Two months into the season, the Orioles will finally get their first look at the Toronto Blue Jays, a team against which they managed a pathetic 3-15 record last year. The Blue Jays presently sit on that plateau that the O's so desperately wish they could reach, namely the one where they have at least as many wins as losses. The Jays are managing this on the strength of some unearthly batting numbers, most notably the major league leader in home runs, Jose Bautista, who's following up on his 54 home run effort from last year with an even more impressive slash line this year: .360/.502/.773. It is June 3rd and a player has an OBP over .500. My mind is continually blown by this.
Other than Bautista, the Jays are loaded with other players who are enjoying good seasons for one reason or another. If you take out Adam Jones' slugging percentage (.462) the best on the O's is Luke Scott's .412. Toronto has five players who are out-slugging nearly every Oriole: Bautista, Yunel Escobar, Corey Patterson (sigh), Adam Lind and J.P. Arencibia.
So basically, good luck, Zach Britton, in your first ever start against Toronto. The Jays have stacked the lineup with righties and the only lefty in the starting lineup that Britton will see is Patterson.
Toronto's starter is Carlos Villanueva. He started off the year as a reliever, but a combination of injuries and ineffectiveness in Toronto's rotation have made him get his shot. This will be his third start on the year. Villanueva had a 1.48 ERA through 24.1 IP in relief. I would like a reliever with those numbers. As for his two starts, he's gone five innings in both, and he had a good start against New York (1 ER) and a sucky one against Chicago (5 ER). We're spotting him a little help in his third start with Felix Pie leading off.
Being as we are welcoming our friends from the north into town in this series, I leave you with this song about Canada by Mike, Crow and Tom Servo, from that classic Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode, "The Final Sacrifice." Go O's!
Blue Jays (C. Villanueva - R) @ Orioles (Z. Britton - L) | |||