5.94) (5-5, 5.88)
2B E Garabito 2B B Roberts
3B G Atkins CF D Newhan
1B T Helton 3B M Mora
CF P Wilson SS M Tejada
RF B Hawpe RF S Sosa
DH J Piedra 1B R Palmeiro
LF D Mohr DH J Gibbons
SS D Relaford C S Fasano
C D Ardoin LF L Bigbie
Game time is 7:35 on CSN and FSN Rocky Mountain.
I'm so very mad that I will see Jason Jennings' start but not Byung-Hyun Kim's tomorrow. I was so absolutely ecstatic to see my man Byung-Hyun. Oh well.
You might recall Jennings having a pretty damn good rookie season back in 2002, going 16-8 with a 4.52 ERA for the Rockies. The Rockies were as bad as usual in '02, so the 16-8 record was one thing, but throwing well enough to keep his ERA under five was more impressive really. He had a problem with allowing too many baserunners, though, so it seemed logical that it was probably lucky.
Since then, he's had an even worse problem with baserunners, walking people like mad (119-88 K-to-BB in '03, 133-101 in '04) and giving up a ton of hits (.299 BAA both years). He's back at it this year, but now he's upped the ante: he's walking more people than he strikes out.
A lot of people bring up the fact that Coors not only worsens a pitcher's numbers by having them pitch there, but it kills them on the road too, as they simply aren't used to pitching in a normal environment. In Jennings' case, this seems to be true. In 2005, he's 2-4 with a 5.63 ERA at home, and 1-3 with a 6.44 ERA on the road. But there's a huge difference in one key area, and that's hits allowed. At home, he's given up 63 in 48 innings. On the road, 26 in 29.1. (Career-wise, his road ERA is over a run lower than at home, however.)
But then there's his walks: 25 at home, 22 on the road. And twenty innings of difference between the two.
What's my point? Jennings is a bad pitcher, period.
But then we have our good friend Daniel Cabrera. Danny was plastered at Cincinnati last time out, giving up seven earned runs in two innings before being mercifully removed. He has those outings. Too frequently for my liking. In fact, they seem to come about once a month. But then sometimes you get a Cabrera gem, like he had June 5 at Detroit or May 9 against the Twins. Those, too, seem to come roughly once a month.
If the Rockies could hit, I'd say expect some fireworks today, but they can't. Then again, that doesn't seem to matter to Mr. Cabrera some days. This one is like some sort of powder keg! So what do we get out of it? Probably a 3-2 game or something. That's baseball.