Tonight David Hernandez will make his second start of the season and if he can perform as well as he did last Saturday the Orioles will have a chance to win (if they'll take advantage of that chance is anybody's guess). Hernandez's hometown is nearby Sacramento, CA so there may be a large Hernandez contingent in the stands tonight. Maybe we'll see a cute sign from his mommy, I always love those.
Hernandez has faced the A's twice in his career. On 6/6/09, Hernandez relieved Jason Berken after Berken gave up 9 runs in 3.1 innings. Hernandez was good that day, pitching 2.2 shut out innings with 4 strikeouts. On 8/11/09 Hernandez was the starting pitcher against the A's in Baltimore and pitched 6.2 innings with 6 strike outs and 1 walk. He allowed two solo home runs. That being said, Hernandez has only faced five current A's and none enough to put any stock in the numbers.
| PA | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rajai Davis | 4 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .250 | .250 | .500 | .750 |
| Kurt Suzuki | 4 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .500 | .500 | .500 | 1.000 |
| Mark Ellis | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Cliff Pennington | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .333 | .333 | .333 | .667 |
| Ryan Sweeney | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Total | 22 | 21 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .190 | .227 | .238 | .465 |
Opposing Hernandez is the A's big off-season acquisition, Ben Sheets. Sheets has been adequate in his two starts this season, allowing 3 runs in each while pitching 5 innings in his first start, 6 in his second. 4 strikeouts to 7 walks isn't a pretty ratio, but I'd imagine Sheets will continue to get stronger considering he didn't pitch at all in 2009.
Sheets has only pitched against the Orioles once, way back in 2003. In that one game, Sheets lost to the Rodrigo Lopez which leads me to conclude that he must be awful. A number of current Orioles have faced Sheets, however, when they all played together in the NL.
| PA | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ty Wigginton | 36 | 31 | 12 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 3 | .387 | .472 | .645 | 1.117 |
| Cesar Izturis | 22 | 22 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | .091 | .091 | .091 | .182 |
| Luke Scott | 16 | 14 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 8 | .143 | .250 | .357 | .607 |
| Garrett Atkins | 14 | 14 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2 | .429 | .429 | .714 | 1.143 |
| Miguel Tejada | 14 | 13 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | .154 | .214 | .385 | .599 |
| Felix Pie | 7 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5 | .000 | .143 | .000 | .143 |
| Brian Roberts | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .333 | .333 | .333 | .667 |
| Julio Lugo | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Total | 124 | 114 | 27 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 18 | 9 | 30 | .237 | .290 | .404 | .694 |
Thank goodness Wiggy is in the lineup tonight! I cannot say the same about Atkins, even in jest.
| Orioles | Athletics |
|---|---|
| Felix Pie - LF | Rajai Davis - CF |
| Adam Jones - CF | Daric Barton - 1B |
| Nick Markakis - RF | Ryan Sweeney - RF |
| Miguel Tejada - 3B | Kevin Kouzmanoff - 3B |
| Matt Wieters - C | Kurt Suzuki - C |
| Luke Scott - DH | Eric Chavez - DH |
| Ty Wigginton - 2B | Adam Rosales - 2B |
| Garrett Atkins - 1B | Travis Buck - LF |
| Cesar Izturis - SS | Cliff Pennington - SS |
| David Hernandez - RHP | Ben Sheets - RHP |
Let's Go O's!