4/13 Reds @ Padres

The finale of this 3 game series in San Diego is going to take place at 6:35PM, which is a very weird start time on a Wednesday especially considering they are playing in California. We have Travis Wood (1-1, 5.25) facing off vs Tim Stauffer (0-1, 5.06) at Petco Park.

First, let's start with Stauffer's matchup vs the Reds. Last start Stauffer went 4.2 IP vs the Giants at Petco and gave up 4 runs on 8 hits. Again, like many of the pitchers we've faced this year, there isn't much of a sample size of Stauffer vs the Reds. No one has more than 6 plate appearances vs him. You can see the stats here, and I'll talk about some tendencies here:

• BP is the only Reds player to have an RBI vs Stauffer and is 2-4.
• Votto and BP only players to have anything more than a single, both have doubles
• 2.54 ERA @ Petco Park.
• LHB .219 vs him with 55k in 37ip..3 homers.
• RHB .256 vs him with 53k in 45ip..8 homers. Obvious power advantage for RHB

Stauffer has pitched in relief, and is now a starter, so hopefully he is still getting used to it. Judging by his #s so far this year, I'd say he is having issues. He's only given up 1 homer in 10 innings this year, but has given up 17 hits.

Pick to Click: Stubbs

Now, onto Wood vs the Padres. Even a smaller sample size, but Venable does have a solo home run vs him. The stats are here.

• Wood has a start @Petco in his career and went 7 IP and gave up 3 runs.
• LHB bat .136 and has given up 2 hr in 19IP. 9 hits in 19IP
• RHB bat .240 and has given up 7 hr in 83 IP. 76 hits in 83IP

Even though he's given up more home runs vs righties, the ratio from hr to IP shows LHB have a slight advantage to hitting hr vs Wood. Not a big deal though, because I don't see any home runs being hit tomorrow @Petco Park. That will bring us to hits, and RHB nearly have a hit per inning, while LHB get one hit per 2 innings. Expect a lineup saturated with RHB tomorrow..maybe a Denorfia start over Venable? Cantu over Hawpe?

Pick to Click: Ludwick

Onto the stupid stuff:

-Check out Mike Leake's wart.

-Arizona State's new uniforms are sweet.

-GREAT article on Joey Votto from FanGraphs, a sweet website.

-Detroit reliever Brayan Villarreal pitched 0.1 of an inning without throwing a pitch, by coming in and picking off a runner at first.

-UC baseball defeats Xavier 6-5, just how it should be!

-Lowest crowd in Turner Field history for the Braves was last night, 13, 856.

-Devin Mesoraco hit a walk off home run in the second game of a double header for Louisville.

-Steve Blake has chicken pox. That's a new one for a professional athlete..not as bad as teammate Andrew Bynum's hyper-extended knee, though.

-Logan Ondrusek is now 7-0 in his career after last night's win.

-Brandon Phillips play was #8 in SC top 10.

Thanks for reading! Follow me on Twitter @EricLilly7