It's Time To Feast On Oriole

Tonight is the beginning of the end of the season for Toronto, for all intents and purposes. They face off against Baltimore tonight 9 games back with 12 to play.

Starting tonight for Toronto is Shaun Marcum. He will face rookie lefty Chris Waters. So, no Snider tonight. Also, Barajas is day-to-day, so maybe Thigpen will get a start. It will most likely be Zaun, and if he can squirm into type B status, that would be swell.

David Purcey faces off against righty Brian Bass tomorrow night. Bass was with Minnesota earlier in the year, and was aquired a couple weeks ago by Baltimore. The Jays should pound this guy, his stuff is AAA level.

In the finale, Jesse Litsch will face TBD. As we all know, the Jays usually struggle against TBD, as it usually a call-up with weak stuff. If it's a lefty, look out.

Baltimore has really seemed to put it in cruise control, putting together some impressive losing streaks the last couple months. Their offensive, as always, is lead by 2nd baseman Brian Roberts. Hitting around .300 with an OBP of about .380 and almost 40 steals, Roberts in an elite second baseman and leadoff hitter. He is the juggernaut that runs this team, so if the Jays can keep him of the bases (unlikely) and prevent him from running all over Zaun's weak arm (fat chance), then there is a chance of utter domination for 3 days.

Aubrey Huff is having an impressive season, putting up a .314/.370/.575 line with 3o+ homers, almost 50 doubles, and 100+ RsBI. I've always thought he was a solid player, but I never saw this coming. He still fields like Helen Keller, so if he plays 3B, enjoy.

Nick Markakis is probly the most dangerous hitter on the team. He has a line of .302/.402/.495 with 20 homers, 45 doubles, and 85 RsBI. His defense is also imprecable in RF, and he has an Alex Rios-esque arm.

Melvin Mora is the only other hitter who has done damage on a consistent basis this season. The rest of the line-up is rather AAA-ish.
- Ramon Hernandez & ex-Jay Guillermo Quiroz are the catchers.
- Kevin Millar plays first.
- John MacDonald-lite Juan Castro & Branden Fahey play SS.
- Semi-dangerous Luke Scott, top prospect Adam Jones, Luis Montanez, and Jay Payton man LF & CF in some capacity.

Their pitching staff is rather pathetic as well, as their top 2 relievers are no longer available. Chad Bradford was dealt to Tampa & Jim Johnson is out for the season. Jeremy Guthrie is the only respectable member of the rotation, and the Jays won't see him or Jay-killer Daniel Cabrera as well. The Jays offensive numbers should see a serious boost during this series.

This should be a fun series.