5/22 at Philadelphia

[d-money]

He's going against Wheeler, who is tough. But you never can tell because you gotta play the games.

 

 

You figure Rodríguez is due to pitch a good game. We shall see.

[Maxbialystock]

You figure Rodríguez is due to pitch a good game. We shall see.

 

I am borderline incapable of figuring anything, but MLB has an almost limitless capacity to surprise us.

 

The 2021 ERod is a far cry from the 2019 one. He missed all of last year because of COVID and attendant (and scary) heart issues. Then he missed his first regular season start this year because of a reported "dead arm." Yet this is his 9th start and in his previous 8 starts averaged 5 1/2 innings (44 in 8 starts). He was better in April than in May (so far). I think his only good pitch is his changeup, and even that comes and goes. His BB rate is down, but at the price of throwing fat pitches which get hit--I leave it to moonslav to tell us what his OPS Against is.

 

Oh, and in his last two seasons, 2018 and 2019, he was lucky. He's had great run support. That has continued this year because he is 5-2 despite having the worst ERA in the rotation.

[iortiz]

Quite the lineup today. Xander and JD get the day off ahead of a scheduled off day tomorrow (and Thursday). Verdugo still DTD

 

Well that could change my prediction but they are resting Harper as well, so hard to tell. Xander and JD probably will come off the bench as PHs though. Gonna be an interesting game. The key regardless the line up gonna be Eduardo who I expect performs great today.

[Maxbialystock]

You figure Rodríguez is due to pitch a good game. We shall see.

 

I looked and can't find Opponent OPS stats on either pitcher, but can tell you that Wheeler's WAR is 2.5--way better than any Sox pitcher's--and ERod's is .3. Wheeler has had 9 starts and pitched 60.2 innings, almost 7 innings per start, which reduces the vulnerability of the Phillies bullpen.

[Maxbialystock]

Well that could change my prediction but they are resting Harper as well, so hard to tell. Xander and JD probably will come off the bench as PHs though. Gonna be an interesting game. The key regardless the line up gonna be Eduardo who I expect performs great today.

 

Resting Harper actually helps their lineup because he is in a slump: 2 hits in his last 7 games, hitless in his last 23 at bats.

 

If Eduardo "performs great today," it will indeed be an interesting game because Wheeler is one tough hombre this year.