O's game blog: O's hosts Angels to wrap up first half

The Orioles are back home tonight to host the Los Angeles Angels in the final series before the All-Star break. The Orioles are 31-13 (.705) at home this year and are 10-1-3 in 14 series at Camden Yards.

The Birds are 14 games over .500 for the season at 49-35 and 18 games over .500 in home games.

The Orioles won two of three in Anaheim from May 20-22 against the Angels, but Los Angeles won has eight of the last 12 season series between the teams.

In the series opener at Angels Stadium, Joey Rickard and Manny Machado hit back-to-back homers to start the game in a 9-4 Orioles win. Mark Trumbo and Chris Davis also homered in that game.

The next night, Matt Wieters celebrated his 30th birthday with a game-winning homer in the top of the ninth inning. His three-run shot with two outs gave the Orioles a dramatic 3-1 win over Angels on a night they seemed headed for a 1-0 loss.

"I think I'll remember this one," Wieters said of the birthday blast after that game. The O's had no one on base with two outs before that winning rally. They lost the series finale 10-2 on Sunday afternoon as Ubaldo Jimenez gave up six runs over 5 2/3 innings.

Jimenez (5-8, 6.95 ERA) gets the start again tonight versus the Angels, pitching against right-hander Matt Shoemaker (3-9, 4.40).

In his last start Sunday versus Seattle, Jimenez allowed six runs and six hits over 4 1/3 innings. He has allowed five or more runs in seven of his past 10 games. In 10 home games (nine starts) this year, he is 4-2 with a 5.85 ERA.

Shoemaker struck out a career-high 12 Orioles when he pitched 7 1/3 scoreless innings against Baltimore on May 21. In three career starts, he is 1-1 with a 2.25 ERA. Over 20 innings, he has allowed just 11 hits with no walks and 29 strikeouts. Yeah, not a bad ratio.

Wieters went 5-for-9 in that series and Jonathan Schoop was 5-for-11 with a home run. The Angels' Mike Trout was 3-for-12.

The Angels arrive to town coming off a three-game sweep of the Tampa Bay Rays. They outscored Tampa Bay 25-8. Before that series, the Angels had lost 11 of 13 games.

They are 36-50 overall, in last place in the American League West and are 5-12 versus AL East teams. Trout is batting .449 his last 13 games. C.J. Cron is batting .387 (12-for-31) his past seven games with five homers and 15 RBIs.

Los Angeles has scored 57 runs in the seven games of its current road trip, but a lot of that came last Saturday in a 21-2 win at Boston. Their team average is .323 on this road trip, where they went 1-2 at Boston before going 3-1 versus Tampa Bay.