Reds vs Padres Game One: Lineups and preview and all that

If you are of a mind to watch some baseball this evening, we can handle that. But you aren’t exactly in the mood, I understand.

Here are Luis Castillo’s ERAs by month this season:

Mar/April - 7.85
May - 3.48
June - 6.75
July - 2.25
Aug/Sept - 4.23

These numbers confirm the blatantly obvious: Luis Castillo is a talented young pitcher still finding his way in the big leagues. I went on about this a while back, but I really believe hard in this kid. He is already really, really good. He just has to get the consistency thing down.

In a story that might strike you as quite familiar, the Padres starter this evening, Eric Lauer, is a 23-year-old rookie getting his brains bashed in this season. He is healthy enough to take the ball every fifth day and is one of a handful of players of legal age in the Padres system, so the beating will continue until he gets better. He started against these Reds back in early June and tossed five decent innings.

Kid is from Grafton, OH, just west of Cleveland. He went to Kent State. So that’s cool.

There are exactly two teams in the National League with fewer wins than your Redlegs and these Padlegs are one of ‘em.

Lineups