About Last Night…

Manny Machado #13 of the Baltimore Orioles (C) smiles as he objects to a strikeout call by home plate umpire Will Little in the fifth inning at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on June 27, 2013 in Baltimore, Maryland. Machado and Little then exchanged words, and Machado was thrown out of the game. Also pictured is catcher Carlos Santana #41 of the Cleveland Indians (R).

After a disappointing loss on Wednesday night where Jim Johnson blew his 5th of the game season, the Orioles got into the win column again as they defeated the Cleveland Indians, 7-3.

Baltimore used a five-run, fifth inning to down the Tribe and starting pitcher Miguel Gonzalez, once again was solid, going 6 2/3 innings and giving only three runs. Ryan Flaherty plated in two runs and Nick Markakis, Chris Davis, Matt Wieters and J.J. Hardy each drove in a run.

Manny Machado got thrown out of his first game in the majors, after arguing over balls and strikes in the bottom of the fifth inning by home plate umpire Will Little. The Orioles cruised to a win anyway, and upon further review, Machado was probably right; however, the youngster learned the hard way you don’t show up the umpires.

Even if Little perhaps reacted with a quick trigger.

The Orioles are now 44-36 and trail the Boston Red Sox by 3 ½ games in the American League East.

Infielder Brian Roberts #1 of the Baltimore Orioles turns a second inning double play as Evan Longoria #3 of the Tampa Bay Rays attempts to break it up during the game at Tropicana Field on April 3, 2013 in St. Petersburg, Florida.

The big news I took from yesterday is that Brian Roberts – yes, him – will suit up this weekend for the Birds as they take on the Yankees this weekend at the Yard. He will start at second according to Buck Showalter and I would assume man the position most of the time.

The question is: can he stay healthy?

I think the Orioles will tread carefully with Roberts from here on out. Second base has been a black hole offensively all season and maybe Roberts could give an offense that is pretty potent already another shot in the arm.

Nothing against Ryan Flaherty – who has come on as of late at the plate – or Alexi Casilla; however, Roberts – yes – is still the best option at second.

Finally, in other news, Freddy Garcia did accept an assignment to Triple-A Norfolk. I believe he will be back with the team at some point with the way things have been going rotation-wise.

About Last Night…

The Orioles on Wednesday night lost their second consecutive game of the season at the hands of the Rays, 4-3.

In yet another close loss, Evan Longoria once again touched up the Orioles thanks to a two-run double in the 5th inning that gave Tampa a 3-2 lead. He struck again with a long home run in the 8th that gave Tampa an insurance run and would be enough of a cushion.

Of course, with Pie out with a shoulder issue, Reimold was in left field on Wednesday. As we know, Nolan is trying to come back from a serious leg injury. From my point of view, it still looks as if his running ability is still hampered.

I bring this up because perhaps if Pie was out there, he might have caught Longoria’s double that perhaps should have been caught by a more-fleet-footed outfielder.

Oh well.

Baltimore had their hands full against Matt Garza (1-0) as he went eight innings and gave up two runs – one earned. Garza struck out nine and would walk two.

The Orioles scored twice on Garza in first inning as a Miguel Tejada had an RBI-single and Nick Markakis would score on an error.

However, after the opening inning, the bats for Baltimore would be rendered quiet until the ninth inning as they came within one run, 4-3, thanks to a Garrett Atkins RBI-double to plate Matt Wieters.

With Atkins on second as the tying run on second and one out, the Orioles could not execute as both Ty Wigginton and Brian Roberts could not get him home; therefore, the game ended.

If there’s one positive from the game, it was the work of Jeremy Guthrie. He right-handed hurler struggled mightily in Spring Training, but bounced back with a nice, quality start despite being tagged with the loss.

Guthrie (0-1) gave up three runs on eight hits and lasted 6 1/3 innings. He had six strikeouts and two walks.

If there’s a sobering note from Wednesday, the Orioles still need to find a way to get men on base home. They had opportunities to pad their lead in the first inning and could have made something of the contest in the 9th; however, nothing came of it.

Quantcast