Keith Allison-Flickr
The Baltimore Orioles will begin the second half of the season on a ten-game road trip on the West Coast. Their first obstacle will be the first place Oakland Athletics. This series was already one to look forward to in part of the events that happened between the two teams in Baltimore back on June 6th and 8th. It started with Orioles’ third-baseman Manny Machado getting what he claimed to be, tagged too hard by A’s third baseman Josh Donaldson that ended up clearing the dugouts. There was a second incident in the series finale on the 8th, when Machado let the bat “slip” out of his hands, almost hitting Donaldson at third, and again clearing the dugouts. This resulted in Machado being suspended five games.
Now the series shifts to Oakland, and the curiosity as to what will happen between these two teams starts to rise. Even though Machado apologized for the events that happened back in June, several A’s players were not very accepting of his apology. The Orioles are coming out of the break with a four-game lead in the A.L. East. It is not going to get be easy to keep that lead as the O’s will face all playoff hopefuls on this road trip.
Adam Jones will look to stay hot, after the break and build upon his .301 average and 16 home runs. In the June series, Jones went 3-11 against Oakland with a home run. Nelson Cruz, who only went 2-11 in that series, will also look to build off a hot first half of the season. Cruz has been the offensive leader for the O’s so far this season. He has a league-leading 28 home runs and 74 RBIs. One batter who will look to have a reversal of his first half is slugger Chris Davis. Though Davis still has 15 home runs and 48 RBIs, his .199 average is well below what he had this time last year and his overall career mark. Last season, Davis had an unbelievable first half and then struggled in the second half. This year, he is hoping that he can forget about his first half and get back to the hitting that had so many jaws dropping.
The Orioles will send Chris Tillman to the mound to try and take game one. Though his ERA is 4.11, Tillman had seven quality starts in his last eight outings. His last start came against the New York Yankees right before the break, and, although he went 6.2 innings and gave up only three runs, he failed to get any support from the offense and took the 0-3 loss.
The A’s will have a different look for the Orioles this time, as they will send newly acquired stud Jeff Samardzija. Jeff, who came over from a trade with the Chicago Cubs, has proven himself worthy of the “Ace” title. In his two starts for Oakland, he has gone 15 innings and given up only four runs while striking out 10.
The Athletics’ bats will look to keep their success against the Orioles as well. When Oakland took two of three from the birds in June, they scored 18 runs. Brandon Moss hit a grand slam in the second game; an 11-1 win for the A’s. This team has been on fire, but even with their 59-36 record, they are still only 1.5 games ahead of the Los Angeles Angels for first in the A.L. West. The A’s schedule, unlike the Orioles’, is more favorable for them to keep their lead, as they will take on the Houston Astros twice and then the Texas Rangers to end July.
The one question that is being asked before this series starts is whether or not Manny Machado will be tested. Has Oakland forgiven Machado, or are they waiting? The fans will probably show their “boo”-ing love for Machado, and they may influence the A’s pitching staff.
A.J. Risser is a writer for Couch Rider Report. Follow us on Facebook or twitter