Både Maholm och Pelfrey har ERA över 5 mot respektive lag. Det blåser ut lite (8mph) och kvällens ump är 10-2-1 OU i år.
Över 7.5 är väldigt enkelt och klart spel och public är stort på den.
Tittar man på umpen dock, så är hans zon inte värst tajt (bara i år som han haft många övers). Han brukar ställa sig på den sida som battern är på (ni som har mlb.tv titta på BOS-NYY 9/6) och därför är tajtare på utsidan.
Pelfrey är en sinkerballer, så för honom är viktigt att han inte lämnar den uppe över plattan.
Maholm brukade pitcha away, så för honom skulle kvällens ump kunna ställa problem, men iom den nya managern har han ändrat sin tillvägagång.
Citat:
Offseason talk with Hurdle benefits Maholm
By Jenifer Langosch / MLB.com
PITTSBURGH -- Perhaps, at the end of the season, Paul Maholm will point to one offseason conversation as a pivotal turning point in a rebound season.
Maholm's season can be characterized as such through eight starts, despite the won-loss record. He has another four and a half months to sustain what he's done early this season, but it's evident that the discussion he had with manager Clint Hurdle over the winter is paying early dividends.
Shortly after Hurdle was named the team's next manager, Maholm asked him to share the scouting report Hurdle gave his hitters before Maholm faced the Rangers last summer. Hurdle, who served as Texas' hitting coach in 2010, was frank.
He informed Maholm that he told his hitters to sit on the outer part of the plate and expect Maholm to pitch away. There was no need, Hurdle said, to worry about the left-hander coming inside with his pitches. With that knowledge, Maholm made it one of his biggest spring goals to alter that report.
"That just went to me pitching inside more," Maholm said. "I'm not just throwing one inside to go back away. This is the first time I've had a coach come in who was a hitting coach on another team. It's a good perspective to get."
Throwing inside more has paid off for Maholm so far. It's been an especially effective tool against right-handed hitters, and Maholm has shown a willingness to go inside with different pitches and in different counts.
"At this date and time, he has changed some reports," Hurdle said. "You've got to look at Paul a different way when you go to prepare for him offensively than you did the last few seasons."
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Mets
SS Reyes (S)
3B Turner (R)
RF Beltran (S)
CF Pagan (S)
LF Bay (R)
C Paulino (R)
1B Murphy (L)
2B Tejada (R)
P Pelfrey
Jag antar att switch hitters (S) slår som RHBs, i vilket fall kan Maholm dra ganska fina fördelar med tanke på umpen. Han kommer att få insidan mot righties, vilket gör att de måste försvara och svinga -> enkla, svaga hits. Om de sen flyttar ut lite, då får han stor yta på utsidan som de måste också försvara, vilket är klart svårare när man står ifrån plattan.
Jag tror att båda pitchers kan spela bra idag, liten lean under, men vettefan om jag vill sätta mig igenom den tortyren. Lite mer lean på Pitts, men inte bestämt spel.