Last night I admittedly wasn't paying as much attention to the Orioles as I normally would have, although I was on official Birdland business. I drove out to Harry Grove Stadium in Frederick, MD last night to watch the Orioles' single-A affiliate Frederick Keys take on the Washington Nationals' single-A affiliate Potomac Nationals. Call it an appetizer for this weekend's Battle of the Beltways at the yard. In a twist of irony however, I suppose that the Keys' and Orioles' games last night were somewhat juxtaposed together given that Zach Britton was starting for the Orioles and his brother Buck was the DH for the Keys. (Now how many sports columns make reference to juxtaposition?!) While Zach was working his magic for the big club, Buck was going 2-for-5 in Frederick with a homer and a double. Frederick ended up losing 6-3 to Potomac, however the thought of the Britton brothers someday lighting up the strikezone and Eutaw St for the Orioles certainly did cross my mind.
(Zach) Britton pitched seven innings and gave up 1 (unearned) run over six hits and seven strikeouts...and he left with the O's trailing 1-0. Some people might be very quick to judge this game by saying that the Orioles' offense has gone back into it's shell. However keep in mind that the Yankees weren't able to do much either. This was just an old fashioned pitcher's duel if I've ever seen one. New York took that 1-0 lead into the last of the ninth, before Adam Jones scored on Vladimir Guerrero's sac fly. This marked the third out of the last four games at Oriole Park which went to extras. I'm sure Peter Angelos was thrilled to be "giving away" all of this free baseball! In football when you go to overtime the team that loses the coin toss immediately becomes the underdog. Similiarly, I've always thought that regardless of the standings once you go to extra innings the visiting team becomes the underdog given that the home team bats last in the inning. However keep in mind that the O's were playing the New Yawk Yankees. Apparently they were also battling the strike zone of Dan Pellino, which seemed to fluctuate a bit. Numerous Oriole batters appeared incredibly frustrated at the nature of the zone. Alex Rodriguez of the Yankees fell into that category as well, and in what I thought was a rather unprofessional manner he took his argument to the third base umpire the inning after he was called out on strikes.
In the extra frames, the O's loaded the bases twice and the Yankees once, yet nobody scored. It's been a long time since I've seen the Orioles literally have to empty their bullpen. Speaking of the bullpen, that much-maligned staff pitched well in my opinion. Koji Uehara seemed to keep the Yankees guessing, and Jeremy Accardo pitched his way out of a bases loaded no-out situation. Unfortunately for Accardo, he seemed to tire in the top of the 15th when he allowed two base hits. Buck Showalter immediately lifted Accardo for Michael Gonzalez, the last reliever in the pen. Accardo pitched valiantly out there, and was probably left in longer than he otherwise would have been because Showalter didn't want to have to use his last reliever. However Gonzalez immediately hung a breaking ball to Robinson Cano, who plated both base runners. Next in the order was Chris Dickinson; the bill of his helmet ended up on the business end of a Gonzalez fastball that got away. With Dickinson lying motionless at home plate, Gonzalez was ejected by home plate umpire Dan Pellino.
First and foremost, I was very happy to see Dickinson take his base at first, and then leave the game under his own power. This is a game, even though some people (myself probably included) sometimes treat it as more than that. The last thing that anyone wants to see is someone's career ended or even their well-being put in jeapordy. However, I would also say to Dan Pellino to use some common sense in that situation. If the umpire feels that a batter was intentionally hit, he can eject him. So if Pellino truly felt in his heart that Gonzalez threw at Dickinson on purpose, I suppose he did the right thing. But when I say common sense, I really mean baseball acumen. Would someone really be throwing at a batter in that situation? Top of the 15th inning, two runs home, one on and nobody out? Not to mention that Gonzalez knew as well as anyone that he was the last guy in the Orioles' bullpen. So who comes in if he gets tossed; a starter? Buck Showalter seemed to put up a casual protest with Pellino given that Dickinson was on the ground at home plate. I suppose that my issue with this is that there appeared to be a bit of a double standard in that Alex Rodriguez was not only allowed to go after Pellino arguing a called third strike (manager Joe Girardi had to restrain him), but he then proceeded to come out in the field the next inning and go after third base umpire Tony Randazzo about the call. Gonzalez hit someone and was immediately tossed, even though common sense would dictate that it wasn't a situation where you'd want to hit a batter. Seems to me that Mr. Pellino made a bit of an emotional decision there given that the guy was hit in the head.
The ends to all of this was that Gonzalez was tossed, and Showalter had to call on Jeremy Guthrie (the next day's starter) to finish the inning. Starting pitchers have different warm-up routines than relievers. Guthrie generally warms up by doing a series of long tosses over a span of 15-20 minutes in the outfield. Given that Gonzalez was ejected, Guthrie got as much time as he needed to get loose. However once play was resumed it appeared to me that Guthrie wasn't totally comfortable out there, yet it only took him seven pitches to get out of the inning. Ultimately, the O's dropped this one to NY in 15 innings 4-1. Showalter showed his frustration with some of the goings-on with umpire Pellino when he was asked by a reporter in his postgame presser about disagreeing with "the call" (meaning the decision to eject Gonzalez). Showalter's response was "which one?" During the extra frames MASN cameras caught Showalter talking to Brad Bergesen in the dugout, presumably telling him that if he needed to use a starting pitcher in relief (that being Guthrie), he might have to start tonight's game against the Yankees. At this point no decision has been made in terms of who's starting tonight. Certainly Guthrie will want the ball, however the question is whether or not he would be capable of going. If Guthrie does get the start, odds are he might be on a shorter leash than normal, and the bullpen has to be taxed after last night's game. Certainly they wouldn't be in this position had Gonzalez not hit Dickinson, however my question again is whether or not it was intentional.
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