Bergy and Nick talk about the regular season finale

Try as they might, the Orioles just could not put together a five-game win streak in 2010. Not even under Buck Showalter. They lost 4-2 today to the Tigers to see a four-game win streak snapped and post a final record of 66-96. The O's had six, four-game win streaks this year. Here are some post-game comments from Nick Markakis and Brad Bergesen. Markakis went 3 for 5. Did he know he could finish with a .300 average with a 5 for 5 day?: "Yeah, I knew. It was a longshot, but it is what it is. We finished up better than most people expected and that's all you can ask for." Markakis on the team ending the year playing good baseball: "It's awesome. Despite all the BS that has gone on this year, we got some class guys in this clubhouse. We busted our butt every game, every out. We left it all out on the field." Was the improved starting pitching the best development over the final two months?: "Yeah, this whole game is based around pitching. You have to have it to be good. If you put defense and offense with good pitching, it's pretty dangerous. Our younger guys, you have to tip your hat to them. They did what they had to do to make adjustments and they finished up very strong. It puts a good taste in everyone's mouth going into next year." Markakis on the emotions of the last game: "Everybody says you're ready for the season to end, but when it's actually over and you're sitting at home for the first week you're like 'all right.' But guys need to go home and relax and be with their families and spring will then roll around." Bergesen on his outing today: "I felt good today. Obviously a lot better than the last outing and even the outing before that. One of my main focuses was to work ahead in counts today and try not to walk guys. The big mistake was the two-run home run to Inge. But other than that, I felt good about it." Was it big to finish with an ERA under 5.00?: "It's not something I focus on. It's always about getting the wins, but to finish the season strong is a good feeling. You always want to remember the positives, so to have a good run at the end of the year is a major plus for me." Bergesen was asked what was Buck's message to the team at the end?: "Buck's main message to us was, go and relax and get away from it for a little bit. But be ready for next year and so, I think that is the attitude of the guys. Take some time off, get that mental and physical rest, then come back next year and pick up right where we left off. "For the last few years, some of us young guys came up with some hype and hope for us. So to finally show some flashes of that, is a great feeling." The O's finished up the second half with a record of 37 and 37 after going 29-59 before the break. They went 5-5 vs. Detroit and 17-20 vs. the AL Central. They went 34-23 under Buck Showalter and were 34-24 from August 1st to the end of the year. O's starting pitchers allowed just 5 ER in this four-game series with three coming today. Their ERA was 1.61 in the series and O's starters worked to an ERA of 1.29 over the last five games. In 57 games with Buck, O's starters posted a 3.16 ERA with 36 quality starts. Today's attendance was 21,663 and the 80-date season total was 1,733,019.