With the series already lost for the O's, game three features a match-up of young starters. The Orioles send rookie Brian Matusz to the mound hoping to avoid a sweep, with second-year man Jeff "Big NyQuil" Niemann going for Tampa Bay.
Rays' line-up:
|
Bat |
Pos |
Batting |
| Bartlett, Jason |
R |
SS |
.375/.444/.375 |
| Crawford, Carl |
L |
LF |
.250/.333/.375 |
| Zobrist, Ben |
S |
2B |
.375/.375/.500 |
| Longoria, Evan |
R |
3B |
.375/.375/1.250 |
| Pena, Carlos |
L |
1B |
.375/.375/.500 |
| Upton, BJ |
R |
CF |
.286/.375/.286 |
| Burrell, Pat |
R |
DH |
.143/.250/.286 |
| Kapler, Gabe |
R |
RF |
.239/.329/.439 ('09) |
| Shoppach, Kelly |
R |
C |
.250/.250/.500 |
I miss the Rays having Gabe Gross too. Gabe of the Day is my all-time favorite platoon.
Niemann's 2009 stats:
| K/9 |
BB/9 |
HR/9 |
GB rate |
FIP^ |
xFIP^ |
WAR^ |
| 6.2 |
2.9 |
0.9 |
40.5% |
4.07 |
4.53 |
3.2 |
His stuff
^:
Niemann's fastball didn't have a ton of tail or sink, and came in at a pretty average 91-92 mph. It didn't get all that many swings and misses, as might be expected. The change didn't have a lot of movement either, though it was thrown quite rarely. Maybe not seeing it very often helped fool batters, because they tended to miss when they swung at it (and it had his highest pitch type run value, at +1.74 per 100 thrown). His slider was OK, as was his curveball - which was more of the 12-6 variety. Not an overpowering guy, but he'll throw strikes and generally give his team a chance to win.
Via
RJ Anderson, he's also recently added a cutter and splitter.
The O's are sending up:
|
Bat |
Pos |
Batting |
| Roberts, Brian |
S |
2B |
.000/.000/.000 |
| Jones, Adam |
R |
CF |
.444/.444/.889 |
| Markakis, Nick |
L |
RF |
.167/.444/.333 |
| Tejada, Miguel |
R |
SS |
.125/.222/.125 |
| Scott, Luke |
L |
LF |
.143/.250/.571 |
| Wieters, Matt |
S |
C |
.288/.340/.412 |
| Reimold, Nolan |
R |
DH |
.250/.250/.250 |
| Atkins, Garrett |
R |
1B |
.250/.250/.500 |
| Lugo, Julio |
R |
SS |
.280/.352/.405 ('09) |
Roberts getting on base would be helpful to the offense I think. Also, getting Izzy's bat out of there. Seems that taking the defensive downgrade at short would have made more sense yesterday with Guthrie - a righty - on the mound, instead of Matusz today. Lefty on the mound means more right-handed batters means more balls expected to be hit to short, I'd think.
Matusz ('09):
| K/9 |
BB/9 |
HR/9 |
GB rate |
FIP |
xFIP |
WAR |
| 7.7 |
2.8 |
1.2 |
31.2% |
4.08 |
4.38 |
0.8 |
He had a very good Spring - hopefully he can carry it over to the regular season. Also, given the last two nights...
save us Brian Matusz, you're our only hope!
