by admin
Orioles 4, Yankees 3: That’s right.
Bill Kostroun – AP
The ladies want it, but tonight they’re going to have to wait another week to get it.
CC Sabathia loaded the bases before recording an out tonight, and that tells you nearly everything you need to know about the game.
I’m trying to remember a game that seemed so oddly lopsided- everything the Orioles hit was just out of the reach of the Yankees‘ defense (especially Granderson’s error that should have been a hit), while everything that the Yankees hit seemed to take the bounce the Orioles needed. Arod’s liner with a runner on third handcuffed the 3B, but the ball bounced to the shortstop and the O’s recorded an out without the run scoring. Granderson blooped a single into center that deflected off the SS glove and straight to the CF, who forced out Jorge Posada at second.
At least Lance Berkman looked alive: 3-4 tonight.
CC’s home win streak was snapped, the Yanks’ home series win streak was snapped, and the Yankees have now followed their longest winning streak of the year with a 3 game losing streak.
Ivan Nova for stopper?
Comment of the Game: The exchange between Melkman and MattF15 summed up the quality of our night and the quality of our broadcast team.
Play of the Game: Reimold’s 3rd inning, 2 out homer.
Here’s who’s hot and who’s not among the Orioles this week:
Birds Up
|
|
Matt Wieters (CA) – He’s becoming a legend behind the plate for his defense, and the bat is catching up in September. Matt was 8-for-20 last week with a 1.008 OPS. Now, about April through August, Matt. We need to talk. |
|
|
Nick Markakis (RF) – Another week, another .310/.355/.483/.838 slash line for Markakis. He may have the personality of drying paint, but I’ll take a .300+ hitter who takes walks in RF all decade long. |
|
|
Luke Scott (DH) – Don’t call him streaky. Don’t question his use of Bible verses. But most of all, don’t pitch to him if you don’t have to. Luke drew EIGHT walks this week, for a .500 OBP and hit enough to have a OPS of 1.029. We may just have found our 1B for next year. He can’t be any worse with the glove than Wiggy, right? |
|
|
Brian Matusz (LHP) – Two starts, 12.0 IP, and just five runs surrenedered against Boston and New York. He’s just killing the Yankees now. And he gets to do it in an O’s uniform for at least four more years. |
|
|
Jeremy Guthrie (RHP) – He threw 7.0 IP, allowed six hits but just one run, and struck out seven while walking just one, and showed a 95+ mph fastball while doing it. That’s a mentor. |
|
|
Back End of the Bullpen – Koji Uehara, Mike Gonzalez and Jim Johnson each stumbled once this week, but pitched lights out in their other outings. Matt Albers had three basically flawless outings of his own. And yes, I’m conveniently forgetting Alfredo “Weak Sauce” Simon, and I suggest you do, too. |
|
|
Brian Roberts (2B) – Look, old man, we all know you’re hurt. Don’t pretend you’re not. You’ll be stone dead in a minute at this rate. But at least your bat is still there – .367 AVG for the week. But just accept the day off, OK, Brian? |
O’s down
|
|
Julio Lugo – There’s a reason Julio only appeared in three games last week. His hitting sucks right now. He was .222 AVG for the week, with an anemic .444 OPS. You aren’t on this team for your personality, Julio. Start hitting or hit the bricks. |
|
|
Alfredo Simon (RHP) – Two good outings don’t forgive that clunker against Boston. When you come into a tie game and leave with your team down four, you deserve a down arrow regardless of the rest of the week. |
|
|
Adam Jones (CF) – Stop me if you’ve heard this before. Adam Jones is hurt, and will miss a few games in a row. Shocker, I know, right? |
|
|
There were a lot of mediocre performances this week, but few stood out as truly horrible. So consider this week a friendly grading curve. |
Bill Kostroun – AP
1 day ago:
Baltimore Orioles’ Corey Patterson, right, scores on a single by Brian Roberts as New York Yankees catcher Francisco Cervelli takes the throw during the seventh inning of a baseball game Monday, Sept. 6, 2010 at Yankee Stadium in New York. (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)
Ok so you want to know what happened in today’s game between the Yankees and the Orioles? I’ll tell you. The Orioles, fresh off of taking a series from the Tampa Bay Rays, rolled into New York, or as Joe Angel calls it, “Fun City,” and took game one of their series with the other best team in baseball. Yes, both of those teams are going to the playoffs while the Orioles go home, but don’t tell the O’s that. They’d rather just spend September whooping them.
Brian Matusz is thirty-six games into his big league career and is well on is way to being a certified Yankee killer. Hey Yankees, get used to it. He’s only 23 years old and he’s gonna be around for a long time. With today’s outing included, Matusz has now made five starts against the Yankees, pitching a total of 31.2 innings while allowing just nine earned runs. That comes out to an ERA of 2.56. I love this kid. I love watching him pitch and I love watching him turn it on against the Yankees.
Through the first five innings of the game, Matusz’s only blemish was a solo home run to Alex Rodriguez. It tied the game 1-1 but it’s hard to get mad at one of the greatest players in the game hitting a home run, something he’s done just 604 times before in his career.
Going into the sixth inning the Orioles had a 3-1 lead although, with the way A.J. Burnett was pitching, it really should have been more. Burnett walked Luke Scott and Matt Wieters to lead off the second inning but neither scored. In the third inning, Josh Bell doubled and Brian Roberts singled to put runners on first and third with none out, but Felix Pie grounded into a double play. A run scored but it killed the rally.
In the fifth inning, Cesar Izturis doubled and scored on a single by Brian Roberts (who then got thrown out at second to end the inning). Felix Pie led off the sixth with a single and Burnett did what AJ Burnett does, walking Markakis and throwing a wild pitch that moved the runners up. Pie then scored on a sac fly by Matt Wieters that was a bullet to left field. Wieters’ RBI gave the Orioles a 3-1 lead going into the 6th inning, when Matusz got into some trouble.
Wildness by Matusz combined with some bad defense allowed for two runs in the inning. He walked Nick Swisher to lead things off, then Mark Teixeira singled to left to put runners on second and third. A wild pitch moved the runners up, then Swisher scored on a sacrifice fly by Alex Rodriguez. Matusz got Robinson Cano hit a pop up to shallow left field that Cesar Izturis and Felix Pie both attempted to catch. It looked like Pie’s ball, but if he was calling for it, it was hard to tell. The ball fell in for a “single” and Teixeira scored to tie the game at 3-3. Ground outs by Marcus Thames and Jorge Posada ended the inning and Brian Matusz’s day. His final line of 6.0 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 4 K won’t go down as one of the best outings in history, but for a 23 year old rookie in Yankee stadium in September on a team that’s been out of the race since the second week of the season? It was, as we say, the tits.
The game wasn’t tied for long, thankfully. Corey Patterson got things started with a single, then moved to second on a sacrifice bunt from Cesar Izturis. Josh Bell couldn’t get the job done but Brian Roberts again came through in the clutch. He singled to right field, knocking in Corey to put the O’s back on top, 4-3. Again, Roberts got himself thrown out at second base, but the Orioles had the runs they needed.
The O’s bullpen didn’t let the team down as Matt Albers, Jim Johnson, and Koji Uehara each pitched a scoreless inning, with Koji going a perfect 9th with two strikeouts for his seventh save of the year. Koji has been unstoppable lately.
Tomorrow the Orioles face a tougher task with CC Sabathia pitching against them, but I say bring it. Bring it, fat man!
