Javier Vazquez, the Braves' starter tonight, has been beating Dave Bush at his own game--underperforming his peripherals--for years. He's still playing that game this season, but his peripherals are so strong that his overall performance is still quite good. His strikeout rate has skyrocketed to 11 per nine innings, the best of his career, and he's also setting personal records in K/BB and home run rate. As a result, it's no surprise that his 2.53 FIP is also a career best.
The Brewers counter with...Jeff Suppan. Oh boy.
As promised, the lineup is again fortified with Vitamin G:
2B Craig Counsell
SS J.J. Hardy
LF Ryan Braun
1B Prince Fielder
CF Mike Cameron
3B Mat Gamel
RF Corey Hart
C Jason Kendall
RHP Jeff Suppan
The bullpen rest situation:
- Mike Burns pitched Tuesday for four innings (77 pitches).
- Trevor Hoffman threw 1 inning on Wednesday (17 pitches).
- Chris Smith pitched an inning on Wednesday in Nashville (17 pitches).
Seth McClung pitched 3.1 innings on Wednesday (48 pitches).
Todd Coffey pitched 1.1 innings on Thursday (14 pitches).
Mitch Stetter pitched 2/3 of an inning Thursday (10 pitches).
Carlos Villanueva pitched an inning last night (11 pitches).
Go Brewers!