A’s (71 -55) vs Orioles (68-58)
Oakland currently sits in the final AL Wild Card position but things are tightly bunched with three teams all within a three and a half games of the A’s.
Friday August 23
Camden Yards – Baltimore, MD
7:05PM
Probable Starters:
OAK: Dan Straily (R)
BAL: Bud Norris (R)
Moneyline: Baltimore -130, Oakland +120
O/U: 9
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Oakland
In fact, Baltimore is one of those teams so this series takes on even more importance and Oakland has not been playing great lately coming into Baltimore having lost the last two games of their series against Seattle. These teams met for four games back in April and Baltimore won three of them, a surprise because the series was in Oakland where the A’s play so well.
The A’s need to return the favour this weekend to build some distance.
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Starter Dan Straily has lost his last 4 decisions and the team is just 3-7 in his last 10 starts.
With Bartolo Colon on the disabled list he is being counted on more than before when his turn would sometimes be skipped. Straily’s biggest problem is that he is not economical with his pitches. 6 times in his last 10 starts he has failed to reach the 6 inning mark, sometimes even with just a run or two allowed.
That puts a lot of pressure on the bullpen to be pitching 3 and sometimes 4 innings in support so often.
Baltimore
Baltimore is looking to get back to the postseason but they have their work cut out for them. They sit three games behind Oakland and it would be a shame for them to not make the playoffs with 1B Chris Davis having such a tremendous year. With him leading the way the O’s are 1st in the Majors in homers and 4th in runs per game. [dfads params=’groups=10&limit=1&return_javascript=0′]
The pitching is not nearly as solid but they are putting their new trade deadline acquisition to work tonight.
That would be former Houston Astro Bud Norris, who is 3-1 with the O’s, with the lone loss coming in a rare relief appearance. He hasn’t been dominant but with an average of 7 runs of support per start he has been able to pitch the team to victory. As an aside he received as many as 7 runs of support in Houston just twice in 21 starts so I am sure he is enjoying the transition to winning baseball and appears to show no signs of fading amidst the spotlight of a race.
Further I am sure the Baltimore brass knew that he pitches his best in September which is just around the corner.
This is actually a huge series and I expect it will be well played. Baltimore definitely has the advantage on the mound and at the plate but neither of these pitchers are razor sharp so there will be some runs scored. Norris has never beaten Oakland but you can’t draw too much from that because he was pitching for the Astros until last month.
He breaks through that barrier Friday night.
O/U Pick: Over
Score Prediction: Baltimore 6 – Oakland 5
