Encouraging Matusz stat

By Steve Melewski

Orioles

July 04, 2010, 11:07am

Comments

Watching Brian Matusz pitch out of that second and third, one-out jam in the fourth reminded me that Matusz has held his own this year when pitching versus AL East opponents. He has better numbers within the division than he has overall. Those are the teams he will need to pitch well against moving forward - those Beasts of the East. Coming into this start, Matusz is 1-3, 3.38 in seven starts in 2010 versus the East. He has an ERA of 3.86 in two earlier starts versus Boston. That's a very respectable performance against baseball's toughest division. Maybe today he can actually end that 13-start winless drought. He has held up well through that also, going 0-4 in June, but with an ERA of 3.86. Corey Patterson is 1 for 3 today, extending his current hit streak to nine games. Patterson is batting .457 (16 for 35) during the streak. Cesar Izturis is 1 for 2 today and is 4 for 8 in this series and now has 12 hits over his last 34 at bats for an average of .353 in that time. Matusz has a 2-0 lead and has thrown 80 pitches through five innings today.