Eye on the Ball

"Eye on the Ball" is our preview of the upcoming day in baseball. Every day we will select the "game of the day" and preview it for you, talk about why it is intriguing, who we predict will win, and why that team will win. Enjoy!

Toronto Blue Jays (Shaun Marcum 5-3, 3.38) @ San Diego Padres (Jon Garland 6-4, 2.81)

Interleague play always poses some interesting matchups that we are not used to seeing. For the Toronto Blue Jays, interleague play is actually some sort of break, a few weeks of not having to think about the daunting American League East would be a relief for any team. This matchup is particularly intriguing because, for starters there are only four games going on today so there weren't too many to choose from. Also the two different styles of play with the swing-happy Jays and the suprising rotation of the San Diego Padres.

This is one of those something's gotta give type of matchup. Either the great arms of the Padres will silence the Blue Jays' bats who lead the major leagues in homeruns by fifteen, or the Jays' bats will dissect the Padres pitching who lead the majors with an unreal 2.97 ERA.

Interleague play usually is a more pitcher-friendly idea than a hitter friendly idea. During interleague play, batters are facing pitchers that a lot of them have never seen before. They don't know the pitcher's tendencies and therefore may not succeed as much as they normally would against pitchers they are comfortable with. For this reason, I believe that starting pitching will be especially important in this game.

Jon Garland has had nothing short of a stellar year. Garland is coming off of consecutive losses to the Mets and Phillies, allowing 3 and 6 earned runs respectively. Those starts however were both on the road where Garland has posted a not so respectable 4.39 ERA this year. What makes Garland so likable in this start is that he is pitching at home. His ERA at home of 1.15 is better than Roy Halladay (2.35) and Ubaldo Jimenez (1.85). That is really saying something considering the years that Halladay and Jimenez are having.

Shaun Marcum has had a very pleasant season for Toronto, however he is coming off of his worst pitching performance of the season. On wednesday against Tampa Bay, Marcum had a horrific pitching line of 10 hits, 1 walk, 7 earned on only 4.0 innings pitched to raise his ERA 61 points. Marcum has now allowed double digit hits in consecutive games and hasn't thrown a quality start since may. I don't think there is any way that his pitching slump won't be in his mind but he is definitely facing the right team if he wants to get out of it. The Padres are 26th in the majors when it comes to runs scored, only averaging 4.12 runs per game and are also 26th in home runs, over fifty behind Toronto.

Prediction: San Diego Padres

Why?: Jon Garland. Anytime you say that a pitcher has any stat better than Halladay and Jimenez, you can't pick against them. That daunting home ERA of Jon Garland speaks for itself and I'm not going to be the one to pick against it. I like him to silence the prolific Jays' bats and I like the Padres to win 3-0 with Heath Bell picking up his 21st save.