Game 97: Angels (54-46) @ Orioles (39-57), 7:05pm

You might have missed the news if you shut off the TV in disgust after Kevin Gregg surrendered the grand slam last night, and I wouldn't blame you if you did. Here we are returning for another round of torture. Luke Scott is back on the DL, probably for the season, as he will either have to get surgery or attempt to rehab the partial labrum tear. Josh "Nugget" Bell has been summoned from the minors again. Ordinarily, a player can't be recalled within ten days of being optioned, but in the case of an injury there can be exceptions.

Tonight's Angels starter is Joel Pineiro, who has the highest ERA on the Angels staff by nearly a full run. He seems to be pretty much the definition of a hittable pitcher. He gets only about four strikeouts per nine innings and has a high BABIP allowed (.327). This is an impressive feat when you consider that LAAAOCCAUSAESMWU has the second-highest fielding rating on Fangraphs, so it's probably not a guy who's got bad luck due to bad fielders. It's just a guy who's getting bombed. Not the same kind of bombed that Orioles fans get while watching their games, though.

Speaking of getting bombed, and pitchers who make you want to get bombed, the O's starter is Brad Bergesen. His time as a starter this year has been U-G-L-Y he ain't got no alibi he ugly. The problem with Bergesen is once men get on base, because he strands only 56.4% of runners this year. The league average for pitchers is 72.6% stranded. So, roughly, for every seven runners that get on base, Bergesen allows one more runner to score than the league average. With a 1.44 WHIP, a lot of runners are getting on base. If there's one thing you can say in Bergesen's favor it's that he is probably a pitcher who is negatively impacted by the horrible defense that the O's have been throwing out this year - the worst in MLB by the same Fangraphs fielding metric.

This is possibly being alleviated somewhat tonight: Mark Reynolds is batting cleanup as the DH, with Bell at 3B, and Nolan Reimold is in left field. In fact, the only thing keeping this from being a downright respectable (by Orioles standards) lineup is that Craig Tatum is playing instead of Matt Wieters. Well, okay, Derrek Lee and his Izturisian OBP are still batting 5th but I embargoed myself from complaining about that, so I won't.

Two bad pitchers against two relatively bad offenses. Also, it's hot and humid and there is the potential for a lot of home runs. Maybe the O's will even hit some of them. Go O's!