Rockies are a brand new team and I love what they did with their offense adding Scutoro who gets on base and Cuddyer who could have a huge year batting behind Carlos Gonzalez and Tulowitski. Tulo is an MVP type player and very consistent he's 3-10 with a HR vs. Wandy Rodriguez while the Rockies players have 89 AB a .360 average and 1.037 OPS vs. Wandy Rodriguez, Astros starter.
Flying under the radar though is Jeremy Guthrie and he is the reason I like this match up, more than the improved offense from Colorado. Guthrie used to pitching in the AL Central now faces off against the Astros who were 27th in OPS vs. RHP last year with a measly .665. Colorado has a .733 OPS vs. LHP. Houston also 22nd with a .695 OPS at home. Guthrie had a 2.53 ERA last April and actually enjoyed a better Spring than in years past. Wandy Rodriguez on the other hand had a rough Spring 7.29 ERA and a 1.95 WHIP. The Astros who got new ownership also have tons of young players now with the exception of Carlos Lee. I don't see how this team can be any better than last year. The bullpen was awful last year 29th with a 4.49 ERA and their starter today has 4 starts over the last 3 years and a 5.76 ERA vs. the Rockies. I see Colorado being back in the mix in the NL West and it starts by beating the weaker teams.
Oakland known for its huge ball park and foul ground territory. However, both teams really struggle to score runs. They opened up a week ago and now return from Japan to play in Oakland. Offensive ranks in OPS were awful in 2011 with SEattle 29th .645 vs. RHP, 30th .658 OPS on the road and they also posted a .601 OPS vs. the A's on the year while Oakland was not much better posting .651 OPS vs. LHP which they face tonight, .695 OPS at home good for 23rd and finally a .648 OPS vs. the Mariners.
Both starters already faced each other this year and to nobody's surprise it was a low scoring game in Japan, a hitters park. McCarthy had 4 starts vs. Seattle in 2011 and only allowed 22 base runners in 31.33 IP good for a 0.70 WHIP. Vargas was pretty good to with a 3.86 ERA vs. Oakland over 5 starts. Advantage McCarthy but I still like the Mariners offense more which is why I'm not betting on the A's as it's likely to be low scoring and tight throughout and my blood pressure can't handle that. Enjoy
