Tonight's Matchup: Brewers (Gallardo) at Padres (Moseley)

The whirlwind trip continues late tonight with another 9:10 pm start, this time in San Diego.

When these two teams finally take the field tonight, Dustin Moseley (3.40 ERA, 3.97 FIP) will be on the mound for the Padres. He's only 29 but the Padres are already his third major league team: He pitched parts of four seasons with the Angels from 2006-09 and made 16 appearances (nine starts) for the Yankees in 2010. They allowed him to leave as a minor league free agent following the season.

Moseley got off to a good start as a Padre but has had a rough time lately. He's allowed 12 runs (11 earned) on 16 hits over his last nine innings, and both appearances were in games where the Padres were blown out. He strikes very few batters out (4.15 per nine), so he's heavily reliant on balls in play for outs. He'll throw a high 80's fastball but relies heavily on a cutter and curve, along with the occasional changeup. According to FanGraphs his fastball, cutter and curve have all been above average in 2011.

Moseley didn't face the Brewers when these two teams met last week, and in fact he's never pitched against them at all. Yuniesky Betancourt is the only Brewer who's faced him ten times or more: He's hitting .200/.273/.300 in 11 PAs. Mark Kotsay (3-for-5 with a walk and two doubles) is the only other Brewer that's faced Moseley at all.

He'll face off against Yovani Gallardo (4.88 ERA, 4.21 FIP), who has been something of an enigma this season. Gallardo was good but not great against the Pirates last time out, allowing two runs on five hits over six innings while walking three and striking out five. However, he needed 104 pitches to get through six innings in the game. His previous outing before that was excellent, but the five starts preceding that one were not very good.

Hopefully this is a positive sign: Gallardo has pitched quality starts or better in each of his last two outings. This is the only time in 2011 he's done that. The sixth inning has been his biggest challenge this seasonas he's allowing opposing batters to hit .423/.500/.615 in the frame. In a likely related note, batters have a .978 OPS when facing Gallardo for the third time, up from .736 the first time and .729 the second.

Gallardo didn't face the Padres when these two teams met last week, but started twice against them in 2010. On May 1 he was very good, allowing a run on six hits and striking out 11 over seven innings. On August 20 he was a disaster, allowing six runs and lasting just 3.1 innings. Two Padres have faced him ten times or more:

Via Adam McCalvy, here's tonight's lineup:

Rickie Weeks 2B
Corey Hart RF
Ryan Braun LF
Prince Fielder 1B
Casey McGehee 3B
Mark Kotsay CF
Yuniesky Betancourt SS
Jonathan Lucroy C
Yovani Gallardo P

And in the bullpen:

Sergio Mitre pitched 1.2 innings (22 pitches) last night.
Mike McClendon pitched 1 inning (13 pitches) last night.
Kameron Loe pitched one inning (9 pitches) Monday.
John Axford pitched one inning (14 pitches) Monday
Marco Estrada last pitched on Sunday.
LaTroy Hawkins hasn't pitched since Saturday.
Tim Dillard is just about done with that book he brought along on the plane from Nashville.

Weather:

As is usually the case, the weather should be a non-factor in San Diego tonight. Temperatures should be steady in the low 60's throughout the game and the chance of precipitation is minimal at best.