First of all, lets take a look at the numbers:
Oakland ranks 4th in the Major leagues with 181 Home Runs as a team while Minnesota checks in at 147 team home runs. ADVANTAGE OAKLAND
In their careers, Zito has allowed a lot fewer home runs per starts than Milton:
Zito has allowed 47 career Home Runs in 79 career Starts(an average of a Home run in 59% of his starts) while Milton has alllowed 141 Home Runs in 158 career Starts(an average of a Home Run in 89% of his starts) ADVANTAGE OAKLAND
While facing their opponents today:
Zito has only allowed 1 home run in 4 career starts vs the Twins, while Milton has allowed 16 Home Runs in 13 career starts vs Oakland ADVANTAGE OAKLAND Only player to have hit one off Zito was LeCroy, while Chavez, Dye, Justice, Menechino, and Tejado have all gone yard off Milton in the past.
Also, even though Milton has a stretch of 4 straight starts not allowing a Home Run, 3 of those starts came right before his stint on the DL with torn cartilage in his knee. His last start which was his 1st since coming off the DL, he only went 3 innings and but allowed 6 hits which gos to show his stamina and snap on the ball isn't 100% and this could be crucial facing a team like Oakland today. ADVANTAGE OAKLAND
Of course this doesn't guarantee Oakland will hit one first or whether either team will even hit one, but I think Oakland stands a better chance of going yard than Minny and all the numbers and past performances favor Oakland here, so I'll try it.
GL :thumb:
-ndnfan
