A Brief Look At The Upcoming Pitching Match Ups

by Jason James on Jul 22, 2011 9:33 AM PDT

Well, the time has come where the A's have to take on the Yankees. This match up never turns out well, and the last series was no exception. The A's were swept, and, as an encore, the went on to lose the next seven games. Does this series look andy better?

Our strength is pitching, so I'll just be looking at the pitching match ups (it's not like I'll compare the offenses).

Game 1: Cahill vs Hughes

Trevor Cahill started the season with a 6-0 record and some pretty awesome starts. Since then he's gone 2-8, but hasn't been all that bad. Certainly not as bad as his record suggests. In his last outing, he was inconsistent (3 ER in 7 IP, 5 BB), but received kind of tough loss because of..... well, guess.

Hughes only recently came back from injury, and struggled at first. Last time out, he turned in his first quality outing, which means we can safely spume he'll do it again against the less-then-potent Oakland lineup. He has an ugly 8.44 ERA, but has pitched well against the A's.

Game 2: TBA vs Burnett

We can safely assume that the TBA will be Harden. Unless, of course he injures himself. In his last outing, he pitched fairly well, receiving a no-decision against LA. He's been OK since he came off the DL: 1-1 with a 5.00 ERA, but 17 strikeouts in 18 innings. We can only hope.

Sadly, Burnett isn't as bad this year as he was in June and July last season. He's 8-7 with a 4.19 ERA, and comes off a mediocre start, were he pitched 5.1 innings and gave up four runs. Over the last ten years, he's 5-3 with a 3.74 ERA against the A's.

Game 3: TBA vs Colon

I assume Gio will be pitching in this one, so I'm hopeful (heck, maybe even a bit confident!). He has been great this year, and was just as good in his last start, shutting out the Halos over seven great innings. He's 9-6 so far this season.

Bartolo Colon is one of my least favorite players. I recall an incident where he started a fight with Jason Kendall. Anyway, he had a good start last time, pitching into the seventh with 9 K's. He's 6-6, but has a low ERA, and has done well against Oakland during his career.

Well, that's it. Let's hope Oakland can salvage something out of this series!

Poll

Which NY pitcher will the A's beat?

Hughes

6 votes

Burnett

2 votes

Colon

9 votes

None

10 votes

27 votes | Poll has closed

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Comments

We're going to sweep. Why isn't that one of the options?

I vibrated with joy that join A's. -- Kim Seong-min

by WaddellCanseco on Jul 22, 2011 9:43 AM PDT reply actions

YES!

LET’S-GO-OAKLAND!!!!

i've never tried to rank them to be honest. i guess i like beer.- stm72

by Tutu-late on Jul 22, 2011 9:45 AM PDT up reply actions

Trevor Cahill

Career vs. NYY 3 games, 0 wins, 3 loses, 16.2 IP, 17 Hits, 18 Earned Runs, 5 HR, 8 Base on Balls, 8 Strikeouts, 9.72 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, .266 Batting Average Against

Last game, 6.2 IP, 4 H, 4 ER, 1 HR, 5 BB, 2 K, .182 BAA

I am not optimistic, I’m not sure of his numbers at New York though. I think 2 of the games were in Oakland.

You have to include smiley faces - Poppy
;- ) :- ) :-O : -> : -] : -}

by micdog2001 on Jul 22, 2011 1:03 PM PDT reply actions

although according to the game notes

Cahill is starting on 5 days rest and is 4-2 with a 1.71 ERA in those starts so there is a silver lining.

You have to include smiley faces - Poppy
;- ) :- ) :-O : -> : -] : -}

by micdog2001 on Jul 22, 2011 3:10 PM PDT up reply actions

I'm not convinced that his success on 5-days rest (this year and last) is a pattern,

more than luck. I’ve been looking into the whole 4-day vs. 5-day rest and there doesn’t seem to be, in the aggregate, more than a small difference for pitchers as a whole. Cahill may be different…or he may not be.

At some point, I’ll do a fanpost on it, although it’s going to take awhile – potentially in two parts – the first looking at the league overall, then looking to see if there are any pitchers who consistently do better or worse on more than four days rest. So far, Cahill seems to, but we really only have 2.5 years of data on him.

Don't you realise you'll find next monday or next Tuesday/Your golden shoes day

by PDXAthleticsfan on Jul 22, 2011 3:27 PM PDT up reply actions