Coming off a four-game series against Minnesota where the Orioles lost three out of four games and were outscored 24-8, they hit the road tonight across the border into the Great White North where they'll be trying to rebound against Toronto. The Orioles have yet to win a game against the Blue Jays this season. The bullpen is turning into an overworked mess, like it does after the All-Star Break every year, and hitters not named Luke Scott seem to be generally incapable of making anything resembling solid contact. Things are so bad that some of us actually got worked up when backup catcher Craig Tatum was demoted to Norfolk yesterday. That's what it's come to.
Using absolutely no other information than the basic statistics of tonight's starting pitchers, let's guess at our chances tonight.
Looks like that'll be a blast. By blast I actually mean that Toronto's hitters will be blasting balls into the seats in the Rogers Centre. At least the Canadian chicks will be happy since we all know that chicks dig the long ball.
The O's have lost eight of their last ten and are 18.5 games behind the fourth-place Blue Jays. In the AL Central and NL East, the last place team isn't even 18.5 games behind the first place team (Cleveland 12.5 behind Chicago; Washington 15.5 behind Atlanta). I know I said yesterday that I was going to try to be positive today but then I looked at the run differentials. Toronto is at +16 and the Orioles are at -176.
Still, even bad teams have good games and mediocre teams have bad ones. Tonight could be the night. Go O's!