Too Much Value to Pass on Alcantara

When you get in a nice groove, it feels like you never want to stop. If you're a blackjack player, you're probably understanding what I'm talking about. When you're running hot you don't want it to stop and we had a great weekend going 5-1 and are 10-5 over our last five days. I'll take that any chance we get.

I'm not really sure what the books are thinking anymore. Sandy Alcantara is the best pitcher in the National League this year. Joe Musgrove has been good, but Alcantara is excellent. At home, he's only allowed 18 earned runs in 90 innings. He has two complete games already, too. Maybe the books think that Alcantara will replicate his first outing against the Padres where he didn't even last five innings. It really wasn't a terrible performance, though. He went 4.2 and gave up just two earned runs. The Padres ended up winning the game 3-2. I think he does better in this one. It just sucks that the Marlins never seem to score for him.

Joe Musgrove really has been good, but if you looked at just July and August, you'd see that he's allowed 18 earned runs in 35 innings. That's not very good. He was on the other side of Alcantara in the aforementioned Padres victory. Musgrove turned in a solid seven innings with just two earned runs. He did have a nice outing in his last start against the Giants. That's how it has been all season - he either gives up very little or a lot. There aren't many starts where he's had three earned runs allowed.

I have to take the Marlins in this one. I will continue to back the better pitcher, and as much as I've enjoyed Musgrove this year, I think there is too much value on Alcantara.