MySports Today

John Smoltz and Brad Penny are shining in their new homes outside of the bright lights of Fenway Park in Boston.

In 3 starts with the Cardinals, Smoltz is 1-1 with a 2.65 ERA and miniscule 0.82 WHIP.  He suffered his 1st loss on Thursday when he gave up 4 ER on 6 hits over 6 innings.  In his previous 2 starts (both Cardinals wins), Smoltz gave up just 1 ER on 7 hits over 11 innings pitched.  He also struck out a combined 15 batters in those 2 games against the lowly Padres and Nationals.  The Cardinals have all but locked up the NL Central division, and Smoltz will be a welcome arm for the Cardinals in the post-season.  It will be interesting to see if Manager Tony LaRussa goes with Smoltz as a #3 (ahead of 14-gaem winner Joel Pineiro) or as a #4 in October.

In his 1st start with the Giants, Brad Penny earned the win with 8 scoreless innings against the Phillies, giving up just 5 hits and 1 walk.  Penny pounded the strike zone throughout the game, needing just 103 pitches to go the 8 innings.  As a point of reference, Penny pitched into the 7th inning only 2 times in 24 starts for the Red Sox in 2009 (7-8 record, 5.61 ERA & 1.53 WHIP).  The Giants are looking for Penny to serve as the team’s #4 behind Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain and Barry Zito.  With more starts like that, the Giants could have one of the deepest starting pitching staffs for the post-season if they can overcome the Rockies for the NL Wild Card lead.

We’ll see if it holds up for the remainder of the season, but these guys are veteran major league pitchers and with prior success for each in the National League, it’s not surprising that both are thriving back in the light-hitting NL.

The Yankees and Red Sox will resume their bitter rivalry with a 3-game weekend series at Fenway Park this weekend.  After the Red Sox won the 1st 8 games of the series in 2009 – with sweeps in April, May and June – the Red Sox sent the reeling Red Sox to a 6th consecutive loss just 12 days ago when the Yankees swept the Red Sox in a 4-game weekend set at the New Yankee Stadium in the Bronx.  The Yankees outscored the Red Sox 25-8 in the series, as only 1 of the games – a 15-inning 2-0 marathon on Friday night – was really close.  That sweep pushed the Red Sox back further in the race for the AL East, and the Yankees still have a commanding 6 1/2 games lead for the division title.

The pitching match-ups favor the Yankees right now.  Brad Penny v. Andy Petitte on Friday night; A.J. Burnett v. Junichi Tazawa on Saturday afternoon with the FOX game of the week; and CC Sabathia v. Josh Beckett on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball.  With those match-ups, you gotta think the Yankees will win at least 2 of the games, but I guess anything is possible.  If the Red Sox don’t get off to a good start on Friday night, it could be a long weekend for Red Sox Nation in Boston…