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:

• Matt Wieters 2-run homer in the 1st after an Adam Jones double
• Ben Zobrist solo shot in the 4th
• Rays string together some hits and tie things up in the 6th, then take the lead 3-2
• Orioles come roaring back in the 7th; Jones doubles in Roberts and Markakis, and after Wieters is walked Chris Davis hits the aforementioned three-run homer (in honor of Earl, let’s say)
• Matt Wieters actually doesn’t throw someone out at second; the error leads to a fourth run scoring for the Rays

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.

I really didn’t want to write this recap. I couldn’t even find the right words to describe what happened at first. Here’s my visual for this game before I came up with something to say:

Anyhow, I did eventually find some words of analysis, so here’s what I’ve come up with.

• The Orioles had plenty of chances to score in the later innings of this game and didn’t. It came back to bite them in the ninth inning, and here’s why…
• Closers and non-save situations just don’t mix. Jim Johnson is the closer. When you put a closer into a game that’s tied or one in which your team has a heavy lead, it messes with their closer mentality. They only know to protect leads, not keep games tied or pitch without intensity when they’ve got a five-run lead. Jim Johnson came into this game when it was tied – which naturally messed with his head on some level. It just doesn’t do a closer any good, especially when there’s a lot of tension already.

Some people deserve some credit tonight. Jason Hammel fought through six innings with his knee brace on, only giving up two runs. Darren O’Day came into a situation where the Yankees had runners on second and third with no outs and managed to get out of it without allowing a run. Brian Matusz pitched an extremely good eighth inning. There were some good takeaways here, at least.

Now we just have to win tomorrow. And you know what? Based on the way this team’s played all year, I think they actually can.

I can put a bajillion game scores in my recap titles if I want to, especially if we’re in first place.

Being tied for first place is interesting because right now it also means we’re tied for the American League Wild Card – in fact, according to MLB right now, three teams are:

So we’re tied for first in the division and the Wild Card. Okay. What happens if the season ends this way and three teams are tied for first place? Is there some sort of round robin knockout tournament to determine which two teams go on?

Anyway.

Jason Hammel hurt his right knee again in the fourth and was removed from the game, which is really not the best news in the world, but he was able to leave the field unassisted, which is a relief. Hopefully that means this isn’t series and we’ll be able to have him keep pitching…because frankly, we need him down the stretch here. Steve Johnson got the win today, though, and he did quite nicely, so I’m not going to complain about the kid pitching in this game. I just don’t want Hammel to be injured.

Oh, and we got rid of Kevin Gregg. The sad bit is that he was a good mentor to the younger pitchers – it’s good to have a veteran on the team who can help talk you through things. The not-so-sad bit is that he really can’t pitch. Ryan Adams was also designated for assignment – these moves corresponded to bringing up L.J. Hoes for the first time and reinstating Endy Chavez from the disabled list. This is really starting to look like a September roster.

One last thing before I close out: Joe Maddon acknowledged what I’ve been saying was the difference on this team the entire time:

“Primarily, I think it’s an attitude thing, I think the fact that they weren’t going to be denied,” Maddon said of an Orioles club that has flourished in manager Buck Showalter’s second full season. “I kind of see that with them.”

Confidence is everything.

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.

Oh. Well, then. I’m not so thrilled with this being the first game to come back to.

Jason Hammel pitched three innings and gave up only two runs, but he unfortunately left the game early due to a knee injury of some sort – one which Gameday would not tell me more about (MLB.TV and the radio both wouldn’t work until the 8th inning for me for some reason). Unfortunately, that led to our bullpen coming into play and not doing as well as it normally does, with Ayala and Eveland combining to give up five runs over the fourth and fifth innings. The rest of the bullpen came in to get work in this game – when I say the rest of the bullpen, I mean it, because Gregg, Patton, Lindstrom and Strop each got an inning of work, and the four of them did absolutely fine. Even Gregg. Yep.

On the offense front, we really were still useless, which only solidifies the fact that we need help in that department when we’re buying in a week or two. We had six hits total in this game. That’s really not very many, you know. Somehow, we scored two runs in there, but the issue remains – this team doesn’t have good offense. If they win, it’s because their offense absolutely explodes, but a good offense is a consistent offense and this offense is the most fickle one I can remember.

I really can’t find a better way to sum up tonight than this screencap I took from Gameday:

Yep. Right. Let’s just try again tomorrow.

Um. Yeah. This is another one of those games that makes you question why you stayed up all night watching it.

I’ll tell you why – it wasn’t Jason Hammel giving the team yet another quality start (albeit one in which he gave up three runs over his 6.2 innings). It wasn’t the bullpen pitching solidly, with Pedro Strop and Dana Eveland keeping the Angels off the board for the remainder of the game. It wasn’t Jered Weaver throwing eight shutout innings for the Angels.

No, tonight was the Major League debut of a very special prospect.

Screencap by me.

Welcome to the big leagues, Joe Mahoney! I’ve been waiting a long time to see you at this level, and although you didn’t get your first hit tonight I still like you better at first base than a lot of other people I’ve seen there. You’re alright, kiddo!

I don’t particularly like how we played tonight, especially on the basepaths – we made some crucial errors that I’m not very proud of, especially Jim Thome trying to go to second on a ball that he couldn’t and getting thrown out. We also only had three hits the entire game, which does not make me happy. Add in one walk and we had a total of four baserunners the entire game (and only twenty-nine at-bats, two more than the minimum requirement in a ballgame). The fact of the matter is that this offense is very hit or miss, and although I think the Orioles might actually be buyers at the trade deadline for the first time in a long while this year, I really don’t know if they’ll be able to fully address this need, especially since starting pitching is another major issue and that seems to get more of the attention because when this team loses it has a tendency to lose spectacularly.

We have one game left before the All-Star Break. I’d love to split this series, but I know I’m kind of stretching it with that hope there. I’m just thrilled we still have a winning record at this point.

I have absolutely nothing to say here. I’m just that angry over this one.

The fact is that the Orioles should have won this game. They were leading 3-1 in the bottom of the seventh and Jason Hammel was pitching quite nicely tonight, although he was starting to get a bit tired. Then a runner made it to second because Robert Andino dropped the ball (literally) and the wheels fell off (metaphorically).

Casper Wells came along and hit a bases-clearing double after Hammel loaded them up, and there you have it. That was all the Mariners needed. The score was 4-3 then, but the reason it’s 6-3 now is because in the eight inning Miguel Olivo and Dustin Ackley turned on two consecutive pitches from Troy Patton and sent them flying out of the park in two different directions.

This team is absolutely falling apart. I don’t know where the Orioles from a few weeks ago went, but this group seems unmotivated and not as willing to try and fight back, especially not late in games. I’d really like to see that group that pulled off all of those wins in extra innings, but I keep squinting and they’re still not showing up. It’s really disappointing me.

On the bright side, I did get to see Hisashi Iwakuma, Munenori Kawasaki and Ichiro Suzuki all on the same team tonight, which I personally enjoyed quite a bit since I’m a big NPB enthusiast. That made me feel a little better about all this, but not by much.

Basically, if we have to stay up until 1 am watching these games, I think we deserve some wins. I don’t think we’re going to get them unless the Mariners put in Oliver Perez, because this Mets fan really needs a good laugh, but I think we deserve a solid win somewhere in here. We haven’t had a convincing win in some time now and it’s really starting to wear me out.

My hero!

This was one of those games where everyone plays super-well and the Orioles are the lucky ones who scored one more run than the other team.

Jordan Zimmermann, who started tonight for the Nationals, is an extremely unlucky man: he’s 3-6 on the year now, but he has a 2.89 ERA. He gets absolutely no run support from his team, and tonight was no different – they scored a total of one run, which came in the fifth when Mark Reynolds made a throwing error. The Orioles tacked on two of their own, one in the second, a homer by Mark Reynolds, and one in the fifth (J.J. Hardy drove in Nick Johnson, of all people).

Jason Hammel, though, is my hero. He went eight innings tonight, threw less than 100 pitches (96, to be exact, with 69 of them being strikes), and only gave up the one unearned run. He’s been incredible this year and although I was sad to see Gutz go in the trade for him, he’s making Dan Duquette look like a genius right now.

At least in one way tonight, however, we all won.

I was at a wedding tonight and I missed a one-hitter? Drat.

To be fair, I’d be that idiot who misses her own wedding because a no-hitter is going on, but this was an incredible performance from Jason Hammel tonight – he had that no-hitter until there were two outs in the seventh inning and only allowed Jason Heyward to reach on a double. (There were two walks to Dan Uggla, but walks aren’t hits, so that one-hitter thing stands, yo.)

That was it.

On the offensive side for the Orioles, Mark Reynolds drove in two of the five runs with a bases-loaded single and the other three RBI went to newly-returned Brian Roberts. I like that fellow. “He’s the old guy,” those MASN commercials would say. C’mon, MASN, old people are good at sports, too – look at Ryan Giggs!

I’ll stop before this turns into a rant, but you get the idea: Brian Roberts is still good despite being concussed for a while and being “the old guy.” And I’m glad his return hasn’t disrupted the team’s flow, too.

Happy early Fathers’ Day, everyone! Enjoy spending time with your families!

After four days of working at an anime convention doing cartooning-like things, I got to drive back home…to find that the Orioles won again.

Series win against the Phillies. Cliff Lee is still winless in 2012 (I honestly feel bad for the fellow). And to top it off, this weekend I got to see these people:

I think this was a pretty good weekend on the whole, but let’s talk about why today was good for the Orioles because, well, that’s kind of the point of this website.

The Orioles now have a 9-2 record in extras. That’s insane, to be honest. If any game they’re involved in goes into extras, the odds are roughly 82% in their favor – they’ve now won that many times past regulation game length. This time, it was a shorter affair, with Adam Jones scoring on a Matt Wieters double in the tenth inning, but nevertheless the ridiculous stat stands taller and taller with each passing win.

Things ended up falling on the shoulders of the bullpen this afternoon as they bailed out Jason Hammel, who apparently was quite hot today:

The bullpen’s effort came in support of Orioles’ starter Jason Hammel, who battled through six innings while sweating through three jerseys, matching a season-high 115 pitches in temperatures exceeding 90 degrees.

Sometimes I miss being at Gettysburg and running down to Camden Yards in the warmer months. Nope, not today!

To be fair, though, Hammel did struggle with his fastball command today, which is a bit of an issue, but it’s really hard to pitch well when you’re dehydrated beyond belief.

The Phillies piled on most of their runs in the second, adding one more in the fourth after the Orioles initially led the game with one run in the bottom of the first. In the bottom of the fourth, though, the Orioles scored three runs, and the game remained tied until the bottom of the tenth. Yeah, it was one of those bullpen games.

Also, poor Steve Tolleson. Kid hits the game-tying homer in the fourth and this is what’s written about him:

With Baltimore down in the fourth, 4-1, the rarely used Tolleson provided the game-tying three-run homer off Phillies left-hander Cliff Lee, who finished with four runs on seven hits and two walks in six innings. Lee took another no-decision to prolong his winless start to the season.

Rarely used. I don’t think he needs that rubbed in, but at least he went yard today!

I like this winning thing. I think I’ll go to sleep happy now.