vs. TWINS, 4/07

Baltimore Orioles (2-0) vs. Minnesota Twins (0-2)

Streak / L10

BAL: N/A

MIN: N/A

Game 3 (7:05)

*2015 stats will be used for now

(QS=0)Ubaldo Jimenez (12-10) 4.11 (1.36/.257), 168/68 (20HR)

vs.

(QS=0)Phil Hughes (11-9) 4.40 (1.29/.293), 94/16 (29HR)

Ubaldo Jimenez: Despite his unpredictability and inconsistency, Jimenez still managed a 2.6 WAR season last year after a -0.5 the previous year. He hasn't been elite since 2010 and likely never will be again, but another year like last year would be alright. He walked 68 batters in 184 innings which helped him put up the best K/BB ratio of his career (2.47) and the best BB/9 of his career (3.3) which is a good sign, but can he follow it up with a similar year?

Jimenez by far was better at home last year at 6-2 with pretty solid WHIP/BAA and only six of his 20 home runs allowed. He has also been good against the Twins in eight starts and a relief appearance, but 20 BB in 53 innings isn't great. Whether the walk problem is truly a thing of the past is yet to be seen. He struggles against righties, but gives up more homers to lefties and wasn't all that great with RISP especially with two outs.

Pitch wise, Jimenez is at his best in the 16-30 pitch range with a .214/.341/.220, but the 16 walks drove up the OBP quite a bit. From 16-75, Jimenez keeps the BAA at .250 or below, but it's at .267/.347/.396 in the first 15. From 76-90 is when it really starts to get dicey for him as his slash is .361/.395/.504. No one in the current Twins lineup really hits him all that well except Dozier who is hitting .400 against him, so there's always that.

Splits & Sits

411 vs. left: .227/.310/.346, (13HR)

380 vs. right: .290/.353/.366, (7HR)

Bases Empty: .239, 8HR

RISP: .249

RISP w/2 outs: .294

Men on w/2 outs: .276

Man on 3rd, < 2 outs: .121

2015 Home (13 starts)

(6-2) 3.68 (1.19/.241), 6HR

Career vs. MIN (8 starts, 1 relief)

(4-3) 2.72 (1.28/.240), 20 BB in 53 IP

vs. Batter

Brian Dozier (15 AB) .400, 2B

Joe Mauer (14 AB) .071, RBI

Trevor Plouffe (13 AB) .154, 2B, RBI, 8K

Eduardo Nunez 1/5

Kurt Suzuki 1/5, S-HR, 2K

Miguel Sano 1/2, BB

Eduardo Escobar 1/2, 2B, BB

Phil Hughes: Once upon a time, Phil Hughes was a top five prospect in all of baseball and was the Yankees first round pick in the '04 draft. In a mostly relief role setting up Rivera, he put up a 3.03 (1.12) with a 2.5 WAR in 2009. Unfortunately, Hughes has never been consistently good as a starting pitcher except for the 2014 season where he posted a 3.52 (1.13) with a career high 4.3 WAR which was his best since the 2.5 in 2009. Hughes threw 209.2 innings and made 32 starts which was his best showing as a starter by far. Last season, he threw 155.1 innings to a 4.40 (1.29) and a 1.8 WAR giving up 29 home runs which was good for a career second worst mark topped only by the 35 he gave up in 2012.

Hughes was pretty bad away from home last year with numbers out of this world (in a bad way), but the home run distribution home/away and even right/left shows that Hughes is an equal opportunity pitcher who doesn't discriminate when allowing home runs. All have the same chance, so at least he's a generous guy. If he continues to be Mr. Nice Guy, the Orioles could have a very fun game in this matchup.

As far as pitches go, Hughes again shows to be equal in his distribution as he was pretty consistent with hits allowed throughout the whole game. What a great guy Hughes is! His strongest pitch window was in the 31-45 range where his opponent slash is .278/.310/.417. The OBP stayed low overall, but the slugging is in the .500's for the first 30 pitches and the BA is around .295. The Orioles have a chance to do some real damage against Hughes just as they have in the past as he hasn't been great for his career against the Orioles or at Camden Yards.

Splits & Sits

346 vs. left: .282/.301/.442 (14HR)

305 vs. right: .304/.321/.531 (15HR)

Bases Empty: .314, 20HR

RISP: .296

RISP w/2 outs: .296

Men on w/2 outs: .252

Man on 3rd < 2 outs: .444

2015 Away (12 starts)

(2-6) 5.10 (1.46/.319), 14HR

Career vs Baltimore (20 starts, 3 relief)

(8-5) 4.57 (1.40/.288), 19HR

Career @ Camden Yards (8 starts, 1 relief)

(3-2) 4.60 (1.33/.270), 5HR

vs. Batter

Adam Jones (51 AB) .176, 2 2B, 3HR, 8RBI

Matt Wieters (38 AB) .263, 2B, HR, 4RBI

J.J. Hardy (30 AB) .167, 2B, HR, 3RBI

Chris Davis (27 AB) .296, 2B, S-HR

Manny Machado (16 AB) .500, HR, 2RBI

Mark Trumbo (12 AB) .250, 2B, 3B, 2RBI

Jonathan Schoop 1/8

Nolan Reimold 1/5, S-HR, 2 BB

... and the walks continue; six walks to be exact with two coming from the still hitless Pedro Alvarez who is carrying a .375 OBP currently. What do we do with the Energizer Bunny in left field, though? I think he should continue to hit ninth so long as he's doing well and there's nothing forcing Buck's hand to move him to leadoff. Also, when are we going to put Jones on the DL? We have Reimold and we have Kim, so let's not be afraid to use them and let Jones heal up instead of trying to play through an injury that is clearly bothering him to the point that he can't throw or swing the bat to the best of his ability. Do the Orioles want him to tear something or what?

Meanwhile, the Twins offense continues to struggle to put good swings on the ball with only five hits. They did manage six walks, but whiffed 13 times. Every Twins starter struck out at least once with Rosario and Buxton striking out twice and Park contributing three strikeouts and a walk.

For Gallardo, the results were there, but the velocity certainly was not. It will be something to keep an eye on and it wasn't good that he walked three, either. Two hits is nice, though. Givens couldn't get through an inning which makes it two bad innings in a row for him. Perhaps Givens should be in Norfolk right now working on secondary pitches? Brach, O'Day and Britton threw 3.1 scoreless innings. They walked three, but eight of the 10 outs they got were strikeouts. This is the Twins, though. With the series win firmly in hand, the Orioles will now pursue the sweep against Mr. Nice Guy and will send Mr. Walk This Way to the mound in search of the broom.

Updated weather forecast for this evening:

4pm: 30% chance of T'storms

5pm: 50%

6pm: 40%

7pm: 70%

8pm: 70%

9pm: 40%

10pm: 30%

Temperatures in the mid 50's dropping into the upper 40's after 10pm. We may be looking at a rain out tonight. It rained a ton all morning today as well.

I'm seeing chances dropping to about 15% by 9pm.

This is the Twins one and only visit to Baltimore all season. I would imagine they will wait a long time to get this one in tonight.

Updated weather forecast for this evening:

4pm: 30% chance of T'storms

5pm: 50%

6pm: 40%

7pm: 70%

8pm: 70%

9pm: 40%

10pm: 30%

Temperatures in the mid 50's dropping into the upper 40's after 10pm. We may be looking at a rain out tonight. It rained a ton all morning today as well.

Not sure where you get your information, but the hourly forecast I'm looking at says:

4:00 p.m. NO RAIN (visibly confirmed by me from downtown Baltimore)

5:00 p.m. NO RAIN

6:00 p.m. 80% T-Storms

7:00 p.m. 60% Showers

8:00 p.m. 60% Showers

9:00 p.m. NO RAIN

10:00 p.m. NO RAIN

11:00 p.m. NO RAIN

Midnight NO RAIN

Temperatures at 9 pm and 10 pm: 54 degrees, 11 pm 52 degrees, upper 40s midnight and beyond.

Not sure where you get your information, but the hourly forecast I'm looking at says:

4:00 p.m. NO RAIN (visibly confirmed by me from downtown Baltimore)

5:00 p.m. NO RAIN

6:00 p.m. 80% T-Storms

7:00 p.m. 60% Showers

8:00 p.m. 60% Showers

9:00 p.m. NO RAIN

10:00 p.m. NO RAIN

11:00 p.m. NO RAIN

Midnight NO RAIN

Temperatures at 9 pm and 10 pm: 54 degrees, 11 pm 52 degrees, upper 40s midnight and beyond.

I have weatherbug on my tablet. It now says:

4pm: 80%

5pm: 90%

6pm: 80%

7pm: 30%

8pm: 40%

There are thunderstorms currently in the area and more coming from the west.

Glad to see Rickard with the chance to lead off.

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Would really like to see Hardy and schoop flipped here.

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That is a bit odd looking.

I love the fact Reimold is playing tonight.

I have weatherbug on my tablet. It now says:

4pm: 80%

5pm: 90%

6pm: 80%

7pm: 30%

8pm: 40%

There are thunderstorms currently in the area and more coming from the west.

630 and still no rain. Might want to dump weatherbug.

Could be a good test tonight. Hughes hardly walks people.

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Another pathetic crowd tonight. I guess I can't complain, since I'm not there either.

Attendance 12,564.

630 and still no rain. Might want to dump weatherbug.

lol, what? Your prediction at 6pm is wrong, too. Perhaps you should dump yours as well? Weather predictions aren't always accurate. There is rain all over the area, but it's missing the Baltimore area. Looks like luck to me.

There's our boy Gary!