Minnesota at Cleveland, 7:05 PM (STO)
Starting Pitchers:
Cleveland: C.C. Sabathia (3.35, 90)
Minnesota: Carlos Silva (5.81, 38)
Just for some weekend fun, I'll be posting the starting pitchers' 2006 FIP and PRC for each game, rather than the usual ERA and "won-loss" record, which, let's face it, are some shade or another of the color "stupid." If you don't know what FIP and PRC are, just jog on over to The Hardball Times' 2006 AL pitching leaders and stats glossary. (And for our younger readers, yes, this really does constitute "weekend fun" for married people.)
Last night, Ryan wrote: "There haven't been many games this season where I felt the Indians had no chance of winning. This is one of those games." And what the hell, it's not like I would have written anything different. Tonight is very nearly as much of a mismatch, but who would bother to predict anything after last night's game?
After all, if the Pronkless Tribe lineup can get to Cy Santana, and Fausto Carmona isn't ruined, and Tom Mastny isn't our new infalliable savior ... why, it's sheer madness! Next thing you know, they'll be saying that Andy Marte isn't the second coming of Ted Cox, and Eric Wedge isn't mishandling the ballboy!
Akron at Portland, 6:05 PM
Eastern League Championship, Game 4 (POR 2-1)
Starting Pitchers:
Akron: Jensen Lewis (1-2, 3.89 ERA)
Portland: Frank Brooks (2-6, 3.86 ERA)
The Aeros survived to face another elimination game in the best-of-five series. Lewis was a younger teammate of Jeremy Sowers at Vanderbilt and put up a solid if uninspiring season at Kinston and Akron this year. Brooks is a lefty, and the Aeros have hit substantially better against lefties this season. Not that I'm predicting anything!