On Monday night, the Orioles lost a close contest to the New York Yankees, 3-2. Alfredo Simon started the game on the mound, and while he gave a solid effort, the Oriole bats could not do enough to counter New York.
Despite the loss, Simon looked very good and perhaps threw as well as ever on Monday night. In the end, maybe the big man does have a spot in the Baltimore rotation.
After his troubles in the winter, and into the 2011 season, Simon seems to be pitching as well as he ever has in an Oriole uniform.
Simon (4-7) took the loss and pitched seven solid innings, while giving up three runs. He gave up a run in the opening frame, and then two more in the fourth inning off a Nick Swisher homer.
They were hamstrung by Yankee pitcher Freddy Garcia’s slop and a Yankee offense that did enough to win.
Baltimore got two solo home runs from Mark Reynolds (who hit his 31st) and also J.J. Hardy (who hit his 26th, a career high).
Although the Orioles have now lost two in a row, you cannot discount the effort they have shown in the last week and also against the Yankees in their four-game series. I guess now the Orioles may not lose 100 games after all, as they are now 53-79.
This weekend, we all got to see why the Yankees are so hated by a lot of fans.
Forget what they do on the field, the way the Bronx Bombers handled the re-scheduling of this weekend’s series in Baltimore was pretty sad and bordering on ridiculous.
It’s good to see they finally let the dispute go and acted with some common sense; however, you could not blame the Orioles for their stance and subsequent reaction.
Considering the potential issue of gate receipts, revenue, playing two doubleheaders in a series, plus dealing with the loss of Mike Flanagan, the Orioles had every right to dictate the situation and hold their ground.
