Tonight's Game

Tonight's game against the Dodgers features two pitchers who seem pretty evenly matched--John Patterson and Brad Penny. Here are their 2005 stats:

Pitcher	K/BB	K/9	BB/9	HR/9
Patterson	2.90	8.64	2.98	0.54
Penny	2.96	5.46	1.85	0.69

Patterson has been more dominating--he's averaging almost nine strikeouts per nine innings--but Penny has given up fewer walks. Patterson had a clear edge in July, not because Penny was bad, but because Patterson was great: Patterson's ERA was 1.54, while Penny's was 3.12.

All in all, their stats are pretty similar, although Patterson has been more dominating recently. In other words, if trends continue the Nationals should do well tonight, but perhaps not much better than the Dodgers. Do you sense that there is another one-run game in our immediate future?