Hayden Penn, RH Kyle Davies, RH
(2-0, 4.23) (2-2, 4.29)
2B B Roberts SS R Furcal
CF L Matos LF K Johnson
SS M Tejada 2B M Giles
1B R Palmeiro CF A Jones
RF S Sosa C J Estrada
3B C Gomez 1B A LaRoche
LF L Bigbie 3B W Betemit
C S Fasano RF R Langerhans
P H Penn P K Davies
Game time is 7:35 on TBS.
Things ain't goin' so well right now. Like us, the Braves are beat up by injuries. I dub this The Band-Aid Series.
Atlanta is 21-12 at home this season, the O's 20-15 on the road. But Baltimore has struggled lately away from Camden Yards, losing six of their last nine on the road with a .226 team average and 7.36 team ERA.
Davies is 21 and in about the same spot as Penn, he's up because of injuries. Their ERAs are similar, but that's where the similarities end. Penn has a 1.37 WHIP; Davies is at 1.85. Penn is holding opposing hitters to a .223 average; Davies is being hammered at a .322 clip. Davies has a 30-to-19 K-to-BB ratio in 35.2 innings; Penn is 12-to-14 in 27.2.
It'll be a chance to see a couple of young pitchers with bright futures lead teams just looking to hang on while they get their injury messes cleaned up. I saw a Brett Myers v. Mark Prior matchup on WGN a few years ago, and I thought that was a big deal at the time. I guess this is sort of the same thing, though neither of these guys project like Prior did.
After dropping three of four in Toronto, it would be nice to win today. It would be very nice.