masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgGame Preview
Orioles (45-63) at Toronto (51-56)

After losing three of four games vs. first-place Detroit, the O’s road trip moves on to Canada where tonight the Orioles meet fourth-place Toronto.

The O’s have lost six of seven, 13 of 17 and 26 of the last 39 games.

They are 17-37 on the road on the year and have lost 17 of their past 23 road contests.

Pitching Matchups at Toronto:
Fri, 7:22p – Jason Berken (1-9, 6.93) v. Ricky Romero (10-4, 3.53)
Sat, 1:07p – Chris Tillman (0-0, 6.75) v….Game Preview
Orioles (45-63) at Toronto (51-56)

After losing three of four games vs. first-place Detroit, the O’s road trip moves on to Canada where tonight the Orioles meet fourth-place Toronto.

The O’s have lost six of seven, 13 of 17 and 26 of the last 39 games.

They are 17-37 on the road on the year and have lost 17 of their past 23 road contests.

Pitching Matchups at Toronto:
Fri, 7:22p – Jason Berken (1-9, 6.93) v. Ricky Romero (10-4, 3.53)
Sat, 1:07p – Chris Tillman (0-0, 6.75) v. Brett Cecil (5-1, 4.36)
Sun, 1:07p – Brian Matusz (1-0, 1.80) v. Roy Halladay (11-5, 2.75)

The O’s have a chance tonight to start turning around their very poor record in AL East road games, which is 2-16. Baltimore is 14-27 overall in games within the division.

Among the O’s hot hitters right now, Aubrey Huff is 7 for 20 during a five-game hitting streak and, over nine games, is batting .333-1-9. Adam Jones is 8 for 21 with two homers and 5 RBI over his last five games.

Over a nine-game stretch, Nick Markakis is .361-1-10 and he’s batting .329 in the second-half. Matt Wieters is hitting .340 over his last 13 games.

The Blue Jays were off Thursday and before that were swept in a two-game series by the Yankees. Toronto has lost five of its last seven and is 4-7 over its last 11 games.

The Blue Jays got off to a good start this season and were 29-24 at the end of May. But they are 22-32 since.

Toronto is 29-25 in home games, but is just 5-11 in its last 16 games at Rogers Centre.

Toronto’s Adam Lind is second in the AL with 58 extra-base hits. Toronto’s Aaron Hill and the O’s Nick Markakis are tied for 5th in the league with 76 RBI.

The Orioles are 5-4 this season vs. the Jays. They are 5-1 at home and 0-3 on the road. The Orioles were swept three straight in early May at Toronto by a combined 16-10 score.

O’s hitters, 2009 vs. Toronto:
Andino: 4-9/0/1
Huff: 10-33/1/6
Izturis: 7-23/0/0, six runs
Jones: 12-41/2/5
Markakis: 9-38/1/4
Mora: 8-33/1/2
Pie: 2-6/0/0
Reimold: 4-18/2/5
Roberts: 9-39/0/6, four doubles
Scott: 9-25/3/6
Wieters: 1-7/0/1
Wigginton: 6-22/0/1
Zaun: 4-17/0/1

The O’s have a team average of .271 in nine games vs. Toronto. They have scored a total of 42 runs vs. Blue Jays pitching with 11 homers. The O’s team ERA is 3.78 on the season vs. Toronto.