Today
Today starts the division series vs. the Astros. I’m feeling excited about it and pretty good. To everyone fretting about the Astros pitching, let me remind you that we’ve got a pretty good Big Three as well. Hudson, Smoltz, and Sosa is an extremely formidable rotation to go into a division series with. And, to those who scoff at lining up Sosa and Oswalt and still calling the starting pitching a wash (see comments here), let me remind you of Sosa’s 2.55 ERA vs. Oswalt’s 2.94.
Damn you Daniel, I was just about to post something similar having got my tickets today with a notice for residents of Atlanta to get out and support your home team, good tickets are still available going for as low as $10 and $11
No excuses now!
I think the starting pitching is in Houston’s favor, even if barely. Clemens and Pettitte top the ERA charts.. and Oswalt and Sosa do look similar on the whole, but Oswalt pitches deeper into games and strikes out another batter per 9 than Sosa. Plus his career has more consistency. Sosa’s been great this (1/2) year, but big games.. we’ll see. Should be a good series!
The rest of the story:
Season Stats
OSWALT SOSA
G 35 44
IP 241.2 134.0
H 243 122
R 85 42
HR 18 12
BB 48 64
SO 184 85
W 20 13
L 12 3
P/GS 102.9 85.1
WHIP 1.20 1.39
BAA .262 .241
ERA 2.94 2.55
CAREER
OSWALT SOSA
G 155 147
IP 980.2 461.1
H 933 447
R 367 243
HR 80 59
BB 225 232
SO 850 299
W 83 24
L 39 29
P/GS 99.1 89.9
WHIP 1.18 1.47
BAA .252 .254
ERA 3.07 4.41
Oswalt was a 20 game winner this year, sports an 83-39 career record, and has postseason experience. Sosa was a 13 game winner, sports a career 24-29 record, and has no postseason experience. Now, you can quibble about the .4 run difference in their ERAs, but ERA isn’t everything. Sosa’s 1.39 WHIP doesn’t even squeeze him under the league average, while Sosa’s 1.20 is well under.
Really, Sosa can give the Braves a chance to win, but if somebody offered two swap the two, could you really say no? Of course not.