Hammel stifles Ble Jays; Orioles win third in a row...

Wow, the Orioles are on one heck of a roll. For the second night, they beat the Toronto Blue Jays, this time shutting them down, 3-0.

Baltimore has won three in a row.

Jason Hammel – who has been a big-time revelation for Baltimore – had yet another impressive start, stifiling the Blue Jays with seven shutout innings. Pedro Strop got the save, his second on the year, despite allowing two runners to reach base in the ninth innings. Matt Lindstrom threw a scoreless eighth inning.

Well, Hammel is 3-0 and has a 1.73 ERA. I wondered why the Orioles traded for him, and perhaps Dan Duqette knew something we didn’t.

Chris Davis and Wilson Betemit each hit solo home runs to lift the Orioles to an 11-7 record and still hold first place in American League East. Adam Jones drove in a run during the eighth inning. They defeated Kyle Drabek – who gave up two runs in five innings – on the night.

It was nice a night out, but only 10,415 fans showed up to Oriole Park. The team is winning, playing some great baseball, going it at hard and showing everyone that the demise that many were expecting from the black and orange may not be. Too bad more people could not have seen it.

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