Five Cuts: Fastballs for Garza ... or will he throw the Phillies a curve?

Will Matt Garza stick to fastballs tonight in hitter-friendly Citizens bank Park? Elsa/Getty Images World Series TV Ratings Markets With No Rooting Interest Rank Game 1 Game 2 1. Minneapolis St. Louis 2. Milwaukee Charlottte 3. St. Louis Boston 4. Charlotte Minneapolis 5. New York (tie) New York Tom Verducci's Mailbag Submit a comment or question for Tom. Name: Email: Hometown: Question: SEND

1. It will be interesting to see if Matt Garza, one of the best pure fastball pitchers in the game, goes away from his strength in Game 3 against the Phillies, a good fastball hitting team. Only two AL pitchers threw a higher percentage of fastballs this year than Garza. He kept to the script in the ALCS, throwing 80 percent fastballs and then 75 percent fastballs in his two starts against Boston. But the Rays have thrown mostly breaking pitches to Chase Utley, Ryan Howard and Pat Burrell, holding them to three hits in 24 at-bats. Said assistant pitching coach Brian Anderson of Garza, "He's had a very good breaking ball lately, probably the best it's been all year."

Garza's fastball has such good late life on it that he's likely to showcase it early against a lineup that hasn't seen it before. The only Phillie with at-bats against Garza is Matt Stairs, and he is 1-for-10 against the right-hander.

2. Everybody knows the best fans in baseball are in . . . Charlotte? The market-by-market television ratings for the first two games of the World Series reveal a strong pocket of major league baseball fans in Charlotte. Once you remove the Philadelphia and Florida markets from the ratings, Charlotte shows up among the most interested baseball fans in the country.

St. Louis, long held as a home of great baseball fans, ranked third and first, respectively, for Games 1 and 2 ratings in markets not connected to the participating team. No surprise there. But Charlotte ranked fourth and second. Another surprising hotbed of baseball fans was Minneapolis, which ranked first and fourth. See the box at right for how the markets with no rooting interest in the Phillies or Rays ranked in World Series ratings.

3. The Rays won World Series Game 2 without getting an extra-base hit. How rare is that? Game 2 was the 600th World Series game (not including tie games). It marked only the 37th time a team managed to win without an extra-base hit, or just about six percent of all games. The Rays were only the third team to do so in the past 44 World Series games, joining 2003 World Series winner Florida (Game 1) and 2006 World Series winner St. Louis (Game 5).

4. Why is Chase Utley such an extreme pull hitter? You would think Utley has the batting skills to use the whole field, but he managed only 12 opposite field hits this year, including no home runs. That's why the Rays defend him with an extreme overshift, as they do with Ryan Howard.

The defensive overshift, which once was called The Williams Shift, because when Cleveland used it against Ted Williams it seemed so unique, has become commonplace around the game. It seems every team has one or two guys who are extreme pull hitters. Is that because more hitters today don't learn how to use the whole field while putting a premium on power? Is it because teams have more information, including scouting reports and hit spray charts, about opposing hitters? Probably both devclopments are factors.

5. You knew Brad Lidge was a beast in the Philadelphia bullpen. But when did Ryan Madson become so unhittable? Aug. 31, to be exact. Since then, Madson has thrown 24 1/3 innings in 22 games while allowing only two earned runs. He is 2-0 with a 0.74 ERA in that stretch with 25 strikeouts and two walks. Madson always did have an excellent changeup, but now he is throwing as hard as 97 mph. Able to get more than three outs and to face left-handers as well as right-handers, Madson has become an important weapon for manager Charlie Manuel.