O's fall to Toronto 10-1 in season finale
Vernon Wells went 4-4 with two homers and 5 RBI as Toronto hammered the Orioles 10-1 Sunday in the 2008 season finale. The Orioles finish with a record of 68 and 93.
Wells gained seven points on his batting average to finish the season as a .300 hitter after his big day that featured his 17th career two-homer day.
The Orioles finish with one fewer win than last year and lost 11 of their last 12 and 30 of the last 37 games. They went 5-20 in September.
Winning pitcher Jesse Litsch (13-9) gave up just one run over seven innings. Jeremy Guthrie (10-12) took the loss, allowing three runs in four innings.
The finale drew 19,554 fans and the O's season attendance, for 78 home dates, was 1,950,077.
Nick Markakis went 3-4 while Aubrey Huff went 0-3 and Markakis passed Huff for the best batting average on the team, finishing at .306 to .304 for Huff, who earlier Sunday was named the Most Valuable Oriole for 2008.
Toronto scored three runs in the 8th to open a 10-1 lead. It's the 21st time on the season that O's pitching has allowed 10 or more runs.
The O's got on the board in the 6th on Melvin Mora's RBI double. It was his 104th RBI.
Vernon Wells continued his big day with a three-run homer to left in the 5th to make it 6-0 Jays. Wells has a two-homer, 5-RBI day. His 20th of the season scored Joe Inglett who walked and Marco Scutaro who reached on Melvin Mora's error. A Travis Snider sac fly in the 6th made it a 7-0 Toronto lead.
Toronto scored single runs in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th innings to gain a 3-0 lead.
Wells solo homer to left made it 1-0 in the second. It was his 19th homer. Wells added an RBI single in the 3rd scoring Inglett who had singled. In the Jays 4th, Lyle Overbay hit a solo homer to right. His 15th of the season made it a 3-0 game.
Tor 10-15-0
Balt 1-5-2
Postgame Notes
The O's ended the year without winning any of their final 12 series.....They lost 11 series and tied one since winning their last one in mid August at Detroit..........The O's lost 11 of the last 12, 15 of 19 and 23 of their last 28 games........They were 16-37 after August first.
The O's offense slowed late in the year and they wound up scoring two runs or less in 9 of the last 13 and 15 of the last 24 games.........The O's allowed 10 runs or more for the 21st time in 2008, two more than last year.
Vernon Well hit his 19th and 20th homers and tied his career-high with 5 RBI.....He reached 20 homers for the 6th time......He had his 15th career four-hit game.....Jesse Litsch won his 13th, throwing 105 pitches in seven innings of three-hit, one-run ball.
Nick Markakis went 3-4 to gain three points on his batting average and finish at .306, highest on the team ahead of Aubrey Huff's .304......Huff ended the season with 3 hits in his last 26 at bats.......Both Huff and Markakis finished with 48 doubles.......Huff had none in his last 13 games and Markakis had one in his last ten contests.....Melvin Mora tied his career high with 104 RBI and he had 56 in the second-half.
O's next regular season game: New York Yankees at Orioles, Monday
April 6, 2009 at 3:05 p.m.
Final O's Numbers, 2008
Overall record: 68-93
Home: 37-43
Road: 31-50
Vs. AL East: 22-51
Series Record: 17-27-8
O's Have 5 Hits or Less: 0-21
September: 5-20
Since All-Star Game: 22-45
When Behind After 8 Innings: 5-78
With a Quality Start: 37-23
O's Score First: 38-30
Steve Melewski's Live GameBlog From Camden Yards
Today's Attendance
Is 19,554. Total for the season, 78 home dates, is 1,950,077.
He's a Gamer
In what might have been his last at bat as an Oriole, Kevin Millar went down hacking. He hit several long shots foul toward left, then lined out on a 3-2 pitch. Quite a battle. Millar's comments I detailed earlier on this page seem to indicate he feels he won't be back next year. If that is so, a lot will be missed from Millar, on the field and in the clubhouse.
Ties His Best
Melvin Mora's RBI double in the 6th gave him his 104th RBI, that ties his career high set previously in 2004. Mora had just 58 RBI last year.
Tough Exit
Brian Roberts season is now over. He was hit by a pitch just under the right knee, it appeared and, after he hobbled to first, was taken out of the game. Tough way to finish the year and a sight no O's fan ever wants to see, B-Rob limping off the field.
Some O's quotes on the 2008 season
Ramon Hernandez
"The same as every year, we never finish with the same pitchers. When you get hurt all the time you don't have a set rotation, that's a big key right there. That's it, the bottom line. Everyone wants to win, but when you lose it's always a disappointing season.
"It always starts with the pitching. To win games you have to have your rotation set all year long, that's the only way you're going to win games. If you have five all year and three have a pretty good season and two have an okay season that's better than 20 starters."
Jeremy Guthrie
We made strides this year. Some may be overshadowed by a late season decline in wins. But when we began this slide we were only a couple of games under .500 so that's important to look at. What goes on in August and September is a reflection of depth more than it is each individual player and what we have here in Baltimore. I hope the fans can recognize that and we are much closer than our 68 wins indicate right now."
Booming Wells
Vernon Wells is having a finale to remember, hitting his 19th and 20th homers. He has 5 RBI which ties his career high. It's his 17th career two-homer game, he has one three-homer game.
Guthrie's Finale
Not a shock he was a little off his usual best since he had not pitched in a game in about a month.
Guthrie's line: 4IP, 6H, 3R-ER, 1BB, 1K......63 pitches.
He finishes the year with an ERA of 3.63, better than his 2007 ERA of 3.70.
Not This Year
Brian Roberts began today with an outside shot to hit .300 for the season. He started this game batting .297 and if he went 3-4, that would get to him to .300 for the second time in his career. But he has started this game 0-2 so .300 is now pretty much out of reach. B-Rob batted .314 in 2005 and hit .290 last season.
Play Ball, One Last Time
The first pitch of the last game has been thrown and today's contest is underway. This is the season finale for 2008. Today's first pitch was thrown at 1:38pm and it's 78 degrees under partly sunny skies. That's a nice change.
Millar's Last Interview?
Kevin Millar will be a free agent at the end of this season. He might be playing his last game as an Oriole today. Millar was asked today if he thinks he'll return to the Birds in 2009?
"I don't know, these last six weeks I've scuffled my butt off offensively. It didn't take away from showing up here every day and giving everything I've had. But I have not swung the bat well the last six weeks, will that overshadow what I've done here the past couple years, I don't know. That's their decision. I would love to come back here. If not, I'm very grateful and thankful for the opportunity I've been given here. I've had a great three years here.
"I've had a good time trying to mold the younger guys and bring some enthusiasm to this clubhouse that I don't think was here before. It will be interesting, you always want to finish strong and put a good taste in their mouth. I didn't finish strong, but they know what kind of guy I am and it never took away from coming out here and competing every night."
Millar is hitting .235-20-72, but is hitting just .174 with 3 RBI in September.
Trembley's Talk
Dave Trembley said today he is figuring to get about five innings or 70-75 pitches out of Jeremy Guthrie in today's start.
Trembley talked about Aubrey Huff winning the Most Valuable Oriole award for 2008.
"He was a legitimate number four hitter. He's put up incredible numbers in every category. He got in real good shape this year, he ran better this year, he lost some weight. That helped him a lot. He's a better player in the field that he's been given credit for."
Trembley was asked if he still sees Matt Albers in a starters role next year and what might Jim Johnson's role be next season.
"I'm sure they'll be discussion about Johnson, but you've seen the importance of what he did as an 8th-inning guy. Until you can get someone better in that role, you leave him where he's at. Albers will be a guy that will tell us in spring training whether he can carry the work load of the throwing program. Or whether he'll have to go the route of others guys who have come back without surgery."
Trembley had a lot of praise for Brian Bass who made a good impression with his last two starts.
"I told Bass to go home and get in great shape because I like his arm. I don't know if he'll start for us next year but he should be able to help out of the bullpen. He impressed me, he throws strikes, he's got movement. And he came from an organization (Minnesota) where their foundation was baseball fundamentals and team baseball. I like what he did here."
Starting Lineups
Blue Jays
2B Joe Inglett
SS Marco Scutaro
CF Alex Rios
DH Vernon Wells
LF Adam Lind
1B Lyle Overbay
3B Scott Rolen
C Gregg Zaun
RF Travis Snider
P Jesse Litsch
Orioles
2B Brian Roberts
RF Nick Markakis
3B Melvin Mora
DH Aubrey Huff
CF Adam Jones
LF Luke Scott
C Ramon Hernandez
1B Kevin Millar
SS Brandon Fahey
P Jeremy Guthrie
Game Preview
Toronto (85-76) at Orioles (68-92)
The Orioles and Blue Jays have traded rain-shortened wins in this series and today they play the final game of the series and this season at 1:35 p.m. at Camden Yards.
If the O's win, they will match last season's win total of 69 and snap a stretch of 11 straight winless series, during which they have lost ten series and tied one.
The Orioles won 2-1 Saturday in a game shortened to six innings by rain. It snapped Baltimore's nine-game losing streak in one-run decisions. Winning pitcher Brian Bass gave up just one run in six innings while the O's got RBI from Melvin Mora and Brandon Fahey.
The O's are 37-42 at home and 22-50 in games vs. the AL East. Due to a rainout vs. Oakland not made up, the Orioles will finish having played 161 games.
Toronto leads the season series with the O's 11-6 and is 5-3 at Camden Yards. The Jays have won 10 of the last 13 between these teams.
Pitching Match-Up
RHP Jeremy Guthrie (10-11, 3.57) today makes his 30th start of this season, his 15th at Camden Yards and his fourth of the year vs. Toronto.
Guthrie has not pitched since allowing seven runs in three innings at Tampa on August 29th. He was placed on the DL on September 15th, retroactive to September 6th with a right shoulder impingement. This past Wednesday he threw a three-inning simulated game and pronounced himself ready to start the season finale.
Guthrie has lost his last three starts and is 0-3, 7.56 over that time. Guthrie, who has 19 quality starts, has allowed 2 ER or less 17 times and 3 ER or less 21 times. He had an ERA of 3.45 in July and it was 3.86 in August.
Guthrie, first-half: 5-7, 3.49, 20 starts
Guthrie, second-half: 5-4, 3.75, 9 starts
The right-hander allows a batting average of .242 vs. lefty hitters and .237 vs. right-handed batters. The O's are 14-15 in his 29 starts and Guthrie is 4-6, 3.65 in 14 starts at home in 2008.
Guthrie vs. Toronto:
2008: 1-1, 1.83, three starts over 19 2/3
2007: 0-0, 3.60, three starts
Career: 1-1, 2.72, six starts over 39 2/3
RHP Jesse Litsch (12-9, 3.67) today makes his 28th start of the season, his 15th on the road and his 3rd on the year vs. the Orioles.
In five September starts, Litsch is 3-1, 2.36. He has pitched to an ERA of 2.76 in the second half after his ERA was 4.16 before the All-Star break.
Litsch, who has two shutouts this season, is 5-6, 4.57 in 14 road starts. The Jays are 12-15 when he starts.
Litsch vs. the Orioles:
2008: 1-1, 6.75, two starts
2007: 1-2, 3.57, three starts
Career: 2-3, 4.76, five starts
O's Team Battting, 2008 by Month:
March-April: .253 average, 28 HR, 4.3 runs per game
May: .239 average, 27 HR, 3.9 runs per game
June: .281 average, 34 HR, 5.4 runs per game
July: .275 average, 36 HR, 5.8 runs per game
August: .307 average, 31 HR, 6.3 runs per game
September: .245 average, 16 HR, 3.5 runs per game
O's Team Pitching 2008 and Won-Loss by Month:
March-April: 4.26 ERA, 16-12
May: 3.86 ERA, 11-16
June: 4.80 ERA, 15-12
July: 6.06 ERA, 10-16
August: 6.20 ERA, 11-17
September: 5.76 ERA, 5-19
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