One hot team and one team not so hot team and two hot pitchers headline this game. The Orioles are coming off three of four wins in a series against the Rays. The Phillies are on a 1-4 slide. Probable pitchers Kremer (10-4) for the Orioles and Sanchez (0-3) for the Phillies may have very different records but they have both been solid in July with Kremer pitching two games with only 1 earned run and Sanchez pitching three. Kremer’s stat line for July so far includes a 3.57 ERA and a 0.96 WHIP while Sanchez’s is even better for July with a 2.81 ERA and a 0.94 WHIP. You could say they are a saw-off for this match up. The available bullpen for this game for the Phillies is considerably better but will probably have to come in earlier as Sanchez has only pitched 6 innings twice this season.

The Phillies are coming off a ten-inning win Sunday night so won’t be as rested, although the Orioles will have to travel Monday from Tampa Bay.

The separation for these two teams starts with hitting and is clinched with team records as of late. The Orioles have scored 5.9 R/9 vs. LH starters while the Phillies only have 4.6 R/9 vs RH starters. The Orioles are in the top half of the majors for avg. and OPS in the last 15 days while the Phillies are in the bottom third for the same stats.

At the team level the Orioles are 31-18 on the road while the Phillies are 26-19 at home, the Orioles are 31-22 against teams with a winning record while the Phillies are 20-22, the Orioles are 35-21 in night games while the Phillies are 26-29 and finally the Orioles are 23-10 vs LH starters while the Phillies are 34-32 vs RH starters. It all leans heavily in the Orioles favor even though they are small dawgs on the money line.