Thursday August 7th was National Sea Serpent Day! Did you celebrate? I'm guessing not. How about we turn back to baseball, that what you're thinking? You know me, I like to be random at times. Gotta keep things new and fresh to keep it interesting right? So whether you want to talk plesiosaur or baseball, the Oracle is your man. Here are the BVP matchups for Friday, August 8th.
* 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
Melky Cabrera has 10 hits in 21 at-bats when Anibal Sanchez is throwing the polota. Time to give Cabrera his due. Cheater or not in the past (he's a cheater), he's had a rather remarkable bounce back effort this season.
Don't know how but Ike Davis has hit four homers against Ian Kennedy. They are the four hits he has in 12 at-bats. All of the homers have been solo shots. Neil Walker, who is dealing with a wonky back, has also mashed Kennedy relentlessly with a .444 average, three homers and nine RBIs in 18 at-bats.
Adrian Gonzalez has a homer an a .333 batting average against Kyle Lohse (24 ABs). Andre Ethier is at .300 in his 20 at-bats.
Jason Heyward has hit Stephen Strasburg, hard. In 26 at-bats he has 11 hits leading to a .423 average and 1.098 OPS. Freddie Freeman has been even better. He's hit .450 with two homers and seven RBIs in 20 at-bats. Chris Johnson also comes to party when Strasburg is on the hill with a .333 average and three RBIs in 21 at-bats.
Garrett Jones has a 43 plate appearance mark against Mike Leake. He's hit .310 with a homer and six RBIs in the matchup.
David Ortiz has a .313/.361/.563 slash line against Jered Weaver in 35 plate appearances. He's gone deep twice with nine RBIs. Mike Napoli is batting .333/.419/.630 in his 31 plate appearances. He only has two RBIs but they have both come on solo homers.
"Mixed Martial Arts Champion Jumps Into Action to Stop Would-Be Robbers."
Lyle Overbay, surprisingly, hits Josh Beckett. In 38 at-bats he's at .342 with six RBIs and six walks (.432 OBP).
Denard Span, affectionately called Mr. On Base, has a .379 OBP against Ervin Santana. He's also hit .370 over 27 at-bats with a homer, six RBIs an a steal.
DISH DISASTERS – Worst Hitting Matchups of the Day
Norichika Aoki has come to the plate 11 times against Madison Bumgarner and 11 times he's returned to the dugout without a hit.
Asdrubal Cabrera doesn't have much of a chance against Ervin Santana. A homer and seven RBIs be damned. In 36 plate appearances he's hit .206 with a .270 OBP.
Chris Davis has struck out seven times in his 14 at-bats against Justin Masterson. He's also hit .250 with a .294 OBP. Adam Jones has a .355 OBP in the matchup and he's stolen three bags, but he's also hit a mere .231 over 26 at-bats. Even worse are two other outfielders. Nick Markakis has hit .179 in 28 at-bats while Delmon Young is at .150 in 20 at-bats.
Matt Kemp has been hot, and he has a homer and five RBIs against Kyle Lohse. He's also hit .200 with a .200 OBP in 20 plate appearances in the matchup (seven strikeouts as well).
Gerardo Parra has three hits in 16 at-bats. He's also struck out five times against Josh Beckett.
Dustin Pedroia's slash line in 30 plate appearances against Jered Weaver is horrible: .179/.233/.250.
Colby Rasmus is having a hard time putting up consistent at-bats no matter who the hurler is. More of the same should be expected Friday when he takes on Anibal Sanchez. In 16 at-bats he's hit .188 and whiffed, get this, 10 times. How is that possible? Juan Francisco, Jose Bautista and Anthony Gose are hitting a combined 3-for-18 against Sanchez.
Giancarlo Stanton, Casey McGehee, Adeiny Hechavarria and Marcel Ozuna are a combined 3-for-21 with no runs batted in against Mike Leake. Tow others. Jordany Valdespin and Reed Johnson are 1-for-12.
Kurt Suzuki is a mess against Scott Kazmir as he's hit .120 with a .367 OPS over 27 plate appearances. Brian Dozier has two hits in 18 at-bats, Josh Willingham three in 17.
B.J. Upton might be losing his spot in the Braves daily lineup. We already know that he is lost when Stephen Strasburg is on the bump. In 16 at-bats Upton has hit .125 with nine strikeouts. Too bad for the Braves that the guy that could replace Upton, Emilio Bonifacio, has one hit in 10 at-bats against Strasburg.
David Wright has struck out 12 times in 27 at-bats against A.J. Burnett. Don't care if he has two steals when he has a .342 OPS. Do you? Curtis Granderson also hasn't done anything in the matchup with three hits in 18 at-bats. That .167 average and five K total certainly don't impress.
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MOUND MAVENS – Starting Pitchers to Target
Hisashi Iwakuma pitches at home against the White Sox. The last time he faced the club he tossed eight shutout innings. In 10 home start this season he's posted a 3.04 ERA and 0.94 WHIP. Over his last two starts he's allowed three runs, and six of the last seven times he's taken the hill he's permitted two or fewer earned runs.
Scott Kazmir continues to defy explanation. He starts at home against the Twins, and in 10 start at the O he's gone 6-2 with a 1.92 ERA and 0.90 WHIP. Oh, he's also got better than a 5:1 K/BB ratio there as well. Shockingly good he has been.
Brett Oberholtzer faces the Rangers in Houston. The Rangers have been hitting decently the past two weeks with 13 homers, but BO has worked 4-straight outings with a quality start, and if we go back further he's accomplished that feast seven times in eight outings. He's also able to keep the ball in the yard pretty well surrendering two homers in eight outings.
Jose Quintana has a 3.04 ERA, a 1.23 WHIP and darn near a 3:1 K/BB ratio. He's been really impressive this season for the Sox, despite a 6-7 record. He pitches Friday at Seattle. In his last four starts overall he's allowed a total of five runs, and over his last nine outings he's dropped his ERA from 3.87 to 3.04. That's what nine starts with 11 runs allowed will do for you.
Ervin Santana faces the Nationals. The last time they squared off on June 22nd he threw up a quality starts (3 ER, 6 IP, 1 BB, 9 Ks). He's locked it back in with wins in three of his last four starts, and he's allowed a total of three runs over his last three outings with an impressive 27 strikeouts in 22 innings.
Jered Weaver faces a Red Sox team, that despite the work of Napoli & Ortiz against him, has struggled this season to hit righties (they rank 20th in OPS). The Sox also rank 19th in road OPS this season. Add in that Weaver has a 2.66 Era and 1.03 WHIP in 13 home starts and you've got a solid option on the bump Friday.
MOUND MESSES – Starting Pitchers to Avoid
R.A. Dickey has allowed at least four earned runs in three of his last four starts. The last time he faced the Tigers he was only able to make it through five innings as he allowed seven hits and walked four (at least he held them to two runs). He's also sporting a 4.26 ERA at home this season.
Nathan Eovaldi cannot be trusted at this point, can he? He faces the Reds Friday, just days after throwing seven shutout innings against them (August 2nd). Still, that was the first time in four outings that he allowed less than five earned runs. He's also seen his ERA go from 3.61 to 4.22 in that time, so it's not like he's giving up a run here and there, he's getting bombed.
Chrissy Teigen threw out a first pitch. It was a spectacular event. Watch it.
Kyle Lohse faces the Dodgers in Milwaukee. While he's been dominant at home, yes dominant (2.32 ERA, 0.88 WHIP), he's long struggled a bit against the Dodgers (4.66 ERA, 1.36 WHIP). He's also coming off his worst outing of the year (4 IP, 9 R, 7 ER), and he's walked six batters in his last two outings.
Miles Mikolas has a great mustache. He's also picked up one win in six starts and has made it through six innings just twice. He faces an Astros team that demolished him for nine runs over 3.1 innings on July 7th.
Stephen Strasburg is 8-9 on the year and he has one win in his last six outings. The Braves usually put up good at-bats against him as he holds a 4.04 ERA and 1.41 WHIP in 14 career matchups. The game will also take place on the road and that is Kryptonite to Strasburg who is 1-7 with a 4.68 ERA and 1.41 WHIP this season when the game isn't played in Washington.
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