The Orioles had a very good day on Sunday as they avoided a sweep at the hands of the Red Sox, by earning a 6-1 victory.

Lefty Brian Matusz – who had pitched relatively well over the last month – broke a horrendous winless spell with a brilliant outing.

The youngster worked seven innings, allowed two hits and no runs in his outing. He kept the Red Sox at bay and the offense finally came together to support Matusz. Six O’s starters had hits in the game – Nick Markakis and Cesar Izturis each had three – and five players each drove in a run.

Josh Bell – who was recently promoted from Norfolk – out three times.

John Lackey, who started the game for Boston, went 7 1/3 innings, gave up four runs (three earned). He took the loss.

In other news, the Orioles found out who their 2010 All-Star Game selection was (they were only going to get one) and it came as a bit of surprise – Ty Wigginton was named to the team.

The popular consensus amongst many was that Nick Markakis would be included on the All-Star game squad due to his numbers (sans the homers) and his consistency throughout the season; however, he may have been snubbed due to the amount of deserving outfielders in the league.

Wigginton started off hot this season, but has cooled down considerably and I would not have chosen him. Then again, Joe Girardi – manager of the AL team – need some infielders are chose Wigginton.

Nick Markakis, I’m sure is tad bit sad that he was not selected for the team, but showed Wigginton a ton of lot respect and was very classy with his statements.

When the season began, I would have never thought that Wigginton would have put up the numbers he has so far – much less make the All-Star team. The guy simply played through it all (and never complained) never really knowing his status at the beginning of the season.

Obviously, due to injuries and the demise of Garrett Atkins, Wigginton got to shine and contribute. Who knows if he’ll be in a Baltimore uniform after July 31^st, but in a poor season for the team, he’s stood out.

For that, congrats to Ty Wigginton for his first All-Star game selection.

On Saturday night, the Orioles lost for the 56^th time in 80 chances as Jon Lester and the Boston Red Sox dominated them, 9-3.

Lester, the tall southpaw for Boston, upped his record 12-0 against the Orioles lifetime as he went seven innings and allowed only one run. He won fairly easy as his offense hammered Baltimore starter Jeremy Guthrie who lost his tenth game of the season, along with an ineffective bullpen.

Guthrie was not sharp at all and he lasted a tad over four innings, plus gave up six runs in his night on the mound. The Red Sox didn’t have all their marquee players at the plate due to injury, but the old reliables - Kevin Youkilis, David Ortiz and J.D. Drew – all did the damage.

The Orioles, well, played like they have all season on Saturday and was just a microcosm of a bigger picture. Errors (two on the night), poor play, and no plan against Jon Lester did them in.

The Red Sox plated four runs in the bottom of the first inning and it was ‘checkmate’ for the Orioles from there. Baltimore had a chance in the first to jump on Lester, but with one out and the bases loaded, Adam Jones came to the plate and grounded into a bases loaded double play.

The Orioles did add get two runs in the top of the ninth as Jake Fox homered, although it required the use of instant replay by the umpires for the call.

There’s not much more to say about Saturday, but it was a joy to see Juan Samuel show some fire in the bottom of the eighth inning and getting tossed for his 1^st career ejection.

He was thrown out at home plate by umpire Mike Everitt for arguing balls and strikes while reliever Frank Mata was on the mound. I never think much comes out of arguing calls, but it makes for a good show, and plus with Baltimore being so bad, it’s just nice to see someone – even down runs at the time – still show passion.

In addition, after the game, Samuel took it out on his players according to the Baltimore Sun.

Once the rest of the team joined the manager in the clubhouse following the 9-3 loss to the Boston Red Sox, Samuel gave them a stern lecture about their sloppy play, which continued into last night’s game with two more errors and several other plays that should have been made.

“We definitely need to get better,” said Samuel whose team has made 14 errors in the last 12 games and has four straight multi-error games. “Even though last week we won some games, we did not play good defense. We have to pick it up. We need to do all those little things if we’re going to compete in this division and win some ball games.”

Asked if he has been happy with the team’s effort, Samuel said, “Not tonight at all. It’s been good, don’t get me wrong, but we need to show up every day and play a professional ball game.”

Someone needed to do it. This team has been awful and the players need to be held accountable. No one expected the Orioles to have 24 wins almost at the halfway point of the season.

At this point, while wins and losses still matter – a game has to be played with fundamentals, a clue of what you’re doing out there and some passion.

Really, most fans just want to see the players go at it hard and be competitive. It’s a real down and pathetic to see the team done in a game before it’s even halfway over. It’s been the theme with the Baltimore Orioles again, again and again.

That has to stop.

The Orioles played a fairly solid game on Friday up in Boston, but lost for the 55th time in 79 chances this season. They were defeated 3-2 as Red Sox rookie Daniel Nava's bloop single in the eighth inning to right field off reliever Wil Ohman did the Orioles in, and J.D. Drew hit two solo homers (including one that was very questionable).

Brad Bergesen gave up three runs in 7 2/3 innings in one of his better showings of 2010, but he could not get much support from his offense that was kept at bay by knuckballer Tim Wakefield along with the Boston bullpen. Nick Markakis hit his 4th homer of the year in the fourth inning, and Corey Patterson had an RBI-single in the fifth.

Jonathan Papelbon got the save.

Other than that, it looks like Felix Pie and Mike Gonzalez are closer to returning to the major leagues; however, both men had their struggles on Friday night. I'm not too worried about Pie, but does anyone wonder if Gonzalez will become a viable part of the Oriole roster and live up to the contract he signed in the offseason?

Gonzalez got shelled in his outing at Bowie and has had his ups downs during his rehab stint at the various levels of the organization so far. I am beginning to wonder if he's got bust written all over him.

In other news, Rick Dempsey chatted with the Orioles about the managerial opening, as did Eric Wedge (for the second time); Adam Jones is being told by the coaches to play a little deeper in the outfield (he's made some real bad plays out there this season) and reliever Jim Johnson is on the mend.

The Orioles closed out their final homestand before the All-Star break with a loss to the Oakland Athletics, 8-1.

Baltimore didn’t do much in the loss as Jake Arrieta got hammered again on the mound, the bullpen could not stop the bleeding (Frank Mata and Matt Albers), the defense was shaky (two errors and Corey Patterson fell trying catch a flyball) and the offense could not touch Oakland pitcher Trevor Cahill.

The Orioles are now 24-54 on the season.

Last night’s game was notable because fans got to see their first look at prospect Josh Bell in his first appearance on the major league level. For most, his announcement was a surprise and left many wondering why he was brought up from Norfolk; however, the Orioles needed an extra player due to the Luke Scott injury and Felix Pie was deemed not ready to play for big league club yet.

Bell was hot in Norfolk and maybe the Orioles wanted to capture lightning in a bottle. He’ll more than likely stay with the big club for only a short while, but if he can hit a few homers, that would great – if he doesn’t, the team will have seen what they’ve got.

Yesterday, Bell went 1-for-4, looked decent on the field except for a throwing error early in the game. He’s a big man and I could envision him as a DH or first baseman, but didn’t embarrass himself in his first taste of the majors.

In addition, it looks like the Phillies are interested more than ever with Ty Wigginton since Chase Utley is hurt; another potential member of the so called ‘calvary’ Zach Britton made his first start at Triple-A Norfolk; Rick Dempsey and Eric Wedge met with the O’s brass; Cal Ripken broke ground on a new astro-turf field at the old site of Memorial Stadium and a minor leaguer at Frederick threw a no hitter.

Last night's game was quite an event. The Orioles staged another come-from-behind victory this time relying on the long-ball. Adam Jones, Luke Scott, Ty Wigginton and Corey Patterson combined for five homers tying the season-high for the team. The bullpen put together another stellar performance bailing out Kevin Millwood who was solid but was sabotaged by some shoddy defense early in the game.

Corey Patterson loafed after as single that dropped in front of him and misplayed the soft line-drive into a run-scoring triple. Miguel Tejada in continuing his matador-esque style of play at third misplayed two balls. Only one was counted as an error, but both should have been. Millwod's final line reads six runs with fiver earned, but in reality only three or four should were deserved to be earned.

After five innings the Orioles were down 6-4 and the game was shaping up to be a typical Orioles/ A's affair. By typical I mean the A's making great defensive plays; a reclamation project pitcher making the Orioles look stupid; a ton of infield hits and key errors making the the difference but last night was different.

Aforementioned reclamation project Ben Sheets pitched well enough, getting through the sixth inning giving up four runs, three earned, and striking out four but the A's bullpen would unravel. Three A's pitchers would combine for two innings giving up five runs on three homeruns. The Orioles bullpen, on the other hand, was once again fantastic. Hendrickson, Albers, Hernandez and Simon combined for four innings of one-hit ball.

The win was huge but the big story is Luke Scott. After Luke launched his 12th homerun he pulled up lame as he rounded second base. Scott barely made it around the bases and into the dugout as he tried not put weight on his leg. The official word is a strained hamstring and Scott was placed on the disabled list this morning. In a surprise move the Orioles recalled young thridbaseman Josh Bell. All had assumed that Felix Pie would make the jump back into the lineup but, according to the Sun's Orioles Insider, the team did not want the injury to dictate Pie's rehab. They want Felix to take more time in the field and get re-acclimated to in-game situations before getting back to the bigs. No argument here.

Bell has been batting .266 with 10 homers at Norfolk this year. Bell came to the Orioles last year in the deal that sent George Sherrill to the Dodgers. Bell got off to a very slow start in Norfolk but has turned it up recently. has it been good enough to warrant a call up? That is debatable, but with the all-star break right around the corner and an open roster spot there is no harm in giving the kid that many believe will be the thirdbaseman of the future a cup of coffee.

The Orioles won 9-6 last night. Jones was a triple short of the cycle, Markakis made a couple great plays in the outfield all in all it was a great night. What else......oh yes, in a great move the Oriole Post was allowed to cover the game from the pressbox last night. A huge thanks to the Orioles for reaching out to the blogging community and giving not only me but all the bloggers this chance. I sincerely hope to make a habit of it.

Last night, the Orioles saw their winning streak end as the Oakland Athletics defeated them, 4-2. Well, for the umpteenth time this season, a lack of offense (despite seven walks) and not getting runs in with on bases (they were 2-for-11 with men in scoring position), along with a huge gaffes by Ty Wigginton and Miguel Tejada in the field did Baltimore in.

The Orioles could not recapture the magic from over the weekend facing a swooning Nationals team against Oakland.

Oriole pitcher Brian Matusz pitched well, but earned his 9^th loss of the season as he went 6 1/3 innings and allowed three runs on seven hits. Koji Uehara made his return last night and pitched the ninth inning, allowing in a run.

The Athletics played a relatively solid game and Vin Mazzaro (despite being very wild on the mound) got the win, going six innings and allowing one run; meanwhile, closer Andrew Bailey got his 15^th save of the season.

Moving on…

I guess the biggest news from yesterday involving the Orioles featured Cal Ripken and his on-going talks with Peter Angelos and Andy MacPhail about a front office role in the organization.

Ripken says that he chats with Angelos and MacPhail often, so I wouldn’t worry about him working with the team in some capacity in the future – it should happen.

It seems like the sides are talking and have some open dialogue, therefore, as much as the fans want Ripken involved, let the talks take their course.

Really, it could be the matter of everyone taking their time and coming to an agreement in the near future.

Finally, it looks like Rick Dempsey will be interviewing with the team on Thursday. Honestly, if I were a betting man, I’d say Buck Showalter gets the job with Eric Wedge as the runner-up, but there’s a lot of support for Dempsey and his background with the team, plus desire for the job make him a candidate.

The Orioles are obviously looking for someone with experience. They are seemingly trying to avoid candidates with little to no major experience, although Dempsey is an exception.

As well, will the Orioles really replace Juan Samuel within the season? Who knows. I think Samuel should have ample chance to at least prove himself, although it seems that he will not be in that position for long.

Then again, if the flighted ones start winning Samuel may stick around for a while…

What does the current four game win streak mean for the Orioles? I don't know if much right now. The Orioles could easily fall back into their bad habits, but...

Well, at least they are starting to show signs of life and over the weekend they did the little things to sweep the Nationals. In addition, the Orioles got some nice performances from their bullpen especially Jason Berken (who might merit some All-Star consideration, but middle/long relievers are often overlooked), Mark Hendrickson, David Hernandez and Alfredo Simon.

I'm going to go off the beaten path and say that the Nationals helped out the Orioles big-time by giving away three games which they had the lead; however, at this point, who cares how they did it, it matters that they stopped the losing temporarily.

Well, I am not going to say the win streak means much right now considering the Orioles are firmly entrenched in last place in the American League East. The bats - thankfully - are starting come alive, and Adam Jones's average has snuck above .270, Wieters is hitting - finally, Miggy's average is now .287 and Scott Moore has come through with clutch hits at the right time.

At this point, as long as the team can build on this nice streak and play some consistent baseball for the next 87 games or so, hopefully things can finish strong in the 2010 season. Then again, it remains to be seen who's dealt at the trade deadline as Millwood, Tejada and Guthrie are getting some looks from scouts and opposing teams.

***

Some friends and I had a discussion over the weekend as to who Baltimore's All-Star should be in Anaheim for the Midsummer Classic in a few weeks. The names that popped up in our heads were Ty Wigginton, Nick Markakis and Jason Berken. All three have strengths and their merit should not be in question, but our overwhelming pick was Markakis, although Berken got a lot of consideration.

Markakis, I think, will be more than likely chosen because he's been fairly consistent throughout the year (along with a great glove and arm), despite having a poor year with his power numbers. Wigginton perhaps has the best power stats on the team, aside from Luke Scott; however, he's not hit for much power as of late and perhaps playing everyday may have over-exposed him.

Berken, however, would be an interesting case for All-Star consideration. I don't see many long/middle relievers ever make the All-Star team, but he's been by far the most consistent pitcher of the staff.

Who do you think makes the All-Star team?

***

It was nice seeing all the legends and players from the 1970 World Championship team being trotted out on the during Saturday's pre-game festivities; however, what I found even more notable from some of them is what was said about the state of the organization in a press conference. It wasn't sure easy for some to hear, but all of what was said is true, needed to be mentioned, and the men who spoke had the credibility to do so.

***

Finally, Garrett Atkins was released on Sunday and that was no surprise to anyone.

Atkins was only one year removed from several excellent season with the Rockies; however, he lost it in 2009 and looked even worse with Baltimore. He was simply a gamble that didn't work out, but serves as a sad symbol of where the Orioles stand now.

Atkins was a nice guy who seemingly wanted to find his career again, but as it stands now, the Orioles are better off using Jake Fox and Scott Moore in their roles now. As it is, could the Orioles possibly be any worse with them in the lineup?

Photos from Saturday's game against the Washington Nationals where they won, 6-5. Seriously, the Baltimore Orioles should consider using these throwback uniforms during the regular season at least on a part-time basis (Sundays, special events, etc.).

There seems to be a certain nostalagia, class, and a look about the old throwbacks that the current uniforms just don't have. From the cartoon bird caps, to the Orioles script, down the to stirrups, what the players wore on Saturday exhibits a certain amount of class and a unique, old-school look.

I also enjoyed seeing the Washington Nationals in the old Senators retro uniforms, although they were technically the Montreal Expos (in the their third year of existence as an expansion team) back in 1970.

It's just an opinion of mine, but would it ever be a joy to see these worn often during the regular season...