All good things sometimes must come to an end.
The Orioles, who started off the season 4-0 heading into tonight, lost to the Detroit Tigers, 7-3.
Oriole Park at Camden Yards was not packed to the gills – in comparison to Monday – based on what I saw on MASN. It was a nice night out and kind of surprising not to see a larger crowd, especially after all the positivity of this week.
The crisp play that was part of the recipe for the Orioles in their first four games was not there on Wednesday.
Baltimore had to contend with Justin Verlander, who is one of the best in the business on the mound. They were able to score three times off of him, thanks to a 2-run homer by Derrek Lee in the fourth inning and an RBI single by Vladmir Guerrero in the sixth.
However, the Orioles were hoping for a decent start by Brad Bergesen.
According to the Baltimore Sun’s Jeff Zrebiec, he’s not thrown in a game since March 25th.
It showed.
Really, he’s only starting because Jeremy Guthrie amazingly fell ill and was hospitalized.
This was Bergy’s chance to take the ball and deliver. The results didn’t go too well.
Bergesen went 3 2/3 innings and threw over 80 pitches in that time frame. He was charged four runs – two earned – on four hits; however, he was not helped by his defense. The bullpen was not much better either, honestly as they gave up three runs after Bergesen left the game.
Brian Roberts, usually one of the sure-handed fielders on the team, dropped or missed a pop-up to right field and it opened the flood gates to start a two-run second inning.
It was not good.
Mike Avila destroyed the Orioles tonight as he drove in five runs, including two off a double in the second inning, and then hit a two-run homer in the fifth.
It got uglier after Avila’s homer in the fifth inning. Oriole reliever Jose Rupe gave up back-to-back homers to Miguel Cabrera and Victor Martinez in a four-run, fifth inning.
Finally, it is funny to see Red Sox Nation squirm as their team right now is 0-5 to start 2011The Tampa Bay Rays are 0-5 as well. Then again, much of their team was stripped down and traded due to their financial reality.
I don’t think Boston will suck for much longer; however, their postseason hopes – based on their start right now – may be already up in smoke if historical trends are correct…
