Tonight's attendance
The Orioles and Yankees attracted 43,543 fans to Camden Yards tonight.
The Orioles are 31,851 short of reaching 100 million in franchise history, matching the number of supermodels that Derek Jeter has dated (old joke, new blog entry). Let the lines start forming now.
Nick Markakis' 14th outfield assist enabled him to break a tie with Alex Rios for the major league lead.
Kam Mickolio is warming in the eighth inning. The kid is being thrown in the fire. No sense coddling him.
The Orioles went a little easier on Mike Mussina tonight, letting him get through six innings and scoring only four runs off him. But he won't win his 17th game.
Manager Joe Girardi tried his hardest for Moose, leaving him out there for 110 pitches.
Double-A Bowie is about to clinch its first playoff berth since 1997. The Baysox lead, 7-0, in the ninth. Jason Berken allowed three hits in seven scoreless innings.
Jeff Nettles hit his 23rd home run.
Can we PLEASE get rid of Jamie Walker? He is deadweight. He is consistently terribly and a risk everytime he enters the game.
I'm not sure if I agree throwing Mickilio into the fire. You don't want to coddle him, but you also want to put him into a position to succeed. But hopefully it works out in the long run so when he gets put in that situation again -- and he will -- he will know what it's like.
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I didn't agree with the decision, either, though there aren't a lot of appealing options at the moment. Tough spot for a kid making his second major league appearance. But maybe that's what the last five weeks are for. - Roch
I love when the Oriole's radio announcers make a generalized positive statement about the Orioles. It always ends up the same way. Tonight's was at the top of the 8th when they said "And the orioles bullpen tonight has been OUTSTANDING". Bobby Abreu promptly singled. I've heard it before, and I saw it coming like the sun rises in the morning. I wish they would stop!!!
If you intend to go tomorrow to try to be the 100,000,000th fan, make sure you look for the entrance with the press (cameras) and the Oriole Bird holding a giant check. If you don't see them you are about to enter at the wrong gate. You won't be the "randomly selected" fan.
I agree with Luke and Roch that too many of the young pitchers have gotten the sink or swim treatment-- I thought they were supposed to be put in a few mop up situations before going into the pressure cooker. And then again, Lou can't seem to find his way into the lineup despite the fact that Payton has 37 RBI in virtually full-time duty.
Well, the bullpen has made it a laugher. I can only imagine those of you at the game are being serenaded to some lovely cheers.
I applaud the O's for grabbing a guy like Matusz who seems to possess both ability and intelligence. Now they have to continue to be intelligent and sign the guys who will be part of this process for the long haul. Seeing how things play out is what got us into this mess in the first place (see exhibit one-- tonight's starter for the Yankees).
So why did we call up Liz again? He did not look like any different of a pitcher tonight then he did when we sent him down.