The Baltimore Orioles have struggled at the plate recently. They are hoping that trend ends Friday when they open a three-game series against the Los Angeles Angels to start a 10-game road trip.
Baltimore (15-13) was held to three runs combined in its last two games, dropping a series to the surprising first-place Tampa Bay Rays in the AL East. The Orioles lost the deciding game of the series 4-2 on Thursday afternoon, failing to get a hit after the fourth inning."It was a well-pitched game on both sides," Orioles manager Dave Trembley said, "but (Rays starter Matt) Garza was better."
About the only person swinging a hot bat for Baltimore as this trip begins is second baseman Brian Roberts. He extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a leadoff single in the first, and is batting .350 (14-for-40) with two homers and seven RBIs in that span.
But Roberts is 0-for-5 lifetime against Angels scheduled starter Jered Weaver (2-3, 4.21 ERA), and the rest of his teammates have fared little better. While the right-hander did not pitch versus Baltimore last year, he threw 14 scoreless innings against the Orioles as a rookie in 2006, winning both his starts versus them at home.
And Weaver enters this game trying to build off his best start thus far, limiting Detroit to two runs in 6 1-3 innings of a 6-2 victory Sunday.
"That was Weav at his best, with everything -- slider, fastball, fastball command, changeup," catcher Mike Napoli told the Angels' official Web site.
Weaver will be trying to win consecutive starts for the first time since Sept. 15 and 20.
Los Angeles (18-12) split a four-game series with Oakland to maintain a share of the AL West lead, but is trying to regroup from a 15-8 defeat Thursday night in the finale. Napoli and Erick Aybar each homered for the Angels, who gave up just one run in their two victories, but 29 in the two losses.
Napoli has homered in three of his last four starts, and has a solo homer in three at-bats against Orioles starter Jeremy Guthrie.
Guthrie (0-3, 4.34) is again trying for his first win as he also hopes to avoid losing his third straight start. The right-hander gave up two homers and three runs overall in five innings in a 6-1 loss to the Chicago White Sox on Sunday, extending his streak of winless starts to 15 dating back to July 27.
"He had 45 pitches after the second inning," Trembley said. "He'd get to two strikes and didn't finish them off. They fought off some pitches and got deep in counts and he ran his pitch count up. The couple of home run balls, that just happens."
A lack of offensive support has also plagued Guthrie, who has seen the Orioles score just 12 runs in his six starts, five coming in one game. He went 0-1 in two starts against the Angels last season, yielding six runs and seven hits in 16 innings.
The Angels hope outfielder Vladimir Guerrero can snap out of his recent slump. He went 0-for-2 with a walk on Thursday, and is 0-for-10 in his last four games. Guerrero, though, is a lifetime .353 hitter with 15 homers and 48 RBIs versus the Orioles, and batted .341 (14-for-41) with seven extra-base hits and 16 RBIs in 10 games last year.
