Marquee Matchup: April 8th, 2010

It's time for another marquee matchup. My first result was a push. Lester almost pulled off the win, but in typical Yankee/Red Sox fashion, the game was far from over. I am just happy that the series is over. As a Red Sox fan, I love a good rivalry, but these games can really get to be a grind, and they are LONG. Seriously, these teams both played like it was the ALCS and the time of game was ridiculously long, so much so, in fact, that the umpire on Tuesday night did not grant several requests for time. ESPN dropped a story about it..... And good for them, because as much as I love my team, I don't want to sit an extra hour every game waiting for the drama to unfold. I mean, I even DVR'd Tuesday nights game and it still was long. Yeesh.

Anyways, that's a push in the ol' record column. Nothing really jumped out yesterday, so I sat pat, but today I am very interested in a particular matchup...

Matchup - Randy Wells (0-0) v Tommy Hanson (0-0). Okay, okay, so everybody know that I am a bit of a Tommy Hanson homer, but this matchup does warrant a bit of a closer look...

Tommy Hanson

The Lowdown: Randy Wells pitched magnificently against the Braves last season, allowing only 3 ER in 2 starts and a BAA of .184. Granted, this is a bit small of a sample size, but it should be noted that his one game in Atlanta he only allowed two his and 1 ER while allowing a measly 0.87 BAA. Of course, whenever you are facing a team for the first couple of times you are going to have them baffled, and that could all change this time around with a little extra scouting, but Wells owned the Braves in his two games last year.

Tommy Hanson, on the other hand is the #3 starter for the Braves, which speaks volumes about their rotation. Hanson did not even face the Cubs last season, which, if my former statement rings true, should mean that the Cubs will be absolutely baffled by Hanson and get shut down.

Hmm, to decide this one we are going to have to look at the the hitters. We know that Atlanta has won the first two games, are playing at home, and applying the pressure for the sweep. The Cubs are batting .196 for the series.

Prediction: While I do believe that the Cubs will rally and Wells will give it his all, I go with my theory on first-time pitchers. While I predict a low-scoring affair, I say that Hanson and the Braves SWEEP.