O's stack the deck with right-handed hitters vs. Sabathia (updated)

Considering all the success that CC Sabathia has had pitching against the Orioles in his career, they have done pretty well against the Yankees left-hander this year. Sabathia faces the Orioles for the third time in 2012 tonight. In each of the first two starts he went six innings and gave up eight hits and four runs. Both times. He is 0-1 with an ERA of 6.00 against the Orioles in those games. He is 16-3 with an ERA of 2.97 in 24 career starts vs. the O's. Buck Showalter is putting out a lineup tonight of eight right-handed batters and Nick Markakis against Sabathia. Right-handed batters are hitting .251 against Sabathia with lefties at .234. "There are not many positive matchups with Sabathia out there," Showalter said. "We've only got three or four guys with much success off him, but a lot of clubs can say that. When you are dealing with a guy like him you don't really think about how the eighth or ninth might play out, out of their bullpen because until you get him out of the game, this guy will go 120 pitches. "I know Robby (Robert Andino) and J.J. (Hardy) and Jonesy (Adam Jones) have done some decent things off CC. He's a pretty special pitcher." Here is how tonight's lineup has fared vs. Sabathia: Markakis: 12-for-51 (.235) with one HR, five RBIs. Andino: 8-for-20 (.400) with one HR, three RBIs. Hardy: 5-for-14 (.357) with no HRs, two RBIs. Jones: 13-for-38 (.342) with 3 HRs, 10 RBIs. Reynolds: 1-for-7 (.143) with no HRs, two RBIs. Ford: 7-for-36 (.194) with one HR, two RBIs. Machado: 0-for-0 Tolleson: 2-for-3 (.667) with no HRs, no RBIs. Teagarden: 0-for-2 (.000) with no HRs, no RBIs. "I think one thing people miss about him is how much of a pitcher he is. You look at the percentage of fastballs thrown. His secondary stuff is outstanding," Showalter said. In the AL stats, Sabathia is third in win percentage (.765), tied for fifth in strikeouts per nine innings (8.9), tied for sixth in fewest walks per nine (2.1) and tied for ninth in wins (13). O's get off the deck: They stacked the deck and then tonight, got off the deck when they fell behind 2-0 to lead 3-2 after three innings. Mark Reynolds and Lew Ford hit back-to-back homers off Sabathia in the second to tie the game 2-2. Then J.J. Hardy's RBI double in the third gave the O's a 3-2 lead. The Orioles hit 11 homers through the first 20 innings of this series and have scored 16 of their 18 runs in the series so far via the longball. Reynolds has now hit five homers over his last five games, nine in the last nine and 12 over his past 24 games. He hit six homers in 80 at-bats in August and that was his most in any month until tonight. He now has hit seven homers in just 27 September at-bats.