Pitching Matchups; Game of the Day 5/4/11

11:05am
New Hampshire Fisher Cats (B.J. LaMura 1-1, 1.80)
vs. Reading Phillies (Mike Cisco 3-0, 1.96)

6:35pm
Richmond Flying Squirrels (Clayton Tanner 0-3, 6.75)
vs. New Britain Rock Cats (Steve Hirschfeld 1-0, 2.05)

7:05pm
Portland Sea Dogs (Stolmy Pimentel 0-3, 6.75)
vs. Trenton Thunder (Dellin Betances (0-1, 1.13)

Game of the Day – Fisher Cats vs. RPhils – The PawSox are off which allows us to focus solely on the Eastern League and there may be no better matchup than the early morning Fisher Cats vs. RPhils affair. Back again in the GotD after a 5-0 shutout last night, the Cats are now one game back of Reading for first place, with two back-to-back 11:00am games in store to close out this four game series. Call it revenge from when Reading came into NeDDS and swept a three game set in early April. The reliable B.J. LaMura hits the mound for his fifth start of the season. His only win came back on April 9th against Trenton, so he should be certainly hungry for another by now. LaMura has struck out 24 batters in 20 innings of work and opponents are hitting .186 against him. Reading sends Mike Cisco to the hill for his first start of the season. Cisco has picked up 3 wins in five relief appearances and has held opponents to a .172 batting average. Despite the bullpen work from Cisco this season, he is a season starter in his career with only 11 past appearances, out of 58 games pitched, coming in relief prior to the 2011 campaign. The wake up calls will come early for both teams tomorrow, so it’s all a matter of who has more morning people on their squad, as the Fisher Cats look to return to first place with a win.

Side note prediction (2-2) – Doubront didn’t get a “W” yesterday, as the PawSox were the only local team to lose, thus putting an “L” in my record as well! Today’s prediction; Trenton pitcher Dellin Betances will strike out 8 or more Sea Dogs…sorry, but he is GOOOOOOOD! However, we are still rooting for Stolmy’s first “W” of the year, of course.

Feel free to play along at home and post your own daily predictions below.