Orioles Travel to the Bronx
The Orioles (23-20), who stand three-and-one-half games ahead of the New York Yankees (20-24), make their first visit to the Bronx this season. The Birds -- who took two of three from the Nats over the weekend in Baltimore -- have been surprising many, while keeping collapses of season's past in the back of their collective minds.
The Orioles heavily depend on pitching and defense and hope their hitting (led by Nick Markakis) can produce just enough runs. And so far, it's worked: they're 17-1 when leading after seven innings and 11-6 in one-run games (after going 13-31 last season in similar situations). And, best of all, they've scored the same number of runs (179) as the so-called Bronx Bombers -- who led all of baseball with 968 runs scored last year).
The Birds' pitching staff has the sixth-best ERA (4.02) in the AL, while the Yanks are near the bottom (4.48). The O's also have allowed the fewest hits in the Junior Circuit, while the Bombers (387) are in the middle of the pack. George Sherrill is tied for the AL lead in saves with 17, while Yanks closer Mariano Rivera (a notoriously-slow starter) has 11.
The pitching match-ups for the series note a shift as well -- with only one familiar name taking the mound for the home team.
Tomorrow (7:05 p.m., MASN): Garrett Olson (3-0, 3.47) vs. Darrell Rasner (2-0, 3.00)
Thursday (7:05 p.m., MASN): Brian Burres (4-4, 3.47) vs. Ian Kennedy (0-3, 8.48)
Note: Congrats to Jon Lester of the Boston Red Sox, who no-hit the Royals yesterday. It also was the fourth no-hitter caught by Jason Veritek, a new major league record. Interestingly enough, two of those no-nos came against the Birds: Clay Buchholtz turned the trick on Sept. 1, 2007 at Fenway, and Hideo Nomo accomplished the feat on April 4, 2001 at Camden Yards.
0 fan(s) wrote:
Post a Comment