 |  |
| Wellemeyer | Lilly |
| 1-1, 4.50 | 2-0, 3.86 |
So far this season, there is more than a 200 point difference in our OPS against right handed pitchers and southpaws (.935 to .724). Lilly, for his career, has a slight lefty platoon split, though I hasten to add that, in reality, it’s probably greater than it appears b/c lefties only face the better left handed hitters. While he faces many more platoon-type right handed hitters, the lefties who remain in the lineup tend to be some of baseball’s better hitters, such as David Ortiz, Ichiro, and Carl Crawford (#s 2, 3, and 4 in PAs for lefties against Lilly in his career). #1 is Johnny Damon – another guy who’s been better than average for much of his career. The only current Card who’s had any success at all against Lilly is…well, you know who it is. 2 homers in 28 career ABs. Skip’s 1-12 and Ryan is 4-17. I guess we know who’ll be at the keystone and, likely, leading off. Yippee! The good news is that, among current Cubs, only Carlos Zambrano has homered off Wellemeyer – and that he’s not playing.
Finally, our pre-game haiku:
We can’t hit lefties
The weather sure looks ugly
Should we pray for rain?