Baltimore Orioles (86-59, 1st +10.0) vs. New York Yankees (74-69, 3rd -11.0) Trends Baltimore: +4, L10: 7-3 New York: +1, L10: 4-6 DH Game 1 (1:05) (QS=8)Kevin Gausman (7-7) 3.83 (1.34/.262), 73/35 vs. (QS=14)Brandon McCarthy (9-14) 4.13 (1.30/.283), 157/32 (21HR) Kevin Gausman: Gausman's one start against the Yankees came in July where he got the win in a five inning performance where he allowed only one run on four hits. He has not allowed a home run in three straight starts, but is 0-3 over the last four. THe orioles have lost the last four games in which Gausman started. He pitched well in his last start against the Rays where he went seven innings and allowed two runs on five hits and four walks. Gausman's right/left splits are kinda close with lefties having a .633 OPS and righties a .588. Gausman struggles with runners on base in general with a .304 BAA with runners on, .299 with RISP and .289 with RISP and two outs. He allows a .677 OPS with none on and either one or two outs including four of his five home runs this year. 2014 Home (9 starts) (4-5) 4.47 (1.29/.257), 2HR Career vs. New York (1 start, 5 relief) (3-1) 2.40 (0.87/.200), 2HR 2014 Day Games (10 starts) (2-6) 4.77 (1.46/.273), 2HR vs. Batter Brett Gardner 2/7, HR, RBI Jacoby Ellsbury 0/5 Ichiro (or "Ishiro" if you're Rick Dempsey) 0/4 Derek Jeter 1/3 Mark Teixeira 1/2 Brian McCann 1/2 Brandon McCarthy: McCarthy is 6-4 since being traded to the Yankees and has six quality starts in the 11 starts as a Yankee coming to a 2.79 ERA including a complete game shutout against Houston four starts ago. He has given up six home runs over that span with three of them coming in one game two starts ago against Toronto which was the second time this season that he has allowed three home runs in one game. Although McCarthy had a quality start in his last start of two runs in 6.2 IP against KC, he has allowed 11 runs over the last three starts totaling 19 IP along with 20 hits and five walks. We have quite a few guys that have decent sample sizes against McCarthy and some with minimal and aside from Cruz and Markakis, the prospects look pretty good. McCarthy has struggled on the road this season with all three of his bad starts as a Yankee coming on the road at Texas, Detroit and Toronto. The two other road starts came against the Rays, where he gave up four runs, but only two were earned and the other against Cleveland where he allowed four runs, but only one was earned. His numbers at Camden Yards are even worse albeit in limited appearances and he doesn't fare much better against the Orioles in general. Lefties are hitting .294 against him and righties are hitting .271 with 13 of his 21 home runs allowed. With RISP, he allows a .263 BAA and with runners on in general, he allows a .302. He has a .307 with none on and none out, a .304 with men on and two outs and a .250 with two outs and a man on third. 2014 Away (13 starts) (4-7) 4.54 (1.45/.304), 11HR Career at Camden Yards (2 starts, 1 relief) (1-0) 5.54 (1.92/.333), 2HR Career vs Baltimore (6 starts, 2 relief) (2-1) 4.50 (1.61/.295), 8HR vs. Batter Delmon Young (22 AB) .273, 2B, HR, 2RBI Nelson Cruz (19 AB) .158, 2B, 2RBI Nick Markakis (13 AB) .231, 2B, HR, 3RBI Adam Jones (11 AB) .364, 2B, HR, 3RBI Nick Hundley 3/9 .333, HR, 3RBI J.J. Hardy 2/6, 2B Alejandro De Aza 3/6, 2 2B, RBI Chris Davis 2/6, 2B DH Game 2 (7:05) (QS=9)Bud Norris (12-8) 3.92 (1.24/.250), 116/44 (18HR) vs. TBA Bud Norris: Norris has a horrible month of August ERA-wise putting up a 5.33 (1.26/.265), but somehow still managed to put up a 3-1 record. He allowed four solo home runs in his last start against the Rays and has allowed four runs in three of his last four starts, but the Orioles have won the last three games he has started in spite of that. Norris has been decent in limited action against the Yankees. He has been good at home, so hopefully those are the numbers that hold true. He allows a .259 BAA against lefties and a .241 against righties. He has performed fairly well this season with runners on base. He has a .185 with RISP, .192 with RISP and two outs and a .207 with men on and two outs. 2014 Home (11 starts) (6-2) 2.88 (1.19/.246), 5HR Career vs. New York (2 starts) (2-0) 3.60 (1.20/.237), HR vs. Batter Carlos Beltran (27 AB) .333, 5 2B, 3RBI Stephen Drew (15 AB) .400, 2 2B, 3B, 3RBI Chase Headley (14 AB) .357, HR, 3RBI Jacoby Ellsbury (10 AB) .100 Derek Jeter 1/5, 2B Brian McCann 2/3, HR, 2RBI TBA: Girardi will choose the starter of this game based on who he has to use in the first game. Chase Whitley, Esmil Rogers and Bryan Mitchell are all potential candidates. Mitchell is a very green rookie who was intended to be used in mop-up situations. He had a 4.37 ERA on the farm this season. Rogers is a veteran that has spent time as both starter and reliever over his career. He came over to the Yankees from Toronto and has put up a 2.66 (1.03/.213) line since coming to the Yankees after being horrible in Toronto. Rogers has made one start for the Yankees this season of five innings, one run, four hits and a walk against Cleveland back on August 8th. It was also the last time he has recorded a win this year. Whitley is also a rookie this season and in 12 starts and nine relief appearances, he has a 5.13 (1.44/.302). We have seen him twice this season and he has allowed seven runs on 10 hits in 4.1 IP. None of the three seem all that threatening with Rogers likely being the tougher of the three. Our magic number is down to eight and a sweep of the Yankees would seal the division, but it seems certain that we will clinch the division during this homestand. Double headers are hard to win, but as long as we can get one, I'll be happy. We face Shane Greene and Kuroda in the other two games in this series with Gonzalez and Tillman starting for us. Let's see if this team comes out smelling blood and puts the division away quickly.
Sweep of the Yankees would eliminate them but it wouldn't seal the division. We'd still need to take care of Toronto. We just need to avoid doing an Oakland. Gardner is hurt. Don't think he'll be playing today. It's possible though.
Man, De Aza is pumped up now that he's on a team that is playing games that matter. He is on fire and has given this team a shot in the arm. It's a little easier not having Machado with him doing this, but can he keep it up is the question?
Baltimore Orioles (88-59, 1st +11.5) vs. New York Yankees (74-69, 3rd -12.5) Trends Baltimore: +6, L10: 8-2 New York: -2, L10: 5-5 Game 3 (1:05) (QS=14)Miguel Gonzalez (9-7) 3.22 (1.30/.255), 101/46 (22HR) vs. (QS=5)Shane Greene (4-3) 3.57 (1.38/.259), 61/23 (7HR) Miguel Gonzalez: Gonzalez has not allowed a run in 15.1 IP and only one run over the last three starts and got the win in each of them. This is the third time this season that he has gone two starts without allowing a home run, but has never done three in a row. His left/right splits are close with lefties having a .691 OPS and righties a .666. He has a BAA of .226 with RISP, .163 with RISP and two outs and struggles with two outs and a man on third at .400. Let's see if he can have a third straight scoreless start. 2014 Home (10 starts, 1 relief) (4-3) 2.92 (1.24/.242), 10HR Career vs. New York (9 starts) (2-2) 3.81 (1.13/.229), 11HR 2014 Day Games (9 starts, 1 relief) (2-4) 3.98 (1.56/.291), 7HR vs. Batter Ichiro Suzuki (19 AB) .316, 3 2B, 2HR, 3RBI Brett Gardner (19 AB) .263, 3 2B Derek Jeter (15 AB) .200 Jacoby Ellsbury (13 AB) .308, 2B, RBI Shane Greene: Greene has allowed more than three runs only twice this season the most recent one came two starts ago against Boston, but he allowed two unearned runs in five innings against KC in his last start. He shut out the Tigers through eight innings about five weeks ago and he shut us out over 7.1 IP back in July where we didn't have an answer for him. He has pitched way better on the road than at home and has not lost a road start yet. The Yankees have also won every road game Greene has started. He has walked three batters in each of his last two starts while striking out only seven. Lefties are hitting .270 off him with a .661 OPS and have drawn 14 of his 23 walks. Righties sit at .248/.599 with four home runs to lefties and three to righties. He is holding opponents to a .212 BAA with RISP, .222 with RISP and two outs and he has yet to allow a run with two outs and a man on third this season. 2014 Away (5 starts, 1 relief) (3-0) 2.59 (1.12/.217), 3HR Career at Camden Yards (1 start) (1-0) 7.1 IP, 4H, 2BB, 9K Career vs Baltimore (1 start) (1-0) 7.1 IP, 4H, 2BB, 9K vs. Batter Alejandro De Aza 1/3 Ryan Flaherty 1/3 Nick Markakis 1/3 Steve Pearce 1/2 Nelson Cruz 0/3, 3K Our magic number is now down to five after dominating the Yankees in that double header. We couldn't figure out McCarthy, but got the job done in dramatic fashion in extras. The atmosphere for both games had some of that playoff intensity in the air and the Orioles thrived under those conditions. I thought that was very encouraging and these guys aren't letting up one bit. If I didn't know better, I'd say they were shooting for 100 wins. I also believe this is our first six game winning streak of the year. No matter what happens or who we lose, these guys just keep getting better. I think they are just as ready as we are for the post season to start. It should be an exciting October for Orioles fans and hopefully, our magic number will be two less after this one.
Baltimore Orioles (88-60, 1st +10.5) vs. New York Yankees (75-69, 3rd -11.5) Trends Baltimore: -1, L10: 7-3 New York: +1, L10: 5-5 Game 4 (8:00) (QS=19)Chris Tillman (12-5) 3.36 (1.23/.235), 133/63 (19HR) vs. (QS=18)Hiroki Kuroda (10-9) 3.91 (1.18/.255), 125/35 (17HR) Chris Tillman: Tillman has now gone 18 straight starts without allowing more than three earned runs, but he has failed to get through six innings in two of the last three. The Orioles have won the last nine starts that Tillman has started and he has won his last five decisions. Despite Tillman's bad career numbers against the Yankees, he is 1-1 in three starts against them this season with a 2.18 (1.11/.213) line. He is allowing a .222 BAA with RISP, .179 with RISP and two outs, .091 with the bases loaded, .208 with men on and two outs, but struggles with two outs and a man on third allowing a .296. 2014 Home (16 starts) (4-5) 2.62 (1.16/.228), 7HR Career vs. New York (13 starts) (5-5) 5.32 (1.60/.301), 9HR vs. Batter Jacoby Ellsbury (28 AB) .250, 2 2B, HR, RBI Brett Gardner (24 AB) .250, 2B, 4RBI Derek Jeter (23 AB) .348, 2B, 3RBI Mark Teixeira (18 AB) .333, 2B, RBI Stephen Drew (12 AB) .333, 2B, 3B, HR, 3RBI Hiroki Kuroda: Kuroda has not done well at Camden Yards in two of his three starts there. He gave up two runs on three hits with no walks in seven innings in his start at the Yards this year. He is coming off his worst start of the season despite him cutting back on throwing between starts to try to avoid running out of gas down the stretch. He allowed four runs on nine hits in 3.1 IP against the Rays, but has not walked a batter yet in September and has given up only two home runs since the beginning of August. Lefties are hitting .263 against him with 10 of his 17 home runs coming from that side and a .246 against righties. Lefties are also responsible for 26 of his 35 walks. He is allowing a .250 BAA with RISP, a .258 with RISP and two outs, a .294 with men on and two outs and a .375 with a runner on third and two outs. 2014 Away (13 starts) (4-4) 3.67 (1.16/.251), 4HR Career at Camden Yards (3 starts) (0-2) 6.60 (1.20/.290), 5HR, 0BB Career vs Baltimore (9 starts) (3-3) 3.07 (0.90/.229), 7HR vs. Batter Nick Markakis (28 AB) .286, 2 2B, HR, RBI Adam Jones (27 AB) .333, 2B, RBI J.J. Hardy (25 AB) .120, 2B, HR, RBI Kelly Johnson (23 AB) .348, 2 2B, HR, 3RBI Nelson Cruz (22 AB) .136 Alejandro De Aza (15 AB) .400, 2B, HR, 2RBI The magic number remains five in a tough game that was ended by Nick Markakis swinging at two pitches in a row that would have bounced off the plate and grounded out harmlessly to end the game. Shane Greene once again pitched well against us, but just couldn't get that tying run despite having chances to do so. I gotta say, aside from his defense, I like Paredes. I think he has a good approach at the plate and isn't over anxious. He could turn into a solid offensive player if he can keep this up and even better if he can continue to improve at third base. I hope to see a lot more of him through September. If he does continue to improve, he could make the decision about Hardy and Machado as far as whether Hardy is here next year and where Machado plays. I still think he's better at third and I would wonder if Paredes could learn SS, but I doubt that will happen.
Big come from behind win for the Orioles. Just shows that the term.....Next Man Up works in baseball also. Welcome to Baltimore Kelly Johnson.
Went to the game last night - really cool!! Kinda sucks there were so many Yankee fans there, but it was kind of expected with Jeter's last game. With that said - as I looked around the jam PACKED stadium, on a cool night, I couldn't wait until we play October baseball at the yard! Already have my 2015 deposit down, so I'll be getting my postseason tix!!
