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Price Check

A few things I'll be looking for during tonight's start.

1. Sustained velocity: I suspect that we'll see less pitches that go 96+ and far more that go 93-94. Neither of his prior two appearances came in situations where the team desperately needed him to go five innings. Now five innings is the minimum baring something tragic. I'm sure he's still going to be hyped up, but that hasn't been too much of an issue in terms of control.

2. Efficiency: right now Price is averaging roughly 4.6 pitches per plate appearance. That needs to come down and needs to come down by quite a bit. James Shields averages an entire pitch less per PA.

3. Off-speed stuff: Price needs to use his slider and change tonight. Thankfully the Orioles top hitters (Huff, Scott, and Markakis) are left-handed and Price can use his slider. His change needs to make an appearance as well, even if it's not as good as his other pitches, just to keep hitters off balance.

Otherwise I'm looking forward to see the first of many starts in Price's career, frankly I can't get enough of this image:

Price1_medium

(Photo by SRQMan)