The Orioles continued their winning stretch since Buck Showalter was named manager as they won again, 4-3 over the Chicago White Sox on Sunday.
Although they suffered a close loss to the White Sox, 3-2 on Saturday, they bounced back nicely thanks to an ace-like effort from Jeremy Guthrie, who went eight innings and gave up only a run. His record is now 6-11, but he’s gone 3-1 with a 1.78 ERA in his last five games.
They beat an always tough Mark Buehrle, who gave up four runs in seven innings and took the loss.
Alfredo Simon got his 17th save of the season, but it didn’t come without some drama. He gave up a long two-run homer to Ramon Castro in the ninth inning, but was able to retire Juan Pierre for the final out of the game.
Speaking of
At the end of the day, what can you say about the Orioles?
They are 5-1 since Showalter has taken the helm of the squad and there seems to some semblance of hope when it comes to improvement – granted, the team’s record is still awful.
I don’t know if the Orioles’ improved play is based on some influence from Showalter or just luck; however, it’s been the matter of timely hitting, pitching and making fewer mistakes.
I’m not sure if the players have a renewed sense of purpose or are playing with a bit more adrenaline, but let’s hope they keep it up.
Also, yesterday Troy Patton was sent back to Triple, and Craig Tatum was recalled. I don’t even recall Patton pitching at all, but considering how well the pitching has been – except for Wednesday, he probably was not going to be used much.
Speaking of the bullpen, does Jason Berken seem a little tired and overused to you? I’d imagine the team is going to exercise a lot more caution with him as the season winds down. He’s not been effective since the All-Star break and perhaps he just mmight be overworked, or perhaps just breaking down in the ‘pen after being a starter for so many years.
Also, a name out of the past for the Orioles came back to play Major League baseball.
Jay Gibbons, who used to play for the Orioles before having a poor season in 2007 and being outed as a drug user in the Mitchell Report, suited up yesterday for the Los Angeles Dodgers and had an RBI-single. He was tearing it up in Triple-A and the Dodgers made room for him by releasing Garrett Anderson – a 17 year veteran – who was not doing much at the plate in a pinch hitting role.
Although we all as Orioles fans have had an opinion about Jay Gibbons since ’07, I’ll say this:
If Jay was a .300 hitter in Baltimore, he would have never been released, and I’m surprised it took him three years to get back into the game. Sorry, he paid the price for his performance, not so much for his drug use.
I’ll be rooting for him frankly because he was a genuinely a good guy and appreciated the fans while he was an Oriole.
Finally, congratulations to Cesar Izturis. The Oriole shortstop got his 1,000th career hit and got quite the response from fans in attendance as they applauded for almost a minute.
