Once again, grad school has gotten in the way of my life as a baseball fan. Here is a very succinct recap of yesterday’s affair with everything you need to know:
Please resume normal activities now and have a photo of my dogs watching the Mets.
The Orioles and Rays played a Noah’s Ark game, with all of the runs coming in twos:
Then things got weird. The Rays staged a comeback in the 9th, but it was interrupted due to a bizarre baserunning error from Evan Longoria. Watch here.
Now there’s something you don’t see every day. (Screencap mine.)
To summarize, Longoria doubled, but due to the hesitation from Ben Zobrist and Sean Rodriguez, he got to them faster than anyone anticipated. Rodriguez, who was on second, scored, and Zobrist went to third. Longoria parked on second and then discovered that he had actually passed Zobrist on the basepaths and was therefore called out.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen that one except in Little League. It’s just very bizarre and very uncommon.
And to close, somebody needs to tell the Rays that pitching to Chris Davis is not a good idea. It’s really not working out for them.
Home opener tomorrow at last, yay!
Another Opening Day has come and gone, and the Orioles won. It’s been a good one.
I’m a little more dedicated to this sport than the average human. Today, though, I took a new leap – I did the most delinquent, naughty thing I’ve ever done in my life.
I watched the Orioles game in class.
I wasn’t going to miss Opening Day for the Orioles – that’s a very important game to watch, after all. Unfortunately, one of my graduate school classes starts at 3:30 every Tuesday and lets me out at 5:50. The Orioles started playing today at 3:00. I have MLB At Bat on my phone, so I sidled into class, plugged my phone into the wall to keep it charging, and started watching the game on mute.
Without further ado, I present my notes from my Introduction to Information Professions course. I hope Cooperstown needs a new archivist soon.
I even drew baseball enthusiasts Buster Keaton and Joe E. Brown in my notes. But my stupid Comedian Heaven project isn’t the point here.
This was a wonderful day. For the first time, I had to suppress my reactions to a three-run homer (that was for you, Earl Weaver, I’m sure of it) in a public place where I shouldn’t have been watching a sporting event. I was living the dream. Best 1.13 GB of data I’ve ever used.
Your basic scoring summary is this:
Jason Hammel looked pretty good in his first start of the year, although he did run into trouble and allow the two runs that allowed the Rays to temporarily take the lead. Fortunately for him, the team was very offensively strong today and bailed him out. Jim Johnson was old reliable in the 9th, so no worries there. The rest of the bullpen also looked delightful, so they’re still a strength.
Actually, today the entire team looked really, really good. I’m excited.
I just can’t imagine my professor would be if she knew what I was actually taking notes on during her PowerPoint presentation.
Because this is genuinely what I do with myself.
I looked through the Orioles’ photo day images from this season and ended up choosing them as my subject for this week’s Camden Depot cartoon. Specifically, I ended up parodying photos of Jake Arrieta, Brian Matusz (of course – it’s me drawing these), Jair Jurrjens, Adam Russell, Darren O’Day and Chris Davis. I’ve decided to share them here, too, just because I rarely like what I draw because that’s how we artists are and I happen to like these quite a bit.
Clicking on the cartoons will take you to the actual photographs. (The Chris Davis one is indeed a reblog on my Tumblr, which has lately become a repository for photos of Laurel and Hardy. You have been warned if you click that link.)
So here we go. It all comes down to this for now.
LET’S DO IT.
I’ll be live-blogging the game inning by inning, so stay tuned for my ridiculous commentary here!
Top 1st: The Orioles manufactured a quick run – Nate McLouth got on base, stole second, and was driven in by J.J. Hardy. (In the meantime, I’m finding it very hard to root against Yu Darvish since he’s a pitcher that I’ve been watching since 2007.) Orioles 1, Rangers 0.
Bottom 1st: Joe Saunders can’t throw strikes. It led to Ian Kinsler walking, getting to third on an Elvis Andrus single, and scoring on a double play. Orioles 1, Rangers 1.
Top 2nd: Mark Reynolds was hit on the hand by a pitch with one out. He ended up stealing second base. Machado grounded out to end things, though, so no score. Orioles 1, Rangers 1.
Bottom 2nd: Despite his inability to throw strikes, Joe Saunders recorded two strikeouts in this inning. No, I don’t know either. Orioles 1, Rangers 1.
Top 3rd: Yu Darvish threw a 1-2-3 inning. I’d complain, but I find that I have an irrational inability to complain about Yu Darvish being on my television. Orioles 1, Rangers 1.
Bottom 3rd: A double play helped Saunders escape this inning relatively quickly. Orioles 1, Rangers 1.
Top 4th: Jim Thome singled down the left field line, but that’s about it. Orioles 1, Rangers 1.
Bottom 4th: Men on first and third with only one out. Saunders struck out Napoli and then induced a force out to second to escape. Orioles 1, Rangers 1.
Top 5th: Yeah, we’ve got nothing at this point. Orioles 1, Rangers 1.
Bottom 5th: Kinsler led the inning off with a single. However, Andrus hit into a double play with one out, which cleared things up. Saunders is pitching disturbingly well so far for someone who hasn’t been hitting the strike zone too consistently.
Top 6th: J.J. Hardy led the inning off with a single like Kinsler did last half-inning. However, Chris Davis decided to vary from what the Rangers did and singled into right field, advancing Hardy to third with no outs. And then magic happened – Adam Jones came through with a long sacrifice fly to score Hardy! Orioles 2, Rangers 1.
Bottom 6th: Did you realize Joe Saunders only walked one person tonight? After two outs, he handed the ball to former Ranger Darren O’Day. O’Day got the out. Phew! Orioles 2, Rangers 1.
Top 7th: Ryan Flaherty singled with one out. He immediately left the game for Robert Andino, Postseason Hero at least if you’re a Rays fan, who came on as a pinch runner. Machado sacrificed Andino over to second and Yu Darvish left the game. This made my eyes very sad. Andino then stole third on a wild pitch to McLouth, the first pitch by Derek Holland, appearing in a relief role. McLouth proceeded to single to left, bringing in Andino! Holland, evidently stressed, tried a snap throw to first, but the ball got away and McLouth ended up on second. J.J. Hardy struck out, though, and the inning ended there. Orioles 3, Rangers 1.
Bottom 7th: Darren O’Day recorded three easy outs. Nothing spectacular to report here. Orioles 3, Rangers 1.
Top 8th: My boy Koji Uehara came in to pitch the 8th! I MISS YOU, KOJI. His first batter was the man he was traded for, Chris Davis, whom he promptly struck out. Actually, he struck out the entire side. I REALLY MISS YOU, KOJI. Orioles 3, Rangers 1.
Bottom 8th: Mark Reynolds started the inning off with a nice play to stab a ball at first. Kinsler ended up getting on with a bloop of a ball that got stuck in the grass and made it very difficult for J.J. Hardy to pick up. And then Darren O’Day decided it would be a great idea to throw the ball over to first, which he missed. Kinsler ended up on second. Amazingly, O’Day recovered and induced a groundout to short from Andrus, then was replaced by Brian Matusz. Matusz struck out Josh Hamilton on three pitches – THREE – to end the inning. Orioles 3, Rangers 1.
Top 9th: Joe Nathan came in to pitch the 9th for the Rangers. He walked Jim Thome to start things off, then struck Mark Reynolds out in an epic battle that lasted several pitches. Andino then just missed a home run, doubling off the left field wall and moving Thome to third. Lew Ford came in as a pinch runner for Thome. Manny Machado then slapped a blooper past short to drive Ford in (I swear that wasn’t a bad car joke) and move Andino to third. Chris Davis hit a sac fly to center to bring in Andino. The inning ended with J.J. Hardy grounding out to second. Orioles 5, Rangers 1.
Bottom 9th: One pitch, one out for Jim Johnson. Nelson Cruz then singled to left. Michael Young grounded out to second to advance Cruz, bringing up Mike Napoli with two outs. Johnson walked Napoli. A 19-year-old whose name didn’t even appear on the TV screen promptly singled, but David Murphy popped up to McLouth for the final out. Orioles 5, Rangers 1. FINAL.
Bring those Yankees on, baby!
(Unrelated footnote: I am now 2-for-2 so far in the postseason bracket I filled out for the annual competition at the school where my mom teaches. TAKE THAT, MOM’S CO-WORKERS.)
Meaningful late-season games! Woohoo!
Admittedly, I’ve been trying to wait out the end of the Sox-Yankees game before writing this one. What we do know so far is that the Orioles and the Yankees will determine where they go, and if they have a one-game playoff to deal with on Thursday, tomorrow. Since the Orioles won tonight, no matter what happens in that other game we won’t know how the AL East ends up until tomorrow night.
As it were, the Sox and the Yankees are in extras now. These things have to be stressful for every single party involved, of course.
The Orioles did what they needed to do tonight, at least. Chris Davis took care of the offense tonight with a solo shot in the fourth inning, whilst Miguel Gonzalez turned in another excellent start to keep the Rays off the board. (Matusz, O’Day and Johnson helped out afterwards, with Johnson notching his 51st save. Wow.)
Okay, let’s all go back to waiting and see what the Orioles’ fate is going to be, I suppose.
It was one of those games that we all get bored with eventually – the Rays scored one run in the first, the Orioles scored two runs in the first, and the Rays scored one run in the third, and it stayed that way for a very long time.
It was a pretty slow game for the rest of the evening, although Miguel Gonzalez gave me a bit of a scare in the sixth when he balked and advanced two runners to second and third with only one out. He managed to weasel out of it, however, and both teams continued to plod along, setting up occasional scoring chances and then not doing anything with them.
In the ninth, the Rays finally faltered by allowing Kyle Farnsworth to pitch, and that was all the Orioles needed to send the fans home happy. Manny Machado singled and was bunted over to second base by Robert Andino; Nate McLouth finished things off with a huge hit to right field that didn’t clear the wall but was plenty solid, allowing Machado to run home.
Then McLouth went crowd surfing. No, really, the team Chris Davis literally picked him up and carried him around:
Careful, Nate. It was a kick in the head from a reckless crowd surfer that gave me my concussion back in April.
You need to see the video to really believe this celebration, but let me tell you – this team is absolutely pumped right now. More than anything, they believe that they can win, and it’s working wonders. I genuinely love this group of guys because they don’t know when to quit.
And hey, we’re still tied for first place! It’s been a good night.
So we hit six home runs in this game, all of them in front of Cal Ripken, Jr.
AWESOME.
Things were running smoothly for the Orioles until the eighth inning, with the team scoring four runs in the first and leading 6-1 until that fateful inning, but then the wheels fell off. After a series of relievers, particularly Pedro Strop, failed to prevent the Yankees from rallying and tying the game up, it was going to take some serious heroics to pull this game back into the Orioles’ favor.
The heroes came in the nick of time.
Adam Jones led off the inning with a homer just one pitch after almost being hit in the face. After a single by Matt Wieters, Mark Reynolds followed him with another homer. Even a pitching change couldn’t stop the barrage, with Chris Davis launching his own moonshot right afterwards.
Jim Johnson came in afterwards and finished the Yankees off, only allowing a base hit in there that was very inconsequential, and the Orioles took game one of the series 10-6.
I cannot even begin to stress how important that eighth-inning rally for the Orioles was. They showed an ability to pick each other up after failure, the energy and strength to keep fighting even late in the game against a strong opponent, and the sheer will to win that’s brought them to this point. They’ve got what it takes to win – confidence, willpower and just enough luck. This team is, simply put, incredible.
I’d love to see them take at least two more games in this series, as that would put them in first place all by themselves by one game, but it’d be even more spectacular if they swept, as tough as that would be to pull off. For tonight, let’s just revel in the fact that we’re once again in first place and have a little party.
I’ll be destressing by watching Novak Djokovic now, thank you very much.
Your unlikely hero tonight, folks.
The final score makes this game seem like it was a lot closer than it actually was, so let me set this straight: it was all Orioles tonight. To be even more accurate, it was all Chris Davis.
Four out of the six Orioles runs were scored because Chris Davis homered three times on the night. Since Chris Davis doesn’t typically do things like this, the crowd went insane at Camden Yards tonight. It’s always the players you don’t expect, after all, isn’t it?
Beating up on Toronto isn’t much of an achievement this season, given that Toronto’s had their fair share of injuries and would definitely be playing much better than they are if the team was entirely healthy. Toronto definitely has plenty of fight left in them, as they put two runs on the board in the ninth inning (via a two-run homer) and the Orioles were forced to bring in Jim Johnson. He ended up retiring all three batters he faced, quickly ending things. Zach Britton kept them mostly handcuffed before that in his 6.2 innings, chalking up six strikeouts before his night was done. (He was responsible for the other two runs, although one was allowed by Darren O’Day, who inherited the runner after Britton left the game.)
Another bright spot: THE SITE MASCOT IS BACK! Brian Matusz came out of the bullpen tonight and retired the only batter he faced. Although he doesn’t seem too keen on coming out of the ‘pen, he pitched darn well tonight, which means I get to start drawing cartoons of him again. I don’t know why I like drawing him, but there’s something genuinely goofy about him that makes him a cartoonist’s dream come true.
Let’s go again tomorrow, shall we? BIRD BATTLE!
Chris Davis is the reason we’re in the win column tonight.
I’d give Zach Britton some credit, too, but to be fair he kept getting pretty darn lucky. He did go seven innings without imploding and he didn’t give up any runs, but he kept escaping close calls with the help of the defense. A bunch of double plays were turned behind him tonight, and the Tigers were stupid enough to try to run on Matt Wieters.
Chris Davis hitting that three-run homer in the seventh inning was absolutely huge. He not only crushed the ball, but also put Britton out in front – and Britton held onto the lead in the bottom of the inning. Pedro Strop had a less-than-stellar outing and gave up two runs, but not the lead, and Jim Johnson was able to close things out. It was a typical Orioles win this season – barely enough offense, but a strong enough pitching performance that we were able to eke it out.
Oh, but check this out!
That is absolutely INSANE. That’s an incredible statistic. I’m amazed that it’s held up for the entire season so far. If that manages to last for the next 42 games, I’ll be astounded.
It’s a Saturday and I’m a nerd, so I’m going to watch documentaries on time travel now. For once, I’m not interested in going back and restarting the baseball season because we’re playing like crap – and that’s a good thing.
