Series Preview: O's vs. White Sox (5-8 Sept)

Thursday, 5 September:  Miguel Gonzalez vs. Jose Quintana

As Gonzalez has not spent much time in the majors, he'll make his first career start against the Chicago White Sox.  From the Sox lineup, only Jeff Keppinger has 10+ PAs and he's OPSing just .282 over those PAs.  Additionally, Gonzalez has solid career numbers (.686 OPS) in September starts.  He'll definitely be looking to improve over his last start against the New York Yankees.

Just 24 years old, Jose Quintana will make his third career start against the O's - his second at Camden Yards.  Over those two starts, he managed just 10.2 innings (5.1 per start) and was hammered when he did pitch at Camden Yards (1.365 OPS).  Statiscally, September is his worst month of the season, as well.  No Orioles player has over 10 PA against Quintana, although Adam Jones has a homer in five trips.

Friday, 6 September:  Scott Feldman vs. John Danks

Feldman has racked up 66 innings against the White Sox in his career, although about half of his appearances have been as a reliever.  His numbers are not particularly exciting (they've been pretty middling and might be helped out by relief appearances).  Not a significant difference between his overall numbers and those against current White Sox.  Paul Konerko has a solid .938 OPS against Feldman in 26 PA.  Gordan Beckham also has good career numbers.  Fun fact:  Feldman has pitched to an identical .746 as both a starter and a reliever (although he's got nearly 600 more IP as a starter).

John Danks will make his 12th start against the Orioles on Friday night.  While his ERA/FIP are nothing to scream about, he's held the O's to a sub-.700 OPS and averages over 6 innings per start.  He's also been very good at Camden Yards, allowing fairly miniscule OBP and SLG numbers.  The O's will look to Brian Roberts (.949 OPS) and J.J. Hardy (1.058 OPS) for success.  They probably won't look at Adam Jones (1-27, .108 OPS).

Saturday, 7 September:  Wei-Yin Chen vs. Hector Santiago

Chen's career numbers against the White Sox are the kind of numbers you'd like to see all of the time.  He's had just two starts, but he's kept the White Sox to under a .600 OPS.  He also possesses good numbers in day games (Saturday's game will be at 1:05).  Only Jeff Keppinger has more than 10 PA, and he's got them to the tune of an .871 OPS (although he hasn't homered).

Santiago has 3 appearances against the O's, although just one start.  It's been a fairly eventful nine innings for Santiago, as well.  Over that time, he's allowed 3 homers, 3 walks, and has struck out 13 batters.  He has just a single inning at OPACY, where he struck out 2 of the 3 he faced.  No Oriole hitter has more than 5 PA against Santiago.

Sunday, 8 September:  Bud Norris vs. Andre Rienzo

Norris has one career start against the White Sox and the numbers from that game aren't that great.  Huge gap between ERA and FIP, mostly because Norris did not walk anyone or allow a homer in his 6 innings.  It's too small a sample size to make many intelligent conclusions, but take solace in the fact that Norris is generally a good September pitcher.

Andre Rienzo is a rookie who will make his first start against the O's (and at OPACY).  There isn't too much to say about him beyond the fact that he's been considerably better in his 4 night starts as opposed to his 3 day starts.