Baltimore @ Oakland preview

Last Meeting ( Apr 16, 2010 ) Baltimore 2, Oakland 4

There’s no big secret or complicated formula to explain how the Oakland Athletics have won the first two games of their series with the slumping Baltimore Orioles. They’ve done what teams have done for years to find success - they've received great pitching and timely hitting. The Athletics will try for more of the same when the teams meet Saturday afternoon in the third game of the four-game series. Justin Duchscherer will be opposed by Baltimore’s Jeremy Guthrie, a hard-luck loser of two games as the Orioles hope to find something that can turn around this early-season freefall they’ve been experiencing. Oakland (8-4) has received great starting pitching so far this season. The bullpen has been their only problem - losing all four games, but they’ve pitched well while doing so. The starters have done so well that when Andrew Bailey closed out Friday’s win, it was his first save of the season. The Athletics actually had only two hits that drove in runs in Friday’s game, the big one being a two-run triple for Cliff Pennington. But that was enough as starter Dallas Braden made it stand up. The Orioles, on the other hand, haven’t been able to make anything stand up, even more frustrating because they’ve been getting solid starting pitching on a regular basis. Kevin Millwood gave them six good innings in Friday’s game, but Baltimore could muster only a two-run homer from Ty Wigginton in the fifth inning. That loss dropped the Orioles to 1-10 overall and was the team's eighth consecutive loss. Baltimore must find some way to start hitting in the clutch as its poor batting with runners in scoring position is just killing the team. Baltimore is finding so many frustrating things that it’s getting to be a tough situation. Millwood struck out nine in his six-inning stint and has given the Orioles three good efforts – but is 0-2 right now. The Orioles went 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position and dropped to an abysmal 10-for-78 on the season. The game ended with Nick Markakis in scoring position, but veteran Miguel Tejada couldn’t come through. At this point, the big question is what can manager Dave Trembley do to change things? Is there anything that can be done? The Orioles lost yet another player to injury as Felix Pie went on the disabled list Friday. Brian Roberts and closer Michael Gonzalez are already there. Right now, the Orioles can’t do much more than keep trying. That’s about it right now.