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Orioles Comes To The Trop, Rays Hitters Rejoice

The Tampa Bay Rays (74-62) face off against the Baltimore Orioles (54-81) in a three-game series at the Trop.

Things have not gone so well for the Baltimore Orioles (54-81) this season. After making numerous small signings and trades this offseason, the O's seemed on the verge of mediocrity. A winning record was far from an outrageous goal for the Orioles in 2011, but sadly, all that hope has since faded away. The Orioles currently have the worst record in the American League and the second-worst record in the majors, which if nothing else should give them a great draft pick next year.

The O's main problem has been their pitching; their staff has a collective 4.89 ERA, worst in the majors by a wide margin. Somehow, though, the Tampa Bay Rays have gotten incredibly lucky and will face the Orioles' three best starters in this series: Zach Britton (3.81 FIP), Alfredo Simon (3.96 FIP), and Jeremy Guthrie (4.55 FIP). While none of these three pitchers are ace material, they could still make the series interesting for the Rays.

The Rays are coming off a series loss to the Texas Rangers, and I'm sure they're glad to get out of the Texas heat and back to the air conditioned goodness of Tropicana Field.
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Friday, 7:10 PM: Zach Britton vs. David Price
Saturday, 6:10 PM: Alfredo Simon vs. Wade Davis
Sunday, 1:40 PM: Jeremy Guthrie vs. Jeremy Hellickson

Watch On: Sun Sports, WDAE 620

Photographs by cstreet.us, thelastminute, turtlemom nancy , fesek, kthypryn, justinwright, sue_elias, pointnshoot, and scrapstothefuture used in background montage under Creative Commons. Thank you.