Weekend preview: O's at Chicago

Game Preview Orioles (49-72) at Chicago White Sox (62-59) After playing three games at Tampa decided by four total runs, the Orioles move on to Chicago for the second stop on a nine-game road trip. Pitching Matchups for the Series: Fri, 8:11p - Jeremy Guthrie (7-12, 5.66) v. Gavin Floyd (10-7, 3.94) Sat, 7:05p - David Hernandez (4-5, 4.20) v. John Danks (10-8, 3.96) Sun, 2:05p - Jason Berken (2-11, 6.72) v. Mark Buehrle (11-6, 3.78) The Birds ended a five-game losing streak with Thursday's 8-7 win at Tampa. Brian Roberts hit his fourth career Grand Slam and Nolan Reimold added a three-run homer. Roberts, who has homered three times in his last five games, is working on a ten-game hitting streak. During the streak, Roberts is batting .383-3-10 with eight doubles. He has 18 doubles over his last 32 games. Nick Markakis is 17 for 40 (.425) over his last nine games with seven multi-hit games during the stretch. The Orioles are 5-14 in August, 9-24 since the All-Star break and 19-41 on the road on the season. The White Sox, who had Thursday off, are 2 ½ games behind Detroit for first in the AL Central. Chicago is 7 ½ games back in the wild-card race. The Sox are 19-9 over their last 28 home games and are batting .288 as a team in that stretch and scoring six runs per game. They are 35-28 at home on the season. The Sox are 2-1 on this homestand and have won four of six. Chicago is 9-8 in August and 17-16 in the second half. Gordon Beckham was the AL rookie of the month for July. Over his last 35 games, he is batting .341-4-26 with 16 doubles. Alex Rios, claimed off waivers by Chicago on August 10, is batting .276 in seven games with the Sox. Jim Thome enters this series with 563 career homers, tied for 12th all time with Reggie Jackson. Rafael Palmeiro is 11th on the list with 569 homers. Thome is 7 for 20 this season vs. O's pitching with three homers and 10 RBI. The Orioles are 3-3 on the year vs. Chicago, with each team winning two of three at home. The O's have out-scored the Sox 39-31 in the six contests. The O's team average is .306 this season vs. Chicago and the team ERA is 4.33. O's hitters, 2009 vs. Sox: Andino: 0-0 Izturis: 6-22/0/4 Jones: 5-22/1/3 Markakis: 11-25/1/5, 7 runs, 5 doubles Moeller: 0-3/0/0 Mora: 5-12/0/0, 2 doubles Pie: 2-7/0/0 Reimold: 5-11/0/3, 2 doubles Roberts: 8-25/0/1, 6 runs Scott: 6-19/1/6 Wieters: 0-9/0/0, 4 strikeouts Wigginton: 5-17/0/2