Fade the Red Sox Tonight
Well... if you had Baltimore to be over .500 in August and in place to have a Wild Card spot, you probably should start playing lotto numbers or something. This was wildly unexpected in my opinion, and to top that off, they traded their best hitter away. Will it last and they make the playoffs, who knows, but they have a big series starting today.
Dean Kremer takes the hill for the Orioles. He's been a strong pitcher for the birds this year and has a 3.43 ERA. What I really like is that in his six-night starts, he has a 1.84 ERA. On the road, he has been doing pretty well too. He has yet to face Boston this season, so no real data to focus on there. He had a tough July, but started August well with a 6.1 inning start and no earned runs allowed. In a limited number of at-bats against the Red Sox, they've gone 8 for 28, so he hasn't missed too many bats.
Josh Winkowski starts for the Red Sox. He's been okay on the year, with a 4.68 ERA, but he has really struggled in home starts. At Fenway, he has six starts and has allowed 19 earned runs in 27.2 innings. Most of his starts have come during night games, but he has allowed a run basically every two innings. Against Baltimore, he's had one start and it did not go well. He went just three innings and allowed four earned runs.
Today is the day to back Baltimore. They've been playing so well right now. I'm only taking it through five innings though as I want no part of a bullpen implosion.