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Going into this series, Chad Billingsley was slated to make today's start for the Dodgers. But word has come in today that Billingsley has been placed on the disabled list due to pain in his elbow. In his place the Dodgers are sending out Stephen Fife. Fife made five starts for the Dodgers in 2012 and while his ERA was a lovely 2.70, he had a FIP of over 4. In six seasons of minor-league ball, Fife has put up an ERA of 4.14, though the last two seasons were in the Pacific Coast League. In his short time in the big leagues, he walked a lot of guys, although that wasn't the case in the minors. His K rate has been steady in both the majors and minors but isn't great at just under 7 per nine innings pitched.
For the Orioles, once again Jake Arrieta is taking the mound. I know that it's only once every five days that Arrieta pitches, but it feels like he's always out there. I'm trying to stay positive about Arrieta (and the rest of the starting rotation), but Jake isn't giving me much to work with. So far this year Jake has had a start where he walks everyone in the world but only gives up one run, and a start where he doesn't walk many but gives up five runs. So maybe today is the day where he manages to not walk anyone and not give up any runs. Or perhaps it's the day where he walks everyone and gives up a hundred runs, but let's not think about that.
All I know is that if the O's swing the bats today the way they did yesterday, when they scored 13 runs on 18 hits, 7 walks, and 4 homers, we might just be on our way to seeing a sweep.
Let's go O's!