Milwaukee Brewers and Arizona Diamondbacks name their starters – MLB News
The Arizona Diamondbacks and Milwaukee Brewers have named their respective starters for the National League Division Series Game 1 scheduled to be played on Saturday, October 1. Yovani Gallardo will pitch against the Diamondbacks while Ian Kennedy will go
against the Milwaukee Brewers.
Gallardo is to start the game after a good rest of seven days. Interestingly, he holds an impressive record against the Diamondbacks in this season. Of the 10 wins Gallardo has had this time, two of them have been against the Diamondbacks.
With a 3.00 ERA at home in 2011, Gallardo ranks fifth in the National League with 207 strike-outs, having occupied 19th position in the overall ranking of the MLB. His overall ERA for this season stands at 3.52 with no less than 17 wins for the
Brewers in 33 games that he has played so far.
Once asked what he planned to do against the Diamondbacks on Saturday, he said, "I'm just going to go out there and do the same thing I've been doing all year. I'm sure all the guys, we're all very excited."
His rival, Ian Kennedy, strikes an equally strong feature. Facing the likes of Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder, it will be a great test for the 26-year-old Diamondbacks’ starter to pitch the Brewers out.
He realises that and does not underestimate it. "It's no secret that Braun and Fielder are a bit part of their lineup," Kennedy said. "They have a lot of other good players, but Braun has had an MVP-type season and so has Prince. Those two guys can hurt
you."
Nonetheless, with a 2.88 ERA and having won 21 of 33 games this year, Ian Kennedy will be tough bait for the Milwaukee Brewers. Kennedy has 198 strikeouts, allowing only 186 hits in the 222 innings that he has pitched.
Both Gallardo and Kennedy are top quality players and will be looking to put in their finest performance in the play-offs. It will be interesting to see which pitcher manages to come out on top after the NLDS Game 1.
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