Sept. 4-Sept. 7: Blue Jays vs. Orioles Series Thread

[Antithesis]

Toronto Blue Jays (76-57, conquering Kings of the universe) vs. Baltimore Orioles (64-69, losers of 8 of their last 10 games)

Probable Starters:

Friday @5:00 Mountain Time: TOR: Drew Hutchison, 13-2, 4.87 ERA; BAL: Ubaldo Jiminez, 9-9, 4.34 ERA
Saturday @11:00 Mountain Time: TOR: David Price, 13-5, 2.47 ERA; BAL: TBA
Sunday @11:00 Mountain Time: TOR: Mark Buehrle, 14-6, 3.53 ERA; BAL: Chris Tillman, 9-10, 4.87 ERA

I know I said something similar last time, but it has to be frustrating to be a Yankees fan right now. They destroy the Braves and Red Sox, win 5 of 6, and gain no ground on the Blue Jays. It's nice to have your team in the driver's seat, though it would have been nice to open up some breathing room for the division lead.

By now you all know that Marcus Stroman dominated (understandably so) in his rehab start recently. I have to assume that the Jays will use him in the rotation in some capacity. I don't think there's a lot of point in adding him to a bullpen where guys like Mark Lowe are already struggling to get into games.

Gotta love meaningful September baseball! For us scoreboard watchers, the Yankees play the Rays this weekend.

Stats Time!

Over his career, current Orioles hitters have the following stats vs. Drew Hutchison: 127 AB, 27 H, 6 HR, 38 K, 0.213 AVG, 0.268 OBP, 0.402 SLG, 0.670 OPS
Over his career, current Orioles hitters have the following stats vs. David Price: 193 AB, 58 H, 3 HR, 58 K, 0.301 AVG, 0.335 OBP, 0.430 SLG, 0.765 OPS
Over his career, current Orioles hitters have the following stats vs. Mark Buehrle: 204 AB, 60 H, 8 HR, 29 K, 0.294 AVG, 0.335 OBP, 0.490 SLG, 0.825 OPS

Over their careers, current Blue Jays hitters have the following stats vs. Ubaldo Jiminez: 214 AB, 46 H, 5 HR, 58 K, 0.215 AVG, 0.305 OBP, 0.355 SLG, 0.660 OPS
Over their careers, current Blue Jays hitters have the following stats vs. Chris Tillman: 217 AB, 68 H, 12 HR, 37 K, 0.313 AVG, 0.380 OBP, 0.562 SLG, 0.942 OPS

OK!

BLUE JAYS!

LETS!

PLAY!

BALL!

[Cali Panthers Fan]

The Orioles have completely fallen off the map. I don't think they have a whole lot of fight left in them, and their pitching has really left them out to dry lately. The Rays have been up and down all year, but they seem to be on an upswing right now. Hopefully they can hand the Yankees a couple of losses over the weekend.

Interesting to see the numbers between Hutch and Jimenez against the opposition. It could be a low scoring pitchers duel tonight between them. Whoever the O's throw out there in the 2nd game will probably get killed, and Tillman has been poor against the Jays, so I like our chances in that one. Tonight might be the only close affair all weekend.

p.s. OP, the series technically runs from Sep 4-6, not the 7th. Thanks for a great writeup!

[CroFlames]

Why even do these threads anymore? Jays just steamroll everyone anyway haha.

Even if their down 5 runs in the first

[bomber317]

Have to agree that this first game will be the most difficult. If the Jays can put up big numbers tonight, I would think that the orioles will be deflated for the rest of the series. (assuming that Bautista doesn't do something to rile up the Orioles)

I'm hoping Tulo can heat up his bat, then we'll have hitters 9 to 5 going hot (assuming Goins at 9). Pillar seems to be picking it up a bit and same with Martin. Seems that not having catch Dickey is allowing him to focus a bit more on hitting.

Not forgetting Smoak/Cola, it's too bad we can't combine the 2 into 1 person. Smoak's defense/switch hitter and Cola's bat.

[cavalera403]

I am going to call Joey Bats crushing a O'Day pitch and slowly walking around the bases backwards clapping the whole way around.

(I know this wont happen any where but in Jose's head but man i think O'Day is a tool)

[Sylvanfan]

I want to see what kind of whiner tactic Showalter uses in this series. His team has tanked hard so I'm sure they'll be the utmost of sportsman in this series. I'd bring in Aaron Loup and instruct him to throw at Chris Davis.

[cavalera403]

The way the umping has been lately I bring Loup in to start the game and drill Jones in the first, #beatthewarnings

[Racki]

This one could have some fireworks. Lots of bad blood between the two teams. Tulo hates Jimenez, Donaldson hates Machado and Joey Bats hates all of them. He especially hates Darren O'Day and Pacman Jones.

Problem with this is the O's might actually show up instead of rolling over like they have for the past two weeks.

[Enoch Root]

Since we're heading back into the AL East, I thought I'd look at the division since the Tulo trade. The Jays were in 4th place at the time, 8 games back. Since then, the teams have done the following:

TOR: 26-6
BOS: 17-15 -9.0
NYY: 17-16 -9.5
TBR: 15-16 -10.5
BAL: 14-18 -12.0

Yes, the Sox have the 2nd best record in the East. Other than the Jays, a whole bunch of .500 ball.

And across the AL, the top teams look as such:

TEX: 23-10
KCR: 20-13
CLE: 19-14
HOU: 17-16

Only Texas has kept within 6 games of the Jays.

And Cleveland has the 4th best record in the AL.

[Enoch Root]

solid 1st for Hutchison.

[cavalera403]

Pretty liberal strike zone through the first

[Enoch Root]

Watching the O's telecast. They were just talking about Davis having more homers on fastballs than any other player.

Next pitch, an over the plate fastball.

1-0 O's

[Enoch Root]

Good D from both teams in this game. Tulo just made a nice play, cutting off a hit up the middle, and Goins almost turned what would have been a crazy DP.

[whosurnabby]

Here we go. I think this is the perfect time to take advantage of having 0 outs and having GoGo and Pillar on base.

[Jbo]

Crap

[The Big Chill]

Aaand Hutch is falling apart.

[whosurnabby]

The lack of consistency for Hutch this year has been infuriating. I'm talking about whether he's going to strike out the side one inning, or completely lose you the game the next. So frustrating. You never know what Hutch you're going to get on a per inning basis.

[Cali Panthers Fan]

To be fair, Baltimore can still hit with the best of them. Pretty bad luck on the Revere play.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Cali Flames Fan

To be fair, Baltimore can still hit with the best of them. Pretty bad luck on the Revere play.

Sure but 6 solid hits in a row is on the pitcher and no one else - from either team

[Caged Great]

We usually suck against Jiminez though, so I'm not really surprised.

At least we know who is going to leave the rotation for Stroman.