Orioles 5 Royals 3

I know that my coverage lately has been about the Olympics, but I think I did a good job of keeping up with the birds during these games. The Orioles are played well during the Olympics. These guys would be in the playoffs if the season ended today. They are not as hot as the Rays who have won 6 straight, but we are only a half game behind them. Baltimore also controls the 2nd wild card spot currently. Have no fear O's fans, it looks like this team will in fact compete down to the wire.

The most recent surge by the Orioles has been led by their newest face. Manny Machado has been on fire with the Orioles. In just four games, Machado has an extra base hit in every game. He also now has 3 home runs after last night. 3 homers in 4 games is amazing from the youngster. With 4 straight games of getting extra base hits, Machado has tied a club record. This record was previously held by 3 Orioles, including Frank Robinson. Anytime you are mentioned in the same sentence as Frank Robinson, it is a positive thing. Good thing Duquette held onto this guy. Holy cow!

So the offensive charge was led by Machado, but he wasn't the best player yesterday. That title still belongs to Nick Markakis. The right fielder was 2-4 with a home run and an RBI. It was Markakis's 13th home run of the season. He raised his average to .288 after last night. His .351 OBP leads the team unless you count Machado of course. Actually McLouth is slightly higher in his short time as well. However, Markakis has been the key to this lineup since moving atop it. He is one player that we are sure glad is on our side.

Tommy Hunter got mixed results as the starter and picked up a no decision after getting through 5. The bullpen once again was spectacular. Luis Ayala picked up the win to move to (4-3) after pitching a scoreless 6th. Ayala lowered his ERA to 2.56 and was very economical throwing only 8 pitches.

Ayala was aided by Patton, Strop, and Johnson. That trio all pitched a scoreless inning. Patton and Strop picked up holds and Johnson the save. It was Strop's 19th hold of the year. The dominant power arm also lowered his ERA to 1.22. Meanwhile, our closer Jim Johnson picked up his 34th save of the season. The back of the Oriole bullpen continues to dominate.

-Noland

Orioles Get Some Unexpected Help

So, if you have been following the Orioles this year, you would know that they have been absolutely dreadful at 2 things. Those two things are starting pitching and defense. On defense only Markakis and Hardy have been really good, while Jones and Wieters have been pretty good. Everyone else on defense has been dreadful. The pitching staff has been a disaster outside of Jason Hammel and Wei Yin Chen. However, someone else came through last night.

Tommy Hunter actually put in an amazing performance last night. Not only that, but he helped himself out with terrific defense. Hunter who has been dreadful this season pitched 7 1/3 innings of quality baseball. For an overworked bullpen, Hunter's performance was critical. He only gave up 1 run in what was easily his best performance that I can remember. This was an incredible time for Hunter to come through.

The great pitching didn't end there. The overworked Strop got a break from his 8th inning role and Troy Patton delivered. Patton picked up his 6th hold by pitching the rest of the 8th. His work turned it over to Jim Johnson. Johnson hasn't been as sharp since the all-star break, but man did he come through last night. He picked up save #27 and lowered his ERA to 2.50 after two horrible performances. I'd still say Johnson is the top closer in baseball even after his ERA ballooned. Part of the reason it got so high is that he gave up 5 in a meaningless game the other night. No need to bring him in when we are down 9. Jim still is 27/29 in save chances which is pretty darn good.

Who scored the runs for the Orioles? Well, Adam Jones connected with another Adam Bomb. This the 22nd home run of the season for Jones. How often does a 1st inning Oriole home run decide the game. Last night a 2 run Oriole home run decided the game and I'd love to see it happen again today.

Go O's!

-Noland

Orioles Shut Out Braves For 2nd Straight Day

For the first time since August of 2010 the Orioles have posted back to back shut outs. You got to love quality pitching from the Orioles. The Orioles beat the Braves 2-0 due to the shutout. Tonight's brilliant pitcher was Wei Yin Chen. He went seven scoreless for the victory tonight. Chen lowered his ERA to 3.36 and picked up win #7 in the process. He now joins Hammel in the 7 win club, in fact they are the 1st Orioles teammates to record 7 wins by this point in the season since 1999. In 1999 Mussina had 8 wins at this point and wait for it...Sidney Ponson had 7 wins.

Obviously, since Chen pitched only 7 innings there were others involved in the shut out. One of those pitchers was Darren O'Day, who did not even record an out. That has got to be an interesting piece of history. The bullpen's effort was led by Jim Johnson who picked up his 20th save of the season. No way Johnson doesn't get an all-star appearance. He lowered his ERA to 1.21. The other bullpen stud also came through as Pedro Strop lowered his ERA to 1.42 and picked up his 12th hold. One other pitcher was involved in the shutout and his name was Troy Patton. Patton's ERA now sits at 3.45 as he pitched 2/3 of the 8th. Strop retired the only batter he faced.

Brian Roberts had the day off for the offense as they were pretty stagnant today. They did manage to get two runs today though. The offense was paced by Steve Pearce and Adam Jones who each scored a run. Even without Markakis and Reimold, the offense is being carried by the outfield. This Jones guy might be an all-star.

-Noland

Today's Orioles Pitchers

Matusz
Gregg
Patton
Sounds like a loss.
Well it was a loss. At least we got all the bad pitchers done all at once. I assume Matusz is gonna hop on the AAA bus soon. Patton and Gregg are out of options so they are a little more tricky. As I have said many times, you just got to cut your losses with Gregg. The sooner we realize that the better.

The good news is that Adam Jones hit his 3rd home run. The good news ends there.

There will be a post about Larry Doby by the end of the night.
-Noland