Bud Norris Makes O's Debut...Against the Team That Traded Him

Today is the first day of the "dog days of August."  This is the month where your favorite team plays against it's divisional enemies like 80% of their games.  As a Braves fan, this means a ton of Nationals, Phillies and Marlins games.  Also as a Braves fan, this is a good thing.

Today's match ups are okay, I suppose, but there is one game on the schedule today/tonight that really got me intrigued.

Here's all the starters and what not from around baseball today.

As you can see as of my writing this, the Indians have already beaten the White Sox today 6-1.  It's interesting because I would have maybe picked Masterson against Sale as a potential Match Up Of The Day candidate, because Chris Sale can't get a win despite pitching quite well lately.  Anyway, he lost again, and I feel bad for him because he's a good pitcher on a terrible team.  

The most intersting thing on the schedule today has to be Bud Norris making his Orioles debut against the team that just traded him to Baltimore, the Astros.  I wonder who has the advantage here, the hitters who have seen every one of Norris' starts this season, so they know what he likes to throw, or Norris, who knows these hitters weaknesses?  I imagine that since the O's are a far superior team that they will probably win, but it's a weird element to what would normally have been a rather mundane Thursday night game in Baltimore.  

Matt Cain against Cole Hammels is interesting because they're both regarded as top pitchers, but they've not performed up to their expectations this season.  In fact, neither the Phillies nor the Giants have played like themselves this year.  But that's really all that makes this interesting.  The game itself is pretty meaningless.

Will the Royals finally lose? They're playing right now and I don't know the score, but they're heating up, as much as the Royals can really heat up, I suppose.  I believe the term for them would be "Streaky."

Hey, how about those red hot Atlanta Braves, eh?

Okay, that's all for today.  Enjoy baseball.  

Probable Pitchers for 7-23-13 around the MLB

Tough day here at Safety Squeeze.  Why is that?  Trying to pick a pitching match up to highlight for tonight.  Sure, there are some quality pitchers toeing the rubber this evening, but most of them are against far infurior pitchers.  Well, see for yourself...

You see, not much to choose from.  Even the pitchers that are quality aren't that great.  I suppose this is what you get when everyone is on their fifth start after the All-Star break.  But if I have to choose one, I'll go with Jose Fernandez of the Marlins against Jhoulys Chacin of the Rockies.  Now, this game features two teams that are not doing too well in the grand scheme of the National League, but both of these pitchers are notable for different reasons.  Jose Fernandez is expected to be the teams ace...eventually.  He's pitched well this season, especially for a rookie on the worst team in the NL (maybe.)  Jhoulys Chacin is just flat out pitching over his head, but until he proves to me and everyone else that he's coming back to earth, I have to expect he's going to have a quality outing time in and time out.  I think Fernandez will be a solid starter...eventually. Right now he's doing fine, and I'll be curious to see how this one shakes out.  Well, as curious as anyone would be when the Rockies and Marlins get together.  

Okay, that's it for today.  Watch some baseball, eh?

Starters and What to Watch For, 6-29-13 MLB Preview

I hope you guys managed to figure out who was starting all the games in the MLB the past two days without me.  Somehow, I know most of you struggled to figure out who would be the best matchups for each day, but honesly, I have company coming this weekend, so I had to spend a lot of time deep cleaning the apartment.  Also, I find it hard to sit down and type when my wife is home, and she took the last two days off work, so I was busy.  Is that okay with you?  It better be...

Here's today's starters.

As you can see, a full slate on a Saturday, per usual.  The trick is looking at these wonderful matchups and figuring out which ones are the ones to watch.  I've spotted a few, but I've not gone through all the trouble to figure out which ones are the most interesting besides the obvious choices...

So, the Safety Squeeze Pitching Matchup of the Day ™ ™is...

Cliff Lee and Hyun-Jin Ryu...wow way to branch out, Blogger.  Yeah, just take two guys who were already featured here this past week and rehash that shit.  Well, let me tell you, it's the best matchup.  The Dodgers got housed at home last night by these Phillies, but today is a new day.  The only reason that Dodger Stadium didn't empty out faster than **insert pop culture reference about substance abuse here** is because there was a fireworks show after the game.  Or, as Vin Scully would have had you believe if you were listening to his broadcast last night, to witness one more at bat of Yasiel Puig.  Ha, no Vin, you're the best, but they wanted to see the fireworks they already paid for.  Should be a good one.  

Another matchup that caught my eye is Chris Archer and the Rays against the Tigers and Justin Verlander.  Verlander's stats aren't that far out of line from what he's done throughout his career except his BABIP.  I expect Verlander to turn that around, as BABIP is a determination of luck, and his BABIP is elevated.  Once that BABIP evens out, expect Verlander to appear to be the guy he used to be, which he technically already is.  He's just been unlucky. Plus, it's not like the Tigers have the greatest defense.  I imagine a lot of the line drives that are being hit off him would be caught if the defense behind him was better.  

Okay, that's all.  Go watch the Tigers Rays game then the Phillies Dodgers game late, and you'll be a happy baseball fan of you make these choices.