weekend notes for Canadians

The Astros won their first ever meeting with the Blue Jays last night, and Toronto became the newest of seven teams Biggio has played but not been plunked by, and the only Canadian entry on that list. They have two more chances this weekend to get off that list.
Gustavo Chacin pitches for the Jays today. He has never faced the Astros in his young career, but has already plunked 6 batters in his 14 career starts.
Kevin Ritz is the lone pitcher credited with hitting Craig Biggio with a pitch on June 11th, doing so in 1996.
Sunday, Josh Towers starts for the opposition. He too has never faced the Astros. Towers has only hit one batter this year but had a respectable 9 plunks on the season last year.
Mike Jackson (in 1992), Greg Maddux (in 1994), David Wells (in 2003), and Chris Capuano (in 2004) have all hit Craig Biggio with a pitch on June 12th.

Stan Spencer is the only Canadian born pitcher who had hit Craig Biggio with a pitch.

The month of June ranks 3rd in weekend Biggio plunkings with 15 Saturday and Sunday plunks. July leads the way with 20, and May, the month with the most Biggio plunks overall, has 19.


MLB.com has an article on Don Baylor regarding the HBP record today.