Vazquez (9-9, 4.37)
Prior (7-3, 3.23)
G'morning, folks. All being well, should be up at the crack of eleven to catch a little morning baseball, for the second straight day, before heading into work. But I'm posting this one early (my fourth entry of the day, after the earlier preview and two game reports!), in case things get in the way. We'll take the yawning as read, shall we, and feel free to start without me, I'll be along shortly...
Vazquez will be starting for us, and has been up and down for the whole month of July - three starts with two runs or less, two with six or more. I think he has been somewhat unlucky, allowing 25 hits in 36 innings, but eight of those were homeruns. He struck out eleven last time out, allowing only three hits in eight innings, so more of the same would be very nice.
He'll need to be on his game, facing Mark Prior, who has been fairly solid, rather than dominating, since coming back from a DL stint in June. Our hitters showed in the opener that they can still swing the timber - now, if they can just get the hits in bunches, rather than spread evenly throughout the entire game. Is that so much to ask? :-)