Guo vs Toronto - Eh!

Coming off two strong starts (Padres, Mets) in a row, Hongzhi Guo takes his lefthanded 96 mph fastball north of the border. Once again, Guo will be matched against a tough pitcher. This time it will be Toronto's ace Roy Halladay. Dodger Sims has the Dodgers as slight favorites to win, but it will take a great pitching performance by Guo to get the victory.

Skinny:
Guo only has 20 innings pitched under his belt so far this year as opposed to 82 from Halladay. Guo gets the edge in ERA and Field Independent ERA, part of this is due to Hallday facing tougher hitters in the American League. Guo is more of a fly ball, strike out pitcher, with a GB/FB/LD line of 29/48/23. Halladay, will get his fair share of strike outs, but he relies more on his control. Both pitchers have home run rates well below (stingy on giving up HRs) league average. Guo has yet to give up a home run in 20 innings thus far. While Guo tends to be a fly ball pitcher, Halladay induces alot more groundballs with a GB/FB/LD line of 56/26/18. Both pitchers have a similiar BABIP allowed. Guo is at .315 and Halladay having a nearly identical mark of .313. Halladay has been slightly more unlucky when it comes to stranding runners on base. Guo has a LOB% of 71.4% and Halladay of 64.4%. This should be a close and low scoring game, a game that the Blue Jays probably feel they should win. If Guo is on, the Jays could be in for a big surprise.

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Update: Guo got hammered. Better luck next time.

vr, Xeifrank

Guo-ing, Guo-ing, Gone!

Hongzhi Guo pitched masterfully, allowing only 5 hits, over 7 strong innings, while striking out 5 and only walking one. Guo threw alot of strikes and showed that when he can get ahead in the count, he is able to silence the oppositions' bats. Hongzhi Guo topped off a great night, a night in which the Dodgers took a second straight game from the Mets, by becoming the first Taiwanese born player to hit a homerun in the Major Leagues. Guo is not yet the ace of the staff, but he has definitely leapfrogged the likes of Jason Schmidt and Randy Wolf in the pecking order.

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The Taipei Times chimes in.

vr, Xeifrank

Guo Get em!

Hongzhi Guo pitches tonight against John Maine and the New York Mets. Guo is coming off a good outing against the Padres. Let's hope the defense doesn't let him down this time and that he can harness his control a little better. vr, Xeifrank

For He's A Jolly Good Fellow

Nobody can deny that Guo deserves his spot in the starting rotation after the nearly masterful performance he put up against the Padres and Jake Peavy. Guo outpitched Peavy and left after 6 innings, having struck out 8, only allowing 3 hits, but walking four. The Dodgers were unable to hold a 9th inning 5-1 lead, as Nomar booted the game away. Guo was definitel one of the few positives of this game, as he put the Dodgers in position to halt their 2 game losing streak. Oh well, let's hope Guo can cut down on the wildness a little bit when he takes on another big challenege at home against the Mets next week. vr, Xeifrank

Stopper Guo

Hongzhi Guo, in his second start of the season will have the unenviable task of taking on Padres ace and Cy Young favorite Jake Peavy. The Dodgers enter the game with a two game losing streak, both losses at the hands of the Padres, and now find themselves 1-1/2 games behind both the Padres and Diamondbacks. The Dodgers are in need of a great performance from Guo. It is time for him to bear down, trust his dominating stuff, throw strikes and challenge the Padre hitters. Guo is now thrusted into the role of "stopper", let's just hope he can put together a great performance, because the Dodgers will sure need one to match Jake Peavy. vr, Xeifrank

Guo is so-so in starting debut

Hongzhi Guo's first start for the Dodgers in 2007 was a mixed bag. Guo was not hit hard, as he scattered 5 singles in 4-2/3 innings of work. Guo's downfall was his first inning wildness, when he walked two batters including one with the bases loaded. It was Guo's misfortune that manager Grady Little happened to pick today to rest the teams best hitter, Russell Martin. The Dodgers were only able to muster one run against Ian Snell. Guo only gave up two runs, but made 94 pitches in less than 5 innings, which is not going to cut muster. In Guo's next appearance he is going to need to pitch more efficiently, and should target a full 6 innings of work. vr, Xeifrank

Ladies and Gentlemen, Start Your Engines

Your Guo Mania engines that is. Hongzhi Guo will make his season debut in the Dodgers starting rotation tomorrow against Ian Snell and the Pittsburgh Pirates. Snell is a very good pitcher on a below average team, so it won't be an easy task. I will be happy with a line of IP-5, K-5, BB-1, HR-0. I will be most concerned with his control (base on balls) and the number of home runs given up. Guo is a strikeout pitcher, but he did tend to get alot of fly ball outs in his stint as a starter in Las Vegas the past two weeks. What I am definitely NOT looking forward to is the botching of his name pronounciation by the Dodger announcers. Even though it is spelled with a "K" in Taiwan, it is pronounced like a "G". How hard can it be to properly pronounce a last name that only has three letters in it? vr, Xeifrank