Orioles Beat Royals

The Baltimore Orioles defeated the Kansas City Royals handily last night. Baltimore won 8-2 behind excellent pitching, defense, and hitting. This is one of the most complete games the Orioles played all year. At what point do Orioles fans get excited about this team.

Jason Hammel had his best game since the knee injury. He pitched 6 strong innings earning a quality start and his 6th victory this year. Now 6-1, Hammel is showing to be quite the offseason addition. The righty did not give up a run and lowered his ERA to 2.78. What a fantastic outing. With starting pitching like that it is difficult to lose.

The bullpen was also very good. Stu Pomeranz gave up KC's only 2 runs. Pomeranz got the call back up to Baltimore yesterday. He was having a terrific season and those are the first runs he has given up in Bowie, Norfolk, or Baltimore this year. This guy deserves to be in the big leagues with how he has pitched. I am not going to let one outing change my mind on that. He was followed by Dana Eveland. Eveland pitched a scoreless ninth to secure the victory. The lefty lowered his ERA to 3.95.

Next, we need to talk about the performance of JJ Hardy. Hardy made a fantastic leaping catch to rob Billy Butler in this game. It was critical to the outcome and Butler is an Oriole killer. Great to see Hardy make such a fantastic stop. The guy did it with his bat also. JJ was 2-4 in the game with a double. He also walked, drove in 2, and scored. This game is all about scoring runs and when you score or drive in someone else it is huge. Big game from JJ.



Nick Markakis had a big night with the stick. He went 3 for 4 with 2 doubles. Markakis now has 11 doubles for the season and continues to hit well. In the process, he raised his average back up to .271. Not only that, but his on base percentage is .350. He gets on base and has increased power numbers and while this is a down year, you can live with this production from Nicky.

Adam Jones with all the contract talk in the air, had a great game. Jones drove in 2 more, strengthening his MVP case.

Meanwhile, Chris Davis had his best offensive game in a while. Davis was 2-4 with his 7th homer. He also had 3 RBIs and raised his average to .299. Davis pictured above had an awesome night.

Also if you go to the game on Monday you will get these sweet camouflage T-shirts assuming you are one of the first 10,000 fans in attendance.

-Noland

Orioles Sweep Royals

Sure, it was only a two game series, but the Baltimore Orioles completed a sweep of the Kansas City Royals last night. Brian Matusz struggled early, but he settled down and improved to 3-4 on the season. The young left hander gave up 3 runs over 6 innings in the Oriole victory.  All three runs were given up in the 3rd inning. His recovery allowed Matusz to register a quality start which gets the Orioles pitching back on track with 3 straight quality starts.

The bullpen was once again lights out for the Orioles. They did not give up one run in the 5-3 victory. Luis Ayala pitched a scoreless inning, picking up his 4th hold on the year. Ayala is now pitching to an ERA of 1.77. My favorite non-Johnson bullpen arm, Pedro Strop, pitched a scoreless 8th for his 6th hold. Strop now has an ERA of 1.23. The incredible Jim Johnson picked up his 14th save. Johnson has an ERA of 0.48. He also has converted 14 straight saves this season and 20+ dating back to last season.

I'll let you guess who paced the offense. Did you guess? That is correct, it was Adam Jones. Jones hit another home run last night. The center fielder is up to 13 on the season. His average now stands at .296. Jones also drove in 2 and had a walk.

Two other Orioles had multiple hits and played great last night. Nick Markakis went 2 for 4 and scored a run. Chris Davis was great going 3 for 4 and also scoring a run. Davis raised his average to .296.

In other Orioles news, the two players that were placed on waivers found out where they were going today. Matt Antonelli who was taken off the roster to clear room for Xavier Avery on the 40 man. Unfortunately for him he did not stay in the organization. The Yankees needed him more than the O's, and he is now on the Yankee 40 man. Antonelli will likely be sent to the Yankee triple A affiliate. The other Oriole that was taken off the 40 man was Brad Bergessen. He cleared waivers and will be assigned to AAA Norfolk. It does not seem likely that Bergessen will regain his old form and be a solid major leaguer again. I would love to see it happen though.

-Noland