Game 47 Open Thread: O’s vs. Indians

When I was a kid growing up in Brook Park, OH in the ’60s and ’70s, my second favorite team behind the Indians was the Orioles. Not sure exactly why. But I remember loving to see Brooks Robinson — “the human vacuum cleaner” — making incredible plays routinely at third. Frank Robinson and Paul Blair ruled the outfield. Boog Powell hit moon shots. And their starting rotation wasn’t too shabby either. In 1971, their four starters — Jim Palmer, Dave McNally, Mike Cuellar and Pat Dobson — each earned 20 wins, a feat that unsurprisingly hasn’t been repeated since.

The Orioles are still my favorite team in the AL East. But I won’t be rooting for them during this current series.

Perennial under-performer and former Indian Ubaldo Jimenez will start for the O’s on Saturday at Progressive Field. He’s off to a bad beginning this season, posting a 2-5 record and 6.04 ERA thus far. In his last three starts, Ubaldo has turned in only 15 innings total and has coughed up a whopping 17 runs during that stretch.

The Tribe will send Danny Salazar (4-3, 2.32 ERA) to the mound, who will look to redeem his most recent start last Sunday when he had his shortest outing of the season. Danny lasted only 4.1 innings and gave up 4 runs against the Red Sox, who are only one game ahead of the O’s at first place in the AL East.