It may be dark but I wanna talk
I've been looking into batter-pitcher matchups, as I recklessly promised quite some time back. The problem with these, as we all know, is small sample size. However, just for the hell of it, I might have identified the seven most common head-to-head matchups among active players.
Hitter Pitcher AB H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BAV OBP SLG OPS Barry Bonds Greg Maddux 120 34 3 1 8 18 23 15 .283 .396 .525 .921 Craig Biggio Greg Maddux 116 33 5 0 1 6 7 10 .284 .336 .353 .689 B.J. Surhoff Roger Clemens 104 30 3 2 5 18 7 14 .288 .333 .500 .833 Craig Biggio Tom Glavine 95 23 4 1 2 8 14 11 .242 .336 .368 .705 Rafael Palmeiro Roger Clemens 93 30 4 0 3 11 17 19 .323 .427 .462 .890 Julio Franco Roger Clemens 91 19 6 1 0 6 5 12 .209 .250 .297 .547 Steve Finley Greg Maddux 91 23 1 1 4 10 5 16 .253 .289 .418 .706Corey Koskie has 57 at bats against Mark Buehrle, which as far as I can tell is the most of any Blue Jay hitter against any active pitcher.
The 8 homers Bonds has hit against Maddux is not the most by any batter against any pitcher. Manny Ramirez has hit 9 in just 44 at bats against Jamie Moyer. I don't actually know if that's the most by anyone against anyone. And by the time the season ends, who knows? Carlos Delgado has 6 homers in 22 at bats against Jorge Sosa, and 5 homers in 33 at bats against Tim Hudson. The Marlins have two series against Atlanta in September.
Geez, Manny Ramirez is hitting against Jose Lima tonight...
We can also look forward to Curt Schilling's return to the rotation, Doug Davis trying yet again for his 10th win, and the much-anticipated Chacin-Chacon matchup.
The schedule:
AL
Oakland (Harden 10-5, 2.63) at Detroit (Maroth 11-11, 4.64)
Toronto (Chacin 11-6, 3.40) at New York (Chacon 3-8, 3.32)
Chicago (Garland 16-7, 3.43) at Minnesota (Silva 8-6, 3.35)
Seattle (Harris 0-1, 2.51) at Texas (Benoit 3-3, 3.67)
Los Angeles (Lackey 10-4, 3.66) at Baltimore (Lopez 12-7, 4.81)
Cleveland (Lee 13-4, 3.91) at Tampa Bay (Kazmir 7-8, 3.94)
Boston (Schilling 5-5, 6.43) at Kansas City (Lima 4-12, 6.47)
NL
Cincinnati (Claussen 8-8, 4.50) at Washington (Hernandez 14-5, 3.80)
Florida (Valdez 1-1, 4.50) at Milwaukee (Davis 9-9, 4.15)
St.Louis (Morris 13-5, 3.80) at Pittsburgh (Williams 10-9, 4.06)
New York (Martinez 12-5, 2.86) at Arizona (Vazquez 10-12, 4.67)
Colorado (Cook 2-1, 4.25) at Los Angeles (Penny 6-7, 3.60)
