Gameday Thread, #157: 9/26 vs. Giants

Brandon Webb, RHP (16-7, 2.95)

Matt Morris, RHP (10-15, 5.09)

A win tonight, would tie us with the Giants in the race for...well, while third in the division might not seem like a major prize, I think we'd probably have been happy with that before the start of the season. The final few games look like they're going to see us, Colorado and San Francisco tussling gently for the minor places in the NL West. I like the fact that, top-to-bottom, the West has the smallest differential of any division in baseball: only ten games. The next closest is the AL West at 14.5, and they only have four teams. Ten games back would be good enough to get you second in both Eastern divisions.

Got to feel good about our chances tonight, as Cy Young contender takes on Free Agent Bust. Matt Morris described his last outing as "pathetic", but the term could probably have been applied to a good number of his appearances this season: in 32 starts, he's allowed five or more earned runs twelve times. The last one was a whopper, however: nine earned runs in 4.1 innings. "Well done! You must get up very early." Here's to that continuing, and if Webb can avoid the one bad inning which has plagued him recently, he should march on to his 17th win. Sadly, I'll be at IZW tonight, so will be unable to watch or partake in the fun.

Tonight also sees matching starts by Webb and Carpenter in the Cy Young race. Carpenter will attempt to rescue the slumping Cardinals in San Diego, since the NL Central leaders have now lost six in a row. They've seen their lead over Houston shrink from 8.5 to 2.5 games in a week, and that could have an impact on Webb's chances. It was generally thought that Carpenter would skip his last start of the season, so as to be ready for Game 1 of the playoffs. But, at the moment, it is still not impossible the Cardinals may need to win on Sunday; if that's the case, I imagine they'll send Carpenter out.