BALTIMORE ORIOLES GAME NOTES Oriole Park at Camden Yards 333 West Camden Street Baltimore, MD 21201 Sunday, September 16, 2012 Game #146 Road Game #72 Baltimore Orioles (81-64) vs. Oakland Athletics (84-61) LH Randy Wolf (2-0, 5.68 in AL) vs. RHP Dan Straily (2-0, 3.42) TODAY’S GAME: The Orioles and Athletics meet in the final game of their three-game set and the third game of ODDS & ENDS a nine-game, 10-day road trip that will also take the Birds to Seattle and Boston…The O’s are coming off a 5-2 Home 42-32 homestand against the Yankees (2-2) and Rays (3-0)…Birds have won 26 of their last 39 games…The Orioles’ 81 Away 39-32 wins in 2012 are their most since 1997 (won 98)…Since their loss July 17 at Minnesota which dropped their Day 27-14 record to 46-44, the O’s are 35-20, with 19 of the 35 wins being decided by one (11) or two runs (eight). Night 53-50 vs. LHP 24-15 VS. OAKLAND: The A’s lead the season series, 5-3…The Birds dropped the season series in 2011, 4-5, as the vs. RHP 57-49 Birds were 3-0 in Baltimore but just 1-5 in Oakland…The Orioles trail in the all-time series 244-249 (119-125 in Baltimore and 125-124 in Oakland)…The Orioles have not won a season series against the A’s since 1998 (8- Series Record 27-16-4 3)…According to Elias, Friday night’s game marked the first time since September 2, 1992 the O’s and A’s had First game of series 22-25 Last game of a series 25-21 faced each other this late in the season with both teams above .500. Last 10 games 5-5 HOUSE OF PAIN: The Orioles have lost 16 of their last 18 games at Oakland Coliseum dating back to 2008..The Win/Loss streak L2 Birds have been outscored 90-55 by the A’s in those contests…O’s pitchers have a 4.93 ERA and .276 opponents’ Longest win streak 5 (last 8/4-8) average, while A’s pitchers have a 2.69 ERA and have held O’s batters to a .228 average over the span…The Birds Longest losing streak 6 (5/26-6/1) are 8-29 in Oakland since the 2003 season. Most games over .500 19 (81-62) Most games under .500 0 (-) GOOD AFTERNOON: The Orioles are 27-14 in day games (12-8 at home, 15-6 on the road)…Their .659 winning percentage in day games is the best in the AL and second in the majors behind Cincinnati (34-17, .667). Extra innings 13-2 Shutouts 9-8 SERIES FINALES: The Orioles are 25-21 in series finales in 2012 (14-10 at home and 11-11 on the road). One-run games 27-8 Two-run games 22-13 AT HOME ON THE ROAD: In 14 games on the road, Manny Machado has batted .353 (18-51) with six runs, five extra base hits with four RBI…He is hitting .213 (16-75) with 10 runs, seven extra base hits and 11 RBI in 20 Lead after 7 innings 64-0 games at home. Tied after 7 innings 9-4 Trail after 7 innings 8-60 MINIMIZE THE DAMAGE: Last night’s loss marked only the second time since August 4 the Birds have lost Lead after 8 innings 66-1 back-to-back games…The Birds are 26-13 over that time…The last time they lost back-to-back games to the same Tied after 8 innings 12-2 Trail after 8 innings 3-61 opponent was July 27-28, also against the A’s. THE WEST IS A PEST: The Orioles have posted a 12-18 record (.400) against the AL West this season, putting Orioles score first 50-21 Opponent scores first 33-43 them on just a 65-win pace over 162 games…Baltimore is 69-46 (.600) against the rest of baseball, a 97-win Score four or more runs 62-16 pace over a full season. Score fewer than four runs 19-48 IMPACT GLOVE: From Opening Day through August 8, Orioles third basemen combined for 24 errors and Orioles homer 69-36 were last in the majors with a .914 fielding percentage (the team had a .980 fielding percentage, the worst in the Out-hit opponents 49-6 majors)…Since the Orioles selected the contract of Manny Machado on August 9, he has played every inning Equal hit total 12-6 at third base, making just two errors for the third-best fielding percentage among AL third basemen (.980) Outhit by opponents 20-52 and the Orioles as a team have made just 13 errors, for a .991 fielding percentage, first in the American Most hits in a game 18 (9/4) Fewest hits in a game 1 (6/18) League…The Birds have not committed more than one error in a game over that span after committing multiple errors in a game in 24 of their first 111 games…Both of Machado’s errors were throwing errors. No errors 44-29 With one error 25-23 RESTORE THE ORDER: With Thursday’s win over the Rays, the Orioles assured themselves of at least a .500 With two errors 10-7 st record in 2012…Their 81 win snapped a skid of 14 consecutive losing seasons…Prior to that skid, the O’s had 13 With three or more errors 2-5 losing seasons in their first 44 seasons. vs. AL 70-57 ROAD WARRIORS: The Orioles have 39 road wins this year, nine more than their total in 2011 (30) and their vs. AL East 35-24 most since 2004, when they won 40…The O’s have 10 road games left counting today…The 39 road wins are vs. AL Central 23-15 fourth in the AL behind Texas, New York and Oakland’s 40. vs. AL West 12-18 vs. NL 11-7 EARNING IT: The Orioles have played the most innings in all of baseball (1319.0)…The Athletics have played Largest home crowd 46,773 (4/6) the fourth-most in baseball (1314.0) and second-most in the AL…The Nationals (1318.1) are second in the majors. Largest road crowd 46,501 (9/2) GIVE US SIX: The Orioles are 64-19 (.771) when their starting pitchers go 6.0 innings or more…The Birds are ROAD TRIP just 17-45 (.274) when the starters work fewer than 6.0 innings. Record 0-2 BUCK-BALL: Since the start of the 2011 season, the Orioles are 49-30 (.620) in one-run games, the highest Team Average .238 (15-63) winning percentage in baseball (Giants are second at .598 (61-41)…Since Buck Showalter took over as manager Runs per Game 2.0 (4R/2G) on August 3, 2010, the Orioles are 61-35 (.635) in one-run games…With their 27-8 (.771) record in one run games Fielding Errors 0 this year, the Orioles are on pace to have the highest winning percentage in major league history in one-run games…The record is currently held by the 1981 Orioles, who were 21-7 (.750) in one-run affairs. Team ERA 4.50 (16.0IP, 8ER) SECOND-YEAR SENSATION: In Buck Showalter’s second full season as manager, the Orioles are on pace to Starters W-L 0-2 Starters ERA 7.20 (10.0IP, 8ER) win 90 games, which would be a 21-game improvement over last year’s 69-93 mark…In 2004, Showalter’s second full year in Texas, he led the Texas Rangers to an 18-game improvement and was named the AL Bullpen W-L-S 0-0-0 Manager of the Year…In Showalter’s second full year in Arizona (1999), he led a 35-game improvement…His Bullpen ERA 0.00 (6.0IP, 0ER) second full year in New York (1993) resulted in a 12-game improvement…The O’s are 184-180 under Showalter. Saves/Opps 0/0 PRODUCTIVE SEPTEMBERS: In three Septembers under Buck Showalter, the Orioles are 37-31…The 37 Best homestand 5-1 (3x, last: 8/24-30) wins are third-most in the AL behind Texas (43) and Detroit (42). Worst homestand 3-6 (6/22-7/1) Best road trip 5-1 (4/30-5/6) Worst road trip 3-6 (5/28-6/7) MAKING A GOOD IMPRESSION: In his seven relief appearances, rookie Steve Johnson is 1-0 with a 1.35 ERA (13.1IP, 2ER) and opponents are batting .133 (6-45) against him as a reliever…In his two outings as a starter, ON THIS DATE IN Johnson is 2-0 with a 3.00 ERA (12.0IP, 4ER) and opponents are batting .214 (9-42) against him. CAMDEN YARDS HISTORY nd THE SAVE-IOR: Jim Johnson notched his 42 save on September 8, the second-most in one season in O’s In 2009, Matt Wieters hits a two-run history (Randy Myers holds the record with 45 in 1997)…Johnson recorded his 30th save on July 22, becoming walkoff home run and the O’s win, 4-2, in the second-fastest pitcher (95 games) to reach 30 saves in a season for the Birds…Lee Smith recorded his 30th in the 9th inning.