Dave,
Every capper does things differently I guess, but I could care less what a team does in general vs lefties/righties unless I don't have much info on them or there's not much to go with the particular pitcher.
I would much rather look at the "actual" lefty that we are talking about for a particular matchup rather than "any" lefty in general.
For example:
Johan Santana (MLB lefty).....A MLB team that doesn't hit lefties too well, might have problems vs this guy
John Sierra (mediocre High School lefty)....This same MLB team that will struggle vs someone such as Santana will most likely crush this guy even though they don't hit lefties too well overall.
If you're just looking at lefty/righty stuff and not going any deeper than that, you're going to run into a lot of buzzsaws during the season.
Not sure if you know this, but Cleveland hits lefties better than righties this year?? True.
Also, Maroth, in 34.1 innings vs the Tribe has given up 40 hits and 11 walks which means a lot of runners on base and big thing with Maroth is his home/away numbers. The guy has been aweful throughout his young career on the road:
47 starts: 13 wins 25 LOSSES and the biggest thing is his career ROAD ERA which is 5.72. That's nearly 2 runs higher than his career Home ERA. I know the guy's young, but a 5.72 career ERA in 47 road starts will rank towards the bottom of any category at the Major league level.
There's also a chance of rain and I would much rather have the Tribes pen over the Tigers pen if mother nature takes over and we see starters pulled early or just more pitchers. Tribe's pen's bullpen ERA is 2 full runs lower than the Tigers and at Home the Tribe's pen has been lights out with a 0.79 ERA.
GL
