DENVER — Two left-handers who have been very successful lately will square off Thursday when Kyle Freeland starts for the Colorado Rockies against Steven
Matz of the New York Mets.
The Rockies will be looking to win the four-game series after winning their second straight game over the Mets 10-8 on Wednesday. Colorado will also be
trying to avoid a dubious major league record. The Rockies have allowed at least
eight runs in each of their past nine home games
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Freeland (6-6, 3.59 ERA) has made 14 starts, half of which the Rockies have won. He worked a season-high seven innings for the fourth time this season in
his last start Saturday at Texas. Freeland allowed two runs in seven innings,
ending up with no-decision in Colorado’s 5-2 loss.
In his past 10 starts, Freeland, 25, is 6-3 with a 2.89 ERA and has limited opposing hitters to a .237 average and a .646 OPS in that stretch. He’s 1-0 with
a 1.80 ERA in two career games (one start) against the Mets. The start was on
May 6 at Citi Field this season when Freeland, the winning pitcher, allowed two
runs and four hits in seven innings with eight strikeouts and one walk in
Colorado’s 3-2 victory.
In eight starts at Coors Field this season, Freeland is 3-2 with a 2.93 ERA. A Denver native who grew up pitching in the city’s mile-high altitude, Freeland
is 9-10 with a 3.52 ERA in 24 career games (21 starts) at Coors Field and has
never been fazed by the hitter-friendly ballpark.
“In my mind, it’s baseball,” Freeland said. “You have to make your pitches, no matter where you’re at. Home runs are going to be home runs. People are going
to hit good pitches here. People are going to hit bad pitches here. If you don’t
execute the pitch and they get whacked out of the park
Matthew Stafford Jersey White , it’s going to happen here; it’s going to happen at sea level.
“Things can snowball on you quicker here just because of how large our outfield is. But you still have to have that mentality of I can get out of this
jam here.”
While winning his last start, Matz (3-4, 3.31) gave up one run in 6 2/3 innings Saturday at Arizona in the Mets’ 5-1 triumph. Matz lost 2-0 to the
Rockies at Citi Field on May 5, giving up one run and three hits in six innings.
He’s 0-3, 6.50 in four career starts against the Rockies and 0-0, 5.40 in one
start at Coors Field.
In his past five starts, Matz, 27, is 2-1 with a 1.88 ERA. During that stretch, Matz has allowed two or fewer runs in four of the five outings, and
opposing batters are hitting .208 with a .609 OPS.
“He’s in a good place mentally,” New York pitching coach Dave Eiland said. “He’s in attack mode, where he’s attacking the hitters. Early in the year, he
was a little bit unsure of himself
Kevin Shattenkirk Jersey , not really trusting his stuff as much. So therefore, he wasn’t in attack mode. And when the first little thing would go
wrong … he would kind of lose his concentration, his focus, and it would affect
the next few pitches and might make the difference in his outing.
“He’s worked really hard at letting things go that are out of his control and just focusing on things he can control. And once he started doing it, he got
back to believing in himself, trusting his stuff, attacking the strike zone,
attacking the hitters.”
At this point after nearly a month of superb pitching, Matz has a reservoir of success to draw upon when things do go wrong.
“I’m sure it still eats at him a little bit,” Eiland said, “but he doesn’t wear his emotions on his sleeve, so to speak.”
Seemed fairly clear that Marcin Gortat and the Washington Wizards were ready to part ways. Now they will.
The Wizards traded Gortat, their starting center, to the Los Angeles Clippers for guard Austin Rivers on Tuesday night. Both players are entering the final
season of their contracts and are set to earn similar salaries
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The 34-year-old Gortat is a durable, screen-setting big man who has played 12 years in the league, the past five with Washington. He averaged 8.4 points and
7.6 rebounds last season, his lowest numbers since 2009-10, when he was with the
Orlando Magic, but could fill a need in Los Angeles if DeAndre Jordan
departs.
After the Wizards finished eighth in the Eastern Conference and lost in the first round of the playoffs to No. 1 seed Toronto, Gortat was adamant that he
had no interest in changing his style of play at this late stage of his
career.
Asked about the possibility of working on his outside shot, Gortat replied: ”This summer, I’m going to work on my tan. I’m going to work on my 6-pack. Get
my biceps definition a bit better. You can’t improve 3-point shooting. You can’t
improve your shot, specifically for me. I truly believe I’m a solid, good
shooter up to 15, 17 feet. But I’m not going to shoot 3s. No, I’m not going to
do that. I want to go into the paint. Body people. Be physical. Get scratches.
Bleed.”
Gortat also discussed the widely held perception that he and All-Star point guard John Wall did not get along.
”We are good. Are we best friends? And, like
Authentic DeSean Jackson Jersey , the greatest friends? Brothers? Probably not. But I’m not best friends with probably half of the team over there,” Gortat
said in April after Washington was eliminated. ”So I have a few good friends,
but the rest of them are just my colleagues and teammates. That’s how it is.
That’s how it is around the league.”
The Wizards had a bit of a roster problem at center, with Gortat plus a similar, stay-in-the-paint, well-paid backup center Ian Mahinmi.
They also were in need of backup help at guard, which Rivers can provide.
Rivers, who turns 26 in August, averaged a career-best 15.1 points and four assists last season while playing for his father, Doc, the Clippers’ coach.
”He is coming off a career year and his ability to create offense for himself and others will help our second unit and allow us to play a variety of lineups
throughout the season,” Wizards President Ernie Grunfeld said in a statement
announcing the trade.
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