Coming off a disappointing series loss (for now) against Chicago, we come back home for three games against the red hot Rays. The probable pitchers for us are still up in the air, but here are some guesses. The TB probables seem accurate and it at least looks as though Burres will pitch Thursday against Garza.
Baltimore Orioles (14-11) vs. Tampa Bay Rays (14-11)
Garrett Olson (0-0) 0.00, 0/0
vs.
Jason Hammel (2-1) 4.32, 15/8
Garrett Olson will most likely be called up to make either today's start or Wednesday's start, but this seems to be the most likely matchup here. I am still concerned about Olson's control and Hammel has been pretty solid so far for the Rays. I'm not counting on much from Olson especially against this offense, so advantage Tampa Bay.
Matt Albers (2-0) 1.65, 10/3
vs.
Andy Sonnanstine (3-1) 5.28, 16/6 (L2: (2-0) 1.76, .784 WHIP)
Matt Albers seems to be the fresher of him and Jim R. Johnson, so I'm going to guess Albers gets the start here. Albers has been less successful in his last few outings than he was previously and I think he has a shaky start here if he is in fact pitching Wednesday. Sonnanstine is two starts away from his complete game three hit shutout against the very same White Sox we just faced. He has won his last two starts and gives Tampa Bay the advantage here as well.
Brian Burres (3-1) 2.49, 13/10 (L2: (2-0) 0.00, .909 WHIP)
vs.
Matt Garza (0-0) 7.62, 6/8
This looks to be the only sure thing as far as the matchups are concerned and fortunately, it is a good one for us. Garza has struggled mightily with control for the most part this year so far. He did OK in his last start against Boston, but not great. Burres has been great in his last two starts. I don't think he'll extend that scoreless inning streak too much, but he will post a quality start and I don't have too much trouble saying he will be better than Garza in this game. Advantage Orioles.
I think we drop two in this series. The Rays are extremely good this year and are red hot as of late. They have won six straight games sweeping both Toronto and Boston during their home stand. The Rays are on a roll plus our bullpen is not in good condition especially after last night's 11 inning game and it's not even finished yet. It will be interesting to see how the bullpen holds up because I think Olson is going to make them work again.
Also, I will start including WHIP with pitcher's stats at some point soon. It's easy enough to calculate and it's an important stat, so why not?
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