Coming into their twelfth game of the season against the Toronto Blue Jays, the Orioles are still looking for their first win against the team. In compiling an 0-11 run thus far the Orioles have been outscored by a margin of 65-23, which comes out to losing by an average of nearly four runs per game. So in addition to sucking, against these guys we inexplicably really suck.
Against that backdrop, Jeremy Guthrie takes the mound for the Orioles tonight. Guts commented on the official team website that he is "1-0 in the second half", so at least there's that. Countering for the Blue Jays will be Brad Mills, making his first major league appearance of 2010. He started two games last year and managed a 14.09 ERA in 7.2 IP, and this year has accumulated a WHIP of almost 1.4 for the Blue Jays AAA affiliate. Accordingly, we should all expect to get no-hit tonight.
ESPN.com's little Accuscore game predictor actually lists the Orioles as 52-48 favorites tonight, probably on the lack of strength of Mills. But home run-vulnerable Guthrie against this Blue Jays lineup could prove to be a bad combination for the Birds as they try to snap a four-game losing streak. Tonight's starters in the field...
On the bright side, it's highly unlikely that we can possibly watch anything more embarrassing than that Jake Fox at-bat a couple of games ago where he swung at the up-and-in fastball that hit him. That's my dose of optimism for the night. I'm reasonably sure we can't suck in an embarrassing fashion like the last two nights. Maybe we could manage to at least force Toronto's closer, Kevin Gregg, to record a save? That would be a moral victory if nothing else. At this point we have to take what we can get. Plus Gregg's WHIP is 1.40 and we are familiar with how great it is having a closer who gives up almost one-and-a-half baserunners per inning pitched.
Go O's!