Orioles Magic

Friday, June 5 - Sunday, June 7

Baltimore Orioles (24-30) at Oakland Athletics (22-30)

Pitching Matchups

Friday: BAL - Jeremy Guthrie (4-4, 4.86)
OAK - Dallas Braden (4-5, 3.63)

Saturday: BAL - Jason Berken (1-1, 2.25)
OAK - Trevor Cahill (2-5, 4.33)

Sunday: BAL - Rich Hill (2-0, 4.15)
OAK - Vin Mazzaro (1-0, 0.00)

The Orioles quick run through the AL West continues in Oakland this weekend. The O's dropped 2 of 3 in Seattle and have recently seen their hitting completely disappear. This of course comes during a time where they actually pitched very well against Seattle. Just can never seem to get good hitting and good pitching going at the same time.

The Athletics have been a bit of a disappointment in this young season. With the addition LF Matt Holliday, and 1B Jason Giambi, along with some good young pitching, the A's were expected to contend in the AL West. Instead they sit in last and Holliday is already talking about how he would be alright with being traded.

You know your offense is strugg a ling when your catcher leads your team in batting average. That is the case with the A's and C Kurt Suzuki (.284, 2 HRs, 18 RBIs). DH Jack Cust leads the team in HRs with 8, and Holliday leads the team in RBIs with 33. As a team Oakland is hitting just .239 for the season, which is atrocious.

As mentioned before, the A's have some good young arms, and pitching is actually the reason the A's record isn't worse. The O's face their wins leader Dallas Braden tonight, who despite an ERA under 4.00, has a losing record, due to the A's inept offense. Braden also leads the team in strikeouts. On Sunday, the Orioles will hope to crack rookie Vin Mazzaro, who in his debut against the Chicago White Sox, gave up no runs over 6.1 innings.

Rich Hill takes the mound for the O's on Sunday. He is coming off a brilliant shutout performance against the Mariners on Monday. Jason Berken gets the start on Saturday, he has shown some potential in his few starts. The O's bats cooled against the Mariners but Luke Scott continues to hit the ball very well, but the O's will have a hard time getting the offense going against the good pitching they will face this weekend.