Weekend preview: O's at Boston

Game Preview Orioles (41-53) at Boston (55-39) The last time the Orioles played the Red Sox the series ended with two wild games. In the middle game of three, the O's went to the last of the 7th down 10-1 and rallied to beat the Sox 11-10. It was the greatest comeback ever in O's history. But the next day, the Birds took a 5-1 lead to the 9th and lost 6-5 in 11 innings. Boston scored four in the 9th to tie the game. Tonight the clubs begin a three-game series at 7:10 p.m at Fenway Park. The O's lost four straight at Fenway Park in April and are 1-6 on the season vs. Boston. The Birds have lost 13 of the last 15 games between these teams. Pitching Matchups for this series: Fri, 7:10p - Brad Bergesen (6-4, 3.51) v. Brad Penny (6-4, 5.02) Sat, 7:10p - Jeremy Guthrie (7-8, 5.12) v. Jon Lester (8-7, 3.87) Sun, 1:35p - David Hernandez (2-2, 3.55) v. John Smoltz (1-2, 5.40) The Orioles are 13-22 this season vs. AL East opponents, but are just 1-14 in road games vs. the East. Boston, which is 23-11 in games within the division, is 16-3 at home vs. the AL East. The O's are coming off losing three straight at New York and are just 1-5 on a nine-game road trip that ends this weekend. The Birds are 15-32 on the road in 2009. After scoring 21 runs in Chicago to start the road trip, the O's scored just nine runs in three games at New York. The Birds went 3 for 23 with runners in scoring position in that series. O's at Chicago: 21 runs, 37 hits, .319 ave, 15 extra-base hits O's at NYY: 9 runs on 24 hits, .240 ave, 6 extra-base hits A couple of O's are looking for their bats to heat up in Boston. Aubrey Huff has just eight hits in his last 54 at bats, while Nolan Reimold is nine for 54 and Matt Wieters has only four hits his last 29 at bats. Boston is coming off getting swept three straight at Texas by scores of 6-3, 4-2 and 3-1. Boston, which is just 1-5 since the break, was swept for the first time all season. The Sox are batting just .192 and have scored only 13 runs in those six games. Still, the Sox have the 4th best record in the Majors and a home record of 31-14. O's hitters, 2009 vs. Boston: Andino: 5-16/0/0 Huff: 4-28/0/2 Izturis: 2-12/0/1 Jones: 2-11/0/1 Markakis: 9-29/1/10 Mora: 0-5/0/0 Pie: 3-20/0/3 Reimold: 4-13/0/0 Roberts: 7-29/0/2 Scott: 7-22/1/2 Wieters: 3-8/0/1 Wigginton: 8-25/1/3 Zaun: 1-16/0/0 In seven games vs. Boston, O's hitters are batting .237 and have scored 30 runs with four homers. O's pitching ERA is 6.64 on the year vs. Boston. They have allowed 50 runs, 82 hits and 8 homers to Boston batters, who are hitting .317 this season vs. the Orioles.