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Gameday Thread, #41: 5/21 vs. Marlins

Ari_medium


Max Scherzer
RHP, 1-3, 3.35

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Andrew Miller
LHP, 1-1, 5.94

That wheezing sound is our bullpen. After yesterday's little 22-inning marathon session, which as FoxSports AZ's Twitter feed tells us, included 788 pitches, 24 pitchers, 34 runs, 47 hits and 37 men left on base, I think we'll all be happy if today's game does not prove such a test of stamina. The question at the moment is, who do we have to pitch beyond Max? Thanks to paqs, here is the bullpen usage the last 2 days:

Gutierrez – 3 IP, 54 pitches (2 IP, 40 pitches yesterday)

Pena – 2 IP, 43 pitches (1 IP, 29 pitches yesterday)
Qualls – 3 IP, 42 pitches (2 IP, 27 pitches yesterday)
Rauch 2.2 IP, 40 pitches yesterday
Rosales 2.1 IP, 31 pitches yesterday
Vasquez 1.2 IP, 30 pitches yesterday
Slaten 0 IP, 4 pitches yesterday

Not exactly a lot of depth there, is there? Slaten is the sole man to have thrown less than 27 pitches yesterday, and the ony ones to have thrown less than thirty [Pena and Qualls] would be working their third game in a row. It's pretty perilous. The loss of Schoeneweis, who goes on the bereavements list, will allow us to add an additional pitcher, probably Clay Zavada, and we'll likely keep eight relievers around through the weekend. Playing in Oakland, with the DH, there's less need for pinch-hitters off the bench. But now would be a very good time for Scherzer to get past six innings for the first time in his career.

Of course, the Marlins are in equally bad shape - or possibly even worse, as their starter in the night-cap lasted only 2.2 innings, so overall, their bullpen had to do a bit more work [though I haven't got into pitch-counts!] Miller is especially hard on left-handed batters, who hit .229 career off him, as opposed to .299 for righties. I haven't looked at the lineup yet, but wouldn't be surprised to see the likes of Drew, Parra and Tracy given the day off today.

Lineup

  1. Ojeda SS
  2. Roberts 2B
  3. Upton RF
  4. Reynolds 3B
  5. Byrnes LF
  6. Tracy 1B
  7. Snyder C
  8. Young CF
  9. Scherzer P

Well, two out of three ain't bad. No Drew, and no Parra, but Tracy still gets the start at first-base. We'll see how the rest of the team does, and if we can keep up the offensive onslaught of late. Here's to a lack of relief being needed today...