Jake Westbrook, RH Hayden Penn, RH
(5-9, 4.52) (2-1, 6.07)
CF G Sizemore 2B B Roberts
LF C Crisp LF L Bigbie
DH T Hafner SS M Tejada
C V Martinez 1B R Palmeiro
RF C Blake DH J Gibbons
1B B Broussard RF S Sosa
2B R Belliard CF L Matos
3B A Boone 3B C Gomez
SS J Peralta C S Fasano
Game time is 7:05 CSN and ESPN. Do you realize ESPN tried to show Orioles games two days in a row? What a country! It would be nice if this one didn't get rained out.
With the unexpected day off yesterday, it gives Mazzilli a chance to rest Bruce Chen, with Penn bumped to today, followed by Lopez, Cabrera and Ponson the remainder of the series. Chen's toe is hyperextended, to be precise, and "they'll see" what's up with him on Monday.
Westbrook is having more or less the exact same year he did last year, he's just giving up about one extra earned run a game. 1.14 to be exact. His WHIP is actually lower (1.21 to 1.25), and so is his BAA (.249 to .255). Neither is enough to make a huge difference, but Westbrook was real good last year and really for the most part has been this year too. He had two really awful games against Detroit in April and one against Texas in early May that are still messing with his ERA, but he's won his last three starts and pitched very well in all of them.
Cleveland is a team that's starting to cook right now, too. They might have an even better record, but they ran into the Red Sox when Boston was on fire at the same time. They did just take two of three at Fenway, though. This is not a team to be taken lightly. They're going to throw four pretty good pitchers this series and their bats are coming alive. We'll need to play good ball for this one.