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Orioles Game 77 Game Thread: at Padres, 3:40

David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports

The Orioles had a seven game win streak in April and a seven game win streak in May. It is towards the end of June and they now have a six game win streak. A win today would give them three months in a row with a seven game win streak. Even in the awesome 2014 season they never had a win streak of longer than six games.

Not that a seven game win streak means all that much in the grand scheme of things, even when it happens. You have to play well when you're not winning seven games in a row too. The Orioles have done so, although a hater might sincerely state the current running joke on Camden Chat of "Well, if you don't count their two seven-game win streaks they're just a .500 team."

Today's Padres starting pitcher, Christian Friedrich, is a lefty. This is concerning as the Orioles are bad hitters against lefties... though they're somehow 12-8 against lefty starters despite having a team OPS of only .741 (10th in the AL) against lefties. Friedrich has made eight starts and sports a 3.60 ERA despite a 1.556 WHIP. He's walked 25 batters in 45 innings.

That sounds like a guy who's due for some regression. Perhaps it will even start to hit him today as the Orioles continue their home run record chase. The Orioles will need at least some decent pitching themselves for this to really matter, of course, and it'll be up to Yovani Gallardo to provide that pitching. Who the heck ever knows what we'll get from him?

Today's Lineups

BALTIMORE ORIOLES SAN DIEGO PADRES
Adam Jones - CF Melvin Upton Jr. - CF
Jonathan Schoop - 2B Wil Myers - 1B
Manny Machado - 3B Matt Kemp - RF
Chris Davis - 1B Yangervis Solarte - 2B
Mark Trumbo - RF Brett Wallace - 3B
J.J. Hardy - SS Derek Norris - C
Francisco Pena - C Alex Dickerson - LF
Joey Rickard - LF Alexei Ramirez - SS
Yovani Gallardo - RHP Christian Friedrich - LHP