| | |
Cliff Lee has 4 walks this year. Not only that, he's had just 2 more 3-ball counts than Johnny Cueto has had walks this year, and I'd consider Cueto to be having a pretty good year control-wise. That's ridiculous! And unfortunately, I also think that means that Lee is going to tear through this Reds lineup that tends to have serious problems with guys that don't walk too many hitters. I almost expect to see half of the batters have one-pitch at-bats this evening. It's like when a pitcher with good control comes to the mound, the Reds change their philosophy to swing at the first pitch you see. The problem is that that is exactly what a good control pitcher wants you to do.
Suffice it to say, this match-up scares the bejeebus out of me.
Luckily, the Mariners aren't exactly an offensive juggernaut. If Cueto can manage to keep his focus, he'll hopefully be able to keep the Mariners off the scoreboard as well. Then again, the one thing the Mariners do well is see a lot of pitches (4th in the Majors at 3.92 Pit/PA). This could be bad news for Cueto. I guess I'm not feeling all that optimistic about this game.
This is why I expect the Reds to prove me wrong! Go Reds! They are my favorite team!