we suck we suck we suck we suck we suck we suck we SUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK

twistedlogic — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 12:17:33 -0000

Title courtesy of O'sFan21. Tragically, I didn't actually watch the game, so I'll do my darndest to recap it.

It all started on a hot and humid Washington D.C. evening. John Smoltz was making his much awaited comeback with the Boston Red Sox. Wait, wrong game.....I mean, the O's took on the Florida Marlins in a clash of two titans. Rich Hill was on the mound for the O's, fresh off a masterful start against the Phils. Well, that was last week. This week, he wasn't so good. The casual eye might notice his solid line of 1BB and 6K, but everyone else notices the 8H and 6R, including 2HR. It's too bad because we were running the bases with Rich Hill last night. We didn't even get out of his chronicled little league days when he got the boot for freakishly tall Mark Hendrickson (who pitched very un-Mark Hendrickson-like). Then we brought in Chris Ray. Wow. Five words I never wish to hear uttered again: we brought in Chris Ray. He sucked before he went to AAA and he sucks just as hard now that he's back. I guess that's proof that AAA stats just don't translate to the bigs. Or whatever team he dominated for 16 innings or however much he pitched sucked worse than him. Anyways, he came in and promptly gave up a grand slam to none other than Hanley Ramirez, who knocked the crap out of his second 4 RBI "bleacher creature" in the series. Yea, you get 'em Chris Ray! "I was trying to match Rich Hill's line," said Ray following his outing. Close, Chris, but he actually managed 4 innings.

Meanwhile, the O's offense was on point last night, consisting of some number of hits that you can probably count on one hand. All of them came from one player. Yup, you guessed it fellas! Rich Hill! No, wait! I'm not even sure he pitched long enough to get an AB. In all seriousness, it was Nick Markakis (who else?). Naturally, I couldn't hear any of that taking place because MASN2 had no audio. Once the MASN folks figured out that only 3 people were actually watching the game, they decided to take the opportunity to meet their budget cuts and yank the audio. Minor improvement, but I'm sure it was an ugly sight anyways. On the bright side, neither Adam Jones NOR Luke Scott had a strikeout and Melvin "playoff experience" Mora did not ground into a double play. Most of this was due to the fact that A) Luke Scott did not actually play and B) nobody was on base for MelMo to double up anyways. But whatever. Details!

In other related news, dragonflies have 6 legs but cannot walk.

In case anybody was wondering, you can catch the O's and Gnats tonight at 7pm on both MASNHD AND MASN2. Wow, that's a bargain. Sad commentary on two different channels! Hopefully MASNHD will have Hunter and Martinez because the dynamic duo of Rob Dibble and Bob Carpenter is even worse. Trust me on that one. Pitching matchup includes rookies Brad Bergesen and Ross Detweiler. Stay tuned for the ever popular MBP poll. It's a real corker today.

Poll

MBP:

Mark Hendrickson (for being the only pitcher to NOT get shelled)

7 votes

Amber Theoharis (why not?)

34 votes

Nick Markakis (he had hits!!)

13 votes

Buck Martinez (wicked fine commentary if you managed to hear it)

4 votes

58 votes | Poll has closed

They Are Who We Thought Were....

twistedlogic — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 12:47:54 -0000

....and we let 'em off the hook. No pun intended.

This is my first time doing a game recap, although there is very little to recap. The O's once again made an average pitcher look fantastic while showing off a clear understanding of the game's fundamentals.

We started with two runners on in the first inning (yea, even Felix Pie got a hit), but got no runs. The Marlins did the same, mostly thanks to a Jason Berken four pitch walk, but they actually capitalized on Hanley Ramirez's two run single. All 21 fans at the luxurious LandShark Stadium went nuts.

The Marlins would get another run on Cody Ross' double (once again following a Jason Berken walk) and all 21 fans went nuts. Jason Berken actually didn't pitch so bad and he wasn't really helped out by any solid defense (Melmo) or run support.

The O's actually tried to make it interesting in the 6th with a routine groundball from Nick Markakis that Marlin's 3B Emilio Bonaficio (you know you're bad when the Nationals get rid of you. Just ask Daniel Cabrera) threw away to score Brian Roberts. Even Melvin Mora got an RBI single.

Mark Hendrickson tried his very best to give the two runs right back, but Nick Markakis, who now leads the AL in outfield assists, wouldn't have anything of it. He threw a rocket from RF to gun down Jeremy Hermida at the plate. Dan Uggla decided to make an O's-esque baserunning mistake and not take second on the throw, allowing Hendro to work out of the jam and at least postponing further damage.

This is where it gets good. Bonaficio reached first on an infield single, barely beating a good throw from Brian Roberts. Unfortunately, C Matt Wieters, trying to nail the basestealer, put the throw into center. Yes, even He makes mistakes on occasion. To make things worse, Felix Pie decided to think for once. "I was trying to decide where to throw the ball," said Pie after the game, "then I realized I hadn't actually thought about anything in a while, so I decided to pause for a brief moment to mark the occasion!" Meanwhile, Bonaficio waltzed home for the Marlins fourth run and I turned the game off. All 21 fans went nuts.

Something must have happened after that because the scored ended up 5-2. I'm sure it was exciting. Hoping to avoid a sweep, the O's are back at again tonight at 7:10 on MASN2. Rich Hill will be on the mound looking to duplicate his solid performance againts the Phils last Friday.

Poll

MBP Voting (I hope its never this hard to find MBP options again):

Nick Markakis (AL leading 8th OF assist)

51 votes

Melvin Mora (O's lone RBI)