Like I said, perhaps the Orioles should play the N.L. East more often; better yet, maybe the Orioles shoudl petition Major League Baseball to move into the N.L. East and move from the complicated arena known as the A.L. East
On Sunday, the Birds continued their winning ways and won their fifth in a row as they defeated the Philadelphia Phillies, 2-1, in a razor tight game. Cole Hamels struck out ten and showed why he is the ace of the Philadelphia Phillies; however, Brian Roberts — who hit the game winning home run yesterday — came through in the clutch with the deciding RBI in the eighth inning, and an RBI single by Jones in the sixth sent the Phillies to a sixth straight loss.
Jeremy Guthrie came through for the Orioles despite giving up Greg Dobbs in the second inning. He earned the win, his fifth and went seven strong innings and only gave up a run. Jim Johnson pitched a scoreless eighth and George Sherrill got his 15th save.
The Orioles got a series sweep of the Phillies, and despite they not having Ryan Howard or Raul Ibanez in the lineup, it’s quite an accomplishment.
I’d caught Saturday’s game in Philadelphia, and I’ll say that Baltimore had quite a contingent of fans up at Citizen’s Bank Park. In speaking with a few fans who I struck up a conversation with by virtue of having my Orioles gear on, most drove up from the Baltimore area to catch a game at an “away” park. As well, while most of the stories of Philadelphia fans being rude, vulgar and crude may have a lot of validity — especially against certain teams in football, baseball, or hockey — for the most part, they gave us a hard time up there out of fun, but I was never physically threatened or did I feel my life was in danger.
In fact, Philly fans that night were actually amicable, obviously passionate, knowledgeable and friendly — to an extent.
Maybe if I had worn a Mets jersey, my experience would have been far different.
Of course, it helps when you’re 6’4″ and 245 or so pounds, but most fans were just having fun with us just out of competitive spirit, and I guess from an ego boost with the Phillies as reigning World Series Champions.
You cannot deny the passion Philadelphia fans have — good or bad — about their team, and it was clearly evident in the seventh inning where Ryan Howard (probably sick as a dog) came out and slammed his three run homer off Danys Baez to take a 5-4 lead. One would have thought the Phillies had just won the World Series over again just based on the reaction Howard got as he touched home plate.
However, their passion went to a whole other extreme as Ryan Madson gave up the home runs to Gregg Zaun and Brian Roberts in the ninth and boy was the booing ever bad. But in the end, when the Philly fans were righfully angry at the result of Saturday, Oriole fans started high-fiving one another and were glad to have seen a victory. Heck, for what a lot of people put with up — torrental rain through Maryland and crazy weather, the trip was more than worth it.
I’ll have images up from the weekend later on tonight.
