Tigers Seek First Win, Pitchers Battle in NL West
April 5, 2008 by Geoff Young
Filed under Games Worth Watching
Not a lot of great pitching matchups today. Eh, that happens…
- White Sox at Tigers, 12:55 p.m. PT — At 0-4, Detroit is the only team without a win so far this season. Baseball is a strange game. Dontrelle Willis makes his Tigers debut. For a guy who should be in his physical prime, Willis sure has fallen fast. Where’s Steve Avery when you need him?
- Dodgers at Padres, 12:55 p.m. PT — This is by far the best matchup of the day: Brad Penny goes up against Cy Young Award winner Jake Peavy. Penny is 0-2 with a 6.67 ERA over his last five starts against San Diego.
- Diamondbacks at Rockies, 5:05 p.m. PT — Last year’s NL West playoff participants square off this evening. Two good young pitchers — Brandon Webb and Jeff Francis — hook up in this one. It’s also a good excuse to watch Justin Upton play, which is always a treat.
Play ball!
Oh, sure…take a pot shot at Avery.
Actually, I blame his handlers. Avery’s workload at such a young age was pretty outrageous.
but wasn’t particularly unheard of at the time.
the whole workload thing hasn’t really cought up until close to the turn of the century, and even then some teams mess it up pretty badly. (Bill Pulsipher should sue the Mets for his major league career , i actually saw him pitch here in Taiwan a few years back… ouch.)
Yep. See also Gooden, Dwight. People forget how friggin’ good Avery was when he first came up.
I’ll never forget how good Avery was when he first came up. I’m glad he was drafted at the time, as it was either him or Todd VanPopel. And at the time the Braves got beat up on taking Steve over VanPopel.