Baseball Weekend Preview

How many RBI await Chris Davis this weekend?

The second weekend of the baseball season. Stats are still premature, a few household names have still failed to leave the yard even once, and a few of baseball’s better teams aren’t firing on all cylinders. I also can’t wait to see 42 the movie and review it. Here’s a rundown of the best match-ups of the weekend:

1) Atlanta Braves (8-1) at Washington Nationals (7-2)
Who remembers back in the early 90’s when the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants went at it all summer long and into the fall? That was quite a rivalry. The 1991 Dodgers won 93 games, but sorry; that wasn’t good enough for anything but an early seat on the couch for the off-season. That’s kind of how I feel about this rivalry, and it starts this weekend in Washington. Two upper echelon teams, yet only one can be called division champion. The Braves are off to a scorching start in part to a soft schedule (Cubs, Marlins) and Justin Upton has six home runs already. The Nationals haven’t even scratched the surface yet and they’re still hanging tough to start the year. This is a series a lot of eyes around baseball has circled and will be paying attention to.

2) Baltimore Orioles (5-4) at New York Yankees (4-4)
One of these teams is going to finish third or fourth. The other is probably at best a second place team. The once mighty Yankees are a shell of their former self. Can they tread water until they get back Jeter, Tex, and right the ship with the pitching staff? Chris Davis continues his assault of Hack Wilson’s RBI record. We’re kidding, he’s Chris Davis. It’s a nice start but Chris Shelton and Tuffy Rhodes say hello.

3) Detroit Tigers (5-4) at Oakland Athletics (7-2)
How the Hell are the A’s so good? They’re filled with role players, piece fittings, and sums of parts. Their pitching staff is getting it done, Jed Lowrie is hitting over .400 in the middle of the lineup, and Coco friggin’ Crisp has four home runs already. The Tigers have a nasty team that has the firepower to go all the way. It will be interesting to see how their bazookas match up with the A’s BB guns.

4) Tampa Bay Rays (4-5) at Boston Red Sox (5-4)
The Red Sox aren’t quite as horrible as everyone thought. The Rays have been victimized by some terrible calls. It should be a good battle, and the winner of the series should emerge in the early pole-position of the AL East.

5) Cincinnati Reds (5-4) at Pittsburgh Pirates (3-6)
I think the Pirates are going to find their way to .500 this season yet. If that’s going to be reality, they really shouldn’t drop this series to the Reds. The Buccos always seem to save their most ornery tricks for when the Reds visit, and Andrew McCutchen eats the Reds alive. Starling Marte is proving to be a poor man’s Clemente. Okay, a very poor man’s Clemente. But the guy can play.

Pitching Match-ups to DVR

Friday:
Yu Darvish vs. Hisashi Iwakuma
Max Scherzer vs. Bartolo Colon

Saturday:
Justin Verlander vs. Brett Anderson
RA Dickey vs. James Shields
Yovani Gallardo vs. Adam Wainwright
Tim Hudson vs. Stephen Strasburg

Sunday:
Mat Latos vs. Wandy Rodriguez

Video of the Week:

Here’s Mike Schmidt’s 500th home run. As a kid, I loved Mike Schmidt. My mom told me that her best friend ‘went to school with him’. To me, this meant that they shared close conversations and were friends, maybe even traded chocolate milk for a slice of lunch room pizza.

It actually meant that they both went to Ohio University, and I would come to find out that she didn’t even know Mike Schmidt.