Division Series: Tuesday, September 30th, 2003

Tuesday, September 30 2003 @ 03:43 AM EDT

Florida Marlins at San Francisco Giants, 4 PM ET

This figures to be another great pitchers' duel. Base-stealers have had good success against Jason Schmidt, so look for the Marlins to bunt and steal frequently. Florida manager Jack McKeon has stated he will pitch around Barry Bonds at every opportunity.

Josh Beckett has been lights out the last month, but might become dramatically less effective after 100 pitches. The key for the Giants will be to get the first three hitters on base, so walking Bonds will put great pressure on the defence.

Josh Beckett (2002/2003)

versus	AB	H	HR	TB	W	K	HBP	SB	CS	OBP	SLG	K pct
right	502	124	10	179	39	125	2	13	6	.304	.357	.230
left	436	101	12	166	61	140	1	4	4	.327	.381	.281

Beckett strikes out fewer righties, but they seem to make solid contact off him. The Giants will take a lot of pitches and test Beckett's stamina.

notes: OBP is calculated without including sac flies (H+W+HBP)/(AB+W+HBP); player in red indicates the batter is at a platoon disadvantage.

J.T. Snow is an excellent choice as the #2 hitter, but Rich Aurilia is simply not good enough to bat 3rd in this lineup, especially against a righthander. Jose Cruz, somewhat surprisingly, finds himself hitting 8th - where he'll get an automatic walk with a base open.

Jason Schmidt is lights out against righthanded hitters. The Marlins have only 2 lefthanded batters in the starting lineup. Runs will be scarce for the fish.

notes: OBP is calculated without including sac flies (H+W+HBP)/(AB+W+HBP); player in red indicates the batter is at a platoon disadvantage.

Florida doesn't have a great offence, but their hitters are in the right positions. It's a shame that they're got all those rightahnded batters.

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