Orioles Lose to Boston to Open Three Game Set, Smoltz & Wondering About Wieters

Red Sox Nation descended upon Baltimore once again, and for the umpteenth time, downtown Baltimore was transformed into a sea of red and blue. As well, the Red Sox once again beat the Orioles, 4-0, in front of 36,458 at Camden Yards on Monday. The victory for Boston was their EIGHTH straight win over the Orioles.

Jon Lester, who started the night at .500 at 6-6, was nothing short of amazing as he went seven shutout innings, allowed only five hits, struck out eight, and earned the victory. Jonathan Papelon averted a potential rally for the Orioles by pitching 1/3 of an inning for his 19th save. Baltimore had two runners on bases in the bottom of the ninth with two outs, and it looked like Melvin Mora was going to get a hit to perhaps avoid the team being shutout; however, Jason Bay made a diving catch to not only prevent runs from scoring, but close out the game.

Meanwhile, for Baltimore, Jason Berken pitched valiantly, but sort of went through the school of hard knocks facing a veteran Boston lineup. Berken went five innings, gave up four runs and took the loss for the Orioles, as he gave up a run in the opening frame, and then three more in the fourth inning.

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Orioles Get Beat By Fish Late...

The Orioles were down, but never out last night in Florida; however, when all was said and done, they ended up losing in the 12th inning as Emilio Bonifacio scored the final run off a Jorge Cantu line drive to left, 7-6.

Baltimore scored twice in the eighth, and three times in the ninth to tie Tuesday night's ball game at six; however, giving up the game in the twelth inning was their own undoing.

Everything started off as Bonifacio got on base via walk and then found himself on second thanks to a wild pitch by reliever Brian Bass -- who lost the game. Thereafter, Bass intentionally walked Hanley Ramirez -- who had hit a grand slam home run in the 7th to break open a 1-1 tie -- and then allowed the game-winning single by Cantu.

Cantu's liner was fielded by Luke Scott who then threw a rifle-like throw to home plate, but catcher Gregg Zaun could not hold on the ball and that allowed Bonifacio to tag home.

Orioles Lose to Boston to Open Three Game Set, Smoltz & Wondering About Wieters

Red Sox Nation descended upon Baltimore once again, and for the umpteenth time, downtown Baltimore was transformed into a sea of red and blue. As well, the Red Sox once again beat the Orioles, 4-0, in front of 36,458 at Camden Yards on Monday. The victory for Boston was their EIGHTH straight win over the Orioles.

Jon Lester, who started the night at .500 at 6-6, was nothing short of amazing as he went seven shutout innings, allowed only five hits, struck out eight, and earned the victory. Jonathan Papelon averted a potential rally for the Orioles by pitching 1/3 of an inning for his 19th save. Baltimore had two runners on bases in the bottom of the ninth with two outs, and it looked like Melvin Mora was going to get a hit to perhaps avoid the team being shutout; however, Jason Bay made a diving catch to not only prevent runs from scoring, but close out the game.

Meanwhile, for Baltimore, Jason Berken pitched valiantly, but sort of went through the school of hard knocks facing a veteran Boston lineup. Berken went five innings, gave up four runs and took the loss for the Orioles, as he gave up a run in the opening frame, and then three more in the fourth inning.

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A Tale of Two Former Cubs in Birdland...

Well, the Orioles got swept in Florida by the upstart Marlins in three straight games. While the opening game was thrilling, the next two contests -- um, not so much. I'm most know what happened in the next two games, but there's been a lot of ire focused on two players, both incidentally former Cubs.

Rich Hill and Felix Pie.

While the offense has come not through in the last two games, the attention on Wednesday was focused on Felix Pie's perhaps inadvertent delay in throwing the ball back to the infield that allowed speedy Emilio Bonifacio to basically score from second after an attempted throw by Matt Wieters sailed into the outfield.

Well, the next day, there was nothing short of a firestorm on local talk radio about the incident and pretty much every call wanted Pie excommunicated from the team. Ok, I know a lot of players make mental mistakes, but I guess Pie got hammered because of his less than impressive display in Birdland so far.

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Orioles Get Beat By Fish Late...

The Orioles were down, but never out last night in Florida; however, when all was said and done, they ended up losing in the 12th inning as Emilio Bonifacio scored the final run off a Jorge Cantu line drive to left, 7-6.

Baltimore scored twice in the eighth, and three times in the ninth to tie Tuesday night's ball game at six; however, giving up the game in the twelth inning was their own undoing.

Everything started off as Bonifacio got on base via walk and then found himself on second thanks to a wild pitch by reliever Brian Bass -- who lost the game. Thereafter, Bass intentionally walked Hanley Ramirez -- who had hit a grand slam home run in the 7th to break open a 1-1 tie -- and then allowed the game-winning single by Cantu.

Cantu's liner was fielded by Luke Scott who then threw a rifle-like throw to home plate, but catcher Gregg Zaun could not hold on the ball and that allowed Bonifacio to tag home.

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O's Sweep Phillies and My Life Wasn't in Danger at Anytime in Philadelphia...

Like I said, perhaps the Orioles should play the N.L. East more often; better yet, maybe the Orioles should petition Major League Baseball to move into the N.L. East and move from the complicated arena known as the A.L. East

On Sunday, the Birds continued their winning ways and won their fifth in a row as they defeated the Philadelphia Phillies, 2-1, in a razor tight game. Cole Hamels struck out ten and showed why he is the ace of the Philadelphia Phillies; however, Brian Roberts -- who hit the game winning home run yesterday -- came through in the clutch with the deciding RBI in the eighth inning, and an RBI single by Jones in the sixth sent the Phillies to a sixth straight loss.

Jeremy Guthrie came through for the Orioles despite giving up Greg Dobbs in the second inning. He earned the win, his fifth and went seven strong innings and only gave up a run. Jim Johnson pitched a scoreless eighth and George Sherrill got his 15th save.

The Orioles got a series sweep of the Phillies, and despite they not having Ryan Howard or Raul Ibanez in the lineup, it's quite an accomplishment.

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O's Win Fifth Out Of Their Last Six; Upend Philly...

The Orioles should play the NL East often.

Last night, up in the city of Brotherly Love, the Orioles upended the Phillies, 7-2. After giving up two runs in the first inning, Rich Hill settled in and helped out his own cause with the game-deciding RBI. He is now 3-1 on the year, while Antonio Bastardo took the loss for Philadelphia as he lasted seven innings and yielded four runs. Baltimore has won their third game in a row, and 5th out of their last 6.

Hill – the southpaw whose delivery looks like it should hurt – struck out five, and went 6 2/3 innings before being pulled due to injury. On Friday, he showed a lot of promise and why the Orioles seemed to want him for the past few off-seasons.

Baltimore went up 3-2, as Matt Wieters had a 2-RBI double to left center, and then Hill plated in Wieters. They scored once more in the 6th as Aubrey Huff plated in a run.

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Greed Isn't Neccesarily Good

It was poor out, and the weather sucked on Wednesday, but the Orioles got their fourth win in the last thirteeen games as they beat the New York Mets, 6-4 at the Yard.

Nick Markakis went 4-for-4 and Aubrey Huff had a go-ahead homer that made the difference -- a two-run shot -- but the talk yesterday was of Matt Wieters. Well, unless you've been under a rock, Matt Wieters hit his first major league homer and drove in his first runs last night off Met starter Tim Redding.

While driving around on business, it seems that the big issue -- or non issue of the day-- of the day (perhaps talk radio was bored) centered around souvenirs.

Notably what one should do with a home run ball -- speficially, the first one by Matt Wieters.

This is courtesy of Peter Schmuck's blog from the Baltimore Sun:

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O's Take Series from Mets Thanks to Huff's Walkoff Single in 9th

That was one amazing game last night!

The Orioles wrapped up a winning homestand as they defeated the New York Mets thanks to Aubrey Huff's game-winning RBI single in the 9th inning, 5-4.

Baltimore trailed 4-3 in the ninth against New York, and their closer, Francisco "K-Rod" Rodriguez came into close the game. It seemed that the Mets would take the win as Rodriguez had been nothing short of dominant in the 2009 season until Thursday night.

The deciding frame kicked off as rookie Matt Wieters doubled, and then was replaced by Felix Pie as pinch runner. Nolan Reimold walked, and then Brian Roberts dropped down a critical bunt along the third base line; thereafter, catcher Omir Santos tried to field the ball, but Felix Pie -- who was on second -- was called safe at third on a bang-bang play.

After a brief dispute by both David Wright and New York manager Charlie Manuel, Rodriguez walked Adam Jones to plate Pie, and struck out Nick Markakis. However, the next batter Aubrey Huff singled in the deciding run.

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Mets Take First Game of Three from the Orioles, 6-4

After taking two of three from the Atlanta Braves, the Baltimore Orioles – riding on a modest two-game win streak – faced a reeling New York Mets team; however, in the end, errors (three of them) did the Birds in as they lost, 6-4, in the first contest in a three game set.

Baltimore and New York were scoreless until the 4th inning; however, then everything started to go wrong with the Birds. With a runner on first and no outs, Brian Roberts had a ball hit by Carlos Beltran to him tailor made for a double play, but booted it.

For Jeremy Guthrie – who started the game for Baltimore – he’d sadly pay for Roberts’ untimely error. The Mets would use four singles and a sacrifice fly to plate in four runners.

The Orioles would cut the New Yorkers’ lead in half, 4-2 in the sixth inning, as Mets’ starter Mike Pelfrey – who was cruising – would give a two-run homer to Nick Markakis. The Orioles seemed prime to start a rally, but a double play and a Nolan Reimold lineout to left saved the Mets from any more damage.

New York scored twice in the seventh inning as Baltimore rioles once again got into trouble – this time allowing them to load up the bases. With one out in the seventh, Guthrie was yanked after allowing a single to Luis Castillo, and Alberto Castillo allowed back to back singles to Alex Cora and Fernando Martinez to load the bases.

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Sammy Sosa, Say It Ain't So? Flunked Test in '03

... actually, is anyone even surprised by this or any steroid allegations anymore? Well, scratch another guy out of the Hall of Fame. I guess that's why he completely stunk while in Baltimore.

NEW YORK (SI.com) -- Sammy Sosa, whose memorable home run race with Mark McGwire in 1998 is credited with helping revive baseball after the 1994 players' strike, tested positive for steroids in 2003, according to the New York Times. The Times cited "lawyers with knowledge of the drug-testing results from that year."

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Orioles Take Series from Braves; The Mets Are Next...

The Baltimore Orioles got their second decisive win in as many days by whipping the Atlanta Braves, 11-2. Rookie pitcher Brad Bergesen continues to impress everyone as he pitched his first ever career complete game -- throwing 112 pitches, and allowing two runs (both off solo home runs by David Ross in the seventh and ninth innings). Crazy enough, the Orioles seem to pre-destined to lose on Sundays -- however, the win bucked a painful trend for a week or so.

There can't be much more said about the performance of Bergesen -- he threw strikes, and his defense backed him up. Although he doesn't throw hard, Bergesen's got superior command and control; therefore, if he's on -- like he was on Sunday -- and has his offense behind him, the Orioles could have a potential top-of the rotation guy supporting them.

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O's Lose Opening Game of Series to Braves; Increased Police Around the Park & Downtown...

The Orioles once again struggled on the offensive front Friday night, and suffered yet another loss, this time to the Atlanta Braves by a score of 7-2. On paper, the Orioles should have done a lot more than score two runs as they had twelve hits and had the bases loaded at times; however, the aforemetioned lack of offense doomed Baltimore and gave Atlanta uber-prospect Tommy Hanson his first MLB win.

Jason Berken was off and got hammered; therefore, he was saddled with the loss. Berken only lasted 4 1/3 innings, and seemingly hit a wall in the fifth, as he gave up two runs in the frame as well as struggled to get anyone out. Berken's opponent on the mound -- Tommy Hanson -- went 5 2/3 innings and gave nine hits, walked five, and struck out five. The Atlanta bullpen -- Pete Moylan, Eric O'Flaherty, Rafael Soriano and Mike Gonzalez -- kept the Baltimore bats quiet for the remainder of the game.

Atlanta's Brian McCann had 4 hits, and drove in two; meanwhile, Yunel Esobar scored three times and Barbaro Canizares along with Nate McLouth had two hits each. For Baltimore, Nick Markakis, Oscar Salazar and Mick Markakis had two hits each.

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O's Lose Last Night to Mariners; Uehara, Wieters & Attendance

A couple of weeks ago, most fans were on a wave of excitement as the Orioles were hot, Luke Scott was hitting homers like there was no tomorrow, and the kids from Norfolk were going to be all right. However, after starting play on the West Coast and coming home, the Orioles have struggled to score runs, and the affliction caught up with them again as former Oriole Garrett Olson and resurgent bat of Russell Branyan led Seattle over Baltimore, 6-3.

Koji Uehara -- who just came off the disabled list and started the game for Baltimore -- was solid for the first two innings; however, after a rain delay of a little less than half an hour, everything changed. He would give up three runs in the third inning, and another in the fifth to take the loss on the night.

Meanwhile, Olson, the young southpaw who was dealt in the offseason, looked like the pitcher who got exiled from Baltimore early as he gave up two runs -- off a Luke Scott two-run homer (his 14th) -- to put them up 2-0. It looked for sure that Olson was going to struggle, but after the delay -- unlike Uehara -- he was effective and looked in control as he gave up two runs in his five innings of work for the win.

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O's Lose Another One Against the M's; Draft Stuff, Koji Comes off DL

The Orioles could not build upon their win on Tuesday as they lost to the Mariners, 4-1.Well, the Baltimore ace was a lot better than he was this past weekend in Oakland, but he got punished by the long ball, and his teammates once again didn't do much at the plate -- leaving seven on base. The offense was quiet again, and although Guthrie was not great -- he deserved some run support.

Seattle's Jose Lopez homered twice off of Jeremy Guthrie (a solo shot in the second inning and a two-run homer in the sixth) and a Yuniesky Betancourt RBI groundout in the 4th inning made the difference. Baltimore's only run came off a Brian Roberts single to plate Matt Wieters.

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Orioles Snap Five Game Skid; The Draft

The Orioles snapped a five game losing streak as Brad Bergesen perhaps had his best start in the majors to date as he pitched eight shutout innings of five-hit ball and they beat the Seattle Mariners, 3-1 last night at Camden Yards.

Baltimore's youngsters came through that night as Nolan Reimold had a solo home run in the fifth inning, and followed up with an RBI single in the sixth inning. Adam Jones plated in a run in the first inning to give Baltimore a 1-0 lead.

The game was highlighted by some weird plays; however, there was none stranger than what happened in the first inning. With two outs in the frame, it looked Melvin Mora had a home run over the left field wall, but Seattle left fielder Endy Chavez got a read on the ball and seemed to have it in his glove -- after he leaped. However, a fan in the stands extended his glove over Chavez's and the ball landed in the stands; therefore, Mora was originally given credit for a homer, but Chavez and Seattle manager Don Wakamatsu urged the umpires to review the call and the home run was overturned.

George Sherrill earned his 12th save, but gave up a RBI single to Jose Lopez in the ninth inning.

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Jamie Walker Released, Alberto Castillo Called Up...

Lefty reliever Jamie Walker will be released from the Baltimore Orioles at some point today. In turn, Alberto Castillo will be called up from Triple-A Norfolk. Obviously, this is not a surprise as most saw this coming.

Much like I said a few days ago, I have had the chance the chat with Walker on a few opportunities -- he's a great guy, and one who cares about the military as well taking responsibility for his job.

It's too bad that he was not given a chance to work through his problems in a lesser role, but the business of baseball can be very cruel and the sport is simply a results-driven league.

Godspeed, Jamie.

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A Witness to History: Randy Johnson Wins His 300th Game

Randy Johnson became the sixth left-hander and 24th overall pitcher to win 300 games in his career, as the San Francisco Giants beat the Washington Nationals 5-2. before a small, rain-soaked crowd that could not have numbered much more than a few thousand. The small crowd for such a historic day was shocking to see, but I guess considering the state of the Washington organization, the weather, and the time of day game was being held, I guess it hampered those who could have come out otherwise.

The historic day for Johnson was pushed back as violent storms passed through the Capital region on Wednesday, prompting a three hour, forty-two minute rain delay and eventually leading to the postponement of the game until the following afternoon.

Thursday’s crowd – announced at 16,787, but more than likely numbering in a few thousand – saw Johnson (5-4) go six strong innings, allowing just one unearned run on two hits and two walks. He struck out just two on the day, but relied on his defense to make several good plays behind him.

Johnson – who at 45 years old, 6-feet-11, and with a history of back issues – also made the highlight reel with a good defensive gem of his own. He knocked a comebacker down and scrambled to retrieve the ball, which had rolled toward second. The Big Unit reached down and flipped the ball to first – sprawling on the turf after the toss – to get Anderson Hernandez by half a step.

Johnson's win was preserved by closer Brian Wilson. With two outs, the bases loaded and Washington down 2-1, Wilson had a 3-2 count on Adam Dunn, and he got a called third strike on a fastball that seemed to be a bit low that not only ended a rally, but the frame.

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O's Lose Late in Seattle; Jamie Walker To Be Sent on His Way?

Rookie pitcher Brad Bergesen pitched another great game; however, in the end, the Oriole bullpen could not hold a 2-2 tie heading into the ninth inning, and lost to the Seattle Mariners, 3-2. The Orioles have now lost four out of five games, and Seattle has taken the series -- winning two out of three.

Jim Johnson took the loss as he pitched a scoreless eighth inning, but ran into trouble in the ninth. He allowed a one-out triple to Franklin Guitterez, and after giving up back to back walks to Ichrio Suzuki and Russell Branyan (intentional) to load the bases, Adrian Beltre ended the contest with an RBI single.

Despite the loss, the story of the game was the ever emerging Baltimore pitching staff led by the performance of Bergesen. He once again had a solid start as he went seven innings and only gave up two runs; moreover, he and his battery mate -- Matt Wieters -- got out of the seventh inning unscathed after allowing two runners to get on base.

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O's Start Off With Win in Seattle; Brady Anderson Speaks About Angelos...

The Orioles kicked off their West Coast road trip with a shutout over the Seattle Mariners last night, 1-0.

Well, the story of the night was the pitching as Rich Hill got the win by throwing seven shutout innings, Jim Johnson pitched a perfect eighth inning, and despite throwing three straight balls to start the ninth, George Sherill earned the save.

The night for Hill started off shaky as he allowed a leadoff double to Ichiro Suzuki, and issued three walks before the fourth inning, but he settled in, and retired the final 14 batters before he was pulled. After his crazy start against the Blue Jays, last night's start was a wonderful thing to see and shows the future can indeed be bright for the Orioles if the starting pitching ever gains consistency.

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O's Earn Series Split With Tigers; Luke's Homer Streak Goes Kaput (With Photos)

The Orioles earned a series sweep with the Tigers this weekend as they lost, 3-0, on a partly sunny afternoon at Camden Yards. What started off as a wildly succesful homestand with the Blue Jays and alonf with the Tigers, ended up in two straight loss against very tough pitching. Oriole Magic did not return on Sunday as Baltimore only collected two hits off of Detroit pitcher Edwin Jackson -- who was absolutely dominant in his outing. He went eight innings, and didn't allow a batter to reach second base until Ty Wigginton's double in the eighth inning.

Jackson, still relatively young, was acquired from Tampa in a trade, and in 2009, has been one of the better pitchers in baseball. Fernando Rodney pitched a scoreless ninth inning for his ninth save of the season.

Despite the loss, Baltimore can take solace that it looks like Jason Berken does indeed belong in the majors. Berken pitched seven innings and allowed only a run; however, he was charged with the loss. His only mistake came in the fourth inning as Curtis Granderson took him deep with a solo home run. After Berken departed, the Oriole bullpen allowed the Tigers to scored some insurance runs as they gave up a run in both the eighth and ninth inning.

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