Last night's loss stunk. Being one strike from a win only to give up a go-ahead HR in the 9th is pretty rough and I'd love to see the guys full of fire about it tonight.
Jason Berken pitched well in his last start against the White Sox, allowing just two runs and lowering his ERA from 6.72 to to 6.49 (heh). His opponent, Fausto Carmona, is also bad at baseball. He'd been on a Berkenesque losing streak before winning his last start against the Mariners where he allowed just 1 run in 7 innings. Carmona allows less hits and home runs than Berken but he'll walk anything that stands still long enough. Hopefully the Orioles got the memo about his 5.4 BB/9 and take a few pitches.
Adam Jones is still out of the lineup. I miss him. Brian Roberts is back after getting last night off. You Melmo lovers will notice that all it takes is one home run to get your boy back in the five spot, although in all fairness when you look at who's below him there isn't much room for argument.
Five O's have faced Carmona in the past. Brian Roberts is 4-for-17 against him with 2 3B and 3 BB. Melvin Mora is 4-for-12 with a 2B and a BB. Luke Scott is 2-for-6 with a HR. Ty Wigginton has faced him only once and was HBP. Nick Markakis, who's already in a mini-slump, is just 1-14 against Carmona. Berken hasn't faced any current Indians in his career.
Let's go O's!