Dodgers (60-56) vs. Giants (54-61) 1:05 PM
Penny (12-5, 3.43) vs Cain (8-8, 4.62)
Brad Penny and the Dodgers look to break the .500 mark after the All Star Break. After stumbling a bit at the start of the second half, Penny seems to have righted the ship, allowing four runs in his last two starts, all on home runs. The jump in home runs was a bit expected, since Penny was leading the league in home run to flyball ratio during the first half. The fact that Penny is still performing despite regressing to the mean is very comforting.
Matt Cain probably recieved more hype than any rookie pitcher this offseason, and so far he hasn't lived up to it. He has been getting a bit unlucky, he walks a lot of people, but he also gets a ton of strikeouts while keeping the ball in the park, so Cain is a better pitcher than his ERA would indicate.
Topic for discussion: how awesome is Andre Ethier? So awesome, way awesome, or wicked awesome?