Pitching Matchups

Pitching matchups, games 3 and 4 still have a question about who is pitching.

Santana vs Zito:
Santana is the best pitcher in baseball, but the A’s are a 1run better against lefties than righties. I do think it is still a good matchup for Johan. I believe his control will work against the A’s.
The Twins are slightly worse against lefties but Zito has a FIP 1 run higher than his ERA. He really did not pitch that well this season. Also, he is an extreme flyball pitcher while the Twins are an extreme groundball hitting team. This favors the Twins.

Huge edge to the Twins.

Bonser vs Loaiza:
Bonser has pitched much better down the stretch. His FIP is about 4.5. The A’s are much worse against righthanders and if Boof can keep the ball down and in the strikezone he should do well.
Loaiza has also pitched much better after the all-star break and he has a respectable FIP of 4.17. But the Twins do better against righthanders than the A’s do.

Edge Twins.

Harden v Radke:
Both pitchers have been injured this season so it is difficult to know how good they both are. Both have similar stats and pitched better after the all star break. Harden is probably the better pitcher but again the Twins have a better offense against righties than Oakland does.
Since both will be watched carefully from the dugout the Twins may have the edge because of t heir better and deeper bullpen.

Slight Edge Twins

Haren v Silva:
As above the Haren is the better pitcher but the Twins have a better offense. Haren has a much better FIP than Silva and Silva really is bad. But I think Silva matches up well against Oakland because he is always around the strikezone. His stats are slightly better against Oakland this year.

Slight Edge Oakland