In a game where the Orioles used two homers to take an early impressive lead against likely Cy Young winner Justin Verlander, the Orioles used little ball to win the game.
The game was tied 5-5 starting the ninth when Detroit's Daniel Schlereth came on and gave up a leadoff single to Chris Davis. Kyle Hudson came on to pinch run. He advanced all the way to third base on a wild pitch, third strike to Robert Andino.
Matt Angle gets a shaving cream pie to the face after he hits his first career...
Detroit's Justin Verlander has not suffered a loss since July 15 against the Chicago White Sox, but he trails the Orioles tonight 5-0 in the third inning.
Verlander, who is 24-5 with an ERA of 2.29, gave up a homer to Matt Angle leading off the game. It was Angle's first major league homer after 69 at-bats without one. He hit four homers in 424 at-bats this year at Triple-A Norfolk.
The Orioles added three runs off Verlander in the second on a J.J. Hardy two-run single and a Nick Markakis...
No major league team has ever overcome a deficit of nine games in the standings in September to make the playoffs.
The Tampa Bay Rays were nine games behind Boston in the wild-card race on Sept. 2 and they are 2 1/2 games back going into today's games.
Since then, Tampa Bay is 12-8 while Boston is 5-14.
Boston hasn't won a game over the last three days and actually has gained a 1/2 game with Tampa Bay losing a doubleheader on Wednesday and losing last night when Boston was rained...
I certainly didn't hate "Moneyball." I didn't dislike it, so I guess I liked it. A little anyway. I don't think it's a great movie by any stretch and certainly not a great baseball movie.
Bull Durham and Eight Men Out, those are great baseball movies to me and this is not in that class.
It is still very much worth seeing and sure better than a lot of movies I've seen recently, which, in the confines of baseball season, is not very many.
I would have loved to see the movie get even...
The Orioles got some early offense tonight, but they didn't score after the third inning and finally lost the game at Detroit, 4-3, in 11 innings.
In the last of the 11th, Brandon Inge drew a leadoff walk against Willie Eyre and Danny Worth came in to pinch run. He reached second on a one-out single and scored the winning run on a Victor Martinez basehit down the left-field line. The hit came on an 0-2 pitch against lefty Zach Phillips.
Jim Hunter catches up with Buck Showalter after the...
The Orioles began play tonight ranked eighth in the American League in runs scored. They have been even better than that, going 19-13 over the last 32 games.
They are averaging 4.9 runs per game during that 32-game stretch. If you scored that many over the entire season, they would rank fourth in the AL in runs scored. Scoring 4.9 per game is an upgrade for the Orioles but still not as good as the big boys. Boston, leading the league in runs, averages 5.45 runs per game and New York is second...
The Orioles are doing it again. They are playing well late in the season.
They went 34-23 in the last 57 games last year for a winning percentage of .596. After Thursday's win at Detroit, they are 19-13 in their last 32 games this year for a winning percentage of .594.
They just started a bit later this season. In 2010, they began the 57-game run to end the year with Buck Showalter's first game on Aug. 3. Their current 32-game winning run began Aug. 22 with a four-game sweep at...
The Orioles lost a 5-0 lead, but not the game on Thursday night at Detroit.
After the Tigers rallied to tie the Orioles at 5-5 on Delmon Young's three-run homer in the fifth, the Orioles reclaimed the lead an inning later on a Nolan Reimold RBI infield single and went on to a 6-5 win.
With the victory, the Orioles have now won eight of their last 10 and 11 of their last 16 games. They are 19-13 since August 22 and 66-90 on the year.
Zach Britton tells Jim Hunter how his team bailed him out...
Checking in with some notes on both clubs as the Orioles and Tigers begin a four-game series tonight.
* The Tigers clinched the AL Central title last Friday and it was their first division title since they won the AL East in 1987. Detroit is 25-7 since August 19.
* Any team going to the playoffs probably has pretty good pitching and Detroit does. Over the last 18 games, Tigers' starters have pitched to an ERA of 3.04. Over the last 45 games, the Detroit bullpen has worked to an ERA of...
In a wide-ranging telephone interview Wednesday, Billy Rowell discussed his 2011 season, said he felt the Orioles failed to live up to their word to bring him back to Double-A Bowie after a midseason injury and said he had no interest in being converted to a pitcher.
Rowell also admitted he turned down an assignment to short-season Single-A Aberdeen, said his power potential is still strong and said he expects to remain in the O's organization.
Rowell was the Orioles' first-round draft pick...
For the second night in a row, the Orioles posted a come-from-behind win over the slumping Boston Red Sox.
This time it was a Vladimir Guerrero single to center in the eighth that scored two runs to break a 4-4 tie as the Orioles beat Boston 6-4 at Fenway Park.
Jim Hunter asks Buck Showalter his thoughts on the O's 6-4 win over the Red Sox
The Orioles took three of four in the series, winning a four-game series at Boston for the first time since August 8-10, 2003. It's also the first...
When the Orioles acquired power hitting Mark Reynolds, some suggested he could become the first Oriole with 35 homers since Albert Belle hit 37 in 1999.
Tonight, Reynolds hit No. 35. It was a solo shot in the second off Josh Beckett that gave the O's a 1-0 lead.
That is three homers in the last four games for Reynolds and four in 16 games this month.
He has hit 27 of 35 against right-handed pitchers. He has hit 17 at home and 18 on the road. He has 15 since the All-Star break after hitting...
This is just the way an Orioles fan probably envisioned it several weeks ago.
Rick VandenHurk would not make it into the fourth inning. But Willie Eyre would come on to get the win. Pedro Strop would pitch a shutout eighth inning. Jim Johnson would get a save and, of course, Jo-Jo Reyes would pitch three key shutout innings.
To top if off, Robert Andino would end Jonathan Papelbon's 22-inning scoreless streak and 25 straight saves run with a three-run double. To the off field.
Yeah, that's...
The Boston Red Sox asked Jonathan Papelbon, a pitcher that had converted a career-best 25 straight save chances since May 13, to try and get a five-out save on Tuesday night against the Orioles.
He couldn't do it.
With Boston leading 5-4, Papelbon came in with two on and one out in the top of the eighth. He fanned Chris Davis for the second out, but Nolan Reimold's single to left loaded the bases.
Robert Andino came up and the count went full. Andino then ripped a three-run double down the...
Two Orioles made the list of the top 20 prospects in the Gulf Coast League as selected by Baseball America, which released the list today.
Outfielder Roderick Bernadina was ranked 12th and pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez 18th. Both were international signings. Bernadina, who turned 19 on Aug. 10, is from Curacao and the 18-year-old Rodriguez is from Venezuela.
Bernardina hit .239 in 51 games for the GCL Orioles with 14 doubles, three triples, four homers and 28 RBIs. He had an OPS of...
Checking in with some stats and notes before the Orioles and Red Sox meet in Game 3 of their series tonight.
* Over his last six games, Chris Davis is 9-for-24 (.375) with a homer and four RBIs. Over his last 10 games, Davis is batting .395 (15-for-38) with six doubles, a homer, seven RBIs and five multi-hit games.
* Vlad Guerrero is batting .406 (13-for-32) during an eight-game batting streak. Over his past 14 games, Guerrero is 25-for-58 for an average of .431 with five doubles, one triple,...
A couple of random thoughts while pondering another poor night for Brian Matusz. Hard to believe what we saw from him this time last year and contrast that with how he is pitching now.
* Chris Davis has some impressive power. He has hit some balls to left field lately that really show his strength. A scout mentioned to me how impressed he is with Davis' power potential. As it stands now, I can clearly see Davis as an everyday player on next year's team.
I hope his recent DL trip due to his...
Two weeks later, it didn't get any better for Brian Matusz.
Making his first start since he gave up five runs in 1 1/3 innings on September 5 against the Yankees, tonight Matusz gave up six runs in 1 2/3 as Boston beat the Orioles 18-9 to gain a split of the day-night doubleheader.
That was a season-high in runs allowed by Orioles' pitchers, who twice this year had given up 17 in a game.
Buck Showalter talks with Jim Hunter about the O's 18-9 loss to the Red Sox
The win, just the fourth...
I certainly was not aware of this stat, but Boston pitcher John Lackey entered tonight's start against the Orioles with 15 straight quality starts against the Birds since August 3, 2005.
That is the longest run ever against the Orioles.
The good news is the O's ended the run tonight. The bad news is Lackey has a 11-5 lead after the third inning. He can still be the winning pitcher in this game.
He had allowed more then three earned runs just once in 18 career starts against the Orioles,...
Brian Matusz will be back on the mound tonight in the evening portion of the doubleheader at Fenway Park.
Matusz has not pitched in two weeks since he gave up five runs in just 1 1/3 innings against the Yankees. He said yesterday at Camden Yards that he feels like he has made some progress in his recent side sessions, working with pitching coach Rick Adair.
"I feel like I've definitely made strides in terms of going out there and getting a good feel in the bullpen and working," Matusz...
