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Baseball Press presents "The 606", a look into the three most intriguing pitching matchups of the day, with a final prediction of the winning pitcher. You may be asking yourself "What exactly does The 606 mean? There's no major league baseball for that area code- it's in Eastern Kentucky!" BBP isn't listing players from Eastern Kentucky either. The 606 is short for 60 feet and 6 inches. If you still don't understand, I direct your attention to Official Rule 1.07 from Major League Baseball, referring to the distance from the pitching mound to home plate. Now that we've got that squared away, let's take a look at some pitching matchups for Saturday, May 15th.

The 606 had a rough Friday, with our premiere matchup between major league ERA leaders Ubaldo Jimenez and Livan Hernandez rained out, and Rich Harden posting by far his worst start of the year (though he scraped out a no decision).  Wade Davis was adequate in taking a loss, but all-in-all it was not a good one for us.

Today's 606 features a nice veteran/youngster pairing of aces in the bay area, along with a matchup of NL Central hurlers off to strong starts and an interesting game between some American League lefthanders in Motown.

Yesterday's Results:

Wash: Ubaldo Jimenez
Loss: Wade Davis (6 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, 1.60 WHIP)
No Decision: Rich Harden (2.2 IP, 4 H, 7 ER, 6 BB, 3 K, 3.75 WHIP)

The 606 Season-to-Date Record (W-L-ND): 47-39-30, 3.71 ERA (292 ER in 707.2 IP)


RHP Roy Oswalt- HOU (2-4, 2.63 ERA) vs. RHP Tim Lincecum - SF (4-0, 1.86 ERA)
It's the wily veteran versus the young upstart in San Francisco on Saturday, but don't let Roy Oswalt hear me imply he's getting on in years.  The 32 year-old righthander has three all-star appearances, five top-5 Cy Young voting finishes, and a pair of 20 win seasons to his credit, and after a disappointing 2009 campaign appears ready to put up another good season.  Houston isn't looking like much of a competitor this year, but Oswalt's 2.63 ERA and 1.10 WHIP is much better than his 2-4 record, and with 45 strikeouts in 48 innings, he's clearly been getting the best of hitters this year.  He faced off against Lincecum and the Giants on opening day in Houston and took the loss after pitching 6 innings and allowing 3 earned runs (7 hits, 2 walks, 3 strikeouts).  His career mark against San Francisco is 5-6 with a 3.76 ERA and 1.36 WHIP in 14 starts, and he'll look to even that record this weekend.  One man standing in his way will be super-utility man Mark DeRosa (if he plays - injured wrist), who has struggled in 2010 but is 13 for 19 (.448 average) with 5 doubles, a home run, and 4 RBI lifetime against Oswalt.

Tim Lincecum is still undefeated here in 2010, though he hasn't notched a win since April 23rd (a span of 3 starts).  He's been his usual dominant self though, posting a 2.95 ERA and 32 strikeouts in 21.1 innings during those no decisions, including a 13 strikeout performance on May 4th against the Marlins.  There's not much to say about the ace righthander that hasn't already been said, but he's likely hungry for that 5th win by now, so the lowly Astros could be in for a big game from Tiny Tim.  Lincecum notched his first win back on April 5th by hurling 7 scoreless innings against Houston, and in his career he's 3-0 with a miniscule 1.37 ERA and 0.74 WHIP against them in 6 starts (39.1 innings, 47 strikeouts), so he's no stranger to success against the 'Stros.

Final Prediction: Tim Linceum


RHP Adam Wainwright - STL (5-1, 2.08 ERA) vs. RHP Mike Leake - CIN (3-0, 3.10 ERA)
Adam Wainwright notched the first of his 5 wins this season with an impressive 7 inning victory over the Reds on April 7th, and the Georgia native has shown no signs of slowing down from his fantastic 2009 campaign.  In 36.1 career innings against the Reds (5 starts) Wainwright is 2-2 with a 4.46 ERA and 1.35 WHIP, but many of those innings came prior to the last couple of seasons, when he has established himself as one of the premiere pitchers in the National League.  He'll look to get win number 6 on Saturday.

When rookie Mike Leake completely bypassed the minor leagues and made his professional debut with the Reds this season, many questioned whether he'd be able to cut it right away.  He allowed just 1 run in his first start, but walked 7 in 6.1 innings, leading doubters to assume he'd have command issues throughout the year.  However, Leake has walked just 5 batters in his last 4 starts (27 innings) and has won 3 of those games, and he has the look of a pitcher ready to make his mark on the league.  A 4-0 start would definitely get him in the conversation for NL Rookie of the Year, so he'll definitely be an interesting one to watch this weekend and the rest of the season.

Final Prediction: Adam Wainwright


LHP Jon Lester - BOS (3-2, 3.71 ERA) vs. LHP Dontrelle Willis - DET (1-1, 3.99 ERA)
Boston's Jon Lester entered 2010 as many prognosticators' favorite for the AL Cy Young, and the struggles of his first few starts had many doubting how the 26 year-old lefty would handle all the expectations.  However, Lester has been fantastic lately, winning his last 3 starts and allowing just 3 runs in 22 innings during that time, with 23 strikeouts as well.  He has just one career start against the Tigers (a loss, back in 2008), so it will be interesting to see if he can continue his hot streak.  He will need to be wary of a familiar foe, however, as Detroit outfielder Johnny Damon is 7 for 24 (.292 average) lifetime against Lester, with 2 home runs and 5 RBI.

The Dontrelle Willis experiment marches on in Detroit, and the former NL Rookie of the Year and 2005 NL Cy Young runner-up with the funky pitching delivery has shown flashes of some of his old brilliance on the mound.  Willis has allowed just 3 earned runs in his last 2 starts (both against the Twins) and has struck out 12 batters in 11.1 innings in that span.  He'll need to be sharp on Saturday to beat the Red Sox and their potent lineup, but if he can continue to channel even some of his former glory moving forward, it could be a season of redemption and success for the former All-Star.

Final Prediction: Jon Lester