Perhaps the weirdest aspect of Jeff Karstens’ phenomenal first half is that he’s having a great deal of success despite allowing 14 homers (it translates to a 1.5 HR/9 rate) thus far. The reason that he’s escaped damage is that of those 14 homers, 13 have been solo shots. The ball’s been hopping off of bats thus far in Toronto and that has me a bit worried about Karstens tonight. Can his good home run luck continue? I hope it does.
The Blue Jays counter with Brett Cecil tonight, who’s been terrible thus far in an abbreviated 2011 (he’s only made four starts and pitched 21 innings). He’s having control problems and homer problems and hasn’t allowed fewer than three earned runs in any of his four starts yet this year. Because he’s a lefty, though, the Pirates are starting a ridiculously punchless lineup that features Matt Diaz hitting fourth and Ronny Cedeno hitting sixth. Neil Walker, who can’t hit lefties to save his life this year, is on the bench with Josh Harrison at second base and hitting eighth. This is seriously more or less Andrew McCutchen and a Triple-A lineup tonight.
First pitch tonight is at 7:07. The Pirates are three games behind the Brewers. It’s the last day of June, and the Pirates have a meaningful game tonight.
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