 |  |
| Wainwright | Wells |
| 3.66 FIP | 3.32 FIP |
Wainwright's thrown 17.1 innings in his last 2 starts and was over 120 pitches each time. Needless to say, I'm glad that the All-Star break arrived when it did though it's not clear when Wainer will pitch to begin the "2nd half" of the season. If he goes Friday, then he gets no real break whatsoever. The best thing about the way Wainwright's pitching now is that he was averaging 5.52 BB/9 IP in April and, since his start against the Phils on May 5, he's averaging just 2.61 BB/9 and he's only had 1 start where he walked more than 3 hitters.
Randy Wells scares the hell out of me. First of all, the only Cardinals he has faced are Skip, Ludwick, and Pujols -- 1 time each. Second, he doesn't walk anybody (1.83 BB/9 this season; 2.06 for his career). This year he's giving up 0.65 HR/9. He's thrown first pitch strikes 66.1% of the time this season -- thus the low FIP. He's a fastball, slider, changeup guy whose fastball averages just 89.6 mph. I would, therefore, classify him as a finesse pitcher which, as I pointed out Thursday, we are 15th in the NL in OPS w/ a whopping .726 this season. League average against finesse pitchers is .782. This guy may give us fits. For some reason I like our offense better against Zambrano than Wells so hopefully the wagonmaker gives a good one to get to the break.