MLB 07 - Game 6

Sunday, April 8 Rangers Ballpark in Arlington 8:05 PM ET

C. Schilling, RHP (0-1, 11.25) Red Sox (2-3) @ V. Padilla, RHP (0-1, 11.57) Rangers (2-3)

Third and last game of series and of the six game opening road trip. Rangers have won the first 2.

Boston 1/2 game behind Tampa Bay, Yankees and Toronto.

ESPN.Com preview should be here.
Yahoo's preview should be here.
The recap after the game will be here.

From MLB.Com Scouting Report:

Red Sox: The big right-hander had an uncharacteristic lack of command on Opening Day, giving up eight hits and five runs over four innings of a 7-1 loss. It was Schilling?s shortest start in a Boston uniform. The Rangers represent a good opportunity for Schilling to bounce back. He is 4-0 with a 3.82 ERA in eight lifetime appearances against Texas. Last year, Schilling was 2-0 against the Rangers with a 3.86 ERA.

Rangers: Padilla makes his first start of the season at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington where he was 8-5 with a 4.80 ERA in 17 starts last year. He was 1-0 with a 2.77 ERA in two starts against the Red Sox last year and is 1-1 with a 5.06 ERA against them in his career. Manny Ramirez is 1-for-8 with four strikeouts in his career against Padilla while J.D. Drew is 6-for-14 with a home run.

As usual all statistics were found at the day by day database at Baseball Musings and this year at Baseball Reference.

Expected Batters vs opposing starter (V. Padilla).

Player	AB	Hits	2b	3b	HR's	RBI	BB's	K's	BA
J. Lugo	3	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	.667
K. Youkilis	4	2	1	0	0	0	1	1	.500
D. Ortiz	7	2	2	0	0	2	2	0	.286
M Ramirez	8	1	0	0	0	0	0	4	.125
J.D. Drew	14	6	2	0	1	4	3	1	.429
M Lowell	32	7	3	0	0	6	2	3	.219
J Varitek	2	1	1	0	0	1	0	1	.500
C Crisp	7	5	1	0	0	0	0	0	.714
D Pedroia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Totals	77	26	10	0	1	13	9	10	.338

This would be a good game to let Cora play, especially since Cora is 6 for 17 against Padilla in his career.

Historical Pitching lines

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA
Schilling *	3	4	0	0	24 1/3	21	9	3	2	23	3.33
Padilla	3	1	1	0	16	21	9	9	5	16	5.06

* Schilling's stats are as a Red Sox. In all 3 starts he has went at least 7 innings. His worst game was last July 20 with a line of 7 -10 - 4 - 4 - 0 - 1 - 6. Not a great game but not bad either. The last time he faced the Rangers in Texas was 4/3/2006. His line for that game was 7 - 5 - 2 - 2 - 1 - 1 - 5, lets hope we get that type of start from him in this start.

There are two things in play for this game:

1. Schilling is a blowhard who is on the downward slide of his career and the sooner we get rid of him the better (everybody but me and Callahan)
   
2. After a humilating loss to KC the real Schilling will appear and will post a game similar to 4/3/2006.

Personally I think Schilling will win 16-18 games this year. I also expect this to be his last year in Boston. Look for the real Schilling to appear in this game, however I expect the bats to let us down so 50 - 50 for a win.