With a win today the Orioles can guarantee a series split, but they have a tough task ahead of them with Mark Buehrle on the mound. Hopefully the White Sox will also have their hands full with Jeremy Guthrie. In his past four starts, Guthrie has pitched a total of 27.2 innings and allowed just six earned runs. Guthrie has never walked many over his career (2.3 BB/9 this season, 2.7 BB/9 career), but he's been even better since the All-Star break, walking just 2 (that's a BB/9 of 0.65. Fancy!) In the same time frame he has struck out 17, which isn't a ton, but makes for an awfully pretty K/BB of 8.5.
Ok, enough gushing. It's only four starts, after all. But it's easy to be happy with the starting pitching of late, as the last time through the rotation was simply fantastic, with Guthrie, Matusz, Arrieta, Bergesen, and Millwood pitching to a combined line of 34 IP, 25 H, 8 ER, 5 BB, 16 K. That's an ERA of 2.12 and K/BB of 3.2. It'd be nice to see more strikeouts overall, but hey, I'm not complaining. At least not yet.
Let's Go O's!