Fresh off a series loss to the Rays during our brief visit home, it's back to the west coast games that start at 10:05 and go on past midnight. The one good thing about this series for us is that the Angels used four relievers last night in their 15-6 loss to Oakland behind a bad two-inning start from Nick Adenhart. They used Moseley for two, Bootcheck for 3.1, O-Day for 0.2 and Oliver for 1 inning. It seems if we can get to their bullpen, we might have some success. Vlad Guerrero is in a bit of a slump now as well. Our matchups here aren't bad though, so let's see what we got here.
Legend - WHIP in ()'s
Baltimore Orioles (15-12) vs. Los Angeles Angels (18-12)
Jeremy Guthrie (0-3) 4.34 (1.34), 20/11
vs.
Jered Weaver (2-3) 4.21 (1.39), 24/11
As you can see, these two have almost identical numbers aside from the records. Weaver has been up and down in alternating starts over his last four giving up five, two, five and two runs in that order. If the pattern holds true, a bad start is in order. His team needs him to go deep into this game and is usually good for at least six innings. Guthrie has been fairly consistent and hasn't given up more than three runs in a start since his first, so this should be a good pitching matchup. This is a tough choice, but I'll take Guthrie here in a very slight advantage due to his consistency and Weaver's lack of it so far this year. Advantage Orioles.
Daniel Cabrera (2-0) 4.14 (1.41), 21/21
vs.
Jon Garland (3-3) 5.94 (1.74), 9/12 *(L2: (1-1) 8.25 (1.92), 6/5)
If you take away the seven walks in his last start (literally winter ball), Cabrera's WHIP is 1.24. Don't be discouraged by the walks there, Cabrera should be on in this one on the warm west coast. Jon Garland has been mostly terrible so far this year especially in his last two starts as you can see above. This is an easy one for me, Advantage Orioles.
Steve Trachsel (1-3) 6.08 (1.78), 11/17
vs.
Joe Saunders (5-0) 2.08 (.946), 20/10
This too is an easy one. Trax against the Angels' best pitcher so far. Look at those numbers for Saunders. He has gone eight innings in four of six starts this year including four wins in his last four starts. He also has a WHIP under one through six starts. Trachsel will have to pitch shutout baseball for us to have a chance here and I just don't see that happening. Advantage Angels.
I am pretty sure about the last two being split, but the Guthrie/Weaver matchup could go either way. I think if Weaver is on his game, he's a little better than Guthrie is. I think that game will decide who wins this series. Guthrie has definitely been more consistent than Weaver and that is why I lean that way in this game. We pretty much know what we're going to get from Guthrie. Six innings or more and three runs or less. Whoever wins that game has the upper hand in this series because I don't think we beat Saunders especially with Trax going against him and I don't think the Angels beat Cabrera.
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