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.)

At least we have this guy. (Wikipedia)

Well, for that first inning or two things looked great – Adam Jones homered in the second and Arrieta seemed, well, like Good Arrieta tonight.

Then the wheels fell off. Arrieta allowed two runs in the third and three in the fourth, then put two runners on in the fifth before being pulled from the game. Both runs came around to score, as well as a third which was charged to reliever Miguel Gonzalez (who is still better than Mike Gonzalez, to be fair).

Oh, and in the fifth, the umpire defied the Word of God and committed the cardinal sin of ejecting Matt Wieters from the game. Yeah. That’s…not good. Weets was just defending his pitcher (Gonzalez), too.

There was some good in all of this, however. Adam Jones went 3-for-3 with two walks at the plate tonight, slamming two homers on the evening. He’s got a 20-game hit streak going. I’d pick him in Beat the Streak, but then he wouldn’t hit. You can do it, though, since you don’t have my luck.

We also got Endy Chavez back and sent Tommy Hunter to AAA Norfolk. Avery went down to Norfolk, too, but Avery’s still a prospect and he was just filling in for Endy and Nolan Reimold on the roster, so it’s not as big a deal as it is to send down an established Major League starter. I still miss Koji, you know.

If we get swept tomorrow, it’ll be only the second time this year. I don’t even want to look up how many times we were swept by the end of May last year, but I’ll bet you it was a lot more than one or two.

The fanbase's general idea of Tommy Hunter tonight.

Things really could have been worse tonight, guys.

Tommy Hunter was going on short rest. He could have been demolished by the most potent lineup in the American League. He wasn’t. He did give up four runs over six innings, but let’s be honest – there were moments where it could have imploded on him.

Then things fell apart when Lindstrom took the mound in the seventh. People got lots of small hits. Steve Tolleson – recently added to the roster – made an error instead of starting an inning-ending double play at third. Hardy and Reynolds failed to complete a double play, as well. Adam Jones missed the cutoff man. Basically, everything went to hell.

That being said, the Orioles held their own through the first six innings of this ballgame and won the first game of this doubleheader, and that impresses me given that nobody expected anything from them at all this year. I’m not going to be too upset about losing three to the Rangers, considering that they’re the best team in the American League.

Look at it this way – we’ve played ten games against Boston, New York and Texas recently. We’ve won six of those games. That’s pretty darn good. This is a team that nobody expected anything from. They’re winning even though everyone counted them out just for being the Orioles. There’s something different about them this year – they’re at the very least mediocre with occasional, but fleeting, moments of greatness. It’s making a distinct difference in things like the fanbase’s reactions to the games, the attendance, and even the team’s morale. They look and feel stronger than they were last year. It’s peculiar, but it’s also very distinct – you can feel it around them.

That being said, I’d also like to point out that color commentator Gary Thorne accidentally called former Oriole Koji Uehara ‘Ogando’ tonight. He is not Ogando. Yeah. I’m not even going to touch that one. The fanbase is pretty sure that Thorne is permanently drunk in the booth anyway.

Tomorrow at this time, we’ll all be talking about baseball and it will be wonderful. Until then, we’ve got two huge sporting events today, the Super Bowl and the Puppy Bowl. Yes, the Puppy Bowl is a sporting event. When you have two Old English Sheepdogs, four cats and two leopard geckos, things like the Puppy Bowl count because you really, really love animals.

Anyway, here’s my favorite Super Bowl-related video because I love weird crap from the ’80s.

http://youtu.be/draiscAGt-k

Get ready for baseball, everyone. It’s coming. Tomorrow.

Oh, and we’re apparently in on Koji Uehara. He might come back to us. Oakland’s interested, too, but I’d rather he come here than go out there. See, we can start talking about baseball early!

I’ll get to Melvin Mora once I can fully collect my thoughts on him. There’s a lot to say there. And a lot of children. Quintuplets, you know.

For now, here’s a video of Koji Uehara. At around 4:25, he picks Adam Jones’ catch as the best play he saw in 2011.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNFRUkpr4mE

(How did I find this? Adam Jones himself retweeted it. Thanks, Adam!)

I really don’t want to do this.

There are few days I hate more than the end of the season. Even though the Orioles pulled out an amazing ninth-inning win, coming from behind to ruin the Red Sox’s chances of making the playoffs, I’m still completely crushed. It’s because I have to say goodbye to everybody now. I guess I should start with that.

• Robert Andino: That walkoff you hit in the ninth should hopefully solidify the #freerobertandino hashtag’s existence on Twitter. You deserve it.
• Brian Matusz: Please, please, PLEASE fix whatever’s wrong with your pitching this off-season. I can’t bear to watch someone I adore as much as you struggling like this. It really hurts.
• Nick Markakis: Keep on balancing strange objects on your chin, buddy. I know you’ll be back next year.
• Adam Jones: You were the absolute MAN this season. I’ll miss you big-time this offseason. If you want any more drawings, just let me know!
• God Matt Wieters: Your cat looks like my cat. Well, one of your two cats looks like one of my four cats.
• MATT ANGLE: COME BACK ALREADY. I MISS YOUR DWEEBISH EARS. I LOVE YOU, FAVORITE ORIOLES PROSPECT.
• Kyle Hudson: You kind of look like a dweeb too, and it’s adorable. I can’t wait to see you next year, either.
• Nolan Reimold: YOU ARE FREE, NOLAN. FELIX PIE IS GONE. With that said, welcome to being a regular-ish player. Except now it’s October so you have to wait until February.
• Jeremy Guthrie: Get better taste in music. Oh, and go Stanford!
• Kevin Gregg: PLEASE LEAVE.
• Alfredo Simon: I’m sad that I can’t put any more Shutdown Sauce on my food until February. This crushes me in a strange way.
• Zach Britton: We both have cats, so you’re cool in my book. (Thank you, Orioles Pet Calendar. Mine arrived in the mail yesterday. Expect a post.)
• Chris Tillman: I’m going to miss the adorable gap in your front teeth. It makes you look so endearing.
• Jake Arrieta: You’re hot.
• Buck Showalter: I’m really going to miss your outbursts this offseason. They made my days so entertaining.  And you know what? In the end, you did the best with the team you had. I’m not sure why you keep getting them to play so darn well in September, though. Can they do this the rest of the season, too?
• Willie Randolph: I’m sorry if last night brought back bad memories of your tenure with the Mets. It kind of did for me.
• Jim Johnson: You’re better than I thought! It’s nice to see you pitching well.
• Troy Patton: OH, YOU’RE ALIVE.
• Chris Davis: Sorry you’re on a team that loses now.
• Tommy Hunter: I could say the same to you, too.
• Mark Reynolds: You walk far more than people notice. Must be the strikeout numbers blinding them. At any rate, I’ll even miss you this offseason.

I’m going to miss everyone, not just the people named here, of course. I just can’t deal with the offseason. Be prepared for a ridiculous number of Arizona Fall League updates from yours truly because I just can’t let go of baseball. Ever.

Oh, and one more thing: good luck in the playoffs, Koji. I miss you to death. がんばれ!

Except then Kevin Gregg came in and ruined that for everybody, so that’s that.

There’s really not much more to say to that. Not sure why Showalter keeps using him or something. He’s not “the only option,” you know.

私は上原 浩治を見逃す。

The trade deadline passed this afternoon as I was watching the Mets fail to capitalize on opportunities to win a game against the Nationals in D.C. Here’s a little recap about what happened:

~ The one that hurt me most was the Uehara trade. I knew it was coming and it still hurt because I love Chinstrap Penguin to death. At the very least, he’ll get an opportunity with a contending club, and we’ll get an opportunity to work with Chris Davis, who is likely going to play first base in Lee’s absence, and Tommy Hunter, a cake-baking former starter-turned-reliever who we’re going to put back in the starting rotation. Considering that the starters have been struggling this season, this trade was a good move for the Orioles, but it hurts my heart a little. Okay, more than a little. I miss you, Koji.

~ Derrek Lee went to Pittsburgh for minor leaguer Adam Baker, who will be assigned to High-A Frederick. The kid was hitting .282 with fifteen homers in 103 games for Class A Bradenton when he was sent off and was an 11th round pick in 2009. He’ll probably advance fairly quickly if he’s able to keep up that pace. On the other hand, I miss Derrek Lee already. The guy was starting to heat up and he was an honestly nice man. All the best, Derrek.

That aside, the Orioles are now pretty much set for the rest of the season. The trade deadline stress is over. Let’s move on and see how everything pans out.

The Orioles are really not in a good position at the trade deadline this season.

By that, I mean that they really don’t have anything they can do here. If they’re going to make a move, they’re likely going to move someone who’s had some degree of success this season, namely Jeremy Guthrie, the hard-luck loser, or even Koji Uehara, the best cog in the Orioles’ bullpen. What to do in these circumstances?

The Orioles’ farm system is notably empty. Behind Britton and Machado at the start of the season, the prospects looked somewhat bleak and scattered about. A trade for minor leaguers would bring in some potential key pieces for the near future as the Orioles continue to rebuild. However, at the same time, moving either Guthrie or Uehara would essentially condemn the Orioles to defeat for the rest of the season.

» Continue reading “What Do You Do When You Don’t Have Trade Pieces?”

You know, it’s seven straight losses and that’s why it sucks. There’s really nothing more to say except that there is literally no offense in this club and that’s why they can’t win at all.

Let’s just focus on how this was the first time in thirty-six games that Koji Uehara walked someone instead. At least it’s good to know that he throws strikes.

(Oh, and Matusz and Hardy are getting better, but they’re not ready to rejoin the team just yet. Which is not okay, because we need them. Eh. Just our luck.)