SB Nation User Blog: the fix is in

Orioles 2, Phillies 1 : We Swept the Champions in Their Own House

the fix is in — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 21:10:00 -0000

Thanks to thewaywardO for the best thing to say about this game: We just swept the defending World Champions in their own house.

Jeremy Guthrie earned the win for the first time since Memorial Day with a spectacular pitching performance to improve his mark to 5-7. A solo home run in the second from Greg Dobbs, who was filling in for Ryan Howard again, put the Phillies ahead early. It was Guthrie's 17th homerun allowed all year, good for most in the American League. After that blast though, Guthrie "really got tough" as Joe Angel put it, retiring 18 of his final 20 batters. He didn't allow another run and ran up 4 strikouts. That was probably his best start all year, although he did not last as long as his opponent Cole Hamels, who had an equally impressive start. Hamels went for eight innings with 10 strikeouts.

The Orioles offense had a slow start, not getting the run back until the 6th inning. The biggest chance they had was in the fifth, when Melvin Mora reached on a single. Unfortunately, he proceeded to make the second of the Orioles' three outs on the basebaths by completely idiotically trying to make it to third after Ty Wigginton's single. It was the first out, and it was at third base. And it pretty much led to no runs being scored in the 5th. But we came right back in the next inning, when Brian Roberts led off with a double down the left side. He stole third and was driven in by Adam Jones with two outs. It's nice how we've been getting hits with two outs lately.

The Orioles pinch-hit and took the lead for Guthrie in the 8th inning. Another lead-off double got things started, this time by Robert Andino, the everyday shortstop for this ballclub. Oscar Salazar did his job and got high fives for hitting behind the runner, setting the stage for Roberts to do it once again, with a single to center.

It was all that the Orioles needed on this particular Sunday. Jim Johnson and George Sherrill got the final 6 outs, allowing one baserunner in the 8th. Charlie Manuel got the boot in the bottom of the 8th for arguing, honestly a bad call by the first base umpire. Wigginton went for the tag on Jimmie Rollins, look like he missed, but Rollins was called out for leaving the basepath. Thanks, Blue, not that we needed it or anything.

The Phillies wrapped up their homestand by losing 6 games in a row, a season high for the WORLD CHAMPIONS. WHO WE SWEPT. The Orioles have won five in a row and now go to Florida for a mid-week, all night-games series after a day off tomorrow. We're pitching Koji, Berken, and then Hill. The only pitcher we're seeing with anything close to a good line is Sean West (2-2, 3.97 ERA). The Orioles have won two Sunday games in a row, three series in a row, and the final game of the series three times in a row. There. That felt good. No hexes.

Orioles vs Phillies boxscore / The Good Phight

Poll

MBP for 6/21/09

Brian Roberts (2-4, 1R, 1RBI)

63 votes

Jeremy Guthrie (W, 7IP, 3H, 4K

299 votes

Adam Jones (2-4, RBI)

4 votes

George Sherrill (save)

9 votes

375 votes | Poll has closed

Orioles 6, Phillies 5 : Unused RISP are redeemable for MAGIC

the fix is in — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 03:10:00 -0000

Orioles vs Phillies boxscore

via www.baltimoresun.com

What can be said about tonight's win against the Philadelphia Phillies? I'm sure that a lot of folks felt like me, upset for spending more than two hours watching the game just to have THAT happen. And by that, I mean a three run home run by Ryan Howard in the 7th inning to give the Phillies a 5-3 lead. And if you weren't listening, Howard was in the hospital with a 104 fever last night, so this was all set to get played up on ESPN and everything.

And I'm sure a lot of folks ALSO felt like me, and said to themselves that it was late in the game, might as well stick around for the rest of it, unless something really bad happened. You never know what could happen, but it did not look good. The reason I was personally pretty upset, and why I still don't feel super-elated (but elated, definitely), was that Howard's homerun shouldn't have given them the lead. The Orioles should have been ahead 7-5, or at the very least, a tie game.

And that is because the Orioles left 14 runners on base. Only one (or two) of those 14 runners came after a two-out, bases empty reach. We horribly left runners on tonight. In fact, the folks in the gamethread were doing inning by inning tallies. Hold on, it's not going to sound good. I'll get the ugly one out of the way first: Luke Scott struck out with the bases loaded in the first inning. Two hits and two walks resulted in no runs. The Orioles left two more on in the second. And thanks to Timmy L. , I can tell that we had 9 LOB through 5.

The Birds did score three runs through all of this, however. Adam Jones did his best Willy Mayes Hayes impression in the fifth, bunting for an infield hit with none on, and then motoring all the around on AUbrey Huff's double. In the next inning, Robert Andino hit a double, and the Orioles used a sac hit from Bergesen and a sac fly from Roberts to bring him home. After adding one more in the 7th, it was 3-0 Birds with the Hambergeresen still on the mound. What happened next was horrible, yet almost predictable looking back on it (an oxymoron, sure). He fell apart, really really fast. After four straight hits, Trembley pulled him for Baez. Baez got an out, and that happened, and then he got the other out. After 7, the Phillies had a 5-3 lead with only six outs they had to get.

The 8th inning went by quickly, which probably helped a lot of us stick around to see the 9th. It's hard to ever leave a baseball game in the 9th inning. Baseball, obviously, doesn't end after a set time limit or anything like that. No, the Orioles themselves get to choose when the game would end.

The Phillies closer Ryan Madson who had already blown two saves this week got things started off by getting rid of Wigginton. As I was watching, I was looking foward to something like Reimold, Wieters coming up. Although many in the game thread were incensed by the non-PH for ZAUN, he did already have two hits on the night. He was also super-scruffy looking tonight. Gritty. And socks up. All of those things added up for his third hit, an absolute monster shot, a dozen or so rows back in right. It was a no-doubter even before the camera shot got turned around. With only two outs left, our birds were only down by one. Still not promising. Still deserved to lose for not driving in all of those runners.

Nolan Reimold was pinch hit for Andino, who had a hell of a night himself. He caught everything, made great throws, got a couple hits, scored a run. Nolan popped to third for the second out. With not much power coming up in the line-up, it still didn't look promising. Trembley inserted Oscar Salazar to pinch hit for the pitcher, and the not-hard hit ball magically found its' way between first and second for a basehit. We inserted Pie as a runner. Noooow we're talking. I could do a whole post just about what our defense could look like in the bottom of the inning. But there was not a bottom of the inning to be played just yet.

Roberts came to bat, and that, my friends, is where this story gets a happy ending. A line drive home run for the lead! I was watching TV through a window in the backyard (drinking and smoking), and being outside awarded me and my "homies" the opportunity to jump up and down a lot. And that's what I'll remember the most from this game. Just jumping for joy.

George Sherrill got the final three outs quickly and without drama. Wigginton was the shortstop at the time.

I don't want to jinx anything, but I have a final note: The Orioles are going to have a winning record on Sunday games after last Sunday's game. I feel change afoot.

The Good Phight

Poll

Most BIRDLAND player for 6/20/09

Brian Roberts (4 RBI, GW HR in 9th)

150 votes

Robert Andino (Glovework, two hits, run)

16 votes

Gregg ZAUN (3 hits, solo HR in 9th)

12 votes

Brad Bergesen (6.1 IP, only stopped looking great at the end)

7 votes

Dave Trembley (for outsmarting everyone about pinch hitting)

10 votes

195 votes | Poll has closed

Placket Piping and the Orioles

the fix is in — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 10:31:00 -0000

This is the ninth year that the Orioles haven't had placket piping on their home uniforms. In spirit of not-thinking-about last night, and in anticipation of rain tonight, I thought it would be an alright discussion. Also, there is a Uni-Watch Party in Baltimore tonight, which should be off the hook.

I have to be at work at 7am, so I'll keep it short. If you had the power, would you bring back the Orioles' placket piping? The team basically wore it through the entire 90s, and is almost purely associated with Cal Ripken at this point. I always thought it was weird for the script to be written in black, so I'll have four options on the poll. However, in the infant years of the team, they did wear placket piping with an orange script.

via imagecache5.art.com via cdn0.sbnation.com

I think everybody has a pretty good idea of the differences we're talking about here, so lets get on with the poll.

Poll

How would you do the placket if you were in charge of it?

Piping, with a return to the black script

5 votes

Piping, with the orange script

18 votes

No piping, a return to the black script

3 votes

Basically how the uniform is today

21 votes

47 votes | Poll has closed

A scoring Baltimore fan requests assistance

the fix is in — Wed, 20 May 2009 13:50:56 -0000

Over at Camden Chat, we have already started looking forward to the three game series that starts on Friday. Here's a general overview of many Baltimorean's loathing of Washington.We love you guys.

Anyway, do with this fanpost as you like. But I was just wondering where to go for a good scorecard at the game on Saturday. Official programs are notorious for only using half-inch by half-inch boxes most of the time. Is this the case with the Nationals? Any good unofficial programs being sold near the ballpark? At Camden Yards, we have the Outside Pitch, which I like a lot because it lists how much money a player stands to make this year in addition to all of the other good stuff. (Plus, they use TBA instead of OPS). It's so popular that I hear "Why don't you get yourself a real program?" more often than "you can't tell the players..."

Anything comparable? Official program surprisingly awesome?

Orioles go to Washington: The DC series

the fix is in — Tue, 19 May 2009 17:22:09 -0000

This Friday marks the fourth consecutive year in which the Orioles and the Nationals take the field against each other. Just like last year, a series in DC followed by a series in Baltimore in the coming weeks.

The only thing I remember about playing in Washington last season was a blown save by Sherrill on a Sunday. But I'm pretty sure that we won the other two games. (That blown save was follwed by another blown save against Kansas City).

Just wondering who, if anyone, is going to shell out the money for some ~~outrageously expensive~~ tickets at the Nationals just-turned-one-year-old park. I'll be there on Saturday, sitting above home plate in the upper decks. The only good value I could find, which is still $8 more expensive than the Orioles' comparable seats.

Lets represent, and get a loud O! in the anthem. Show those Natinals who the real team in the area is. ANd hopefully Adam Jones will be back.

A sight we should be seeing all year: Balttimore. I know it's nice just to have Baltimore back on...

the fix is in — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 15:33:21 -0000

A sight we should be seeing all year: Balttimore. I know it's nice just to have Baltimore back on the jerseys. But it's gonna have to be fixed. The A should not be any bigger than the E.

Should happen within three years. I guess right now, we'll just enjoy these.

Weather Monday April 6, Baltimore Maryland. Showers High: 59 Low 45 Seven day forecasts can be a...

the fix is in — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 14:54:09 -0000

Weather Monday April 6, Baltimore Maryland.
Showers
High: 59
Low 45

Seven day forecasts can be a day or so off when it comes to rain. But this is not good news.

from weather.com

"I don't see Brian Roberts going anywhere," he said. "Brian Roberts, to me, is a Baltimore Oriole....

the fix is in — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 16:11:18 -0000

"I don't see Brian Roberts going anywhere," he said. "Brian Roberts, to me, is a Baltimore Oriole. I've said that all winter. People would say, 'What are your plans with Brian Roberts?' And I'd say, 'He's my leadoff hitter.' And I fully expect that Brian Roberts will be the leadoff hitter on this ballclub for a long time, because of what he means to this team, what he means to this community.

"He is a guy that is a Baltimore Oriole. It's that simple. I don't see him going anywhere. I don't think he wants to go anywhere, which is good for us."

http://masnsports.com/masnblogs/roch-kubatko-1/

Season Tickets - Questions, Concerns, Etc.

the fix is in — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 16:08:32 -0000

So I'm gonna make an investment into this team. I've been to 10 games this summer, with 2 more coming on Tuesday (I pray to God i can see Guts this season). Well, gosh darn, I say to myself, don't season ticket packages start at 13 games?

So I'm just gonna do it. First of all, the benifits sound pretty good. It's basically like the Orioles think you're the shit if you get season tickets. Of course, the best benifit of season tickets is that you get the first chance to buy playoff tickets. Which MIGHT happen in 2-4 years, hopefully.

I was just wondering how many season-ticket, or season-package, holders we have here? The Orioles won't let me see how much money I can expect to spend/save until I put down a nonrefundable $100/seat deposit.

I'm not planning on getting that $200 together for at least a few weeks. I would be planning on getting the $40, lower "orange section" seats. Does anyone have a good idea on how much these seats cost at the lower rates?

And finally, I'm just proud to finally do this

Today could be my first doubleheader

the fix is in — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 13:42:06 -0000

That is, IF.

IF I can get into the stadium with my ticket to Sturday's game. I don't have a ticket to last night's game. My ticket has the "Sept 13, 7:05" game, so do I enter the stadium at 7:05 and watch the end of the first game? Or do I have to wait?

It would be cool if my ticket was good for ALL day at the stadium, but I just don't think the Orioles would allow that.

Anyone have any ideas, or has been in this situation before?

My party is a little upset that we have to wait until probably 8-8:30 to see our game.