Quick Hits - Fast O's News & the Rundown...

The Baltimore Orioles lost a heart-breaker, though a very competitive game to the Detroit Tigers 4-1 yesterday at the Yard.

As much as I criticized the Orioles in the offseason for overspending on their bullpen, the performance of it illustrated why the money was well spent.

The Tigers were shut out for 11 plus innings until Kurt Brikins came into the game. Birkins had not pitched in a couple of weeks, and was on his way to getting out a bases loaded jam in the 12^th inning until Craig Monroe hit a monster grand slam that pretty much put the nail in the coffin for the Orioles.

Birkins looked like he was throwing well, but Monroe simply got a hold of a good pitch to hit and crushed it.

The Orioles looked punchless last night in comparison to Opening Day and during the Yankees series. The Orioles didn’t score a run in the game until the very end as Corey Patterson who was on third base, came home after a balk from pitcher Bobby Seay.

The Detroit bullpen was just as good as the O’s last night, and the game almost ended as the hot Kevin Millar hit a ball that looked to be gone in the 11^th inning, but landed a foot or short of the wall.

In light of the loss, there were bright spots:

• Adam Loewen: How much has he grown as a pitcher? He threw 5 shut out innings.
• Again, the bullpen – awesome. John Parrish’s sixth inning? Amazing.
  

The bad:

• The lackluster offense.
• Only 13,000 plus seats sold (I think it was emptier than that…)

The Baltimore Sun’s Jeff Zrebiec has a recap of the game, as does Jorge Arangure of the Washington Post.

It looks like Jaret Wright has no structural damage on his shoulder, but if Wright needs to be replaced in the rotation; Jeremy Guthrie will be put in that slot, not Hayden Penn. Right now, Jaret Wright is considered day to day.

He says about his shoulder: “It only hurts when I throw...”

*photo from the baltimore sun...