Cole Hamels and the Philadelphia Phillies will be
looking to knock Tim Lincecum and the San Francisco
Giants for a loss on Sunday afternoon. Here’s your MLB Gameday
for sports handicappers:
White Sox at
Blue Jays,
Jose Contreras (2-2, 3.98 ERA) vs. Roy Halladay (2-4, 3.26 ERA)
Contreras hasn’t been striking out a lot of batters so far this season (just
16 over his first five starts), but he’s been a pretty solid pitcher for the
White Sox. The righthander gave up four earned runs
in each of his first two outings versus the Tigers, another four earned runs
versus the Yankees on April 22, and he’s held the Orioles to one run twice.
Halladay has been tagged with a loss in each of his past three starts,
although he did manage to go the distance in each of those contests. In fact,
the righthander has tossed four straight complete
games with only a 1-3 record to show for those outings. Halladay has walked
just seven batters while striking out 31 over his six starts so far this
season.
Giants at
Phillies,
Tim Lincecum (4-1, 1.73 ERA) vs. Cole Hamels (3-3, 2.70 ERA)
Lincecum is helping Giants fans forget about the
struggles of Barry Zito. The young righthander has gone 4-1 with a no-decision in his six
starts this season, and he’s managed to keep his ERA under 2.00. Lincecum’s worst outing of the year came on Tuesday versus
the
seven innings.
Hamels bounced back from a couple of rough outings
to pitch a strong game against the Padres last time out (7 1-3 innings, two
earned runs on five hits, six strikeouts). The lefthander gave up just two
earned runs over his first three starts of the year, but he then surrendered
nine earned runs over consecutive losses to the Mets and Brewers.
Dodgers at
Derek Lowe (2-1, 2.88 ERA) vs. Aaron Cook (4-1, 2.41 ERA)
Lowe gave up six runs in a no-decision versus the Marlins last time out, but
only three of those runs were earned. That kept the righthander’s
ERA under 3.00 for the season. Lowe has allowed three or fewer earned runs in
each of his six starts so far in 2008, but he’s only managed to pick up two
wins for his troubles, with one defeat and three NDs.
Cook has been on fire for the
the victory in each of his last four outings. The righthander
surrendered just six earned runs over 28 innings in those starts to drop his
ERA below 2.50 in 2008. Cook held the Giants to just two unearned runs on
Tuesday, giving up 10 hits and two walks and fanning three over seven innings. Handicapper
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Mets at
Diamondbacks,
Johan Santana (3-2, 3.12 ERA) vs. Dan Haren
(4-1, 3.13 ERA)
Santana could only manage a no-decision in his start versus the Pirates on
Tuesday, but he allowed just two earned runs on two hits over 5 2-3 innings of
work and struck out seven batters. The lefthander has allowed more than three
earned runs in only one start so far this season (on April 12 versus the
Brewers), and he’s struck out 39 batters.
Haren has also allowed more than three earned runs
in only one start this year – that came on April 23 when the Dodgers got to him
for five earned runs over 4 2-3 innings. The righthander
has picked up either a win or a no-decision in each of his other five outings,
and he only walked seven batters (while striking out 29) in his six starts in
April.