There are only 10 games left after this one. We should try to enjoy them.
Pitching info, lineups and more after the jump....
Don't forget to look at the Marlins series preview before watching or listening to tonight's game. For all the Marlins carry an air of being snakebit to me (to misuse a bunch of metaphors there) it's probably because I have dejected Marlins fans as friends. I think they're not as excited about Mike Stanton as I and most other people who don't avidly watch that club are but with the way the injuries have gone this year I'm not really blaming them. They changed managers but Edwin Rodriguez doesn't appear to have been that jolt the team needed. Also, the pitching collapsed repeatedly to the point where Clay Hensley, an NRI going into spring training, is now arguably their best reliever. (Not knocking on Hensley, who is finally living up to his potential; it's more pointing out that he was not in their MLB plans at all coming into 2010.)
Today's pitching matchup features Anibal Sanchez vs. Yovani Gallardo. Sanchez hasn't pitched against the Brewers this season. In his last start against the Brewers in June 2009, he was lifted after 3 innings due to injury. What we'll see out of Sanchez is a good percentage of fastballs and some sliders, with some potential of changeups and curveballs. Over his career he's been slightly more prone to give up ground balls than fly balls, but it's not a particularly marked difference.
Gallardo last frolicked with Fish on June 2, where he gave up 2 runs on 4 hits and 4 walks in 7 innings. He's only had 6 outings this year with fewer than 5 strikeouts and 3 of those were less than 4 innings. One of the long ones, unfortunately, was his start against the Marlins. From looking at the small sample, St. Louis and Florida aren't swinging ineffectively at what he's throwing in 2010.
Bullpen usage tracking, today brought to you by Daily Baseball Data, because I am lazy and sneaking time in from setting up a garage sale in order to write this game thread:
Brandon Kintzler pitched 1 inning (10 pitches) last night.
Jeremy Jeffress pitched 1 inning (14 pitches) last night.
Zach Braddock pitched 1 inning (15 pitches) last night.
Manny Parra pitched 1 inning (15 pitches) Tuesday.
Mike McClendon pitched 2 innings (22 pitches) Tuesday.
Todd Coffey pitched 0.2 innings (11 pitches) Tuesday.
Kameron Loe pitched 2 innings (25 pitches) Monday.
John Axford pitched 1 inning (21 pitches) Saturday.
Both Carlos Villanueva and Trevor Hoffman have not pitched in the last 7 days.