Let's review Ty Wigginton's last four games:
He singles in the winning run on Sunday, preventing a Yankees sweep. He lifts a sacrifice fly on Monday that gives the Orioles a lead. He belts a three-run homer last night that gives the Orioles a lead. He doubles tonight to give the Orioles a lead.
Probably a good idea to keep him in the lineup.
Wigginton's RBI total jumped to 74 tonight with his fourth-inning double off John Lackey that broke a scoreless tie. Nick Markakis singled with one...
For the Orioles:
2B Brian Roberts
RF Nick Markakis
1B Ty Wigginton
DH Luke Scott
C Matt Wieters
CF Adam Jones
LF Felix Pie
3B Robert Andino
SS Cesar Izturis
RHP Kevin Millwood
For the Red Sox:
CF Ryan Kalish
RF J.D. Drew
C Victor Martinez
DH David Ortiz
3B Adrian Beltre
1B Mike Lowell
2B Bill Hall
LF Josh Reddick
SS Yamaico Navarro
RHP John Lackey
You already know that the Orioles will attempt to complete their first three-game sweep of the Red Sox in Boston since June 10-12, 1994.
Reliever Mike Oquist got the win in relief in the first game. Mike Mussina won the second game. Ben McDonald allowed three runs over eight innings to finish up the sweep. Brady Anderson went 4-for-4 with a triple, two RBIs and two runs scored.
McDonald and Anderson have worked in the MASN broadcast booth this season.
Coincidence?
Yes, I'm sure.
You're...
Jets receiver Braylon Edwards was arrested this week for DWI.
Knowing Edwards, the charges also will be dropped.
Now, back to baseball...
Did you know that Catonsville native and former major league pitcher Jeff Nelson recently bought a home in Sykesville?
Well, he did.
Nelson is doing some work for XM radio and MLB.com.
It was nice to see Julio Lugo back in the Orioles' dugout last night. And yes, smiling.
Lugo told reporters in Boston that he's been diagnosed with a "partially...
I really feel bad for Jonathan Papelbon.
Oh wait...I actually feel the exact opposite for Jonathan Papelbon.
The Orioles just tagged him for four runs on five hits in the top of the ninth, increasing their lead to 9-1.
Let me type the last part of that line again: Increasing their lead to 9-1.
This game is being played in Fenway Park. In September. And the Orioles are beating the Red Sox, 9-1.
They can complete the sweep tomorrow night.
Must be the soft part of the schedule again.
Let's start with the hustle.
Adam Jones scored all the way from first base when Boston second baseman Marco Scutaro dropped Felix Pie's pop up with two outs in the top of the sixth inning. Jones could have assumed that Scutaro would make the catch, but he ran full-speed and delivered the tying run.
Maybe it's odd to praise hustle - it should be a requirement - but it seems worth noting in this instance. Not every player would have circled the bases on that play.
An inning later, Ty...
When we last left Jake Arrieta, he was prepared to undergo surgery tomorrow to have a bone spur removed from his right elbow. Now he's getting a second opinion from orthopedic specialist Dr. Lewis Yocum.
Arrieta told reporters in Boston yesterday that he's leaning toward not having the procedure, though it's relatively simple in nature and gives him plenty of time to recover.
I don't get it.
Yocum will take a look at the MRI results and offer his opinion, which usually carries a lot of...
For the Orioles:
2B Brian Roberts
RF Nick Markakis
1B Ty Wigginton
DH Luke Scott
CA Matt Wieters
CF Adam Jones
LF Felix Pie
3B Robert Andino
SS Cesar Izturis
P Brad Bergesen
For the Red Sox:
2B Marco Scutaro
RF JD Drew
CA Victor Martinez
DH David Ortiz
3B Adrian Beltre
SS Jed Lowrie
CF Ryan Kalish
LF Daniel Nava
1B Lars Anderson
P Clay Buchholz
I've had this discussion in the press box with a friend and fellow scribe on multiple occasions. OCJ touched on it in his most recent comment.
The last month of the season usually brings pain and suffering. It's like jamming toothpicks underneath your fingernails, watching Sidney Ponson dress at his locker or taking the Saints -5 1/2 last night.
(Who dat? The team that didn't cover for me. Nice defense, fellas. And don't be shy about punching it in from the 1.)
So here we are, down to...
I guess that 38-pitch first inning didn't take too much out of left-hander Brian Matusz.
Matusz blanked the Red Sox over the next four innings. He's allowed three hits, walked three and struck out four.
Unfortunately, his pitch count is up to 102 because of that early workload and David Hernandez has replaced him. Matusz falls an inning short of a quality start.
If you want to get under manager Buck Showalter's skin, suggest that a young pitcher is getting stronger as we approach the end...
All three outs recorded by Red Sox starter Daisuke Matsuzaka in the first inning came on long fly balls into a strong wind.
Ty Wigginton looked like he had a three-run homer, but the ball died near the wall in left-center field as Brian Roberts tagged up and took third base. Luke Scott followed with a drive to center field that scored Roberts and produced his 68th RBI. And Matt Wieters ended the inning by coming within a few feet of a home run to right field, former Oriole Darnell McDonald...
For the Orioles:
2B Brian Roberts
RF Nick Markakis
1B Ty Wigginton
DH Luke Scott
C Matt Wieters
CF Adam Jones
LF Felix Pie
SS Cesar Izturis
3B Josh Bell
LHP Brian Matusz
For the Red Sox:
2B Marco Scutaro
RF Darnell Mcdonald
1B Victor Martinez
3B Adrian Beltre
DH Mike Lowell
SS Jed Lowrie
LF Bill Hall
C Jason Varitek
CF Ryan Kalish
RHP Daisuke Matsuzaka
Since B.J. Ryan allowed a three-run walk-off homer to David Ortiz on June 2, 2005, the Orioles are 10-36 at Fenway Park and have lost 17 of their last 20 on Yawkey Way.
No way!
The Orioles have not won consecutive games at Fenway Park since taking four in a row from Sept. 23, 2004 to May 30, 2005.
In Brian Matusz's last five starts covering 28 innings, only 17 runners have reached second base - including seven in a Sept. 6 game in New York. He's 4-0 with a 1.93 ERA in those...
Maybe there's no such thing as a big win on Sept. 19 when you're in last place, but it sure felt like one yesterday.
Rather than being swept by the Yankees with a nine-game road trip approaching, the Orioles had an extra bounce in their collective steps as they headed out the door. They lost the series to the Yankees, but it didn't seem that way as rows and rows of New Yorkers streamed for the exits after Luke Scott scored on Ty Wigginton's 11th-inning single.
Finally, they had been...
The Orioles won a game that Andy Pettitte started. A game that Mariano Rivera tried to close out. A game against the New York Yankees in September that prevented a sweep as they hit the road for a three-city trip.
Luke Scott tied it up with his leadoff home run off Rivera in the ninth. And he scored the winning run on Ty Wigginton's single into the gap in right-center field.
The most satisfying win under manager Buck Showalter?
"I don't look at it that way," he replied. "It's not about...
We don't need an interpreter for this one.
Coming off his second blown save against the Yankees, which left him unable to stand, Koji Uehara struck out the side in the top of the 10th inning.
It wasn't a save situation, but he had to feel some pressure in a tie game, and following the steady diet of fastballs he fed Alex Rodriguez that ended with a three-run homer.
Uehara kept feeding the Yankees splitters today, and he struck out Nick Swisher, Jorge Posada and Curtis Granderson. A much...
The Orioles were down by two runs entering the bottom of the eighth inning.
It felt like 20 for some reason.
Corey Patterson reaches on a bunt single, Matt Wieters singles to right field and pinch-hitter Felix Pie scores Patterson with a single into left-center field.
Down by one. Feels like one.
Brian Roberts laid down a great sacrifice bunt to advance pinch-runner Josh Bell to third and Pie to second. Yes, Bell was used as a pinch-runner. He beats Wieters in a footrace.
That brought up...
Today's attendance: 39,537.
Robert Andino finally got to field his first ground ball at third base.
Andino handled two pop ups and a line drive in his first two major league starts at the hot corner. He finally had a chance today on Ramiro Pena's bouncer in the hole with one out in the sixth inning, but he pulled back his glove at the last instant, figuring that Cesar Izturis was behind him to make the play. Izturis was shaded toward second and had no chance at the ball as it skipped into...
When we spoke to Jake Arrieta yesterday, he talked about the importance of refining his mechanics if he wants to become an established major league pitcher. I later suggested in this blog that he also needed to throw more strikes and improve his tempo.
Here's my unsolicited advice for Chris Tillman: Throw more strikes.
You don't need an extensive background in pitching to figure out that one.
Tillman has been removed from today's game after 3 2/3 innings. He walked six batters, matching...
Infielder Julio Lugo still hasn't been cleared to play, increasing the possibility that he'll be shut down for the last few weeks. The Orioles aren't ready to make that concession, but Lugo told me that he'll probably visit another specialist tomorrow.
Lugo, who's been diagnosed with sinusitis, added that he feels "a lot better" today and was smiling as he passed me in the hallway outside the clubhouse. He also joked that doctors keep checking his head and they can't find anything...
