Matchup for G110 - Brewers @ Astros

Mike Hampton
Hampton pitched his best game since July 6 his last time out in the lone win against the Giants that series. What will he do? So far in 2009, he has followed up a quality start with another quality start three out of the six times.

Last three starts:

Date-Opp	IP	H/ER	K:BB	GB/FB	Pit/Str
7/24 vNYM	5.2	8/4	7:4	8/8	101/64
7/29 @CHI	4	8/9	1:4	6/13	79/46
8/3 vSF	6	8/1 (2 tot)	6:2	14/5	103/65

There's some hope here in that last start. His 12 swinging strikes were the highest since his second start of the season at Pittsburgh. His 29 non-contact strikes were the highest since June 30 at San Diego. He won both of those games.

2009 vs Milwaukee: 0-0 (2 starts), 5.40 ERA/1.70 WHIP, 10IP, 8K:6BB
Career vs Milwaukee: 4-2, 3.16 ERA/1.38 WHIP, 85.1IP, 87K:62BB
2009 @ Minute Maid: 4-3 (10 starts), 4.66 ERA/1.59 WHIP, 56IP, 39K:22BB

Let's do the splits:
vs Righties: .307/.386/.462, 43K:39BB
vs Lefties: .250/.282/.438, 28K:5BB

When swinging at the first pitch (56): .362/.347/.723, 9XBH
After First-Pitch Strikes (217): .286/.316/.438, 47K:8BB
After First-Pitch Balls (187): .282/.419/.396, 24K:36BB

RISP: 33x102, .324/.398/.520, 21K:16BB
Runners on: 54x169, .320/.403/.521, 35K:27BB
2OwRISP: 20x51, .392/.475/.647, 8K:8BB

Manny Parra

Manny Parra will be taking the mount, and he hasn't taken a loss since coming back from a short spell in Nashville on July 9, a streak of three wins and two no decisions.

Last three appearances:

Date-Opp	IP	H/ER	K:BB	GB/FB	Pit/Str
7/24 vATL	5	10/4	3:3	9/12	106/63
7/29 vWAS	6	9/5	7:5	9/11	113/73
8/3 @LA	8	8/4	4:1	16/11	102/65

vs. HOU (2009): 0-1, 1.80 ERA/1.60 WHIP, 5IP, 5H/1ER, 4K:3BB
vs. HOU (career): 3-3, 4.88 ERA/1.88 WHIP, 31.1IP, 42H/17ER, 23K:17BB
@ Minute Maid (car): 1-2, 6.91 ERA/2.16 WHIP, 24H/11ER, 10K:7BB

Let's do the splits:
vs Righties: .301/.378/.479, 62K:38BB
vs Lefties: .287/.394/.379, 20K:16BB

When swinging at the first pitch (48): .370/.362/.413, 2XBH
After First-Pitch Strikes (209): .318/.349/.490, 57K:10BB
After First-Pitch Balls (199): .250/.421/.428, 25K:44BB

RISP: 28x105, .267/.378/.438, 22K:19BB
Runners on: 55x189, .291/.379/.455, 40K:27BB
2OwRISP: 11x50, .220/.361/.340, 12K:11BB

Matchup for G19 - Brewers at Astros

The Astros end their 10-game homestand in which they were thoroughly unimpressive. Losing a series to the Reds, winning one - surprisingly - against the Dodgers, and losing this series against the Brewers.

Russ Ortiz

Russ Ortiz will attempt to build on the last four innings of his last outing and string some innings together where he isn't pushing a pitch count limit by the end of the third inning. This will be his third start of the season.

Last two starts:

@PIT	4.2IP	5H/3ER	2K:2BB	9GB/8FB
vLAD	5IP	3H/3ER	2K:2BB	8GB/9FB

Here's the thing. In those 9.2IP, Ortiz has faced 44 batters, walked seven, given up hits to six, and thrown 215 pitches. An average of 22 pitches per inning. That's a lot.

First-pitch strikes: 28 (.167/.276/.333), with 10K:4BB.
First-pitch balls: 31 (.292/.452/.375), 1K:7BB

Manny Parra

Handy Manny is another Brewers SP whose season hasn't exactly started as planned, starting out 0-3 with an 8.16 ERA / 1.74 WHIP. He did mix in one quality start, but here you go...

@SFG	4.1IP	6H/5ER	3K:2BB	6GB/10FB
vCIN	6IP	3H/3ER	4K:4BB	6GB/10FB
@PHI	4IP	7H/5ER	4K:3BB	8GB/7FB

I imagine we'll see Keppinger in the lineup today - righties hitting .256/.333/.488 off Parra while lefties are hitting .333/.474/.467. The Astros saw a lot of Parra last year:

May 3 A	4IP		9H/5ER	3K:4BB	8GB/8FB
May 30 H	6IP	4H/1ER	6K:4BB	4GB/12FB
June 11 A	5.1IP	10H/5ER	3K:0BB	9GB/11FB
July 25 H	6IP	8H/3ER	5K:2BB	14GB/5FB
Aug 20 H	5IP	6H/2ER	2K:4BB	10GB/7FB

Vs. HOU: 3-2, 26.1IP, 37H/16ER, 19K:14BB, 5.47 ERA / 1.94 WHIP

Astro	HxAB	BA/OBP/SLG	HR-RBI	K:BB
Lee	6x10	.600/.667/1.100	1-2	2:1
Berkman	5x11	.455/.600/.636	0-1	2:3
Matsui	4x11	.364/.462/.364	0-1	3:2
Tejada	5x15	.333/.333/.600	1-2	2:0
Bourn	2x8	.250/.250/.750	1-1	5:0
Pence	3x13	.231/.231/.308	0-0	1:0
Keppinger	0x4	.000/.200/.000	0-0	0:1