A schedule comparison, plus notes on Miley and the month of July

As the Orioles, Red Sox and Blue Jays begin play in August, the chase is on for the 2016 American League East championship with less than 60 games to play. Boston won the AL East in 2013, Baltimore in 2014 and Toronto in 2015.

In comparing the remaining schedules for each contender, the Orioles have the most home games remaining. That is a good thing since they are playing .698 baseball (37-16) at home this year. But the Orioles also have the most remaining games versus teams that are currently at .500 or better.

Here is a schedule comparison:
Orioles: 28 at home, 30 away, 41 versus .500 or better teams
Red Sox: 22 at home, 37 away, 37 versus .500 or better teams
Blue Jays: 25 at home, 32 away, 35 versus .500 or better teams

The Orioles have nine games remaining with the Red Sox (six at home) and six remaining with the Blue Jays (three at home).

Innings-eater: On this Orioles team, left-hander Wade Miley more than qualifies as an innings-eater. That should be a help. The more outs each night the starting pitches gets, the closer the team gets to a position where they can skip middle relievers and get right to the big three of Brad Brach, Darren O'Day and Zach Britton. Eating innings is a good thing.

Average innings per start this year:
6.0 - Chris Tillman
5.9 - Wade Miley
5.7 - Kevin Gausman
5.6 - Tyler Wilson
5.5 - Vance Worley
5.3 - Mike Wright
5.1 - Yovani Gallardo
4.7 - Ubaldo Jimenez

Last year for the Red Sox, Miley averaged 6.0 innings per start and he is even better for his career at 6.1 innings per start. From 2012 through 2015, he threw 194 2/3, 202 2/3, 201 1/3 and 193 2/3 innings.

Since the 2012 season, Tillman has an ERA of 3.76, Gallardo of 3.85 and Miley of 4.05. Miley is 16th in the majors in innings since 2012 at 904, with Gallardo at 828 and Tillman at 811.

In an interview on 105.7 FM The Fan in Baltimore, the Orioles flagship radio station, on Monday, Orioles executive vice president Dan Duquette said the club had pursued Miley before they actually acquired him.

"We had a couple of chances to get him along the way," Duquette said. "Once when he got traded from Arizona and then we tried to get him when the Red Sox traded him to Seattle. But those didn't work out. The pitcher he is similar to is Joe Saunders, who we picked up in 2012. A lefty that throws a lot of innings. There are not too many of these 200-inning pitchers, particularly left-handers, around the industry and Miley has done that twice.

"The stability of the last three spots of our rotation has been below league average. Our three, four and five starters, their combined work has been below league average. So to me, it is important to get stability from our rotation so we can get to our bullpen."

Bye-bye July: As the Orioles play their first game of August tonight, they are probably not unhappy that July is over. It was their worst month in the won-loss column. They started the month leading the AL East by five games and ended it with a half-game lead. It was easily their worst hitting month.

O's month-by-month breakdown:
April (14-9): 3.63 team ERA, .273 avg., .796 OPS, 1.48 HR/game, 4.70 runs/game
May (14-13): 4.15 team ERA, .242 avg., .725 OPS, 1.30 HR/game, 4.07 runs/game
June (19-9): 4.85 team ERA, .300 avg., .888 OPS, 2.00 HR/game, 6.60 runs/game
July (12-14): 4.27 team ERA, .235 avg., .664 OPS, 1.11 HR/game, 3.42 runs/game