BASEBALL - Arizona Diamondbacks at Texas Rangers
The 2006 MLB season begins its second round of interleague play with a full slate of 14 games. Unfortunately, this isn't one of those fun weekends of subway series type matchups that Bud Selig personally designed in his capacity as savior of baseball. No Yankees-Mets, White Sox-Cubs, or any other intriguing intracity rivalries. Instead we have lots of Royals-Astros and Devil Rays-Phillies matchups. This is exactly why I'm still only luke warm on interleague play. Sadly, the NBA Finals aren't scheduled tonight and even the NHL has held back Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals for that huge primetime audience tomorrow night. So I'll have to pick from this mediocre batch to recommend one to watch.
I like the matchup tonight of the Diamondbacks and Rangers. The game features teams who have topped their respective Western Divisions for much of the season. That being said, neither team looks overly impressive. But I'll be watching to see how D-Backs ace pitcher Brandon Webb looks coming off his first loss of the year. You see, in that flawed outing against the Mets last Saturday, Webb lasted a mere 8 innings, scattering 8 hits, walking none, and surrendering 1 whole run. It was just good enough for a loss and dropped his record to an imperfect 8-1. Webb did lower his major league low ERA to 2.06 and racked up 9 K's to bring his season total to an impressive 74.
The 27 year-old righty from Kentucky is on the cusp of stardom. This is Webb's 4th season in the bigs. In 2004 his 3.59 ERA over 35 starts somehow translated into 16 losses. But the 2006 D-Backs are an improved team with a lineup of young prospects like Conor Jackson, Orlando Hudson, and Chad Tracy alongisde gritty veterans like Luis Gonzalez, Craig Counsell, and Eric Byrnes. Following the Jason Grimsley HGH/steroid scandal, they have been in a freefall. But look for the Diamondbacks to turn things around tonight against Texas hurler Kevin Millwood and remain a contender in the NL Worst.
My pick: Arizona. Webb will start the All-Star game for the NL and may even pick up some additional hardware at season's end. He's a fantasy baseball sleeper no more.
So that's what I'll be watching for today - can Brandon Webb continue his Cy Young season in hitter-friendly Arlington Ballpark?
Who will you be watching? Brandon Webb? Or softball goddess Jenny Finch married to D-Backs reliever Casey Daigle? Now there's a real Cy Young Award.
posted by Jeff Briscoe @ 12:13 AM
5 Comments:
I sure nailed that one:
Texas 5, Arizona 3. Brandon Webb - 5 2/3 innings, 5 ER's, 10 hits allowed. Hardly looked like an ace tonight.
Let the official jinx of T.O.T.W. begin!
Thanks Jeff. Webb's been the anchor of my fantasy pitching staff, and now he's gonna have a second half collapse because of your blog post. Will we now have a TOTW jinx?
I finally hit a pick last night with Miami. And that was by 1 point in overtime. So a jinx is definitely a possibility here.
Maybe I need to churn out a "Mets will win the World Series" type post stat? ;)
Anyway, hope you like the site. Thanks for the link.
Maybe I need to churn out a "Mets will win the World Series" type post stat? ;)
That has the distinct feel of a John Donodeo type stunt - it usually doesn't work.
Yeah, that may not be the best person for me to emulate here. While it's true that Big Daddy could use to play some dodgeball or take a jog around Central Park, I think I'll pass!
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