Daily Notes for Sunday: Perez, Sabathia, Buehrle on 3-days rest
Weather permitting, Mike Mussina takes the mound Sunday for what may be his final shot at a 20-win season. With a win over the Blue Jays on Tuesday, the Yankees made sure to get him one final turn in the rotation, and fittingly he will have to earn it against the division rival Red Sox. Oliver Perez, CC Sabathia and Mark Buehrle are all scheduled to start on three days' rest as their respective teams do whatever it takes to clinch a playoff berth; the Phillies, on the other hand, have their ace, Cole Hamels, taking the mound on normal rest, but did throw 116 pitches in his last start. AL Cy Young favorite Cliff Lee attempts to pitch through a neck injury in search of win No. 23; the White Sox, though, would much prefer he can't make it and leave the Indians to resort to former No. 1 overall pick, and draft bust, Bryan Bullington.
| Time | Visitors | L/R | Record | ERA | WHIP | Home | L/R | Record | ERA | WHIP | |||
| 1:05 p.m. |  | James Shields | R | 14-8 | 3.57 | 1.16 | @ |  | Zach Miner | R | 8-5 | 4.26 | 1.42 |
| 1:10 p.m. |  | Scott Olsen | L | 8-11 | 4.23 | 1.33 | @ |  | Oliver Perez | L | 10-7 | 4.25 | 1.40 |
| 1:35 p.m. |  | Mike Mussina | R | 19-9 | 3.47 | 1.23 | @ |  | Tim Wakefield | R | 10-11 | 4.24 | 1.20 |
| 1:35 p.m. |  | Jesse Litsch | R | 12-9 | 3.67 | 1.26 | @ |  | Jeremy Guthrie | R | 10-11 | 3.57 | 1.22 |
| 1:35 p.m. |  | Odalis Perez | L | 7-11 | 4.27 | 1.46 | @ |  | Cole Hamels | L | 14-10 | 3.09 | 1.08 |
| 2:05 p.m. |  | Mike Hampton | L | 3-3 | 4.88 | 1.49 | @ |  | Wandy Rodriguez | L | 8-7 | 3.59 | 1.34 |
| 2:05 p.m. |  | Jason Marquis | R | 11-9 | 4.43 | 1.43 | @ |  | CC Sabathia | L | 16-10 | 2.80 | 1.14 |
| 2:05 p.m. |  | Cliff Lee | L | 22-3 | 2.54 | 1.11 | @ |  | Mark Buehrle | L | 14-12 | 3.87 | 1.33 |
| 2:10 p.m. |  | Brandon Duckworth | R | 3-2 | 5.06 | 1.59 | @ |  | Scott Baker | R | 10-4 | 3.59 | 1.20 |
| 2:15 p.m. |  | Adam Pettyjohn | L | 0-0 | 4.50 | 2.00 | @ |  | Kyle Lohse | R | 15-6 | 3.78 | 1.30 |
| 3:35 p.m. |  | Kevin Millwood | R | 9-9 | 5.03 | 1.59 | @ |  | Joe Saunders | L | 16-7 | 3.52 | 1.24 |
| 4:05 p.m. |  | Hiroki Kuroda | R | 9-10 | 3.84 | 1.24 | @ |  | Tim Lincecum | R | 17-5 | 2.66 | 1.18 |
| 4:05 p.m. |  | Ross Ohlendorf | R | 0-3 | 7.50 | 2.17 | @ |  | Cha Seung Baek | R | 6-10 | 4.87 | 1.34 |
| 4:10 p.m. |  | Ubaldo Jimenez | R | 12-12 | 4.13 | 1.45 | @ |  | Randy Johnson | L | 10-10 | 4.11 | 1.29 |
| 4:10 p.m. |  | Josh Outman | L | 1-1 | 4.58 | 1.68 | @ |  | R.A. Dickey | R | 4-8 | 5.23 | 1.58 |
All times are ET.
Out
Chris Dickerson, OF, Reds (heel)
Scott Downs, RP, Blue Jays (ankle)
Yunel Escobar, 2B/3B/SS, Braves (hamstring)
Hideki Matsui, OF, Yankees (knee)
Melvin Mora, 3B, Orioles (hamstring)
Brandon Moss, OF, Pirates (knee)
Willy Taveras, OF, Rockies (leg)
Day-to-day
Alberto Callaspo, 2B/3B, Royals (quadriceps)
David DeJesus, OF, Royals (hip)
Mark DeRosa, 2B/3B/OF, Cubs (calf)
Cristian Guzman, SS, Nationals (flu)
Chipper Jones, 3B, Braves (shoulder)
Cliff Lee, SP, Indians (neck)
Mike Lowell, 3B, Red Sox (hip)
Yadier Molina, C, Cardinals (quadriceps)
Nyjer Morgan, OF, Pirates (hamstring)
Placido Polanco, 2B, Tigers (ankle)
Ryan Zimmerman, 3B, Nationals (flu)
Hitters: Curtis Granderson is hitting just .213 this month with 25 strikeouts, and he has just one hit in 11 career at-bats against James Shields. … With six hits -- three of them home runs -- in his past 15 at-bats, Josh Willingham is ending the season on a strong note and needs to be in your lineup, no matter who the Mets toss out to pitch on Sunday. … Carlos Delgado shouldn't be in your lineup with the left-handed Scott Olsen on the mound. Olsen has owned Delgado for his career, allowing just six hits in 26 at-bats (.231), including 1-for-8 (albeit that hit was a home run) this season, and Delgado has never been particularly adept against southpaws. … For the Yankees, it seems Jason Giambi (.167 average in 90 at-bats) has significant trouble against Tim Wakefield's knuckleball, although Johnny Damon (.382 in 60) and Robinson Cano (.343 in 35) tattoo him. Bobby Abreu hits .321 off of Wakefield in 28 career at-bats, but that comes with no power attached; zero home runs and a .393 slugging percentage. … It seems like Mike Mussina should do well in his bid for 20 wins, as the Red Sox hit just .259 off him as a team. Mike Lowell (11-for-22, three home runs) and Dustin Pedroia (9-for-19) are the only hitters who have his number. … Pat Burrell is a woeful 4-for-23 (.174) against Odalis Perez with eight strikeouts, alarming considering Perez isn't much of a strikeout pitcher. … Brad Hawpe is much-improved against southpaws, actually hitting six points better than he does against right-handers, but Randy Johnson isn't just any southpaw; he's held lefty hitters to a .592 OPS. Hawpe is also 0-for-6 lifetime against The Big Unit.
Pitchers: It would be prudent to bench Shields on Sunday, for he faces one of the best offenses in the AL; the Tigers' .810 team OPS this month ranks second in the league. Shields has also been appreciably worse when pitching on the road, allowing 15 home runs in 92 1/3 innings en route to a 4.87 ERA. … Don't think about starting Olsen against the Mets, as he's been rocked for 17 runs in 22 innings in four previous starts. His numbers are also atrocious away from Dolphins Stadium, with his strikeout rate plummeting (31 K's in 82 2/3 innings) as the home runs shoot up (1.86 HR/9). … Oliver Perez is normally inconsistent, but he loves pitching against the Marlins: he has a 2.03 ERA and 1.13 WHIP in five starts. The matchup makes sense, too, as the Marlins don't hit lefties well at all (.707 OPS, 26th in the majors), and they have struck out more than any other team in the majors. Pitching on three days' rest, Perez may not go deep into the game, but the strikeouts will be there. … The Cubs have been the one team CC Sabathia hasn't owned since joining the NL, as he's been mediocre in both of his starts against the club. There's good reason -- the Cubs' offense is by far the best in the National League -- and you can't expect that result to differ much when Sabathia makes his third (!) consecutive start on three days' rest. … Similar words of caution apply to Cliff Lee, who likely won't be his usual dominating self even if he can gut it out Sunday with a stiff neck. In fact, it's been a while since Lee has been himself, allowing 14 runs (12 earned), 30 hits and four home runs in his past three starts. Facing a quality offense in the White Sox, Lee makes an extremely risky start. … Mark Buehrle has allowed five-plus runs in a start eight times, and two have occurred against the Indians, which is especially notable because those occurred in the beginning of the season (March 31st and May 27th, to be exact) when the Indians weren't nearly as productive offensively as they are now. That makes Buehrle a bigger risk than maybe you'd like at this time of the season, but at least he's pitching at home, where he's shut down several high-quality offenses (the Red Sox, Rangers and Cubs). … I would take Kyle Lohse as an option, for example, over Sabathia, Lee or Buehrle simply because of his extremely favorable matchup against the Reds, especially now that one of the few remaining productive bats, Chris Dickerson, is out.
Hitters: Mark Loretta has a career .364 average in 44 at-bats against Mike Hampton. … Jason Marquis is one of the few right-handers Bill Hall doesn't have trouble hitting against, as he's 7-for-17 (.412) with a home run against him. Though Sean Marshall could replace Marquis for this start. Craig Counsell hits Marquis hard as well, but went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts against Marquis earlier in the month, so Hall should get the start over him this time around.
Pitchers: Instead of shutting him down for the season with his shoulder troubles, the Orioles have opted to throw Jeremy Guthrie out on the mound for one final start. It will be almost exactly a month since his last start on August 29, and considering he walked 12 batters and gave up four home runs in his three starts prior to landing on the disabled list, it seems quite risky to start him versus the Blue Jays, no matter how desperate you may be. … Although Jesse Litsch's road ERA (4.57) is much higher than his mark at home (2.77), he's conquered some quality teams (the Tigers, Rays, White Sox and Red Sox) pitching on the road since being recalled from Triple-A on August 14. Overall, he has a sparkling 2.00 ERA since being recalled, in fact, so he should do much better against the Orioles in Camden Yards than he did the first time around (six runs in 4 2/3 innings). … With Chipper Jones limited to pinch-hitting duty, the Braves are a great team to spot start against. In Wandy Rodriguez's case, it helps that he's actually a pretty decent pitcher. Rodriguez is great at home, with a 3.03 ERA and 1.25 WHIP there this season (a trend that goes back to last season as well), and he didn't miss a beat in his return from an oblique strain Wednesday, striking out seven Reds and allowing two runs (both unearned) in five innings. … Hiroki Kuroda hasn't had much success against the Giants -- a 6.32 ERA and 1.79 WHIP in three starts -- but his numbers, upon closer examination, don't really look too bad. He has 11 strikeouts, three walks and just two extra base-hits allowed, both doubles; it's been a death by singles (23 of them), which could be just bad luck on balls in play. I wouldn't be afraid to start Kuroda versus the Giants just yet, and with availability in nearly two-thirds of leagues, he may be on a waiver wire near you.
The chances for rain decrease slightly on Sunday in the northeast, but it's still not promising. Boston (Yankees-Red Sox) and New York (Marlins-Mets) both have a 50 percent chance of rain, with rain becoming increasingly certain in Boston into the evening. The Nationals-Phillies game has a better shot of seeing completion, with a 30-40 percent chance of storms, and the same can be said in Baltimore (Blue Jays-Orioles). It seems unlikely MLB could squeeze in doubleheaders without playing the games in increasingly inclement conditions, so cross your fingers and hope that Saturday goes well, or we could see a schedule crunch beginning Monday. Fortunately, there are five weatherproof games, with the Astros, Brewers, Twins, Diamondbacks and Mariners all playing in their domes.
Adam Madison is a fantasy baseball analyst for ESPN.com
