Analysis: The Tigers don't get a DH here so that take V-Mart out of the equation. Up and down that order, Cabrerra and Kinsler have carried the team, so, pitch around them! Perhaps my biggest thing here is Anibal Sanchez. The Pirates have hit him very well (he was in the NL for many years) and over the last three years is 0-3 with a 4.79 ERA against Pittsburgh, and at PNC Park his two starts were actually worse than that. Cole had a rough one in his first start - but I've got to go with what we know, and that's that Pittsburgh at home last season was 9-2 in Cole's starts, and his WHIP at home was 1.10, which is excellent. I'll look a little a the opposition. Sanchez pitched super-well - against the Twins, and the Tigers have beaten the tar out of Minnesota and Cleveland, who is just not hitting and struggled in Houston. The Pirates played at the Reds and at the Brewers, two teams that can hit, and this is their home opener (again, that doesn't really mean a lot, but it's certainly better than playing on the road). The Pirates bats woke up Sunday against Milwaukee, as they scored runs late, but more importantly to me is the fact that they were 7-11 with runners in scoring positions and got contributions from more than McCutcheon. Even in Sanchez's shutout of the Twins, he gave up 12 flyball outs (to 5 ground ball outs) and IMO if he does that against a team that can hit, on the road, the Tigers suffer their first loss. The Pirates at home last season we 51-31, and hit about .30 points higher at home. They had FAR more jacks on the road because PNC is a pitchers' park, and right now, IMO, the Pirates MIGHT be more capable of stringing hits together to score than the Tigers long balls. We'll see what happens.
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