| 23 June 2009
The Sox enjoyed an off-day yesterday and will begin a three-series road trip today in Washington.
Brad Penny will get the start for the Red Sox. Penny is 6-2 on the season and has watched his ERA drop after every start since it jumped to 8.66 after the Indians knocked him around through 2.2 innings on April 28th. Now, with a repespectable 4.94 ERA, and five quality starts in his last 9 outings, Penny is looking like the bargin the Red Sox hoped he would be when they signed him this offseason.
Penny's 6-2 record looks sharp, but he hasn't always been that sharp, and that has resulted in a mediocre 5.46 innings pitched per start. He held his last two opponents (NYY, FLA) to just one unearned run, but allowed nine hits and four walks through eleven total innings. He'll look to do better tonight against Washington, a team that is hitting just .259, but is 9th in the majors with a .343 OBP.
Penny has quite a bit of experience with the Nationals and has pitched very well against them, posting a 12-5 record and a 2.54 ERA in 20 starts... but his last start against them was in August of 2007 and it wasn't pretty: 5.0 IP, 6 ER, 2 BB, 1 K.
Most of the current Nationals don't have much experience against Penny, but interestingly, former Red Sox catcher Josh Bard is 7 for 13 (.538) with 2 double and 3 RBI. That said, Bard is the back-up catcher in Washington and is hitting .241 on the season. It's Ryan Zimmerman (.293, 18 2B, 43 RBI), Nick Johnson (.321, 33 RBI) and Adam Dunn (.267, 18 HR, 49 RBI) that you want to worry about... although Dunn is hitting a dismal .205 at home this year and does strikeout a ton (44 in '09, 164 in '08).
The Nats will be countering with their best starter - John Lannan. He's just 4-5, but owns a 3.38 ERA and a .255 BAA this season. He's also 2-0 with a 1.72 ERA in seven home starts this season. He's been very sharp as of late (2-0, 1.16 ERA, .167 BAA in June) so the Sox will need to bring their A-game...
The Sox had a blip on the offensive radar during the home stand, but perhaps a game not played in the rain will wake up the bats!
Look for some shifting of the lineup tonight in an effort to get Pedroia going again. He's hitting just .178 in June, which coincides with his move to the leadoff spot... but with Ellsbury (.308 in June) and Ortiz (.308, 5 HR in June) clicking, it may be time to make another shiffle.
Lastly, this is the first interleague game for the Sox played by National League rules this year, so it will be interesting to see how Tito juggles Big Papi in and out of the lineup. Lannan is a southpaw, but hanldes righties (.242) better than lefties (.289)... so your guess is as good as mine if Ortiz starts tonight and where.
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