Let's not kid ourselves, we don't exactly have a lot of statistical data to work with on Mike Hampton, so the preview for Hampton becomes a little bit more difficult, though he did face St. Louis once last season, going 5IP and giving up 4ER with 4BB. That said, Cardinals hitters probably ought to be looking for the first pitch, as batters went 18x40 (.450) off of Hampton when swinging freely in 2008.
As the Cardinals' feature their fair share (and Houston's) of youngsters, many of the current roster have limited ABs against SP4. The only Card with more than 12 ABs against Hampton is Albert Pujols (of freaking course):
Pujols vs Hampton:
7x21, .333/.364/.762, (three doubles and two homers), 1K/1BB
Khalil Greene is 3x7 against Hampton with 1HR, 1K/1BB.
Joel Pineiro
Good thing the Astros hit Pineiro well. Career versus the Astros, Pineiro has given up an offensive line of .308/.346/.459, though he hasn't pitched against the Astros since 9/27/07. Pineiro is a flyball pitcher who gave up a BAA of .301 last year, his highest since 2006. The Astros better start ready, too - Pineiro's first 15 pitches result in a .312 BAA. He might settle down a bit from 16-30 (.257), but then the jitters come back from 31-46 (.343). Of course, that was last year...
April: 2-2, 3.75 ERA / 1.21 WHIP, 9K/6BB
Home: 3-1, 4.05 ERA / 1.31 WHIP, 25K/11BB
vs. Houston: n/a (in 2008)
Pudge: 6x14, .429/.467/.500, 4K/1BB
Lee: 9x23, .391/.417/.783, 5K/1BB
Berkman: 4x11, .364/.417/1.000, 2K/1BB, 2HR
Tejada: 12x34, .353/.405/.412, 5K/2BB
Pence: 2x6, .333/.333/.333, 2K/0BB
Blum: 3x14, .214/.214/.286, 1K/0BB
Matsui: 0x1
It will be interesting to see the lineup Coop throws at Pineiro. Since Blum will (most likely) start, does that push Pudge back to #2, or does Pudge stay #7, and Bourn moves to #2?
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
