Sidney Ponson, Bruce Chen, Ryan Freel, Luis Hernandez…

All four are former Baltimore Orioles, and all four are now Kansas City Royals. Unfortunately, they could only split the series. Chris Tillman had a pretty decent debut and Brad Bergesen threw another phenomenal game. My optimism for the future increases every time I see this guy pitch. He’s probably the most under-recognized talented young pitcher out in the big leagues right now. He really has the potential to be one of those guys who eats a lot of innings and doesn’t give up a lot of runs, while not completely dominating. A Mike Mussina or Andy Pettitte sort, rather than a Randy Johnson or CC Sabathia.

Let’s see if the O’s can bounce back at home against Boston. Of course, OPACY will be 60+% Red Sox fans, but whatever.

So after betting on the WNBA today (don’t ask) and getting absolutely destroyed by chicks missing 5 foot jumpers and banging layups off the rim, I headed over to www.phoenixmercury.com, where they’re presently running a “4 tickets – 4 Quarter Pounder with Cheese meals – $64″ promotion. First off, I’m sure this is a great promo for their core demographic. I can already tell you two things about WNBA fans that I didn’t know already: They love to eat bad food at a bad basketball game, and they’re bad at math.

“Why are they bad at math?” you ask. Well, it’s simple really. If you go into the tickets section, you can find single game tickets for $10 each. That’s $40 right there. $64 – 40 = $24. So that means that the WNBA is giving you four Quarter Pounder with Cheese meals for $6 each. That doesn’t sound like much of a deal to me, frankly. I mean besides the fact that the sport sucks, perhaps if they were to have decent deals (could you imagine how an all-you-can-eat section would do?!), they might get more than 2700 people at their games.

Sidney Ponson, Bruce Chen, Ryan Freel, Luis Hernandez…

All four are former Baltimore Orioles, and all four are now Kansas City Royals. Unfortunately for the Royals, these guys aren’t even worth the league minimum.

Of course, that won’t stop the Orioles from losing to them. In their typical mid-to-late-summer collapse, the O’s have now lost 9 of their last 11 games, all but one by less than 4 runs. It’s another frustrating year of Orioles baseball, and all my optimism from earlier in the year has been completely wiped out by the O’s post-All Star Break performance.

I had thought that this year was going to be different. Sure, we weren’t going to be good, but we were supposed to show that the future looks brighter. I’m not so sure it does. Berken, who pitched well last night for the first time in ages, is 1-8. Reimold has been the one bright spot of the rookies thus far, Hernandez, Bergesen have been on the average side, but at least there’s a little potential. Wieters, while going 4/5 last night (which brought his BA up 20 points) has been uninspiring, with very little of the hyped power and the inability to throw out runners (only 20% of guys are caught stealing, compared to 40% for Mauer, 30% for Posada and 25% for Varitek). With a pace for 12 HRs on the year, that won’t do.

Perhaps I’m being a bit harsh on the rookies, as I know that the big leagues take some adjusting to get used to, and I’m not saying that these guys are busts, but there is plenty of room for improvement.

That being said, it’s the veterans who are being the biggest disappointments. The problems in the bullpen continue and Mora/Wigginton/Roberts/Huff just haven’t been producing, especially in clutch situations. I’m really hoping that the O’s will be trading partners by the deadline, so we can make some room for a new generation of Orioles. A 1B/3B prospect would be nice, and of course you can never have too much pitching, especially with our bullpen.

Well here it comes, the influx of young talent.  Rich Hill has demonstrated that he doesn’t have the “stuff” to be a major leaguer (though Jason Berken at 1-8 isn’t making much of a case either), and thus, as every news agency in the world seems to be reporting, Chris Tillman will be starting against the Royals on Wednesday. Tillman was one of the 5 players involved in the Erik Bedard trade (including Kam Mickolio and All Stars Adam Jones and George Sherrill (more on him later), and is considered one of the Orioles’ top 3 pitching prospects. The Royals should hopefully be a nice introduction to baseball, as the Orioles’ rookies have been 4-0 in their first major league starts thus far.

Speaking of Orioles pitching prospects, Hernandez and Bergesen have looked good, with Bergesen suffering two tough losses in a row to the Sox of both varieties. Meanwhile, down in Bowie (AA), Brian Matusz is 6-0 with a 1.88 ERA and an incredible 0.88 WHIP. His ERA had been sub-1.00 but he struggled a few games ago, giving up 6 ER over 5 innings (Take that out and his ERA would be 0.54. If that doesn’t amaze you, nothing will. He’s fully expected to be the O’s next ace, with a 2010 rotation of Matusz – Hernandez – Bergesen – Tillman – TBD with Uehara, Berken and Arrieta all in the running. This team has the potential for early-1990s-Atlanta-Braves-esque pitching staff in the upcoming years, assuming all of these prospects pan out in the coming years. Of course that’s a huge assumption, but even if 3-4 of the 7-10 prospects the Orioles have end up being worth the wait, the O’s will be a force to be reckoned with in 2010 and beyond.

Because of that, the Orioles will likely assume the role of sellers during the 2009 trading deadline. Trade chips mentioned are typically Jeremy Guthrie, Denys Baez, and George Sherrill. Though I would not be surprised to see Luke Scott, Felix Pie, or Aubrey Huff part of any potential deals. Though a fair amount of these guys are unappetizing to other teams, I tend to think that Sherrill will likely be dealt, potentially Luke Scott to a NL contender. Guthrie is of very little use and hasn’t demonstrated flashes of brilliance this year that he had in the past. Losing Sherrill will likely weaken the Orioles already-weak bullpen, but for the right players, this would be a fantastic move, as youngster Jim Johnson has appeared to be “closer-ready” should Sherrill be dealt.

Regardless of whom gets dealt, I will be shocked if the Orioles are not a part of a trade before 4 PM on Friday. MacPhail has been pretty crafty thus far in his tenure, let’s hope that streak continues.

I don’t even know what to write about. The Orioles have spent the last three games trying to make it look like almost, sort of, we could compete with the Yankees, but then proceeded to get swept. Ladies and gentlemen, your 2009 Baltimore Orioles! They play another three against Boston which I don’t expect to go well either… potentially 1-2, but most likely another sweep. It’s almost August, the time when the Orioles drop 15 games in a row. We all know it’s coming, especially with the youth this team has.

That’s all I’ve got.

As I was in Chicago, or as I call it, Pittsburgh Illinois. The city of 3 million plumbers. People from Chicago don’t like it when you call it that too.

Went to Comisk…errrrr US Cellular Field to see the Orioles lose two of three to the “mighty” White Sox.

As you can tell, I had great seats:

This was somewhere around my 9th and 10th games ever seen at Comiskey, and I still have about 50 things I hate about it, the city in general, and other things. However, I don’t have the patience to list all 50 out, so here are a selected few.

1) It was 65 degrees and overcast all weekend. First, the temperature was amazing when you’re coming from two straight weeks of 110 degrees or greater. But if I lived anywhere with a regular summer, I’d be pissed.

6) White Sox fans are such losers. The Orioles would be the perfect team to heckle. Last in the division, 10+ years of futility. But do I hear anything? Not in the parking lot (and I’m hard to miss in my bright orange jersey). Not getting in my seats. Not in the first three innings. But give the White Sox a 1 run lead and all of a sudden, here comes the hecklers!!! You guys sure have some stones.

9) Just because you got drunk doesn’t mean I want to fight you. In fact, just because I got drunk (which didn’t happen these two games, but has in the past) doesn’t mean that I want to fight you either. Talking crap is just a game buddy, and that game ain’t hockey.

10) When you realize you’re going to have a hard time picking a fight with me, don’t slap your own buddy, Chad. He’ll get you back. And in the meantime, there will be 15 minutes of stereotypical white-boy-name-dropping. “Yo Trevor why’d you hit Chad?” “Hey Brad, keep Skyler away.” This is no exaggeration of a snippet of conversation I heard when Trevor the drunk decided to fight Chad. I was embarrassed for you all.

13) Why is Comiskey so vertically oriented? It looks like a damn bowl from the lower levels, even in the outfield!

17) You do remember how you guys could’ve had Camden Yards, right? You could’ve been the first retro stadium in the Big Leagues, but opted against it. Great decision. You’ve got an amazingly sterile stadium.

21) WHY DOES EVERYTHING IN CHICAGO HAVE A THEME SONG? “Bear Down, Chicago Bears.” “White Sox, White Sox, Goooo White Sox.” Seriously, you don’t need to sing some stupid some from the 1920s to pep your fans up. It really convinces me of the lack of intelligence of the City of 3 Million Plumbers.

26) Dumbest accent in America, and I’m from Boston.

31) What a nice part of town to put a ballpark in. The sirens were a nice touch.

34) Tickets are more expensive here than Wrigley? You’re joking. I can get into Wrigley for under $20 but the Orioles are a “premium” game? I’m an Orioles fan and I don’t even consider an Orioles game in Chicago as a “premium” game.

39) Amazing view of downtown… as you leave the stadium. WHY DIDNT YOU MAKE THAT YOUR BACKDROP IN THE OUTFIELD?!?! Seriously. Home plate faces southeast, but if they oriented it to the northeast (like most other MLB parks), it’d have one of the most scenic views from home plate in the league. Unrivaled, even. Bleachers in right, lower levels of bleachers in left and center with the skyscrapers towering over. I’m shocked HOK Sport still got business after this oversight.

44) When you sing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” my friend Ryan points out, the lyrics of the song are written to support your team. You don’t need to replace “root, root, root for the home team” with “…for the White Sox.” It’s redundant. This isn’t limited to White Sox fans (I’m looking at you, Boston, Arizona, and every other friggin team….)

50) Winning 1 World Series every 100 years does not make you a dynasty. Sorry. Even if you did win one a few years ago (and the year after when you had it out and about and I heckled the crap out of the trophy handler only to get a reply of “Shut up (pause)…. Stupid”

It’s good to be home.

So the American League won the All Star Game, again… One of the boringest ASGs I have seen in my life. Not once did I sit there and think “Wow, Soandso is up, he’s going to clock it!” It was your old fashioned pitching duel, just this time it didn’t have the appeal of one pitcher dominating, but 8. The whole All Star break came across to me as a giant snoozefest. An uneventful Home Run Derby, a “meh-worthy” All Star Game, and I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I must say that I’m more excited about the NHL schedule coming out tomorrow than I was during either of the previous two events.

Sorry for my rainstorm amid MLB’s annual July parade. I just wasn’t feeling it this year.

Anyway, without further ado, the NL Mid Season Awards:

2009 Mid-Season NL MVP

Albert Pujols, any questions? 8 more HRs, nearly 10 more RBI and .100 OPS over the next guy in each category.

2009 Mid-Season NL Cy Young

This one isn’t so cut and dry. There’s two answers to this question. The first is if this award is to be given to the most talented pitcher in the league. In that case, it’s Dan Haren’s. Lowest ERA, WHIP and probably the guy you’d want to pitch in a game you need to win. Unfortunately, with no run support (in all of his losses, Haren gave up fewer than 3 runs in each). On the other hand, if the award is to go to the overall best, lights out pitcher in the league, it belongs to Tim Lincecum. Averaging nearly 1 full run of extra run support in all his starts, Lincecum leads the league in only Ks, CGs (tied with Haren and others) and SOs (tied with Piniero), but it’s hard to ignore the 10-2 record. Sure, Haren walks fewer, with an 8:1 K:BB ratio, and has done a pretty good job with the offense he was given, but you can’t say no to the guy who knows how to win baseball games. Tim Lincecum gets the nod.

2009 Mid-Season NL Rookie of the Year

I guess this one has to go to Colby Rasmus, as he’s the only one I’ve seen produce so far. I’m probably wrong about this, so please comment if you know of someone more deserving. Cameron Maybin came into the season with more hype, but he’s batting .230. Rasmus, on the other hand, has a respectable .278 with 11 HR and 34 RBI.

2009 Mid-Season NL Coach of the Year

As much as I don’t like him, Joe Torre is getting the nod here. Sure, he’s got talent on the team, but 50 games without Manny Ramirez and the team still ran away with the (admittedly weak) division. If the Dodgers don’t make the NLCS, I will be absolutely shocked. I see them as by far the favorite in the NL, and potentially the only team that could compete with the eventual AL champ.

That’s enough discussion of AAAA-ball for this year. Perhaps an update tomorrow with a breakdown of the Coyotes’ schedule? We’ll see.

So I’m going to cop out of writing a real column to do one of those midseason award posts that I’m sure you’ve read everywhere else. You get what you paid for here on AllMySportsTeamsSuck.com.

2009 AL Mid-Season MVP

This is a tough one. I was reading a couple of other columns to make sure I didn’t miss anything and all of them are putting Jason Bay as the runner up. JASON BAY? HE’S BATTING .260. Big deal, he has 20 HR, 72 RBI. Leading the league in one category does not an MVP make. For me, it comes down to two guys: Justin Morneau and Joe Mauer. Both guys have put up some damn good numbers, with Mauer batting north of .370 and leading the league in a ton of batting stats. Morneau, on the other hand, is (only) batting .311, with 20 HR, 70 RBI, but more impressive (to me) is that he leads the league in extra base hits at the same time as being in the top 5 in HRs. That being said, it’s hard not to give the nod to the guy batting .010 above Ichiro. Winner: Mauer

2009 AL Mid-Season Cy Young

Zach Greinke, hands down. 10 wins, lowest ERA in the league, 2nd lowest WHIP, and do you remember that April he had? Let’s not forget that he plays for a team with 37 wins, meaning he has 27% of the wins. To do that for Boston, Beckett or Wakefield would have to have 15 wins already. They don’t. Halladay gets the runner up.

2009 AL Mid-Season Rookie of the Year

Consider me biased, but I have to give the nod to Nolan Reimold. To be fair, he had a much more compelling case at the end of June when he was batting .296 with a >.900 OPS, but he’s been the most impressive position playing rookie, in my opinion, I’ve seen this year. The pitchers come up with the next three spots with Porcello (Detroit) edging out Romero (Blue Jays) and Bailey (A’s). In a world where I’m not an Orioles fan, I suspect Porcello would win.

2009 AL Mid-Season Manager of the Year

I have to give the nod to Seattle’s own Don Wakamatsu. Of course, I think this speaks a bit more toward the lack of talent they’ve had at the managerial position, because Seattle is by no means “short on talent.” Not discounting the job Wakamatsu has done, but when your leadoff hitter is on base nearly 40% of the time, and you have 3 great pitchers, you should be winning ball games.

A few ancillary awards:
Biggest surprise: Detroit
Biggest disappointment: Cleveland
Worst fans: Chicago White Sox (and they’ll win it again next year, and the year after that, etc).

Tomorrow: The NL Awards

So Dave Trembley served half of his two game suspension last night. Unfortunately, he didn’t put on a mustache like Valentine did and continue to manage. The whole issue stemmed from a debatable call in the first inning of the Orioles game against Seattle. Long story short, Rule 7.05 came in to play, Trembley came out to discuss, and upon seeing the replay in between innings, he came back out and promptly got himself ejected.

This brings me to my point today… The umpiring has been just absolutely horrible this year throughout baseball. I’ve seen it plenty of times in Orioles games, and coincidentally enough, just as I was typing this, in the Cubs/Cardinals game being shown on Fox, TWO umpires screwed up TWO different calls on ONE play. Both Tony LaRussa and Lou Piniella came out to argue with the respective umpires. So there was an argument at second, an argument at first, and the on the way off of the field, Piniella decided to throw a little ire at the home plate ump, which was a nice touch.

For the Orioles, they’ve seen a fair share of bad umpiring. Inconsistent strike zones seem to be a main factor, but in the Mariners game previously mentioned, there were two instances of a lack of understanding and application of certain rules, the first being the previously mentioned Rule 7.05 as Reimold was past second and a throw made it into the camera box, but Reimold was not allowed to score. Later in the game, a bunt that was in play was touched by a dropped bat (halfway down the 1B line) and the ball was declared dead. Other egregious errors include Varitek’s check swing, costing the Orioles a win, and other non-Oriole bad calls. All of this in a season where instant replay was instituted in its limited form. Hopefully in the offseason, this will be revisited. While I understand that part of the allure of baseball is the impact of judgment calls, I think there ought to be a replay allowed if the umpires come together and determine it’s necessary, much like it is done now. No need for strikes and balls to go to review, most calls that were controversial needn’t be reviewed, but the ones where no umpire saw the play would need to be reviewed.

It’s certainly frustrating watching baseball games being ruined by the boys in blue. Hopefully this trend doesn’t continue.

Okay, so the Orioles were trailing 3-0 in the 9th and scored 5, but it was at the expense of the Mariners absolutely choking away the game, but you can read about that at the link. I’ve written a lot about the O’s, as it is the season, but I’m going to take a day and write about the Dolphins.

On some schmuck’s “blog” there’s an article stating that there’s no good way to market the Miami Dolphins.

I couldn’t help but laugh. Of all the teams in the league that need marketing (read: not the Patriots, Steelers, Packers, Bears), the Dolphins might have the EASIEST marketing job in the league.

I can think of at least 5 ways to market this team.

1) The greatest show on turf – The Dolphins revolutionized football with the Wildcat in 2008. The players and coaches have been mum through practices so far. Do they have something else up their sleeves?

2) Pat White – Okay, this is one of the more polarizing issues for Dolphins fans, but if the Dolphins stay dedicated to the Wildcat, Pat White could become a major player. The prospects of a 2 quarterback system where both Henne and White are on the field at the same time intrigues me, and other Dolphins fans too.

3) Division (#(#(*$(ing champion Miami Dolphins – Seriously. The Dolphins won the AFC East in 2008. Sure, Tom Brady was hurt. Sure, we played a 4th place schedule. Sure, we got destroyed in the playoffs. BUT DO YOU REMEMBER 2007!?!! The Fins were 10 games better last year. That means if this trend continues, the Dolphins will win 21 games this year. 21 and -5 is a pretty impressive record if you ask me.

4) The Road Ends Here – Super Bowl XLIV is taking place right in LandShark Stadium this year. No team has ever had home field advantage for the Super Bowl, if the Dolphins can end up with a #1 seed (or a #2 seed with the help of an upset in the playoffs), they wouldn’t have to leave home from December until February.

5) The only football in town. Seriously, why would you want to drive to Coral Gables. Really. The ‘canes haven’t put anything on the field in quite a while, last time I checked.

Since it’s Sunday Afternoon and I have nothing else to do but watch the O’s game, I figured I’d go with another live game analysis.

I’m especially hoping I can turn my record around from 0-1 for the O’s while I’m logging live. No severe drinking this time (sorry!)

PREGAME:
The focus early on is Adam Jones’ selection to the All Star Game. Sherrill seemed to be a shoe-in, being the perfect left handed specialist, but he was shafted. Of course, I think the bigger shaft went to Chone Figgins, batting .316 and playing stellar defense with 24 SBs, while Ben Zobrist made it (must be nice to have your manager selecting the team!). Chone, meanwhile, is going to have to be voted in by the fans.

This will be the last time the O’s have to see Mr. Figgins until Mid-August. And I couldn’t be happier about it.

TOP OF THE FIRST

BRob takes a ball to open the game, 79 degrees and sunny. I would’ve been there but my good buddy Kevo wasn’t man enough to take a redeye home to Chicago and head to work tomorrow (boo). And on 2-0 Roberts smashes a leadoff HR! This is a great momentum swing early in this game after last night’s buffoonery. 1-0 O’s after 1 batter. Roberts already starting to make up for the dropped ball last night. All-Star Adam Jones is batting .415 in day games, and as soon as this is mentioned, he promptly flies out to the warning track. That’s been about 800 feet of batted balls in the first to players of the game. Markakis, who many on Orioles Hangout thought should’ve been benched today ends up striking out, so I’m sure they’re laying into him over there right about now. Huff grounds out to end the half inning. I’ll take it though, O’s 1-0!

BOTTOM OF THE FIRST

Wieters is in today after having last night off, which I think is a much better way to rest catchers (giving them the night before a day game off instead of the day game itself). The reason I think this is that it effectively gives your player two games where he’s well rested. From Friday night to Sunday afternoon gives a guy 1.5 days off, and Sunday afternoon to Monday evening gives another 1.5 days off, making the catcher rested for two games, where a Sunday off gives just 2 days off for the Monday game.

Rich Hill is starting for the Orioles today so we’ll hope he can keep everything under wraps today. Figgins is up and shows bunt, which is all I’d have Figgins do if he were an Oriole (and his contract is up after this season, I pray the Orioles go after him). Hill, meanwhile, has a 10.42 ERA in his last 5 starts. Figgins grounds out, Abreu the Oriole killer up next and he’s K-ed by a nasty slider, so things are looking good for Hill early. Hunter first pitch pops out to Adam Jones and Hill gets himself a 1-2-3 inning!

TOP OF THE SECOND

Flags are blowing straight out, which scares me a little with Hill on the mound, but with our offense, I’m not too overly concerned. Reimold leads off with a popout to RF and unlike last night, the RF called off the 2B. Still pretty pissed about that…

MASN pans to the standard “Early game in LA” shot of empty stands that will fill up some time around the 4th” as Scott comes up to bat, with a 6 game hitting streak on the line. He fights back from an 0-2 count to get a walk. Mora gets Saunders behind 2-0 and grounds out to a 1-6-3 DP to end the inning. Still 1-0 O’s, I’ll take it.

BOTTOM OF THE SECOND

The weekly America’s Next Top Model rerun-o-rama is on the tv here, much to my chagrin as always. Quite possibly one of the 5 dumbest shows on tv. Usually I could let something like this go because there’d be hot girls, but there’s a complete dearth of worthwhile talent on a show that’s supposed to be about beautiful women. These are the things I think about. This is my life.

MLB.TV cuts back to the O’s game and it’s already 0-1 on Vlad, who bats .342 career against the O’s. Hill hangs a curveball on 0-2 and it’s popped out deep to Jones. Hill leads Rivera out with a mean 12-6 curveball and throws another junk pitch to get him down 0-2. A popout and Hill is doing a real good job at getting ahead of hitters today, which as soon as I typed this is noted by the good people at MASN. Also, right after saying this, Hill throws a 12-6 curve outside for a ball. MASN brings up a graphic showing how Rich Hill has the 2nd largest difference between opponent BA after 1-0 vs 0-1 (he’s better down 1-0). MASN does a really good job at getting the obscure stats. They must have an intern who loves baseball-reference.com. Hill walks Napoli, the first baserunner of the game, but Hill gets a chopper and turns around and BARELY throws out Morales is called out. Mlb.tv cuts out before a good replay can be seen, but he looked pretty safe to me. Still a no-hitter through 2.

TOP OF THE THIRD INNING

Wieters leads off the inning, surprisingly the third didn’t start off with Amber, which is disappointing. Since Thorne’s off, I wonder if Amber was given the day off too. Wieters gets the leadoff walk and Andino is trying to poorly bunt Wieters over to second. I’m just going to say that Andino ought to take a day or two and just take 100 pitches and try to bunt them. He seems to pop them foul every time. And it’s a good thing that he didn’t bunt, because he grounds to Kendrick which bobbles the ball on the exchange trying to get Wieters at second and everybody’s safe. 2 on, 0 out for Roberts.

BRob first pitch tries to bunt but it’s foul, and MASN puts up the side-by-side comparison with Figgins, you can see that both guys are valuable leadoff hitters. BRob slams a double to right center and both runs score after “Green Light” Shelby sends Andino home and he’s forced to slide under the tag. 3-0 O’s, all runs off the bat of B-Rob… and he steals 3rd with no throw. I’ll be the first to mention that B-Rob is half way through the cycle here in the third inning.

AJ grounds out to Figgins, and here’s Markakis’ chance to get an RBI, which will help start the “forget what I did last night” rally that he better have. Markakis does as he was asked and chops one over 1B for an RBI single. Huff watches a 3rd strike that was a bit outside and Reimold pops out foul, but 3 runs still score on the inning… 4-0 O’s!

BOTTOM OF THE THIRD

A mean grounder to Mora gets the first out. Aybar gets the first of the game with a single to left. Figgins works the count full and manages a walk, so Hill’s first test of the day with runners on 1st and 2nd with only one out.

Abreu the Oriole killer gets behind 0-2 and he smashes a double off the CF wall, 4-2 O’s. Hunter goes down 0-2 and he lines one down the LF line, another double. 4-3 O’s. Are we noticing a trend here on 0-2? THROW A BALL! THROW A FASTBALL AT THE SHOULDERS! DO SOMETHING?!?!

A popout to Jones and a grounder to Mora end the inning, but the O’s lead is cut down to 1…

TOP OF THE FOURTH

The O’s have scored 4 runs on 3 hits, versus the Angels 3-3-1 line. I always love when my team has more runs than hits, it means they’re being productive with their base runners.

Power hitter Luke Scott is up first for the Orioles and he pops one out to short CF, and MASN cuts to the 4th inning shot of Angel Stadium, surprisingly (or not) fuller than it was in the 2nd. One of the worst atmospheres in all of sports is a SoCal baseball game in the first 3 innings. Hunter is talking up how long its been since Mora has hit a HR and Palmer chips in with how few extra base hits Mora has as Mora works back from down in the count to a walk.

Matt “More powerful than Jesus, Allah, and Superman combined” Wieters is up next and he singles to CF after fouling off about 6 pitches. Andino gets the sac fly and it’s 5-3 Orioles! He’s a lot better when swinging instead of trying to bunt.

Brian “Cycle Alert!” Roberts comes up and grounds out, but at this pace, he’ll have 6 ABs today. 5-3 O’s after 3.5

BOTTOM OF THE FOURTH

A leadoff walk and a 2nd pitch 6-4-3 DP makes easy work.

AND THERES MY GIRL AMBER… Today she’s wearing some librarian glasses :drool: I didn’t hear a word she said, but I’m sure it was important.

A first pitch single and a 2nd pitch popout to left. Quick work this inning by Hill.

TOP OF THE FIFTH

Well I can’t wait for these ridiculous red hats to go away. Especially playing against a team that normally has red hats, I remember thinking quite a few times “Wait, I thought the O’s were in the field” only to remind myself of this stupid forced tradition in the spirit of Bud Selig.

Adam Jones gets a leadoff single and he’s 3/57ths of the way of overtaking DiMaggio’s consecutive hit streak record. Markakis first pitch slams a grounder at Figgins who makes a gold glove catch and gets the FC at second as Markakis beats the throw at first.

Adam Jones came up from the slide limping. I really wish he would sit out of the ASG so he can rest his hamstring, but oh well. Huff singles to right and Guerrero launches a rocket in nearly getting Markakis as he circled second, what a cannon.

Reimold pops out to Guerrero and Scott grounds out to end the inning. 5-3 O’s still!

BOTTOM OF THE FIFTH

Figgins leads off and Palmer’s telling a story of a former NYY who would travel with a bunson burner to cook his vegetarian beans. Great story, Palmer. Figgins Ks meanwhile, and the Oriole killer is down 1-2 but works it to 3-2 and draws the walk to set up Torii Hunter. Through this point, Hill has thrown 80 pitches so I don’t see him lasting much past the 6th at most. A high Hunter popout caused Brian Roberts to lose the ball in the sun but luckily Andino was there to save him. Guerrero hits a 1st pitch HR to tie it up, 5-5. Time to pull Hill! That was Vlad’s 396th career HR, not bad. Rivera pops out quickly to end the inning. Tied after 5 at 5-5

TOP OF THE SIXTH

Time to see how the Orioles will respond. This is the second game in a row they’ve blown 4 run leads, and their confidence has seemed lacking lately.

Mora gets the inning started the right way…. with a popout. :sigh: But Matt Wieters makes up for it with a solo HR!!! 6-5 O’s!

Andino makes a smart play and singles it past Figgins’ glove, but with nobody going to get the ball, Andino makes it to second, hustling from outside of the box. Credited as an error to Figgins, I think it ought to have been called a hit.

Saunders is out. The new pitcher is Justin Speier. He gets BRob swinging, cycle watch is over. AJ pops out to Aybar and the O’s end the inning up 1.

BOTTOM OF THE SIXTH

Amber with the glasses talks about the all star game. Napoli quick popout to Markakis, as Hill came back out to pitch the 6th, a decision I’m not sure about as Morales singles to left. Dave Trembley apparently agrees with me as Hill is yanked. He’ll leave responsible for the runner but on the hook for the potential win.

Albers comes in, which is a great decision because he’s been pitching really great, in his last 12 games, a 0.53 ERA. Yesterday he came in with the bases loaded and got out of it only giving up 1 run, I believe. A fielder’s choice gets the O’s the first out and Kendrick steals second. A great throw by Wieters but too good a break to get him. Aybar lines to RF and Kendrick scores, 6-6. Hill will walk away with a ND today. Albers gets Figgins to K but a little too late as it’s tied 6-6 after 6. I’m noticing a trend here.

TOP OF THE SEVENTH

Markakis Ks, Huff flies out to the warning track and Reimold lines out. The O’s offense is suddenly quiet. My concern level is a 6 on a scale from 1-10 right now.

BOTTOM OF THE SEVENTH

The Oriole killer is up first and draws a four pitch walk. Ray is warming up in the bullpen. Hunter slams a double to CF and it’s 2nd and 3rd with 0 out. Inexplicably, Ray isn’t in yet. Intentional walk to Vlad (not a bad idea at all). And here comes Chris Ray!

Ray throws a slider on 3-2 and walks a run in. Next batter he goes down 3-1 and WALKS ANOTHER RUN IN.

This team is so frustrating to watch. Ray is out, Hendrickson is in. Great line for Ray so far. 0 IP, 2 BB, 0 everything else. Albers still responsible for the runner on third, Ray for 1st and 2nd, here’s to hoping Hendrickson can stop the bleeding.

A Sac fly to Left and Mora tries to cut off the throw home and boots it. Runners on the corners, 9-6 Angels. Reimold is somehow credited with the error even though he did nothing wrong. Not sure about that one…

A popout to center gets the O’s the second out and a lineout to Markakis gets the O’s out of the inning. Remember earlier when I said I like when my team has more runs than hits? The Angels’ line is 9-8-2 now. I’m pissed.

TOP OF THE EIGHTH

Scott leads off with a single, potentially beginning the Orioles’ comeeback. AJ lines out to Hunter on a great diving catch.

Wieters smokes a single off third base, runners on first and second with 1 out…

New pitcher for the Angels, Jason Bulger. Wigginton is his face opponent and Wiggy pops out to CF.

Brian Roberts up and another HR would be a godsend, but I’d be happy with a double… On a full count, Roberts strikes out. That sums up the O’s day. Glimmers of hope followed by disappointment.

BOTTOM OF THE EIGHTH

A quick groundout, Abreu strikes out and so does Hunter. A quick 1-2-3 inning. It all comes down to this….

TOP OF THE NINTH

The Orioles’ last chance and Adam Jones, Nick Markakis and Aubrey Huff are the ones due up. These are the 3 that I’d want. Brian “Fountains” Fuentes comes in for the save for the Angels.

AJ gets the infield single and Markakis reaches on the fielder’s choice. Huff Ks uneventfully.

Reimold is the O’s last chance and he has been 0-4 on the game. He Ks and this frustrating game is over.

I’m getting sick of watching this team squander leads, that’s for sure.

I’m 0-2 on the live game updates. I’ll try again next Sunday, see if I can make this a Sunday tradition.

Thanks for reading!