As it turns out, I won't make my way to the yard today to see an Oriole team that's won five straight games. The O's dropped a 4-2 decision to the Chicago White Sox at Camden Yards last night, giving Buck Showalter his first loss in an Oriole uniform. However, the Orioles did turn in their fifth straight quality start, with Kevin Millwood going six innings and giving up one run over four hits. Millwood left with the lead (2-1), however Chicago put two across in the seventh against Jason Berken, who took the loss. While Berken's had a great season out in the pen, he's struggled a bit of late. He's blown two saves in the last week, although on Thursday he ended up collecting the win. Berken leads the leauge in relief innings, so that might have something to do with it. Earlier in the season when Oriole starters were struggling, Berken was often used in long relief, and it's very possible that we're seeing the affects on his arm at this point in the season.
Millwood pitched a gem for the O's last night. He was able to get key outs when he needed them, and his breaking pitches seemed to paint the plate black and blue all night. He struck out Juan Pierre with a 12-6 curve ball inside to end the fifth in a very impressive manner. Adam Jones also added his 16th homer of the season, and Nick Markakis gave us a gold glove moment in right field by throwing out Mark Kotsay who was trying to stretch a single into a double. I always have to laugh when I see people trying to test Nick Markakis' arm. In this case, Kotsay is not very fast to begin with, and why he would try to stretch a single into a double with a right fielder like Markakis and the play right in front of him is beyond me. In fact, the play wasn't even close at second base. Similarly, Matt Wieters threw out Gordon Beckham at second base in the fifth inning when he tried to steal. The play was far from close, as Caesar Izturis applied the tag literally in the middle of the base paths; Beckham didn't even need to slide.
So it'll be interesting to see this afternoon how the Orioles respond to their first loss with their new manager. You don't win every game, so this was to be expected at some point. I'll be making my way to the yard for this afternoon's game, which pits Jeremy Guthrie against Mark Buehrle. Buehrle tossed a perfect game last season, and thus far in 2010 he's 10-8 with a 4.05 ERA. As a fan of the game, I'm really looking forward to seeing him pitch (even though I'm rooting against him). So can Jeremy Guthrie turn in the Orioles' sixth straight quality start? Can Oriole bats come back to life after being somewhat dormant the past two games? We'll find out, but rest assured that something magic just might happen moving forward for the rest of the season.
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