Daniel Cabrera and Adam Eaton square off as the Orioles and Rangers close out their series with a lot on the line for the fading Texas squad.
Daniel Cabrera (4-8, 4.63) will take the hill for the Orioles vs Adam Eaton (3-4, 5.17) in attempt to extend their win streak over the Rangers. This will be a tall task for Cabrera considering his history against the Rangers (1-3, 6.08). There are times he just cannot find the strike zone which is very apparent in his 1.76 whip vs Texas. Cabrera needs to settle in early, because he has not been mentally stable enough to settle down when he is missing his spots.
Now onto Eaton.
Eaton has been somewhat of a morale booster. Getting your ace back in the rotation will do that. Unfortunately the Rangers have not always given Eaton the run support he needs especially after a couple starts off of the DL. Eaton sports a 5.03 era in Arlington, but the opposition is batting just .211 against him which tells me walks and errors have led to his high ERA.
The Rangers are going to ask Eaton to go possibly seven innings tonight as Robinson Tejada only lasted three innings last night. The Rangers bullpen did a decent job shutting down the Orioles until the letdown in the 10th inning that led to the 7-4 Orioles victory. Kris Benson, Baltimore's starter last night, on the other hand went a solid seven innings allowing only two earned runs which will set up the Oriole pen with a little rest for tonight.
Texas should get 3-4 runs off of Cabrera considering the history here: Hank Blalock (4-13, .308), Mark DeRosa (2-4, .500), Gary Matthews Jr (2-5, .400), Matt Stairs (3-8, .375) and Mark Teixeira (4-13, .308). Baltimore has not been so fortunate vs Eaton: Ramon Hernandez (0-2, .000), Corey Patterson (2-12, .176) and Miguel Tejada (1-6, .167).
The key tonight will be Eaton & Cabrera settling into grooves early on. Eaton has already shown he can and must continue to do so. With the A's and Angels continuing their surge ahead in the American League West, the Rangers are in a do-or-die spot heading into September.
I expect a pitching duel tonight and as inconsistent as the Rangers bats have been all year, they need to be able to rely on their ace if they are going to have any shot in the West. Tonight I look for the total to go under.
Dan - Given the Ranger numbers vs Cabrera its hard for me to justify a play on the Orioles. Texas bats are very unpredictable as they have never had a series that yielded an Over result for every game.
I'm on the opposite side of this game, I think Texas will get to Cabrera and then O's pen and Eaton will shut down the O's offense. I also like the over but think the Rangers will be you can thank for the over.