Chen Had A Historic Day Yesterday

Wei Yin Chen had an amazing game yesterday. A historic game. It was perhaps his most overpowering performance. It is unfortunate that he had walks and an error behind him and he had to leave a little early. However, let's put his game into perspective.

First, let's remember that Chen won the game. He has now improved to (9-6) on the year. Chen also lowered his ERA to 3.65 while not allowing a single earned run. There was also only 3 hits the whole game. Now, for the good parts. Chen had 12 strikeouts. Those 12 strikeouts are a record for a Taiwanese player in the majors. Pretty cool. As I said earlier though, Chen only got through 5 2/3 innings. That short outing made Chen the first Oriole EVER to record more than 10 strikeouts in fewer than 6 innings. It is absolutely amazing that Chen had strikeouts in less than 6 innings and those accomplishments show that. His 12 strikeouts are the most by an Orioles pitcher since Erik Bedard struck out 15 against the Rangers on July 7, 2007. I am as amazed as you that there is actually some good news against the Rangers.

This performance could not have come at a better time for the O's. It came against the Oakland A's who have been red hot and are currently lined up to take a wild card spot. If the playoffs started today, there would be 3 AL West teams going. The Orioles are 2 games back of the Angels for the second wild card spot. They are 2.5 behind Oakland for the 1st. The Tigers are only one game back, and the Rays are tied with the Orioles. It is an extremely tight race for these wild card spots, just like MLB wanted.

Chen was not the only remarkable player last night. Omar Quintanilla continues to impress me. Forget about the error. I know our defense has been horrible, but I will take the errors if he makes the spectacular plays he made in the Rays series. I will also take them if he continues to deliver with the bat the way he has. Yesterday, he finished with a triple short of the cycle. Quintanilla hit his 1st Oriole home run and is 11-25 hitting since he's been on the team. He is actually hitting .440 as an Oriole and his average for the year is now .423. Tell me you won't take that in this lineup. This guy needs to play if he is hitting like this. 2 errors are ok with this kind of play. The plays I've seen him make on defense are tremendous. There is something special about this guy.

Lew Ford also made his Oriole debut. Ford went 0-3 and had a walk. However, Ford had a huge outfield assist and he gave the team some energy. The crowd loved him as well.

Matt Wieters hit his 13th home run of the season. Wieters also drove in 3 big runs in the victory.

Pedro Strop also continues to be filthy. Strop pitched another scoreless inning and lowered his ERA to 1.37. If I had to pick an Oriole MVP, Strop would be near the top of the list. Great game all-around. Let's hope they duplicate that performance this week against the evil empire.

-Noland