Matusz Tonight

[OFFNY]

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BRIAN MATUSZ

IP:. 6.33

H:o 6

R:O 1

BB: 1

SO: 4

Pitches: 97 (63 Strikes, 34 Balls)

2012 ERA: 4.67

****************

BRIAN BY INNINGS:

23

12

22

8

17

8

7 * (1/3 of an inning)

[accinfo]

Im rooting for Brian. Hard. But this will be a tough task for him. He needs to settle in early and not put runners on. Hughes has been bad too, but he's home with a much better hitting team behind

him.

This was a very tough task that Brian Matsuz passed with much more then flying colors!!! Hopefully our bullpen does what they have done all year and closes this out. However there is nothing that can be taken away from Matusz effort tonight. Biggest stage in baseball, the Orioles are 0-4 going into night. Many good pitchers have choked in similar circumstances.

[OFFNY]

It's a bit ironic that we need Brian so badly to win this game tonight. He was horrid last season, and this season, he has ever so gradually improved with each start. Now we're throwing him in with the lions, on the road, after having already lost the first game of the series, and with a record of 0-4 in 2012 so far against the Yankees. A win is needed tonight, not only to improve or record to 15-9, but to give ourselves some much-needed confidence that we can beat these SOB's, and some much-needed credibility in validating our surprisingly good start to this season.

You've got the proverbial puncher's chance tonight, Brian. Do it. We're all in your corner, regardless of the outcome.

Thank you, Brian. And congratulations. You KO'd the Yankees when we desperately needed you to knock their blocks off.

[Il BuonO]

He was good. Mixed his pitches well, worked quickly and got out of trouble. Still like to see him go deeper, but he has improved with each outing and we need it to continue.

[tilgaham]

What was his velo like tonight? How did the movement look? How sharp was his command? For those of us who can't see it live! Also, did we get squeezed again???

[crissfan172]

What was his velo like tonight? How did the movement look? How sharp was his command? For those of us who can't see it live! Also, did we get squeezed again???

He kept the ball down all night with pretty good command. His fastball was 89-92 the first 6 innings (it dropped to 87 in the 7th). It had decent movement, though his fastball movement is never very noticeable. His slider and change-up looked good. He didn't throw his curveball very often, so it's hard to say how good that was. No...he didn't get squeezed for the most part.

[Va Beach O's fan]

The increase in fastball velocity has been the most exciting thing about his recent turnaround. The breaking ball has always been pretty good, but if hitters can sit on it because they aren't worried about your fastball breaking wind, it's not going to fool anyone.

He has been a little wild, but effectively wild. Tonight was probably the best he has been locating his pitches all season and that is a VERY good sign going forward.

[OFFNY]

It's a bit ironic that we need Brian so badly to win this game tonight. He was horrid last season, and this season, he has ever so gradually improved with each start. Now we're throwing him in with the lions, on the road, after having already lost the first game of the series, and with a record of 0-4 in 2012 so far against the Yankees. A win is needed tonight, not only to improve or record to 15-9, but to give ourselves some much-needed confidence that we can beat these SOB's, and some much-needed credibility in validating our surprisingly good start to this season.

You've got the proverbial puncher's chance tonight, Brian. Do it. We're all in your corner, regardless of the outcome.

Again, we're in a vulnerable position as Brian takes the mound tonight. The bullpen just went through 2 extra inning games in 3 days, having pitched 12.67 heats yesterday. In beating us 5 straight times last year, the Rangers scored 13 runs in 3 of those 5 games. They are pretty much universally regarded as the best team in the majors at the moment. And our starting catcher just caught every one of the 17 innings of yesterday's marathon game, rendering him almost certainly unavailable to catch tonight, save for an emergency (Paulino getting injured during the game, and the possibility of Exposito being sent down to AAA-Norfolk today).

But ...... Brian IS coming off of 2 consecutive solid performances. And, he will be going on an extra days' rest because of the day off that we had in between the Yankees and the Red Sox series. So once again, we have the proverbial puncher's chance in tonight's game. With our bullpen pretty severely dehydrated, and our starting catcher likely watching the game from the bench, it's pretty much Matusz or bust tonight. Do it again, Brian.

[Frobby]

I think Matusz either will pitch well, or be a sacrificial lamb in this game. Buck is going to leave him out there as long as he possibly can, even if he is getting hit pretty hard. Ditto for Pomeranz. The O's better bring the bats tonight, they are going to need them.

[OFFNY]

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RANGERS

Ian Kinsler - 2B

Elvis Andrus - SS

Josh Hamilton - LF

Adrian Beltre - DH

Michael Young - 1B

Nelson Cruz - RF

Mike Napoli - C

Brandon Snyder - 3B

Craig Gentry - CF

http://baseballpress.com/lineup.php

[OFFNY]

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BRIAN MATUSZ O (vs. RANGERS 5/07)

IP:. 5-Plus

H:o 10

R:O 7

BB: 2

SO: 4

Pitches: 103 (64 Strikes, 39 Balls)

2012 ERA: 5.91

****************

BRIAN BY INNINGS:

10

28

22

18

8

17 *

* Did Not Record an Out in the 6th Inning.

[Rene88]

Does anyone think Wieters would have gotten a better result? I am not blaming the new catcher, just a thought.

[tntoriole]

Does anyone think Wieters would have gotten a better result? I am not blaming the new catcher, just a thought.

Yeah, probably, although Wieters might have had trouble pitching more than five innings...but I think his fastball is probably better than Matusz's...lol

[Sparkwinder]

Yeah, probably, although Wieters might have had trouble pitching more than five innings...but I think his fastball is probably better than Matusz's...lol

It's entirely possible that Wieters would be the best pitcher on this team. I wonder if that would ever happen in this era: a phenom who pitched every 5th day, and played the field the other 4 days. Probably not for money reasons, but I'd love to see it. Closer to true baseball. And while I'm on the subject, get rid of the DH. Last century's biggest debacle.

[OFFNY]

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D-RAYS O (May 12th)

Ben Zobrist - RF

Sean Rodriguez - 3B

B.J. Upton - CF

Keppinger, Jeff - 1B

Brandon Guyer - LF

Luke Scott - DH

Elliot Johnson - SS

Chris Gimenez - C

Will Rhymes - 2B

http://baseballpress.com/lineup.php