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What a difference a day makes. If you're like me, you looked at that Chris Tillman vs. Justin Verlander matchup as sure to be a fifth straight loss. Now, having watched Tillman baffle a powerhouse lineup, the sky is the limit again. Or at least, it will be as soon as a couple of these other starters show the potential to be anything other than bad this year. Ubaldo Jimenez, it's your turn today. Have fun.
There is something just wrong about all of these weekday day games for the O's. Opening Day, you can understand, and the same goes for a home opener like today, but Friday, and tomorrow? That sucks. But if you're stuck at work and can't see a thing, worry not, because the un/underemployed and weird time zone crowd will keep the fire burning for you.
Though he's been around a while, and a lot of the Yankees lineup has also been around a while, Jimenez hasn't seen many Yankees hitters in his career. Being in the NL West and then AL Central will do that to a guy. Kelly Johnson, with 43 plate appearances, has seen the most of Jimenez and come away with an 8-for-33, plus nine walks. Brian McCann has an 8-for-25 with a home run. The rest haven't seen much of him. Hopefully they see nine innings of him today.
Chris Davis is the Oriole who's most faced Yankees starter Hiroki Kuroda. He's sporting a 5-for-20, which doesn't sound great, but the five hits include a double and two home runs, so that's something. Matt Wieters and Nick Markakis also have some nice numbers off Kuroda. Don't look at anyone else's, because they aren't good. Today's DH, Nelson Cruz, is 1-for-14, for instance. Yikes. And the Flaherty-Schoop-Lombardozzi trio at the bottom of the lineup is making another appearance. The "Flahrt" of the order, indeed.
Watch out for real human being Yangervis Solarte, who is playing third base for the Yankees. In the five games, he's played so far, he's batting .471/.526/.706. Not a bad start to a big league career at age 26. Yeah, it's five games, but that's five more awesome games than you or I are ever going to have in professional baseball. He's also got a great name.