Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Bucs v Phils: Southpaw Shootout

Jeff Locke will take the bump tonight against Cole Hamels in a duel of lefties. Locke is 1-1 with a 5.17 ERA, and has yet to go longer than five frames. Hamels has likewise been off to an uncharacteristically rocky start, with a slate of 0-2/6.46. In fact, the Phils have lost all four of his starts.

The Bucco southpaw has never faced Philly, while Cole is 1-1/3.18 in five lifetime starts against the Pirates. The game is radio only and will be aired on The Fan 93.7.

Pirate lineup: Starling Marte LF, Jose Tabata RF, Andrew McCutchen CF, Gaby Sanchez 1B, Russell Martin C, Neil Walker 2B, Brandon Inge 3B, Clint Barmes SS and Jeff Locke P.

Not, that's no misprint. 35 year old Brandon Inge is on the roster and Alex Presley was returned to Indy. Sheesh. We're back to last year's bottom of the order, and God save us all.

Phil lineup: Jimmy Rollins SS, Freddy Galvis 2B, Michael Young 3B, Ryan Howard 1B, John Mayberry RF, Domonic Brown LF, Ben Revere CF, Erik Kratz C and Cole Hamels P.

  • Russell Martin has a seven game hitting streak while Travis Snider's string was ended at eight games.
  • AJ may not have been as sharp as usual last night, but he now leads the MLB in K with 42, and his 13.03 whiffs per nine are behind only Detroit's Max Scherzer, who's at 14.21.
  • Philadelphia has won 3-of-4 after a slow break from the gates.
  • Don't look now, but the Bucs are in fourth place in the Central. The Brewers are now 1/2 game ahead of them and rolling merrily along with an eight game winning streak.The top four teams are within 1-1/2 games of each other going into tonight.
  • Reliever Ryan Reid won his third game for Indy last night. The righty is 3-0 with a 0.75 ERA and 14 K in 12 IP. Four of his seven outings have been for 2 or more innings, so he's another long man candidate for the bullpen.
  • Charlie Morton is slated to toss pitch four innings/60 pitches at  Altoona tonight.

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