After the latest emotion-packed night for the Orioles and Toronto, what happens next?

One definition of powder keg is, "A potentially explosive situation or thing."

Welcome to the final two games of this series at Rogers Centre between the Orioles and Toronto Blue Jays.

Toronto reporters quoted Jose Bautista after last night's game as saying, "I think it's all pretty well planned out and premeditated and I think they hide behind the way their manager acts and conducts himself. ...They're going to continue to keep doing that until something comes down from MLB."

Bautista was irked when a Jason Garcia pitch was thrown behind him in the seventh inning. Then the Orioles were irked when he homered and took about 10 seconds to leave the batter's box after his bat flip.

jones stare sidebar.jpgAdam Jones was rather upset. I think Jones was taking up for a teammate and a young and inexperienced one at that and that part of it was very admirable. But I've never seen him that upset. Even mild-mannered Ryan Flaherty was jawing at Bautista.

This might become a night where we see a baseball rarity: both teams warned before the game as the umpires try to take control before even one pitch is thrown.

You have to wonder how and where did this all really start between the Orioles and Blue Jays? Was it Marcus Stroman's head-high pitch near Caleb Joseph last year? Did it start with Bautista and Darren O'Day? O'Day threw a pitch behind Bautista earlier this year and he homered off him, too.

Last night, MLB Network showed a highlight from June 2013 when O'Day struck out Bautista and seemed to say something to him after that. Then on April 12 at Camden Yards, O'Day threw a pitch behind Bautista.

Bautista has kind of become public enemy No. 1 for the Orioles fans but for Orioles players, maybe the best move now is to try and just get him out. Throwing behind him seems to lead to homers, which lead to losses - never a good thing.

The Blue Jays want something the Orioles have had: a division title. They've now beaten the Orioles three out of four games, scoring 10 or more runs three times.

Right now, the Orioles need to straighten out some pitching issues to include Bud Norris' struggles, the inconsistency of the bullpen and Garcia's role on this team, to name just a few.

The Orioles-Blue Jays rivalry is on. Toronto has the early edge in the 2015 season. Now we see how the Orioles respond tonight.

While the Bautista antics and postgame comments grab the headlines today, this team has allowed 20 runs and made five errors the last two games. O's starters have allowed 14 runs over 6 2/3 innings the past two days.

No matter what happens on the field tonight at Rogers Centre - and whether there are beanball issues or not - what really needs to happen for this team now is the night needs to end in an Orioles victory.

They've played two terrible games against two key rivals in two straight days. As Jones himself might say, it's time for the Orioles to clean it up.

Bautista video: From the Sportsnet website, click here for a story with video of Bautista's postgame interview.




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