Matt Cain-SF- Hot- Cain tossed his third consecutive quality start. His control was superb as 74 of his 110 pitchers were strikes and he struck out 10 batters without issuing a walk. The only downside is that the 2 runs he allowed came from a pair of solo homers. That gives Cain 15 homers allowed in 95 IP. He only gave up 21 homers in 219.1 IP last year. Cain had gone 5 starts without the ball leaving the yard. Lowering his homer rate will be the key to how much success he has for the rest of the season.
Michael Cuddyer- COL- Hot- Cuddyer is working on a hitting streak of 16 games, 10 of which have been at Coors Field. Cuddyer's .340 average has been driven by a .375 BABAIP but he has been especially fortunate at home, with a .405 BABIP significantly higher than his road mark of .346. As a result his home batting average is .370 while his road mark is .309. In his first season in Colorado last year, Cuddyer's home/road splits for average and BABIP were not nearly as extreme and he didn't show nearly as much of a pronounced benefit from Coors Field. This season not only is his average much higher but he has hit 7 homers in 100ABs at Coors but only 3 in 97 ABs on the road. Regression to the mean will impact his home average numbers more than the road but he might have adapted more to Coors Field in his power swing so will still produce more homers there.
Alex Castellanos- LAN- FYI- Hyun-Jin Ryu might hold the key to whether Castellanos keeps his roster spot with the Dodgers. If Ryu goes deep in the first game of today's doubleheader then there won't be as much of a need for fresh bullpen arms for the second game and Chris Withrow will go down to make room for Chris Capuano. If Ryu doesn't pitch many innings then the Dodgers might need to keep Withrow for both games. Castellanos has played in 3 games in the 8 days since he was added to the roster so the team does have use for him if they can afford to keep him up.
Roy Oswalt- COL- Caution- Oswalt will be make his 2013 major league debut with Colorado tomorrow. They signed him to a minor league contract and he has posted a 2.16 ERA with AA Tulsa. Oswalt disappointed last year as he took a similar path with the Rangers. Although his ERAs in his minor league tune-ups last year were a whopping 8.10 in 1 AA start and 5.25 in 3 AAA outings, his FIPs of 2.30 and 3.37, respectively, were lower than the 4.28 mark he had in 5 starts for Tulsa this year. Given his performance last year and the effect good luck has had in his minor league stint this year, it seems like Oswalt's chances of recapturing old glory at Colorado are slim.
Zack Wheeler- NYN- Rookie- Pessimists would say there's nowhere to go but down as Wheeler has a 0.00 major league ERA after his debut yesterday. He showed the power that made him a top prospect by striking out 7 in 6 IP and allowing only 4 hits. Wheeler did have some control issues, throwing only 55 of his 102 pitches for strikes and issuing 5 walks. Wheeler had a 3.54 BB/9 at AAA this year so there may be some wildness at times, but the 9.57 K/9 for AAA Las Vegas makes Wheeler an asset right now. Wheeler and Matt Harvey give the Mets a formidable top of their rotation.
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