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Both teams enter the series 8-7

Game 1: Friday, April 20, 2007 - 7:00 on Sportsnet

1-1, 7.07
vs
1-1, 3.66

Blue Jays: Burnett has gotten off to an inconsistent start this year. In his last outing against the Tigers, he allowed four runs on seven hits over 5 1/3 innings. Burnett was dominant for most of the game, but went through a couple of stretches where he lost the location on his pitches. He needs to work on keeping his pitch count low and avoiding the big inning so he can pitch late into the game. The right-hander hasn't faced Baltimore since 2001. In that start, he got the win after allowing three runs on five hits over 7 1/3 innings.

Orioles: Cabrera has done a good job of limiting the walks in his first three starts, posting a strikeout-to-walk ratio of nearly 4:1 (19 strikeouts, five walks). Cabrera has thrown at least seven innings in two of his three starts and has yet to allow a home run. The right-hander is 4-5 with a 4.16 ERA against Toronto for his career.

Game 2: Saturday, April 21, 2007 - 7:00 on Sportsnet

1-1, 2.03
vs
1-0, 3.95

Blue Jays: Towers got the results he was finally looking for in his last start versus the Detroit Tigers. Towers allowed only one unearned run on three hits over 7 2/3 innings. It was his first win as a starter since May 14, 2006. Towers shook off a rough first inning and retired 16 of the last 18 batters he faced, leaving to a standing ovation from the crowd at Rogers Centre. The 30-year-old righty spent his first two seasons in the Majors with the Orioles. He is 5-2 with a 3.38 ERA in his career against Baltimore.

Orioles: Loewen struggled mightily with his control in his last start at Tampa Bay, walking five and hitting a batter in 3 2/3 innings while allowing six runs (four earned) to more than double his ERA. Manager Sam Perlozzo said Loewen has a blister on his throwing hand that may alter his grip a bit, but Loewen refused to blame the poor outing on that, saying only that "there are no excuses," and "I need to do better." Loewen is 0-1 with an 8.18 ERA in four career games against Toronto.

Game 3: Sunday, April 22, 2007 - 1:35 on Sportsnet

2-0, 3.57
vs
0-1, 5.19

Blue Jays: In his last start, Chacin upped his career record against the Red Sox to 6-0 with an impressive outing in Toronto. Over 6 2/3 innings, the left-hander allowed one run on six hits with three stikeouts and no walks. In fact, Chacin has only issued one free pass in his three starts this season -? a testament to his improved pitch-to-contact approach on the mound. He'll look to carry that success over to Baltimore, where he'll face the Orioles for the first time this season. In six career appearances against Baltimore, Chacin is 2-3 with a 2.95 ERA.

Orioles: Trachsel continued a disturbing trend of Orioles starters exiting early by lasting just 3 2/3 innings on Tuesday at Tampa Bay. The right-hander faced just one batter over the minimum through the first three innings -- giving up only a single -- but imploded in the fourth, allowing six runs on five hits in the frame alone, managing just two outs before getting the hook. Trachsel is 3-0 with a 3.20 ERA in four career starts against Toronto.

Jays Injuries
Reed Johnson, BJ Ryan, Troy Glaus

Orioles Injuries
Ramon Hernandez, Jay Payton (could return anytime)

Jays Batting Leaders:
BA: Aaron Hill .327
HR: Vernon Wells, Alex Rios 3
RBI: Aaron Hill 11
R: Aaron Hill 10
SB: Vernon Wells 2
OPS: Aaron Hill .939

Jays Pitching Leaders:
W: Roy Halladay, Gustavo Chacin 2
Sv: B.J. Ryan 3
Hld: Jason Frasor 3
ERA: Roy Halladay 2.37
SO: Roy Halladay 15

O's Batting Leaders:
BA: Miguel Tejada .317
HR: Melvin Mora 3
RBI: Melvin Mora 12
R: Kevin Millar 9
SB: Brian Roberts 4
OPS: Kevin Millar .907

O's Pitching Leaders:
W: Erik Bedard 3
Sv: Chris Ray 5
Hld: Jamie Walker 4
ERA: Daniel Cabrera 3.66
SO: Erik Bedard 25

Jays Rankings:
Batting
BA --- R - OBP -- SLG - OPS - SB
.273 - 73 - .337 - .451 - .788 - 5
2nd - 3rd - 3rd --- 1st -- 2nd - 10th
Pitching
ERA - BAA -- OPS - SV - WHIP
3.74 - .236 - .692 -- 6 -- 1.20
6th --- 5th --- 6th -- 2nd - 3rd

O's Rankings:
Batting
BA -- R --- OBP - SLG - OPS - SB
.257 - 70 - .330 - .416 - .746 - 7
5th - 6th - 6th - 5th -- 5th -- 8th
Pitching
ERA - BAA - OPS - SV - WHIP
4.01 - .245 - .683 - 5 -- 1.34
9th --- 7th --- 5th - 3rd - 9th


Pitching reports from: http://toronto.bluejays.mlb.com/news/pr ... p?c_id=tor
Stats from espn.com

This series thread is awfully long and detailed. It's almost like you're compensating for something.

SmallTownJournalist303 wrote:This series thread is awfully long and detailed. It's almost like you're compensating for something.

Our lack of victories.

Touche.

I see us taking 2 out of 3 in the series.

The injuries will hurt us though. Let's hope for a quick recovery from both BJ, TG and RJ.

Good matchup of fireballers today. I think we will own Trachsel. Wild card is how good Loewen can be and AJ can be in the separate games.

Baltimore Orioles are better than a lot of people think. I am leaving open the possibility of us getting swept.

Cabrera is scary. He strikes hitters out, doesn't give up home runs, and can keep the ball on the ground. If he ever straightens out his command, he's AJ Burnett (or better). Unfortunately for the Orioles, he's already on his first year of arbitration at age 25, so he'll probably be a free agent by the time he fully pans out (if he ever does).

Michael Bradley wrote:Cabrera is scary. He strikes hitters out, doesn't give up home runs, and can keep the ball on the ground. If he ever straightens out his command, he's AJ Burnett (or better). Unfortunately for the Orioles, he's already on his first year of arbitration at age 25, so he'll probably be a free agent by the time he fully pans out (if he ever does).

O's fan here. Cabrera has cut down on the walks this year which has helped his game immensely. We'll see how he does with better competition this weekend, but I wouldn't worry about arbitration or what not. He's not a free agent until 2011 so its going to be awhile.

Our bullpen has been awesome this year, so if we have the lead, its essentially going to be a 6 or 7 inning game for our starters.

Good luck to you guys this weekend.

Yeah your team did the smart thing and pick up a lot of middle relievers, something our GM should have looked into.

Marcum sucks!

What a bad ending to that game. I can't believe they loaded the bases right up.

Bah the jays suck...Why do we have so many scrubs. I understand we got injuries issues but this is terrible.

Another heartbreaking loss.

These losses are gonna hurt in sept.

We need help in our bullpen. This is getting ridiculous. A guy with a walk rate like Zambrano's just does not work as a reliever.

With McGowan off to a good start in Syracuse it's tempting to put him in the bullpen. But we can't keep flip-flopping him at SP and MR.

I'm waiting to see what Vermilyea brings...where's League when you need him...

I'm hoping we make some waves for a veteran reliever in the next little while. Cordero? Lidge? Kim? Maybe even disgruntled fireballer Capellan.

Please someone explain why we kept Zambrano over Rosario.

The jays are doomed this year...

Ricciardi built a bohemoth with a glaring fatal flaw - our bullpen is awful, it makes our starting pitching look great.... The only problem is Ricciardi is too arrogant and "wise" to fix his ommision, and go out and get some relievers.

WHy didn't he sign Schoenweiss? Why not Speier? We had 10+ million to spend on pitching this offseason (offered it to Lilly and Meche), but we didn't end up signing anyone for over the minimum.... Our bench depth deteriorated rapidly, and now we have a bunch of acutal minor-leaguers trying to cut it every-day in the bigs.... and they're not even the reason we're losing games! the bottom of the order may actually be outperforming the heart!!!

this team is frustrating, but i can tell you already, with 4 late blown leads/saves already this year, this team has no chance at the Sox, Yankees, or playoffs

Yeah I really miss a lefty like Schoenweiss right now, and Speier is doing fine in LA too

We'll see what happens but It looks like nothing is going our way right now...

Another loss...

I don't know what it is about this year's team, but they are just damn frustrating to watch them when they are down. It's like they just don't have any will to battle back, and from their body language look like they aren't motivated. Only exception would be that game where they were down to detroit and almost came back.

With last year's team, you couldn't count them out til the last out. They'd claw their way back, even if it still ended in a loss. It is still early, and i'm probably being to quick to judge.