Hi everyone. Tom had an off-topic thread earlier today about what folks have been listening to. Among other things (I've been enjoying the most recent Cursive record, and also the George Harrison early takes with some demos from the Living in the Material World Documentary and am really enjoying the songs freed from all of the production) I've been listening lately to a lot of the Long Winters, so I thought I'd title today's post after a line from one of my favorite John Roderick songs, the utterly heartbreaking "The Commander Thinks Aloud."
The air has seemed a bit charged for the first two games of this series. The Jays' pitching has been electric and has really left the Angels high-priced offense befuddled. Kyle Drabek will try to continue that today.
Drabek has been throwing more changeups this season and so far the results have been good. He's inducing more grounders and also getting more swings and misses. On the other hand, he's been extremely lucky in stranding 90% of baserunners. Because that is sure to regress, Kyle will have to do a lot better at controlling the zone, limiting free passes (4.5 BB/9), and avoiding mistakes. Well, no time like the present to start, right?
C.J. Wilson, who has been earning his big free agent salary so far this year, takes the hill for the Orange County-enos. Wilson was awfully successful in a very tough environment for pitchers in Texas, so it's no surprise that he's transitioned well to Anaheim. He does all the things good pitchers are supposed to do: keeps the ball on the ground, gets plenty of strikeouts, limits the walks, and is extremely stingy with the long ball. He mixes a fastball, cutter, change, curveball, and slider all very effectively.
Lineups after the jump:
Blue Jays: | Angels: |
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