The crowd had barely settled in at Camden Yards last night when Fred Lewis homered on the first pitch of the game. The first pitch! That sent a bustle through the crowd, as most people were thinking that Jeremy Guthrie was in trouble. However as afternoon melded with early evening come the top of the second inning, Guthrie not only settled down, but he settled down big time. Most impressive to me was in the top of the fourth when Guthrie had runners at the corners with nobody out. He stuck out Lyle Overbay, and Juan Encarnacion grounded into a double play. Guthrie was lifted with two outs in the seventh after throwing 102 pitches and allowing one run. Fortunately, Guthrie also left the game with the lead after Caesar Izturis hit an RBI-single to the gap in left center.
Guthrie pitched better than I had seen him pitch in quite some time. However the fact remains that Guthrie, along with the rest of the pitching staff is only one man. My point is that Oriole bats need to make up their minds on whether or nor they want to stay active or go back to being dormant. Through the end of the first half, it appeared that the bats were coming alive. However through the opening two games of this series with Toronto, the Orioles have been held in check. Last night they did put up seven hits, but only managed two runs to show for it. Jason Berken ultimately gave up an eighth inning homer to Jose Bautista which won the game for the Blue Jays. Berken’s had a very solid season, and I recognize that things will sometimes happen of that nature. However the Orioles also had many chances to take the lead back, including in the bottom of the ninth with the bases loaded. I suppose with that in mind my question would be why Juan Samuel chose to send Caesar Izturis (hitting .240) up to bat in that situation. They had already pinch hit Scott Moore for Craig Tatum, so had the Orioles tied the game Jake Fox would have had to come in to catch. So why not use Fox in that situation?
Three Oriole pitchers (Millwood, Matusz, and Guthrie) are in the top five across the leagues in terms of worst run support. The problem then becomes that pitchers try to be overly perfect, and they end up making mistakes. Through the first two games of this series, I’ve noticed Oriole pitchers throwing up and in a lot on Toronto hitters. While that opens up the outer half of the plate if you can command that part of the zone, my impression has been that the pitch locations weren’t exactly randomly selected. The Blue Jays (under Cito Gaston) have a reputation as a team that steals signs. So has that been going on, and have the Orioles been trying to send a message? At various points, there did appear to be some “gamesmanship” going on based upon my impressions from where I was sitting in last night’s game. However that might be something that only Guthrie and Juan Samuel can answer for sure.
This afternoon the Orioles will try to salvage one game in this series against Toronto, who are 8-0 against the Orioles this year. Brian Matusz will take the hill, and will hope for some run support as well. Faulty base running didn’t help to Orioles last night, as Corey Patterson was picked off at second base in the first inning. Julio Lugo also appeared to get confused at a sign in the bottom of the third when he made a veiled attempt at stealing a base. These are mistakes that teams can’t make and still expect to win games. But I suppose that part of the beauty and rhythm of the game of baseball is that you’re rarely 24 hours away from your next chance to win. Ultimately as I said, each pitcher is only one man, and he can’t win the game alone. My point: the offense needs to step it up.
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