 |
 |
|
8-8, 4.41 |
4-3, 4.37 |
GAME TIME 7:10 CDT
this matchup pits the starting pitcher the cardinals almost traded for on july 31 vs the one they did trade for. here's a comparison of how they fared in august, quick n dirty:| w-l | era | avg | obp | slg | |||
| pineiro | 3-2 | 3.71 | .269 | .301 | .492 | ||
| morris | 1-1 | 4.66 | .301 | .380 | .434 |
insofar as pineiro didn't come with $9 million worth of strings attached for 2008, he's been by far the superior acquisition --- up to this point, anyway. we'll see how it shakes out tonight.
there was a little discussion this afternoon of the cards' won-loss record behind various starting pitchers in 2007. the stat goes like this: the cards are 11-39 when wells, reyes, and maroth start, but 56-28 behind all the other starters combined. since reyes has gotten the shaft this year, run-supportwise, i decided to sort out his starts by number of runs allowed, and see how the team fared in those starts ---- and, by comparison, how the team fared in equivalent starts by select teammates. here's how it breaks down:
| overall | 0 runs |
1 run |
2 runs |
3 runs |
4 runs |
5+ runs |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| reyes | 4-15 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 2-3 | 0-4 | 1-4 | 1-4 |
| thompson | 9-3 | 0-0 | 1-0 | 3-0 | 2-1 | 2-0 | 1-2 |
| wellemeyer | 7-1 | 1-0 | 1-0 | 1-0 | 2-0 | 1-0 | 1-1 |
| wells | 6-19 | 2-0 | 1-1 | 1-1 | 1-3 | 0-3 | 1-11 |
| maroth | 1-5 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 1-3 |
wells' won-loss record is largely deserved --- he has allowed 5 runs or more in 11 of his 16 losses. ditto maroth, who allowed fewer than 4 runs only once in 6 tries. but look at reyes. when he allows 3 runs or fewer --- ie, when he generally keeps the team in the game ---- the cards are only 2-8, thanks to poor run support. when thompson or wellemeyer allows the same number of runs, the cardinals are 11-1. here's another comparison: when anthony allows 3 or 4 runs --- so-so outings --- the cards are just 1-8; but when thompson / wellemeyer allow the same number of runs, the cardinals are 7-1. they're 1-6 when wells allows 3 or 4 runs.
some of you, i realize, will continue to insist that won-loss records are meaningful indicators of pitching ability. . . . . . .