After 90 games, the Bucs are still banging against a ceiling of six games under .500. If they finish there, of course, they repeat last year's record of 75 wins. They have to do better than that. Hopefully they avoid another losing streak and start another winning streak after treading water for half a week or so.
Livan Hernandez is a 6'2", 240-pound right-handed horse. The man routinely throws a ton of pitches but he averages under 16 per inning. Jason Schmidt and Curt Schilling have similar numbers on the season and per inning. This means that Livan runs up his pitch count for the season by (a) being effective and (b) staying healthy. He's hit hard sometimes but he's rarely injured. It's not clear to me what he's doing on the Expos. He could be grade A trade bait on a team with Montreal's record. Last April he signed a three-year, $21-million deal with Montreal and there he is today.
After throwing a complete-game shutout against the Blue Jays, Hernandez was pounded in back-to-back starts against the Braves. He allowed thirteen earned runs in six and a third innings. He should be primed to rebound tonight.
Sean Burnett could use some help from his infielders tonight. Any chance Simon sits against the big veteran righthander?
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