Posted by Rob McQuown on Tuesday, August 11, 2009 at 8:13 am

The Luke French Experiment was going great through 5 innings, but then French tried to tap into his inner Randy Johnson, but must have gotten the Age-27 version (152 walks in 201 IP), as he proceeded to walk 3 batters in the 6th before giving way to the relief corps, which allowed 2 of his runners to score.  Seattle came back, so he didn’t take the “L”, but that turned a 1.2-WHIP/4.44 ERA outing with a “W” into what he did instead.  Oh well, that’s a young pitcher for you.

Starting Pitchers:

• They say in rivalries to “throw out the numbers”, but it’s numbers we’re looking at to recommend playing Randy Wolf at San Francisco.  I.e. his are good, and the Giants’ are bad, even if you consider their bolstered lineup vsL.  As a bonus, he gets fill-in starter Joe Martinez for an opponent.
• Nick Blackburn may not have had the best season in MLB so far, but he may have the best line of the day, getting to face KC.
• We like the Cubbies, but have to admit that their offense has been hit-or-miss this year, and though the “why” is elusive, Phils starter J.A. Happ has been brilliant so far all season long.

Batters:

• 3b/1b/of Casey Blake is back to his old ways.  He’s hitting .400 over the past 15 days, and while we root for Joe Martinez, and he doesn’t give Blake the platoon advantage, the fact remains that he’s still a novice pitcher who a pro like Blake should do well against.
• Of the White Sox opponent today, ESPN.com offers this: “Spin: Fister [...] had a 3.81 ERA at Triple-A, but opposing batters hit .305 off him. There’s no need to rush out and grab him.” Despite the R/R matchup, however, that is motivation to rush out and grab ss/3b Gordon Beckham, who is still unfathomably available in most leagues.
• c A.J. Pierzynski
• of Denard Span
• c Miguel Montero
• 2b/3b Casey McGehee against a crappy lefty.
• of Rajai Davis is sort of a hidden gem, with 7 SB in the past 15 days.  He’s facing a pitcher he should be able to handle today.
• of Matt Diaz hammers LHP
• As we’ve noted, of Carlos Gonzalez hammers RHP and is very hot.  He should be active whenever facing a bad one for sure, like Ohlendorf today.
• Pirates outfielders Andrew McCutchen and Lastings Milledge
• c Kurt Suzuki
• 1b Lyle Overbay
• 2b/3b Ian Stewart
• 2b Chris Getz
• 3b/of Jake Fox