BALTIMORE — The Houston Astros will get one more tuneup for the playoffs on Sunday when they meet the Baltimore Orioles in the finale of the
four-game series and the last game of the regular season at Camden Yards.Houston
(103-58) is headed to the American League Division Series to meet the Cleveland
Indians starting Oct. 5. The Orioles (46-115) are headed home after the worst
season in franchise history.Charlie Morton (15-3
Paul Molitor Jersey , 3.18 ERA) starts for the Astros. The Orioles announced after Game 2 of Saturday’s doubleheader — which the Astros swept —
that Jimmy Yacabonis (0-2, 6.00) gets the ball. Article continues below
...Morton came out of his last start after just one inning because of shoulder
issues and told the media Saturday that there’s still some tightness there. It’s
expected Morton will not pitch very long Sunday, but the veteran is looking
toward the playoffs.“Part of the difficulty is the mental side of it; sometimes
you just don’t feel right,” Morton told the media. “Sometimes you feel
something’s wrong when there really isn’t anything that’s that bad, and you have
to kind of accept that. I’m trying to loosen things up and get in a better spot
overall and try to get ready to pitch in October.”Morton has a 1-2 career record
with a 5.40 ERA against the Orioles.Yacabonis has filled in at times and made
spot starts for Baltimore as the team tries to convert him into a starter. He’s
been up and down but pitched well at times, just like Yefry Ramirez, who lost
Game 2 of Saturday’s doubleheader.Yacabonis has never pitched against in Astros
in his brief major league career.The Astros have shown some power in this
series, especially in the doubleheader where they banged out five homers overall
en route to their sweep of the slumping Orioles.Baltimore just hasn’t come up
with enough offense against the tough Houston starters, which has been a problem
for many teams the last few years
http://www.brewersfanproshop.com/authentic-robin-yount-jersey , but the Orioles have battled that issue all season.“We’re just not doing much
offensively against some good pitching (in this series),” Orioles manager Buck
Showalter said after the doubleheader.Sunday’s game also could represent another
bigger step in the rebuilding process that Baltimore began to undertake when it
traded off several players around the deadline two months ago.It could be the
final game for Showalter, who has been the team’s manager since August 2010 and
led them to the playoffs three times. Adam Jones, the face of the team in recent
years and one of its most popular players, is about to hit free agency, and GM
Dan Duquette’s contract, like Showalter’s, expires after this season.The Orioles
could let all three of them go and would be looking at a major rebuild. If so,
that would disappoint many fans because of how popular Jones and Showalter are
with them. So even though Sunday’s game means nothing to Baltimore other than
the end to a very trying season
Matt Garza Jersey , it could very well be the final page in a chapter of the team’s history. The Los Angeles Angels might be out of the running for a playoff
spot, but they can certainly factor in the American League West race.The Angels
open a three-game series against the AL West-leading Houston Astros on Friday
night at Angel Stadium, the first of 10 games against the reigning World Series
champions over the next month.The Astros (77-50) entered Thursday with a
one-game lead over the Oakland A’s and a 5 1/2-game edge on the Seattle
Mariners.Article continues below ...The Angels (63-65) have six games remaining
against Oakland and four against Seattle, which is chasing the A’s for the final
AL wild-card spot.Houston will send left-hander Dallas Keuchel to the mound in
the series opener. Keuchel is 11-2 in his career against the Angels with a 3.41
ERA. He’s 25-23 against the rest of the AL West.He won his only start against
the Angels this season, taking a no-hitter into the seventh inning on July 20 in
Anaheim before allowing one unearned run and two hits over 7 2/3 innings of the
3-1 win.He has won his past five decisions against Los Angeles overall with his
last loss coming on Sept. 11, 2015 at Angel Stadium.Keuchel (9-10, 3.59 ERA)
hasn’t been able to get his record over .500 this season, however.He had three
chances after moving to 9-9 in an 8-3 win against the Mariners on Aug. 1, but
had no decisions in his next two starts and then took the loss in a 7-1 defeat
against the A’s on Saturday.Keuchel gave up five runs and nine hits in 5 2/3
innings. Six of those hits were doubles.“They got in that momentum with really
good at-bats and double after double after double
http://www.brewersfanproshop.com/authentic-stephen-vogt-jersey ,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch told MLB.com afterward. “He didn’t need to make
perfect pitches, but he didn’t get the ball on the ground today the way he
normally does.”The series will mark the return of Houston catcher Martin
Maldonado to Anaheim. He was acquired from the Angels in a trade on July
26.Maldonado has three home runs in 16 games with the Astros after hitting five
in 78 games with the Angels.Reports have also surfaced that Los Angeles
outfielder Mike Trout could return Friday. Trout was on the 10-day disabled list
with a sore right wrist when his brother-in-law, Aaron Cox, died on Aug.
15.Angels left-hander Andrew Heaney is also looking to get over .500 for the
first time this season. He’s had six chances, but is 0-3 with three no-decisions
in those games.Most recently he missed an opportunity against the Texas Rangers,
allowing six runs and 10 hits on Saturday and leaving after 5 2/3 innings with
the score tied 6-6. The Angels went on to win 11-7.Heaney (7-7, 4.11 ERA) beat
the Astros in his two starts this season, both times to get his record back to
.500. Those are his only two decisions in four career starts against the
Astros.Heaney will try to lift his teammates, who have dropped five of their
past six games. In addition to being without Trout
Christian Yelich Jersey , left fielder Justin Upton has missed the past two games with a cut on his right index finger, forcing Angels manager Mike Scioscia
to go with a younger, more inexperienced lineup.“We have some guys who are
figuring it out as they play every day,” Scioscia told the Orange County
Register following a 5-1 loss at the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday. “These
guys need to play to figure stuff out.”
