Camden Chat

Orioles 4, Royals 3 (15): Gregg and Eveland? I knew it all along.

2012-05-17T04:42:46Z

It took fifteen innings, but the Orioles finally won tonight against the Kansas City Royals. Strong performances by both starting pitchers were almost forgotten by the time this one ended thanks to a homer in Adam Jones' 7th at bat and a phenomenal job by two unlikely pitchers in the bullpen.

Tommy Hunter pitched a very effective game, and although he looked like he was losing it a couple times, I'll take seven innings and two runs every day of the week.

Through the first three innings, Hunter faced just nine batters thanks to two double plays. The Royals were chasing the ball and Hunter got through those three innings with just 25 pitches thrown. It was looking like the beginning of a very good start by Hunter, but the fourth inning got a little dicey. With one out and runners on first and second (courtesy of a lead off walk and a line-drive single), Alex Gordon smoked a ball, and I mean he killed it, towards first base. Luckily for the Orioles it was right at Chris Davis's head, so his choice was to catch it or die. He caught it and easily doubled off Butler at first. Hunter only threw 11 pitches in the inning but the Royals were hitting the ball hard and he lucked into the double play.

The only two runs Hunter allowed on the night came in the fifth inning. Jeff Francoeur started the inning for the Royals and he popped a ball up behind home plate. Matt Wieters couldn't find the ball in the high sky and when Davis realized he raced in towards the warning track behind home plate. It was a valiant effort, but he couldn't quite get there. Given new life, Frenchy lined a double to right field. After Mike Moustaskas popped out, Hunter hit Alcides Escobar on a 3-2 count. Chris Getz grounded to Davis at first, who bobbled the ball but got the second out as the runners moved up.

So with two outs, the only thing standing between Hunter and the end of the inning was #9 hitter Humberto Quintero. If you don't know who he is, that's ok. He's not very good, and he wasn't slated to be the Royals every day catcher. He lucked into the role when Salvador Perez was injured in Spring Training. Anyway, now that you know who he is, I will tell you that he singled up the middle to knock in both runs. Shame.

After one inning in which he was lucky to escape without a run and another in which he gave up two, I was starting to think that Hunter might be toast despite his low pitch count. Hunter proved me wrong, though, pitching an easy 1-2-3 sixth inning and working out of a jam in the seventh without allowing any more runs. So it was scary at times, but he got the job done.

Unfortunately, the Orioles hitters didn't have much support for their starting pitcher. Felipe Paulino, making his third start of the season, dominated them for seven innings. The O's managed just five hits off of him (four singles and a double), and he struck out nine while walking two. So it was a sweet, sweet sight when Kelvin Herrera came out of the bullpen to start the eighth inning. The O's hitters agreed as J.J. Hardy and Nick Markakis greeted him with back-to-back doubles to make the score 2-1. Then, after Adam Jones struck out, Markakis did something very boneheaded: he tried to steal third. He was thrown out by a mile.

You just can't do that! Making an out at third base when you're the tying run and already in scoring position in the 8th inning of a game! The rally was snuffed, and Wieters grounded out to end the inning.

Troy Patton came in to pitch the eighth inning and got two quick outs before a single by Butler and a double from Gordon plated the Royals third run of the night, a very important insurance run.

Top of the 9th! O's down by two and facing KC's closer, Jonathan Broxton. Scheduled to face him: Nick Johnson, Wilson Betemit, Chris Davis. What could go wrong? NJ grounded out, but Betemit hit a fly ball that just kept drifting and drifting and then it was over the wall. Home run! See what I meant by important insurance run in the bottom of the 8th?

After Davis blooped a single to left field and Robert Andino flied out, rookie sensation Xavier Avery stepped to the plate. Xavery took two pitches outside the strike zone and hit the third through the hole and into right field. Ryan Flaherty, pinch running for Davis, moved to second base, and Hardy came to the plate. Can he do it? Will he do it? He did it! A single up the middle scored Flaherty to tie the game. With two runners on and two outs, Markakis grounded out to end the inning, and that's when the scoring stopped for a long, long time.

Darren O'Day pitched the bottom of the 9th for the Orioles, and although he allowed a lead off single, he was otherwise great. Time for free baseball!

Just as the game went into extra innings, the Royals and Orioles bats both fell asleep. Tim Collins pitched a perfect 10th for the Royals, and then Nathan Adcock pitched four strong innings. It was frustrating watching the Orioles hack away at his pitches, and also frustrating to see Nick Johnson's double in the 13th wasted.

For the Orioles, Buck Showalter turned to two of the most disliked players on the team to hold the tie. Dana Eveland started the 10th inning as Orioles fans wailed at the idea of the fate of the game in Eveland's hands. But Eveland pitched three great innings, giving up just one single. With three innings in the books for Eveland, Showalter turned to Kevin Gregg. "Why do you hate us? Why do you hate winning?" cried the Orioles fans. But Showalter again proved that there's a reason he is the manager and we are not. Gregg pitched two innings with the only blemish being one walk.

Finally, in the 15th inning, the Orioles broke through. Adcock was still on the mound for the Royals and he finally stumbled. Markakis hit a long fly ball to right field that looked like it might be home run, but which landed safely in Frenchy's glove on the warning track. But then Jones, 0-for-6 on the night, decided to make it 1-for-7. He hit a no-doubt-about-it bomb to left field that Alex Gordon just turned to watch sail out of the park. Finally! O's up 4-3! After Bill Hall, who didn't start this game, drew a walk, Betemit grounded out to end the inning and it was all up to Jim Johnson to preserve the win.

Batter #1: Comebacker to JJ, one out.

Batter #2: Broken bat grounder to second, tough play for Flaherty, he gets him! Two outs.

Batter #3: Single to right field. Frowny face.

Batter #4: On a 2-2 count, Alex Gordon hits a foul ball that ricochets back up and hits him in the nuts. Ouch! Next pitch, foul ball. Next pitch, ball three. Come on, JJ! Next pitch, ground ball to second. Andino has it, he throws to first, O's win! O's win!

Wow. What a game. And we get to do it all again (well, hopefully not ALL of it) in just fourteen hours.

Poll

Who was tonight's Most Birdland Player?

O's @ Royals, Overflow Thread

2012-05-17T03:20:01Z

Tie game top of the 12th! Let's go O's!

Game 38: Orioles (23-14) @ Royals (15-20), 8:10pm

2012-05-16T23:30:19Z

The Orioles need to stick it to the Royals in the same way that Texas stuck it to the Orioles. They have emerged on the far side of the 15-game tough stretch with a few scratches, still far better than I anticipated. Now they have to keep their collective foot on the accelerator, because the injury-plagued Royals need to have their Duke-blue butts beaten silly by a team that has designs on emerging as a power in the AL East, or at least as a decent baseball team.

In order to accomplish this, someone who has thus far had a lackluster 2012 is going to need to step up his game. That player's name is Tommy Hunter. He's the Orioles starter tonight. He's given up like a million home runs. That was an exaggeration; Hunter has actually given up ten home runs in his 42 innings, still a fairly absurd total. Of fly balls that opposing batters have hit against Hunter, slightly over one in five have been home runs. Keep it on the ground, Tommy! No, that's just not your game. You are a contact pitcher and some of it is hard contact. So at least stop walking guys. Tommy's sporting a 2.79 BB/9 which is the highest of his career.

The O's have three players with 8 or more home runs. The Royals do not have a player with more than 6 home runs. That doesn't mean that hitters like Billy Butler and Mike Moustakas will not crush mistakes. Also be on the lookout for Eric Hosmer, who's only batting .182 but also only has a .175 BABIP. His luck could start to even out.

Starting for the Royals is Felipe Paulino. He has made two starts in MLB in 2012 and thus far has not sucked, managing a 3.09 ERA. Paulino's struck out over a batter per inning - and this is not a significant departure from his career K/9 of 8.32. His walk rate is also down substantially, which may not be a problem for a team that doesn't walk much, like the Orioles. Paulino hasn't given up a lot of homers since the 2009 season in Houston, a sign that he may have evolved as a pitcher. But of course if he's prone to give up some bombs tonight, the Orioles have more than a few batters who will be glad to send balls into deep and unplayable territory.

Paulino is right-handed, so against him the Orioles are sending out members of the "sucks against lefties" contingent like Nick Johnson, Wilson Betemit and Chris Davis. All of those three fellows could stand to pump up their stats with a breakout game. Whether they are capable of having one against Paulino tonight is something we will find out.

This is a game the team needs to win if they want to maintain their position in the standings for more of the season.

Lineup

BALTIMORE ORIOLES	KANSAS CITY ROYALS
Xavier Avery - LF	Jarrod Dyson - CF
J.J. Hardy - SS	Eric Hosmer - 1B
Nick Markakis - RF	Billy Butler - DH
Adam Jones - CF	Alex Gordon - LF
Matt Wieters - C	Jeff Francoeur - RF
Nick Johnson - DH	Mike Moustakas - 3B
Wilson Betemit - 3B	Alcides Escobar - SS
Chris Davis - 1B	Chris Getz - 2B
Robert Andino - 2B	Humberto Quintero - C

The View from Gamecock24's Seat

2012-05-16T21:00:00Z

GC24 watched the Wei-Yin Chen and the Orioles shut down the New York Yankees last night from section 12.

Series Preview: Orioles @ Royals

2012-05-16T20:23:45Z

Baltimore Orioles (23-14, T-1^st AL East) @ Kansas City Royals (15-20, 4^th AL Central)

After a rather grueling homestand against some of the American League’s better teams, the O’s hit the road for five games. They’ll start with two games in Kansas City. The Royals are currently 15-20 (winners of 4 straight and 7-3 in their last 10), but they sport the MLB’s worst home record at 4-13. Can the Orioles end the winning streak and extend their home woes?

The O’s survived Monday’s poor showing (both defensively and from the pitching) and recovered to deal CC Sabathia his first loss of the season. The victory ensured the Orioles kept a least a share of the AL East for yet another day. They also did it free of any known cases of Icy Hot abuse. Sweet deal! Meanwhile, Kansas City has won three straight series (Boston, Chicago, and Texas) with some solid offensive performances. It’ll be up to Hunter and Matusz (plus the bullpen) to quell the uprising.

Tonight’s game will be at 8:10pm (we’re in Central time now!). It’ll boast a pitching matchup of Felipe Paulino and Tommy Hunter. Tomorrow’s game will be at 2:10pm. Probably starters are Luke Hochevar and Brian Matusz.

Game 1 (Wednesday @ 8:10pm):

Probable Pitchers:

BAL – Tommy Hunter (RHP, 2-2, 5.14 ERA)

KC – Felipe Paulino (RHP, 1-1, 3.09 ERA)

Scouting Report:

Tends to strike out a bunch, but with limited control. However, he’s currently posting his best strikeout and walk numbers this year. Possible that this is the result of increased use of the two-seam fastball he added last season. Also throws a slider, changeup, and curveball. Good velocity – getting up around 95 on his four-seamer. Saves the changeup mostly for right-handed hitters. Lefties tend to hit him better. As an example, in 70 fewer ABs, lefties have managed nine more homers.

Key Stats:

The current Oriole lineup is 7 for 16 against Paulino. Nick Johnson and Bill Hall have home runs. J.J. Hardy is 3 for 5, but does not have an extra base hit. Current Royals lineup is 6 for 17 against Hunter. Yuniesky Betancourt has a homer.

Game 2 (Thursday @ 2:10pm):

Probable Pitchers:

BAL – Brian Matusz (LHP, 2-4, 5.50 ERA)

KC – Luke Hochevar (RHP, 3-3, 7.20 ERA)

Scouting Report:

Combines a sinker and cutter with a fastball, curveball, slider, and changeup. Not making much use of the cutter this season, however. Using the slider and sinker much more in its place. Low-90s fastball and takes anywhere from 5-7MPH off when throwing the changeup.

Key Stats:

The Orioles have not fared well against Hochevar even though he regularly posts ERAs up near 5.00. They are just 19 for 96 against the Royals righty. J.J. Hardy is 1 for 13 with 3Ks. Luckily, Mark Reynolds is out. He’s 1 for 11 with 5Ks against Hochevar. Nick Markakis is 4 for 16, but does have a home run. Adam Jones is the only Oriole with any kind of decent average at 6 for 15 (.400) with 3 doubles. Only four current Royals have faced Matusz. Two of them (Billy Butler, Jeff Francoeur) have hits. Billy Butler’s went for two bases and Francoeur’s left the yard.

Pick 6 Weekly Contest - Day 2 Results

2012-05-16T11:49:57Z

Day two of our Pick 6 contest is in the books and zsiv took home the top score for Tuesday with 77.7 points and a heck of a start from his 50 cent catcher, A.J. Pierzynski. The rest of the top five for yesterday day were sjtoomey (66.6), Mark E (66.1), UH-60 (66.1), and kba26 (62.9). Pick 6 newcomer zknower flashed some beginner's luck with 60.6, good enough for seventh place.

zsiv's score of 77.7 is the new daily leader, and here is your weekly top ten:

Camden Chatter	Score
UH-60	116.8
WestcoastO'sFan	101.5
Holymittens	100.3
T.L. Mann	100
zsiv	95.1
kba26	93.7
scratch57	90.2
sjtoomey	89.8
daveh873	85.4
Chasin Wieterfalls	82.4

Full Weekly Leaderboard

Today's games start at 6:35 p.m., so you have all day to make your picks. And remember, if you haven't played every day so far this week, you still have a chance to win. The highest daily total wins a prize along with the highest weekly total. And even if you missed the first two days, one 50-point day from Chris Davis would have you right back in this thing!

Hall of Shame through the jump!

Yesterday's ten lowest scores:

Camden Chatter	Terrible Score
TBA	3.2
Redskincow	3
funcrusher78	2.9
capsfankaufman	2.7
jeffk126	2.6
Eat More Esskay	1.6
Pack Man	-1
brek	-2
testudo13	-11
Bmorerush23	-11

That's quite a fall for EME, who was on the leaderboard yesterday. I'm just glad not to see myself on there.

Orioles 5, Yankees 2: Wei-Yinsanity

2012-05-16T02:21:12Z

The Orioles snapped their mini-losing streak, splitting the brief two-game series with the Yankees by winning the finale, 5-2. Wei-Yin Chen outdueled CC Sabathia with an outstanding seven-inning gem, holding the Yanks to just four hits and two (controversial) runs. The O's backed him with single runs in five innings, with all but one batter reaching base at least once.

Earlier in the week, the forecast was predicting rain in Baltimore tonight, but as it turned out the weather couldn't have been more perfect. Temperatures in the 70s, not a drop of rain. It was a beautiful night for baseball. And you know what else is beautiful? Wei-Yin Chen. Uh, by which I mean, Wei-Yin Chen's pitching. ...Not that's he not a handsome man, mind you, but...er, that is...let's just move on.

Chen, who pitched well against the Yankees in his major-league debut on April 10, upped his game even more tonight. He was locked in from the get-go, mixing his fastball, changeup, and slider effectively to keep Yankee batters off balance. He mowed through a perfect first inning, then shook off a leadoff walk in the second to keep the runner stranded.

Meanwhile, the O's offense had a tough task in facing half-human, half-walrus CC Sabathia, but they actually managed to hit him pretty well tonight. Adam Jones got the party started, opening the second with a towering homerun into the left-field seats, his team-leading 11th.

An inning later, the bottom of the Orioles' lineup did their part. Steve Tolleson-- who's swung a decent bat since his callup from Norfolk-- led off the inning with a double to left. Up next was Xavier Avery, who was thinking bunt all the way. Normally the notion of bunting in the third inning would be ridiculous, but with a lefty swinger in just his third big-league game facing the tough southpaw Sabathia, I'll allow it. Especially when you consider the impressive speed of Avery. Xavier put down a bunt to the third-base side and easily beat the throw from Alex Rodriguez, even though he was drawn in and fielded the ball quickly. Wow, Avery can flat-out fly.

Sabathia then grazed Robert Andino with a pitch, loading the bases with nobody out. The O's had an opportunity to do major damage, but instead they had to settle for just one run when J.J. Hardy grounded into a double play (plating Tolleson) and Nick Markakis grounded out. M'eh. The O's tallied another run in the fifth. Avery got the inning started with a walk-- nice eye, Xavier!-- and two batters later, Hardy plated him with an RBI double into the left-field corner.

One inning later, the O's took advantage of sloppy Yanks defense to add an insurance run. With the bases loaded and two outs, Hardy tapped a grounder behind second base. Robinson Cano fielded the ball, then bobbled it briefly. He tried to flip to second for a forceout, but the vaunted Derek Jeter was late covering the bag, and Andino slid in ahead of his throw. Hardy was credited with a gift infield single, extending the Orioles' lead to 4-0.

Markakis struck out to leave the bases loaded (Nick was 0-for-4 tonight, the only Oriole starter not to reach base), but Sabathia was finished after throwing 103 pitches in six innings. The O's put 12 runners on base against him, though they stranded eight men in a four-inning stretch. Happily, the wasted baserunners did not come back to haunt them.

That's because Chen was just too damn good. Early on, the Yankees' only rally against him came in the third, when a pair of singles put two on with one out. But Chen induced a 6-4-3 double play from Nick Swisher to escape the jam. And that began an outstanding stretch of 10 consecutive batters retired by Wei-Yin, who was in absolute cruise control.

His only misstep came in the seventh. After a leadoff double, Chen retired the next two batters and had Curtis Granderson down 0-2 in the count. But Granderson lifted a deep drive to left field. Avery rushed back to the wall and attempted a leaping catch, but it appeared that a fan (a Yankee fan, PUKE) got in his way and deflected the ball away from him. Gah! Not again! What is it with snot-nosed doofuses in their stupid Yankees gear and their insistence on interfering with O's outfielders? Surprisingly, Buck Showalter didn't ask the Yankees to review the play for possible fan interference. It's not clear from the replays whether the ball was already in the stands or not when the fan interfered, but I think it was worth a second look. In any case, the homerun call stood, and the Orioles' lead was cut in half to 4-2.

Chen walked the next batter, but recovered to retire Jayson Nix on a fielder's choice. Showalter let him return to the mound to take warmup tosses in the eighth, then removed him from the game before the first batter came up. That allowed the Camden Yards crowd of 24,055 to give Chen a rousing standing ovation as he exited. That crowd included Chen's parents, who were watching him pitch for the Orioles for the first time. Aw! That's adorable. Good show, Wei-Yin.

The O's plated an insurance run against Freddy Garcia in the seventh. Jones led off with a single and was ruled safe on a steal of second, even though the throw appeared to beat him. We'll take it. Consider it a makeup call for not reviewing the Granderson homer. He later scored on catcher Chris Stewart's second passed ball of the game, making it 5-2.

There was one more challenge to overcome. Setup man Pedro Strop was wild to start the eighth, walking the first two batters he faced to bring the possible tying run to the plate. But after a Swisher fielder's choice, Strop pounced off the mound to field a Cano bouncer and fired a perfect strike to second, with Hardy relaying to first to complete a rally-thwarting double play. A pumped-up Strop raised his arms toward the sky after his nice escape.

Closer Jim Johnson was much tidier in the ninth, allowing a one-out single but then ending the ballgame on another double play, this one slickly turned by Andino as he ranged up the middle, stepped on the bag and fired to first in one motion. And that'll do it! Another impressive win for the Birds. With the victory, the O's finished their daunting 15-game stretch against quality teams by going 9-6. Bravo, Orioles. Bravo.

Poll

Who was tonight's Most Birdland Player?

Game 37: Yankees (20-15) @ Orioles (22-14), 7:05pm

2012-05-15T22:30:15Z

Let us never speak of last night again.

Among the several pleasant surprises there have been for the Orioles so far this season is Wei-Yin Chen, tonight's starter. We saw him most recently as the only O's pitcher who was capable of remotely stymieing the Texas offense. This is no less impressive as the days have passed. Tonight he'll put his 2.68 ERA on the line in a game where the O's could really use a stopper to go deep in to a game to rest a tired bullpen.

CC Sabathia is the Yankees starter. We may have to consider the possibility that he's a robot. Sabathia's already thrown 51.1 innings across 7 starts, which is impressive. That is a workhorse. The dude is pulling this off while striking out over a batter per inning. In fact, with 53 strikeouts, he's 4th in MLB in that category, and the three guys ahead of him have all notched 8 starts on the year. With at least five strikeouts tonight, Sabathia will lead MLB in strikeouts. In a stroke of good fortune for him, he'll be facing the Orioles, the team with the 4th-most strikeouts in MLB.

For all of this, Sabathia has a 3.51 ERA on the season. Bad luck? At a 1.75 BB/9 (a very good rate) and with getting nearly 50% ground balls, this is probably the case. This guy is good. He has never thrown fewer than 180 innings in a season in his career. He hasn't thrown fewer than 200 innings since 2006. The highest ERA he's had since 2005 is his current ERA. With 2,070 career strikeouts, he ranks 60th all-time. The number of baseball players you'd want to be on the hook for $99 million in guaranteed salary after this current season concludes is very small. Sabathia's track record suggests he should be worth every penny.

But maybe the Orioles hitters can light him up tonight. Here we grasp at some meaningless batter-pitcher matchup numbers because they look pretty. In 39 plate appearances against Sabathia, Adam Jones has batted .333/.385/.583 with two home runs. Robert Andino's 18 plate appearances against Sabathia have seen him bat .389 and slug .611. Andino is leading off tonight, incidentally. If you hear someone suggest that his numbers against Sabathia are why Andino's leading off, consider ignoring that person's opinion about baseball. Put them on probation, at the very least.

Andino's been getting time batting leadoff against LHP over the last couple of weeks. In 2011, he had a .367 OBP against LHP. That was over 161 plate appearances, so it's still probably not statistically significant, but there have been worse leadoff hitters for the Orioles this year with worse reasons justifying their position as leadoff batter. A small step of progress? Maybe so.

Lineup

BALTIMORE ORIOLES	NEW YORK YANKEES
Robert Andino - 2B	Derek Jeter - SS
J.J. Hardy - SS	Nick Swisher - RF
Nick Markakis - RF	Robinson Cano - 2B
Adam Jones - CF	Alex Rodriguez - 3B
Matt Wieters - C	Mark Teixeira - 1B
Wilson Betemit - 1B	Curtis Granderson - CF
Bill Hall - DH	Andruw Jones - DH
Steve Tolleson - 3B	Jayson Nix - LF
Xavier Avery - LF	Chris Stewart - C