… Back? Find something? I didn’t think so.

Well, I am choosing it for on-the-field reasons, as Monday’s matchup is easily the most interesting on the schedule, pairing one starter that everyone knows about with one that is still flying under the radar despite excellent results over the last two months.

The one everyone knows about is John Lackey, who is 10-4 with a 2.53 ERA in 14 starts. Ten of his 14 starts this year have been quality starts, and Lackey has 71 strikeouts and just 24 walks in his 92 2/3 innings. Nothing special to talk about here – everyone knows Lackey.

Chris Sampson, however, is a different story, as most people do not seem to be jumping on his bandwagon, but when looking at the numbers one has to wonder why. Not everything is perfect with Sampson – he does not strike out enough batters, and his strikeout-to-walk ratio is well below the 2:1 minimum that most want to see in their starters, but it is very hard to argue with his results so far. Sampson’s seven last starts, and eight of his last nine, have all been quality starts, and he has an ERA for the season of just 3.29. His .255 batting average against and 1.20 WHIP are also solid, and, while not an extreme ground ball pitcher this year, he has done a great job of keeping the ball on the ground.

The series finale on Wednesday also features an interesting matchup, with Wandy Rodriguez taking the mound for the Astros and Ervin Santana for the Angels. Santana has been two completely different pitchers this year – a Cy Young ace at home and a garbage innings eater on the road. Through six starts in the O.C., Santana is 4-1 with a 2.41 ERA, with 33 strikeouts and 11 walks in 41 innings. On the road, Santana is 1-6 with a 7.53 ERA in eight starts. In 43 road innings, Santana has almost as many strikeouts as at home – 32 – but his walks shoot up to 20. He has also allowed just three homers at home and 13 on the road. Fortunately, for the Angels, this one is in Orange County. Ironically, Rodriguez has the same problem that Santana has. In seven home starts, Rodriguez is 3-2 with a 2.47 ERA. On the road though, Rodriguez is 1-4 with a 6.42 ERA in six starts. Rodriguez’ strikeout rate on the road is actually slightly better than at home, but his batting average against takes a huge hit when he leaves Minute Maid Park – opponents are hitting .225 against Rodriguez in Houston, .305 against him anywhere else. Unfortunately, Houston is not anywhere near California, so this could be rough for Rodriguez.

There really should not be any doubt that he is already Hall of Fame material, but, just in case, Craig Biggio is inching ever closer to the magic ticket number of 3,000 hits. As of this writing, Biggio has 2,989 hits. Biggio is not likely to get 11 hits in the next four days, so it probably will not happen against the Angels, but it most certainly will happen soon enough.

With Garrett Anderson going on the disabled list, Reggie Willits is back to being an everyday player for the Angels. Even without the injury though, the Angels probably would have been better off with Willits playing and Anderson not. While Willits might not have a ton of pop in his bat – he has yet to homer in 215 major league at-bats – but he does get on base. Willits has a career .421 OBP, .424 this year, and he has more walks than strikeouts in his young career. Willits also has 16 stolen bases in 18 attempts, so he is making stuff happen on the basepaths, and he is doing so at a very successful rate.

Series of the Week – Weekend Edition
Boston Red Sox at San Diego Padres

The best of the American League East take on the best of the National League West in Petco Park. These teams certainly have ties. The greatest hitter in Red Sox history, one of the greatest of all time, Ted Williams, came to the Sox from the San Diego area, and he has strong ties with both communities. More recently, Larry Lucchino, the president and C.E.O. of the Red Sox, came to the Sox by way of the Padres. Theo Epstein also got his first break with the Padres, going from the PR department all the way to Director of Player Operations, a job Epstein held while also finishing his law degree at the University of San Diego School of Law. In other words, unlike most non-traditional interleague matchups, there is a back-story here.

The Friday matchup should be a gem, with Daisuke Matsuzaka facing Chris Young. Despite a record of 1-2 in June, Dice-K has pitched quite well this month, with three straight quality starts and an ERA of just 1.80. In 20 innings, Dice-K has 25 strikeouts and just nine walks. Matsuzaka has been significantly better on the road than at home this year, with a record of 4-3 and a 3.48 ERA away from Fenway, compared to 4-2 with a 4.81 ERA at home. Opponents are hitting 44 points lower against Matsuzaka away from Fenway, and he is averaging almost four strikeouts more per nine innings – 12.46 away, compared to 8.47 at home. For Young, while his record is just 2-1 in six home starts that is not his fault, as his home ERA is an absurd 1.10.  While his road batting average against is impeccable, his home batting average against is downright incredible, with opponents hitting just .183 against him at Petco. This has all the makings of being a classic pitchers’ duel.

For the Sox, the hitter to be watching is David Ortiz. Where has Ortiz’ power gone? Ortiz has cranked out just 11 home runs this year, seven of which came back in April. He has been getting hits, and has a .329 average on the season, but the Sox are not looking for Wade Boggs as their DH, they are looking for a monster power hitter, and that simply is not Ortiz right now. The good news for those looking for Ortiz’ power swing is that he is going on the road, as eight of his 11 have come away from Fenway.

The Padres have to have a similar question with Brian Giles. Sure, Giles has never been a dominating power threat, but he did have four straight seasons where he hit over 35 homers. It has been a while since those days, but he did at least break 20 homers in his first full season with the Padres, when he hit 23 in 2004. He has had teens power the last two years, but he is not even close to being on pace for that this year, with just one home run. He is not knocking in runs either, as he has just 12 RBI so far in 170 at-bats. To put that into perspective, in 33 at-bats, Carlos Zambrano has two homers and four RBI, which means he already has more homers and would be crushing Giles in RBI if he had as many at-bats as Giles, and Big Z only gets to take hacks every fifth day as a pitcher.