What do you call a game that's started by Rick VandenHurk and features a lineup containing Matt Angle leading off, and also Chris Davis, Josh Bell, Kyle Hudson, Pedro Florimon Jr and Craig Tatum? I'm not really sure either, but we're going to find out today. The original lineup didn't look quite as ugly, but Roch Kubatko reports that Adam Jones was scratched due to a swollen ankle. Elevate it, Adam!
The last time the Orioles faced Henderson Alvarez, the Blue Jays starter, was about a week and a half ago. They were blanked for eight innings and that was with closer to a major league lineup. This could legitimately be the day we finally get no-hit, for which we've been waiting for the last three years or so. It's still kind of amazing it hasn't happened with some of the crap we've trotted out in the intervening time. Alvarez is still 21 years old. I think that means he's older than Angle and possibly Hudson. Or at least he looks older than those fellows.
About all we can hope for is that VandenHurk sucks less than Jo-Jo Reyes did on that August day. It would be pretty hard to suck worse than 2.2 IP with 7 ER but we know any depth of suckitude is possible with this team. It'd be nice to see The Incredible Hurk fire off a few good starts to close out the season, just because I like his name and I think his story is interesting.
After losing last night to the Orioles, the Jays are once again below .500, so here we are again playing a game against a team with a sub-.500 record. So much for that 34 games in a row. The O's have yet to be swept against the Jays this year but they have lost two out of three in every series up until this one. A win today can change that, if only for one meaningless series at the end. A loss today and nothing changes. Nothing ever changes around here. Only the disappointing names and faces change, but nothing really changes.
| Orioles (R. VandenHurk - R) @ Blue Jays (H. Alvarez - R) | |||