Batter's Box Interactive Magazine - This Day In Baseball: 29 August 2005

This Day In Baseball: 29 August 2005

I'll cop out to the change,
but a stranger
is putting the tease on.

If I had told you, before the season started, that by the time September rolled around, the Blue Jays pitcher with the most Quality Starts and the most Innings Pitched would be Josh Towers - you would probably have sent for the men in the white coats.

And if you contemplated what that statement implied about the type of season it had been in Toronto - I imagine there would have been widespread Gloom and Gnashing of Teeth.

You would have been afraid. Very, very afraid.

But here we are. Roy Halladay will not win the Cy Young, of course. At the moment the new favourites seem to be Mariano Rivera and Mark Buehrle. Although I myself predict that Johan Santana will go something like 6-0 with an ERA of about 1.25 down the stretch and snap it up again.

Halladay will stop leading the league in ERA on September 11, when the Blue Jays play their 142nd game. Right now, Buehrle is second at 2.99 - Santana is tied for third with Kenny Rogers at 3.15. I think Johan will move through the pack and lead the league here as well.

Random notes... Jeff Francouer drew a walk for the second straight game yesterday, after drawing no bases on balls since his July 7 callup (his one walk prior to this weekend was unintentional)... it's been done before, but it still must be unusual for a player's first major league walk to be an IBB... Mike Maroth's place in the record books as the last 20 game loser is in serious jeopardy, as Zack Greinke is now 3-16... Jason Giambi's big day (2 HR, 7 RBI) included the 1500th hit and the 1000th RBI of his career... Oakland has suddenly righted the ship (Baltimore can do that for you), and have won five straight to slip past the Angels into first place... Yankees lead the AL Wild Card by .5 over the Angels, 1 game over Cleveland... the Bombers have also cut Boston's division lead to 1.5 games....Philadelphia trails the Braves by 4 in the closest NL division,and have a 1.5 game cushion on Houston for the Wild Card.

The Game of the Day comes to you from south Florida, and features two of the hottest pitchers in baseball.

The Monday schedule:

AL
OAK: Saarloos (9-6, 3.92 ERA) at BAL: Bedard (6-5, 3.20 ERA)
TAM: McClung (5-7, 6.40 ERA)at BOS: Clement (11-3, 4.35 ERA)
DET: Bonderman (14-10, 4.27 ERA) at CLE: Elarton (7-7, 4.74 ERA)
CHW: Buehrle (14-6, 2.99 ERA) at TEX: Dominguez (1-3, 4.40 ERA)
MIN: Baker (1-1, 2.77 ERA) at KAN: Carrasco (5-7, 4.88 ERA)
NYY: Mussina (12-8, 4.21 ERA) at SEA: Franklin (6-14, 5.29 ERA)

NL
CIN: Ortiz (8-9, 5.33 ERA) at PIT: Wells (7-13, 4.66 ERA)
STL: Carpenter (18-4, 2.34 ERA) at FLA: Burnett (12-7, 2.90 ERA)
WAS: Patterson (8-4, 2.43 ERA) at ATL: Sosa (9-2, 2.56 ERA)
LAD: Houlton (4-7, 4.86 ERA) at CHC: Williams (4-6, 4.74 ERA)
ARI: Ortiz (4-8, 6.95 ERA) at SDG: Williams (6-10, 5.14 ERA)
COL: Kim (3-10, 5.12 ERA) at SFO: Cain (0-0, 0.00 ERA)

Posted by Magpie on Monday, August 29 2005 @ 12:05 PM EDT.

This Day In Baseball: 29 August 2005 | 12 comments | Create New Account

The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.

Gerry - Monday, August 29 2005 @ 12:24 PM EDT (#126947) #

I believe the Florida game is on Sportsnet in Ontario tonight.

Rob - Monday, August 29 2005 @ 12:30 PM EDT (#126949) #

It is on Sportsnet, and I was already looking forward to it. Now that I see Carpenter and Burnett are listed to start, it should be a very good game.

As for first walk being intentional...wasn't Luis Lopez intentionally walked in his ML debut? (I have bad, bad memories of interleague games where Luis hit fifth and played 3B, which is another story entirely.)

I did not look at Retrosheet before putting that question forward, but I will now...

Rob - Monday, August 29 2005 @ 12:36 PM EDT (#126951) #

Well, what do you know? Luis Lopez was intentionally walked in his ML debut -- one look at this page should prove that.

Also, I was right about the "batting fifth, playing third" statement. If only I was right more often...

Mick Doherty - Monday, August 29 2005 @ 12:39 PM EDT (#126952) #

I think your Game of the Day might be one line lower, Patterson/Sosa. Given that WSH has forgotten entirely how to score runs, the likelihood of a 1-0 ATL victory seems fairly high.

Now watch, having said that, it will be 17-12.

Jonny German - Monday, August 29 2005 @ 01:04 PM EDT (#126957) #

Speaking of Towers, here's his line this year:

GS   W   L  CG     IP    H  HR  BB    K   ERA  WHIP
27  10  10   1  164.2  192  19  24   90  4.04  1.31

Which fits in seamlessly with these 4:

GS   W   L  CG     IP    H  HR  BB    K   ERA  WHIP
26  10   9   0  166.1  172  17  39   85  4.44  1.27
24  11   6   1  146.0  175  16  14   91  4.44  1.29
25  11   3   1  153.0  151  14  50  126  4.35  1.31
26  13  10   1  171.2  169  26  60  111  4.35  1.33

A prediction for Josh's next 4 years? No! It's your 2005 Boston Red Sox! Arroyo, Wells, Clement, and Wakefield, to be precise.

John Northey - Monday, August 29 2005 @ 01:15 PM EDT (#126962) #

Wow, who'd have thought that Josh Towers could have a better year than any starter in Boston, while still pitching like Josh Towers? Yet Boston is still in first. Weird.

Magpie - Monday, August 29 2005 @ 01:34 PM EDT (#126968) #

while still pitching like Josh Towers?

He's pitching like Josh Towers, maybe, but better in some significant ways. The other guys are hitting .290, which is high, but that's what Towers does. He challenges everybody, and he gives up hits. But last year, they hit .310 against him, and his career number is .298.

He's striking out 4.92 per 9, which is enough to get by, and better than his career mark (4.46) and much better than last year (3.95).

He's as stingy with the walk as ever, handing out just 1.3 free passes per 9 ininngs, slightly better than his career mark, and significantly better than last year's (still very good) 2.01 BB per 9.

But most important, is he's getting the home runs under control. Even with the two solo shots yesterday, he's allowed 1.03 HR per 9 innings, which is quite respectable, and the best mark of his career. Towers in his career has actually allowed more home runs than walks, which is unusual to say the least.

Nigel - Monday, August 29 2005 @ 01:59 PM EDT (#126971) #

I agree with Magpie, I think its the HR's that are the key. He's always going to give up HR's but if he can keep it in the neighbourhood of 1HR/9 then I think he can be a very useful pitcher. If he returns to his career rates then he's a below average major league pitcher.

Ron - Monday, August 29 2005 @ 02:41 PM EDT (#126978) #

Barring a huge choke job, I think it's safe to say Towers will be in the rotation next season. If he's not locked in then some other pitcher will have to come to camp and take it away from him.

Towers is easily one of the best 5th starters in the Majors.

BallGuy - Monday, August 29 2005 @ 06:29 PM EDT (#127000) #

Towers is easily one of the best 5th starters in the Majors

Except right now he is the wily veteran and even possibly the staff ace on this current Jays' team. What a crazy season.

StephenT - Monday, August 29 2005 @ 10:18 PM EDT (#127003) #

fyi: In-context Jays stats since the All-Star Break (includes EqAs, former Jays, etc.). The Jays have had the best pitching in the division since the All-Star Break, but have played just .500 ball over that time, while the D-Rays have played .643. Eric Hinske has led the Jays with a .298 EqA in limited playing time since the break; Russ Adams has been 2nd at .281. Downs and Towers have been among the league's best pitchers since the break.

King Ryan - Monday, August 29 2005 @ 10:34 PM EDT (#127005) #

Thanks, Stephen. I enjoy those immensely.

This Day In Baseball: 29 August 2005 | 12 comments | Create New Account

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