Venezuela vs. D.R. Head to Head Matchups

Given the structure of the brackets in the tournament, the defining match-up for Pool C and D will probably be Venezuela vs. Dominican Republic. Both of these countries shouldn’t have any problems with Italy and Australia in the first round, so their head to head should define who goes first and who goes second in Pool D. Likewise, both teams should be superior to any of the teams from Pool C (although a Puerto Rican or Cuban team on a roll can beat anybody) so again their head to head match-ups could very well end up deciding who makes it all the way to the final.

It seems that the lineups for both countries are set. In an exhibition game versus the Phillies, Venezuela had the following lineup:

Omar Vizquel (SS), Carlos Guillén (DH), Bobby Abreu (CF), Miguel Cabrera (3B), Victor Martínez (C), Magglio Ordóñez (RF), Ramón Hernández (1B), Edgardo Alfonzo (2B) and Juan Rivera (LF).

The Dominican Republic is expected to go with this lineup:

Alfonso Soriano (2B), Miguel Tejada (SS), Albert Pujols (1B), David Ortiz (DH), Moisés Alou (LF), Juan Encarnación (CF), Wily Mo Peña (RF), Adrián Beltré (3B) and Ronny Paulino/ Alberto Castillo C

The Projected pitchers for both teams have also been announced:

• Johan Santana and Carlos Zambrano for Venezuela
• Bartolo Colon and Miguel Batista for the D.R.

This is how Venezuelan players have done against Bartolo Colon in the majors:

	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	SO/BB
Omar Vizquel	14	7	2	0	1	0	1	0.500	0.500	0.857	1.357
Carlos Guillen	21	7	3	0	1	3	6	0.333	0.417	0.619	1.036	2.00
Bobby Abreu	12	3	0	0	1	2	3	0.250	0.357	0.500	0.857	1.50
Victor Martinez	12	3	2	0	0	1	1	0.250	0.308	0.417	0.724	1.00
Magglio Ordonez	41	10	2	0	2	2	5	0.244	0.273	0.439	0.712	2.50
Ramon Hernandez	6	1	1	0	0	0	0	0.167	0.167	0.333	0.500
Edgardo Alfonzo	14	3	1	0	0	1	1	0.214	0.267	0.286	0.552	1.00
Henry Blanco	7	1	1	0	0	1	1	0.143	0.250	0.286	0.536	1.00
Marco Scutaro	14	2	0	0	0	1	4	0.143	0.200	0.143	0.343	4.00

Bartolo has been relatively successful against the Venezuelan hitters except for his former Indians teammate Vizquel and Carlos Guillen. Bobby Abreu, although he hasn’t hit well off Colon, does have a decent OBP. Of course something to consider is that Bartolo has never pitched to Miguel Cabrera, Juan Rivera and most of the players on Venezuela’s bench.

Now let’s take a look at how Venezuela does against Miguel Batista:

	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	SO/BB
Omar Vizquel	11	2	0	0	0	4	0	0.182	0.400	0.182	0.582	0.00
Carlos Guillen	4	2	1	0	0	2	0	0.500	0.667	0.750	1.417	0.00
Bobby Abreu	19	7	2	1	1	3	2	0.368	0.435	0.737	1.172	0.67
Miguel Cabrera	3	2	1	0	1	0	1	0.667	0.667	2.000	2.667
Victor Martinez	3	0	0	0	0	1	1	0.000	0.250	0.000	0.250	1.00
Magglio Ordonez	13	3	1	0	1	1	0	0.231	0.250	0.538	0.788	0.00
Ramon Hernandez	9	4	1	0	0	1	1	0.444	0.500	0.556	1.056	1.00
Edgardo Alfonzo	32	8	3	0	1	2	3	0.250	0.314	0.438	0.752	1.50
Juan Rivera	3	0	0	0	0	1	0	0.000	0.250	0.000	0.250	0.00
Henry Blanco	3	0	0	0	0	1	0	0.000	0.250	0.000	0.250	0.00
Marco Scutaro	5	2	0	0	0	0	0	0.400	0.400	0.400	0.800

Again, Batista has been successful against most of the players on Venezuela’s lineup but he has had some major problems with a few: notably Bobby Abreu and Ramon Hernandez. Carlos Guillen and Miguel Cabrera also post some impressive numbers, but they have only faced Batista in 3 or 4 at bats, which aren’t enough at bats to draw solid conclusions from. Vizquel hasn’t hit well off Batista but does have a very good OBP against him.

Now let’s see how the Dominicans do against Santana:

	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	SO/BB
Alfonso Soriano	6	0	0	0	0	2	2	0.000	0.250	0.000	0.250	1.00
Miguel Tejada	21	5	0	0	0	5	3	0.238	0.385	0.238	0.623	0.60
David Ortiz	3	0	0	0	0	0	1	0.000	0.000	0.000	0.000
Moises Alou	6	1	0	0	0	0	0	0.167	0.167	0.167	0.333
Juan Encarnacion	3	0	0	0	0	0	2	0.000	0.000	0.000	0.000
Adrian Beltre	3	2	1	0	0	0	0	0.667	0.667	1.000	1.667
Ronnie Belliard	16	3	0	0	0	0	6	0.188	0.188	0.188	0.375
Pedro Feliz	4	1	0	0	0	0	2	0.250	0.250	0.250	0.500
Vladimir Guerrero	16	3	0	0	1	0	3	0.188	0.188	0.375	0.563

None of the Dominicans that have faced Santana have done well against him. Only Adrian Beltre in 3 at bats has been able to hit him. Miguel Tejada though has a very good on base percentage against him. It is worth mentioning that only Tejada and Belliard have a significant number of at bats versus Santana. Soriano and Alou have only faced him in 6 at bats, while Ortiz, Encarnacion and Beltre have only had 3 at bats each. Santana has never faced Albert Pujols, Wily Mo Peña or Castillo/Paulino. Vlad Guerrero (if he decides to play) has had 16 at bats against Santana and hasn’t hit him well, but he is the only player in the Dominican roster to have homered off him.

Dominicans versus Zambrano:

	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	SO/BB
Alfonso Soriano	4	1	0	0	0	0	1	0.250	0.250	0.250	0.500
Albert Pujols	34	8	2	0	2	5	7	0.235	0.333	0.471	0.804	1.40
David Ortiz	2	0	0	0	0	1	1	0.000	0.333	0.000	0.333	1.00
Moises Alou	3	1	0	0	0	1	0	0.333	0.500	0.333	0.833	0.00
Juan Encarnacion	18	2	0	0	0	1	5	0.111	0.158	0.111	0.269	5.00
Wily Mo Peña	12	4	0	0	0	2	7	0.333	0.467	0.333	0.800	3.50
Adrian Beltre	7	4	1	0	0	1	0	0.571	0.625	0.714	1.339	0.00
Vladimir Guerrero	5	2	0	0	0	1	0	0.400	0.500	0.400	0.900	0.00
Placido Polanco	10	1	1	0	0	0	0	0.100	0.100	0.200	0.300
Ronnie Belliard	8	2	1	0	0	3	1	0.250	0.455	0.375	0.830	0.33
Jose Reyes	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.000	0.000	0.000	0.000
Pedro Feliz	8	0	0	0	0	1	2	0.000	0.111	0.000	0.111	2.00
Willy Taveras	11	2	0	0	0	0	4	0.182	0.182	0.182	0.364

Beltre and Peña have been pretty successful vs. Zambrano. Pujols who has had the most at bats versus Zambrano has not hit him much, but when he does he hits him hard as his SLG shows. In 3 at bats Alou was also very successful versus Zambrano, as well as Vlad Guerrero in 5 at bats. David Ortiz hasn’t hit off him, but has only faced him in 2 at bats and Soriano has only faced him in 4.

My next post will be a batter vs. pitcher analysis for the relievers that most likely will be used in the game. (I’m waiting to see which relievers Manny Acta will use vs. the Astros in an exhibition game).