Last night was to have been the Orioles' fifth game this season against the NY Yankees. Instead, after the second straight rain out of a series opener between the two teams, they'll play their fourth game tonight. Brad Bergesen was to have dueled with C.C. Sabathia last night, and will do so this evening. However Chris Tillman's scheduled start will be skipped in the rotation due to soreness in his groin. Geeze, the injury bug seems to have it out for the Orioles!
This kind of thing goes both ways however. According to Jen Royle of Baltimore's 105.7 "the fan" (via Twitter), Sabathia is battling chills and a sore throat. Can you say "flu-like symptoms?!" Sabathia is planning on playing tonight, however the question is how effective will he be. Zach Britton appeared to be coming down with a similar malady the other night during his start, and it was a minor footnote in the grand scheme of the game. I'm sure that if Sabathia pitches the game of his life against the O's tonight we'll all be hearing about it for the next ten years. That aside, if Sabathia truly isn't feeling well the Orioles will have a golden opprotunity to get a leg up on their rivals from NY. In 20 career starts against the O's, Sabathia's only 14-2 with an ERA of 2.80. Yeah, I know...quite the buzz kill isn't it? Furthermore, Sabathia is 0-1 on the season; so of course tonight's game is already being billed as Sabathia being due for a win.
Hopefully the O's don't happily oblige in terms of Sabathia being due. However the fact is that they've dropped 15 of their last 19 to the Yankees. But there are some silver linings to this for the Orioles. First off there's Sabathia's above-mentioned illness. Speaking for myself, when I'm sick I have no choice but to bury myself in blankets on the sofa, drink plenty of fluids, etc. until I'm better. I'm just not one of those people that we all have in our offices that are able to continue with their everyday lives when they don't feel well. Secondly, Vladimir Guerrero and Matt Wieters are starting to heat up at the plate. While the O's only mustered one run in their last game (against the Twins), these two heating up is sending ripples throughout the lineup. Robert Andino is also starting to hit very well at the bottom of the lineup. The utility infielder that was once in Dave Trembley's doghouse is now hitting .308 on the year. Over the past three games, Andino's gone 7 for 9 (.778). This is key for the O's in terms of keeping rallies going. If the bottom-of-the-order is getting on and turning the lineup over, we might start to see more runs on the board as this translates to Roberts and Markakis coming up with guys on base.
The key to any game will always be the pitching. That means that Brad Bergesen needs to be on his game against potentially the best lineup in baseball (one of them at least). Granted he gave up two solo homers in his last start in Cleveland, Bergy's a groundball pitcher. He gave up those homers after he elevated his fastball. When he's throwing sliders and breaking balls, he's normally recording outs. This is not to say that Bergesen doesn't need to get better command of his fastball, however they don't call the Yankees the Bronx Bombers for nothing. If Bergesen is able to keep the ball on the ground, they can't hit it out of the ballpark. Perhaps that, combined with Sabathia not feeling well makes for an O's victory tonight.
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