Baltimore Orioles Rotation Returns to Wei-Yin Chen
Apr 3, 2014; Baltimore, MD, USA; Baltimore Orioles starting pitcher Wei-Yin Chen (16) throws in the first inning against the Boston Red Sox at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Mandatory Credit: Joy R. Absalon-USA TODAY Sports
Apart from Chris Tillman, the Baltimore Orioles starting pitching woes continued on Monday with a first game of the series loss to the Yankees 4-2. Failing to get through five innings was Ubaldo Jimenez, who once again had some good stuff with movement, but the issuance of five walks was his downfall.
While watching Jimenez, I love the great ball movement. But today I found myself thinking about how four years of watching these deep counts and free passes is going to drive me crazy, and I honestly think I get to crazy land slower than most O’s fans. But I do think he will figure this out sufficiently. He has to! There are 50 million reasons why he must!
And again, though the starting pitching dominates the talk of Orioles fans and has been, so far, the fulfillment of their greatest fears, the run production has been as large a problem. Really, four runs given up should not guarantee a loss – not to a team with the powerful lineup the Orioles run out on the field. But unfortunately, too many are not playing near their potential or historic averages. You never get a full line-up hitting perfectly on all cylinders, but right now the Orioles have most of their players underachieving at the same time. This will change … we just don’t want the hole to get too deep before it does.
So, in trying to find even a single good pitching performance other than those by Tillman, the Orioles look again to Wei-Yin Chen – coming off a first game, 12-hit attack by the Red Sox last week. And the rest of this paragraph is not going to encourage you either. You were warned! Chen is 1-3 lifetime against the Yankees with a 5.34 ERA in seven starts and 40.1 innings pitched. He has seen nine Yankees take him deep.
Against the current Yankees lineup, his record is not terribly poor. Many of those who hurt him most are now gone. Gardner is 5-for-9 and Soriano 3-for-4. Jeter has been reasonably contained. Of course he has not faced Brian Roberts, Brian McCann, or Carlos Beltran.
PA |
AB
H
2B
3B
HR
RBI
BB
SO
BA
Derek Jeter19
18
5
0
0
1
3
0
3
.278
Jacoby Ellsbury10
10
3
0
0
0
0
0
1
.300
Brett Gardner10
9
5
2
0
1
4
1
2
.556
Ichero Suzuki
9
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
.111
Alfonso Soriano5
4
3
1
0
0
1
1
0
.750
Francisco Cervelli2
2
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
.500
Kelly Johnson2
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
.000
The Orioles will be facing Ivan Nova, who gave up two runs on six hits and five walks over 5.2 innings in his first start this year – a 4-2 victory over Houston. He pitched four times against the Orioles last year with a 2.43 ERA over 29.2 innings, getting two wins including a three-hit shutout on August 31st.
Quite a number of the Orioles have good numbers against Nova, especially Matt Wieters who is 11-for-29 with four homers and Chris Davis with 8-for-23 with three homers. This might also be a good game to give Delmon Young a shot, as he has been 7-for-13 with two homers. Adam Jones, Nick Markakis, and J.J. Hardy are 1-2-3 of all MLB players in most times to the plate against Nova in his career (since 2010) …
PA |
AB
H
2B
3B
HR
RBI
BB
SO
BA
Adam Jones
39
35
7
2
0
0
3
0
8
.200
Nick Markakis
39
34
11
3
0
1
2
4
4
.324
J.J. Hardy
35
33
9
2
0
1
3
2
5
.273
Matt Wieters
33
29
11
3
0
4
7
4
1
.379
Chris Davis
27
23
8
1
0
3
9
2
8
.348
Delmon Young
13
12
7
0
0
2
2
0
1
.583
Nelson Cruz9
9
3
0
0
1
1
0
2
.333
Ryan Flaherty5
5
1
0
0
0
0
0
1
.200
Steve Lombardozzi4
4
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
.000