Series preview - Cleveland

Note: The stats next to the pitchers are as follows (IP,SO/BB,WHIP,VORP)

Game 1

Friday August 1st @ 7:10pm (FSN)

N. Blackburn (127, 68/19, 1.30, 16.3)
vs
J. Sowers (58.3, 34/23, 1.64, -9.4)

A rematch of Sunday's contest that saw Sowers throw his best game of the year, his only start with a GmSc above 50 in fact. I don't imagine that will continue.

Blackburn had a strong outing in that game as well, recovering nicely from his debacle at Yankee stadium. July was a good month for Blackburn, his three slash numbers were down to .217/.240/.304, while his K/BB ratio held steady.

Looking closer at the numbers we see that his improvement was largely due to a BABIP of .331 from April -June that went down to .227 in July. He was unlucky early in the year, but got lucky in July, which made it look like he was throwing better than he was, his K/BB ratio didn't change after all. Overall his BABIP is .306 which is a little above league average but not out of line.

Game 2

Saturday August 2nd @ 6:10pm (FSN)

K. Slowey(96.7, 69/16, 1.10, 17.2)
vs
P. Byrd (115, 53/22, 1.3, 3.3)

Paul Byrd had a good outing his last time on the mound, holding the Tigers to four hits and no runs over 7 2/3 innings, but he walked three. His K/BB ratio is 2.41 for the year, but just 1.84 over the last five games. He's striking people out at roughly the same rate; he's just giving up more walks than he had been.

Slowey had a complete game shutout in his last outing, the first game of the Chicago series, and his second shutout in his last five starts. Even with that July was a tough month for Slowey though, his walks and hits allowed per inning were up while his K's per inning were down. More than likely it was a rough patch and he'll bounce back in August.

Game 3

Sunday August 3rd @ 1:10pm (WFTC29)

F. Liriano (10, 7/13, 2.71, -6.5)
vs
M. Ginter (15, 9/1, 1.40, -2.0)

Matt Ginter has been all over the last five years. A first round pick for the White Sox in 1999, he never really caught on with them and in 2004 was traded to the Mets. He signed with Detroit in 2005 and didn't pitch in the majors again until this year. He's only thrown 15 innings, but hasn't been terrible, hovering right around replacement level.

Liriano was terrible in three starts in April, but has been lights out for the last month down in AAA. Over his last six starts he's sporting an 8.5 K/BB ratio and has allowed only five runs in 41 innings, four of those coming in one game. He's ready to go and gets to make his return on Sunday in front of a home crowd who'll be happy to see him.