Baltimore Orioles: Miguel Gonzalez to Battle R.A. Dickey

Apr 4, 2014; Detroit, MI, USA; Baltimore Orioles manager Buck Showalter (26) takes the ball to relieve starting pitcher Miguel Gonzalez (50) in the fourth inning against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

The Baltimore Orioles continue their road trip and early season immersion in the AL East with a three-game series in Toronto. The Birds now have a record of 9-9, while the Jays are a half-game ahead at 10-9.

Clearly the Blue Jays have the definitive advantage in the opening game tonight with the 6.26 ERA of R.A. Dickey against the Orioles’ Miguel Gonzalez with the higher ERA of 6.28!

Dickey was the National League Cy Young award winner for the Mets in 2012 with a 20-6 record. Last year, the current 39-year-old was just 14-13 for the Blue Jays.

Dickey has not had a great start for his 2014 season, apart from one very strong outing against the Yankees where they failed to score on him in 6.2 innings. The other three games that Dickey has started have all been very poor – giving up a combined 16 runs in 16.1 innings. He has also walked 15 batters this season in 23 innings, while giving up 23 hits.

Over the course of R.A. Dickey’s career, he has started seven games against the Orioles and is 2-4, with a 4.67 ERA. However, the current Orioles only have a combined career batting average of .236 against Dickey. There is really nobody who has hit him hard. J.J. Hardy would be about the best at 5-for-15 with a homer.

H

2B

3B

HR

RBI

BB

SO

BA

18

5

2

0

1

4

0

6

.278

16

3

0

0

1

2

0

4

.188

J.J. Hardy

15

5

1

0

1

3

0

1

.333

14

2

0

0

0

1

0

4

.143

9

2

1

0

0

0

4

1

.222

11

2

0

0

0

1

1

4

.182

9

3

0

0

1

1

0

1

.333

3

1

0

0

1

1

2

0

.333

4

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

.250

4

0

0

0

0

0

0

2

.000

3

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

.333

For the Baltimore Orioles, Miguel Gonzalez will be making his fourth start on the season. He has a 1-1 record – the win being in his last start against the Rays six days ago. There he pitched five innings without giving up a run. Prior to that he posted a six-inning quality start against the Yankees. But his ERA is still suffering from a season-opening shellacking by the Tigers with seven earned runs in 3.1 innings.

Gonzalez has really good career numbers against Toronto. He is 4-2, and over 48 innings has a 3.00 ERA. But most impressive is that the Jays have only ever hit .203 against him, and his WHIP is 0.98 – that will win a lot of games!

As can be seen below, none of the Jays can claim much success against him other than Adam Lind who is 8-for-16 with a homer. But that home run is the only RBI, so Miguel has minimized the damage even there. Edwin Encarnacion has two hits in 17 at bats, though both are homers.

H

2B

3B

HR

RBI

BB

SO

BA

Edwin Encarnacion

17

2

0

0

2

4

2

1

.118

Adam Lind

16

8

0

0

1

1

2

4

.500

16

2

0

0

0

2

0

3

.125

12

1

1

0

0

0

0

6

.083

9

2

0

0

0

0

2

1

.222

9

2

1

0

0

0

1

3

.222

7

1

0

1

0

0

2

0

.143

6

0

0

0

0

0

0

1

.000

5

1

1

0

0

0

0

1

.200

5

1

0

0

1

1

0

0

.200

5

1

0

0

0

0

0

1

.200

Could the Baltimore Orioles possibly find their lost power ability in Toronto? The Rogers Center is famous for long fly balls. Only the KC Royals have fewer home runs in MLB than the 10 on the season hit by the Birds. But home runs aren’t everything. In spite of this surprising lack of power, the Orioles still rank #8 of the 30 MLB teams in runs per game with an average of 4.33, which compares to a #5 ranking of 4.60 for the whole 2013 season.