Matchup for G34 - Astros at Rockies

Last night did not go so well. Worst loss of the season. Paulino was not sharp, and the Rockies were. The only good thing to take away from the rout was that Ortiz came in and threw three innings to keep from burning the bullpen in an 11-run loss. Mike Hampton gets the start in his Parade of Old Teams, facing the team he spent two seasons with, going 21-28 with a 5.75 ERA. And this figures to be another high-scoring event, as Hampton is 17-10 lifetime at Coors Field with a 5.79 ERA / 1.70 WHIP.

Last three starts:

Date-Opp	IP	H/ER	K:BB	GB/FB	Pit/Str
4/25 vMIL	6	8/4	4:3	11/8	101/62
5/1 @ATL	4.1	5/5	0:2	10/9	72/42
5/6 vCHC	5.1	7/3	4:4	8/11	107/66

It's been since Apr 20 against Cincinnati that Hampton threw a quality start, and he hasn't struck out more than five batters in an outing since Apr 15 @ Pittsburgh. That said, Hampton did get eleven swinging strikes against the Cubs in his last start. Pitching on five days rest (instead of his normal four) is something that has happened just once: at Atlanta. And we all know how that worked out.

Let's do the splits:
vs Righties: 27x95, .284/.376/.400, 14K:13BB
vs Lefties: 9x32, .281/.324/.406, 12K:2BB

After First-Pitch Strikes (73): .338/.375/.471, 13K:3BB
After First-Pitch Balls (59): .239/.397/.370, 13K:12BB

RISP: 9x28, .321/.424/.679, 3K:5BB
Runners on: 14x55, .255/.379/.455, 13K:11BB
2OwRISP: 6x14, .429/.529/1.000, 2K:3BB

Hampton has allowed the leadoff batter to reach in five out of his six starts. Two of the three HRs Hampton has allowed have come with runners in scoring position.

Jason Marquis

Marquis has been a bit of a surprise so far this season, so far going 4-2 with a 3.92 ERA in six starts, and even three of those coming at Coors Field.

Last three starts:

Date-Opp	IP	H/ER	K:BB	GB/FB	Pit/Str
4/26 vLA	7.1	6/3	5:4	9/14	109/65
5/2 @SF	9	5/1	4:1	17/11	113/73
5/7 vSF	6	8/5	2:0	15/11	87/57

Marquis pitches to contact, and the second time around facing the Giants he got kicked around pretty good. With a career ERA of 4.53, It's hard to say if his success will last. Marquis has already given up five home runs in 41 innings, and only gave up 15 all of last season. So is Marquis just pissed at the Cubs for letting him go, or has he a newfound vigor? We'll see. Jimenez shut the Astros' bats down, two days after Tejada said that this was an Astros team that will hit the ball hard.

Let's do the splits:
vs Righties: 16x72, .222/.250/.403, 8K:3BB
vs Lefties: 22x88, .250/.320/.364, 11K:9BB

After First-Pitch Strikes (73): .157/.178/.200, 15K:2BB
After First-Pitch Balls (81): .324/.407/.563, 4K:10BB

RISP: 7x39, .179/.250/.436, 5K:4BB
Runners on: 11x63, .175/.274/.333, 8K:9BB
2OwRISP: 2x15, .133/.133/.400, 1K:0BB

So with runners on, Marquis has been the anti-Hampton, and has only allowed four runs in 15ABs with two outs and runners in scoring position.

Against the Astros, Marquis is 9-6 lifetime with a 5.12 ERA and a 1.56 WHIP.

And this could be what Berkman needs to get off the schneid - he's 21x43 with 14RBI and a .488/.607/.721 line against Marquis lifetime with 3K:13BB.