The Orioles had three Gold Glove nominees this year. All three won.

I’d say that just about caps off the incredible season these guys put together, don’t you?

Check this out:

Shortstop J.J. Hardy, center fielder Adam Jones and catcher Matt Wieters were named American League Gold Glove winners at their positions on Tuesday night. It’s the first time since 1998 that three Orioles have earned baseball’s annual benchmark of fielding excellence in the same season.

The Orioles’ three Gold Glove winners — which are chosen by a vote of managers and coaches — are the most of any team in the majors this season.

Weets and Jonesy have won before, but this was J.J. Hardy’s first time winning the coveted award. Congrats to all three of them!

In the meantime, please continue to stay safe from Hurricane Sandy’s aftermath. I’m going to go and do a celebratory dance in my house.

This is going to be a quick and dirty post because I’m not sure how long I’m going to have power here before Sandy strikes, but here we go.

The Orioles have three Gold Glove finalists – announcements will be made Tuesday night, when I might not even have power. Anyhow, the Orioles nominees are:

• Matt Wieters, C
• J.J. Hardy, SS
• Adam Jones, CF

…which pretty much shocks nobody who’s been watching the Orioles at all this year, but you get the point.

More importantly, if you’re able to still read this, stay safe. Don’t do anything rash in the storm – take it easy and take care of yourselves. Hang in there, everyone!

Game 5, Game 5!

I could make another Star Wars joke here since I said ‘force,’ but I’m not that cheesy, even when I’m really, really tired.

Tonight all came down to the bullpens, as is to be expected, but this time it went the Orioles’ way, requiring a Game 5 to be played tomorrow – well, later today, actually – at 5 pm. I will be at New York Comic Con when this happens, which means you can probably expect something major to happen. This was one of those typical Orioles extra inning wins – take the starter (Saunders) out after five and two thirds, then throw the bullpen out there and let them pitch well into the night until the other team’s bullpen inevitably fails. It worked fairly well tonight, with Manny Machado leading off the thirteenth with a double, Nate McLouth sacrificing him over to third, and J.J. Hardy driving him in. Jim Johnson then pitched better than he has all series to close things down.

It’s a strategy that’s served this team particularly well, especially in their David vs. Goliath situations like this series – a war of attrition. Wearing the enemy down gradually instead of throwing all your resources at them at once tends to be pretty effective, especially since it can chip away at your enemy’s morale, too. It’s given the Orioles a chance here.

It’s up to them to capitalize on this chance tomorrow.

In related news, it’s a relief to hear that Joba Chamberlain’s x-rays came back negative. The look on Matt Wieters’s face said it all – things like that are genuinely scary.

Bringing this back because the man on the right has suddenly become a lethal set-up man.

Okay, so the plot tonight was arguably closer to Return of the Jedi since the little guys won, but you get my point. I’m not going to go on a Star Wars tangent. Especially not an Expanded Universe tangent. The Orioles came back with a vengeance, winning tonight’s contest 3-2. Wei-Yin Chen went 6 2/3 innings tonight before handing things off to Darren O’Day. Matusz then came in for four incredible outs before Jim Johnson redeemed himself and slammed the door shut.

Brian Matusz has been stellar in the postseason so far. I’d just like to point that out because he’s become the site mascot here because he’s my favorite person on the team to draw. Go mascot Matusz, go!

Offensively, the Orioles probably should have had more runs than they did – J.J. Hardy, for example, didn’t realize that Jeter was unable to field a ball at shortstop and stopped at third instead of running home. In the end, however, the three runs were enough because the Yankees only managed two (one of which I really do have to give Ichiro credit for because I was impressed). Tonight belonged to Orioles pitching.

The series resumes in the Bronx on Wednesday. I think we all could use a day off to get our nerves back under control before watching more baseball, to be honest.

Especially in the Bronx.

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.)

We took the opener! First step accomplished!

Truthfully, the score of this game should be 6-0, but Curtis Granderson hit a homer off of Brian Matusz in the 9th. Matusz was otherwise spotless and things went smoothly for the rest of the inning, but I admittedly wanted a shutout.

This win was truthfully a team effort tonight. Miguel Gonzalez pitched seven innings, holding the Yankees off the board as the Orioles scored and scored again. He got into a bit of trouble in the 6th and 7th, but he managed to fight his way out of it and keep the Yankees from scoring. On the offensive end, Mark Reynolds homered twice and J.J. Hardy once, with every starter except Nate McLouth and Omar Quintanilla having at least one hit on the evening. Everyone helped, and as a result everyone won. Except the Yankees, even though they did help us out by not being particularly offensively productive tonight.

Now, I think you all know what time it is…

Oh, a couple of notes:

• The Randy Wolf signing is official now. He’ll be one of the four players added to the roster in the first round of call-ups tomorrow.
• The other three? Xavier Avery, Steve Tolleson and Luis Exposito.
• Oh, and we’re going to be on TV on Thursday.

You know how great Chris Davis was last night? Tonight it was Nick Markakis and J.J. Hardy picking up where he left off and driving in runs left and right. Between the two of them, they had five hits on the night. Not too shabby if you ask me, especially since Hardy missed the cycle by a triple.

Everyone played a part, though – Matt Wieters and Adam Jones had two RBIs of their own, and Steve Johnson pitched a heck of a game, only giving up a two-run homer in the first inning and settling down significantly after that (he pitched six innings total). The Blue Jays were stymied after that by Johnson and Luis Ayala – so much so, in fact, that the Orioles were able to close out the game using Kevin Gregg (who struck out the side – what even). That’s an accomplishment for the Orioles.

Basically, the Orioles did everything right tonight. It’s against a team riddled with injuries, so we can’t look at this and go, “WOW OMG THE ORIOLES ARE TEH BESTEST SO GOOD,” but we can acknowledge that at the very least they’ve pulled themselves together and don’t lose to struggling teams anymore. Remember, last year the Jays would have been trouncing the Orioles.

This is this year.

There was originally going to be a Morris Marina and a few paragraphs of me complaining here, but that was all deleted after an incredible seventh inning by the Orioles.

To recap briefly: Zach Britton put the team in a 5-0 hole after two innings, then settled down for a bit before giving up two more runs. Mercy came in the form of Kevin Gregg of all people in the 5th inning after Zach couldn’t record an out in the inning. To put this in perspective compared to Zach’s pitching last year, MASN ran this graphic during the game:

There’s really nothing else to say. Zach’s walks are up and his strikeouts are down, and it’s all being sponsored by Kia. He’s not exactly the Star on a Reasonably Priced Team, now, is he? Look at that thinly veiled Top Gear joke.

Zach’s location is also clearly struggling – I mean, look at those home runs he gave up tonight. It’s like we have two Tommy Hunters on the team right now. Zach was rushed to the front and he’s suffering in return this season; someone on Twitter pointed out that his 2012 is mirroring Matusz’s 2011, and I’m inclined to agree (which is why I retweeted it). I think Zach could use some more time in Norfolk, but he wasn’t exactly doing well there, either, so maybe some time in Bowie will both help him develop and snap him out of this.

Anyhow, that wasn’t so brief, so let’s get to the part where the Orioles were at a 7-3 deficit and CAME BACK ALL IN ONE INNING. Mark Reynolds doubled and was singled in by Omar Quintanilla, Nick Markakis singled, and then J.J. Hardy stepped to the plate and absolutely demolished a ball out to left field. At first I was going to point out Markakis having three hits and Wieters having two solo shots as the only good things from this game offensively, but then the team came through and did this, so I guess I’m in no position to complain.

Nothing happened after that for a very, very long time. The Orioles bullpen even pitched nine scoreless innings of relief – a complete game shutout. It wasn’t until the bottom of the 14th that the Mariners somehow managed to put an Oriole on every base and pitch to Adam Jones, who lined a pitch out to right that wouldn’t be caught. Finally, we were victorious (although the @CharmCityYakyuu Twitter account was working overtime to keep up with this game).

You can all go to sleep now.

Oh, and one last thing that I want to toss onto the end of this recap: DONUTS!

I spy with my little eye a Rube Goldberg machine. And a winning baseball team, but not in this picture.

This game happened whilst I was at work. Naturally, since I was unable to see even a second of it, the Orioles won. We’re going to play I Spy with the MLB.com recap now and find some interesting things about this team.

Chris Tillman won again. It’s amazing to think that he’s doing so well given his struggles, but there’s something different about him that is plainly visible. Do you know what it is?

Joe Maddon does:

The Rays were unable to get anything going off Tillman until the seventh, when a pair of doubles — including a two-run double from Sam Fuld — forced his exit in favor of reliever Darren O’Day. The biggest difference, according to Rays manager Joe Maddon? Confidence.

“He’s definitely a more confident pitcher than maybe the last time we did see him,” Maddon said. “I thought he pitched well. He did not give in.”

What a difference believing in yourself makes, huh?

Also, just look at this quote from the same article and tell me what you see here:

That lead came courtesy of a five-run fifth inning, a rare offensive outburst from a lineup that has struggled for the better part of six weeks. Facing Shields, the Orioles put runners on first and second one out into the fifth inning, with Nick Markakis singling and J.J. Hardy taking Shields’ pitch off his ribs. After Jim Thome walked to load the bases, Adam Jones punched a two-run single into left field to give the O’s the lead. Matt Wieters worked a walk to reload the bases and Davis emptied them on a double into the left-center field gap.

First off, let’s get the concern out of the way – Hardy’s x-rays came back negative. He’s fine; it’s just a bruise. Now that we’ve gone through that, let’s look at exactly what the key element was here that allowed the team to score five runs in one inning (with four of the RBI on the day coming from Chris Davis).

I think it’s confidence again, and here’s why.

Once you see someone in your lineup get a hit, you begin to realize that the pitcher on the mound is hittable. Once you realize the pitcher is hittable, you believe that you can get a hit, too. When your entire team believes that you can all get hits, you actually focus and get them. The hits come in bunches, and you score runs. Only one run today came on a homer (Chris Davis hit a solo shot in the seventh), with the rest being a bunch of smaller consecutive hits. That’s exactly what this team needs to do to get the job done. Home runs aren’t always the answer, but confidence always is.

One more thing before we’re done – we know what was wrong with Gonzalez last night, even if he won’t blame his struggles on it – he has the flu, or something very much like it. Apparently several people in the clubhouse are struggling with the same illness, so here’s some metaphorical chicken soup for you all – YOU WON A GAME, PITCHED WELL AND DIDN’T SCORE ALL YOUR RUNS ON THE LONG BALL. YOU’RE GOOD AT BASEBALL. REMEMBER THAT. Feel better, everyone, and remember that you’re better than you think at this game!

Really, we need you to be confident. Oakland’s coming in tomorrow.

No comeback magic in this one. Actually, no scoring in this one, because Verlander was pitching for the Tigers.

I know I’ve been getting on the offense’s back lately about being inconsistent, which they most certainly are. Today, though, I’m going to cut them a little slack since Verlander does this to pretty much everybody. He limited the Orioles to three hits, two of which came off the bat of Jim Thome, who hits Verlander well and therefore must be a robot, and he also went eight full innings before Valverde came in to close things out in the ninth.

Miguel Gonzalez did fairly well in his second Major League start considering that he was going up against the Tigers, although he did allow a home run on the second pitch he threw this afternoon. Two more runs came in later, one in the second inning and one in the sixth inning, so he did keep the Orioles fairly close. Too bad the opposing pitcher was Verlander.

In terms of pitching, though, today was a very special day:

Steve Johnson pitches in the 8th. Screencap by me.

Steve Johnson made his Major League debut today! Pitching in front of his hometown crowd and his father, former Orioles pitcher Dave Johnson, he seemed nervous at first, walking his first two batters. After a bunt moved those batters to second and third (although an out was recorded), Johnson settled down and struck out the next two batters to escape the inning unscathed. He did give up the fourth run of the game in the top of the ninth, however, a homer to Miguel Cabrera, but it’s good to get those things out of the way early.

If you were watching the broadcast, you probably saw the immense pride on his father’s face. That’s what makes moments like these so special, even though we lost this one.

Also, check out the video from this game if you missed it. Hardy’s defense was absolutely off the chain today.

Oh! And one more thing: injury report.

• Jason Hammel’s knee injury is going to require surgery, which he’ll undergo tomorrow. He’ll be out for 3-4 weeks, which basically means he’s missing August and we’re missing one of the few competent starters we have. Oh, joy.
• Robert Andino injured his shoulder in the sixth inning and left the game. No word on that one yet, but Ryan Flaherty took his place and covered for him after that.

At least this wasn’t a sweep.