One win, three stars

For a change it had to be nice for the Orioles fans in the crowd of 32,314 to watch those in red walk out of Camden Yards unhappy. If this were hockey, my three stars from the Orioles 6-2 win Tuesday night over Boston would be Matt Wieters (third star), Jim Johnson (second star) and Jeremy Guthrie (first star). Wieters scored two runs and his clutch, two-out RBI hit in the third gave the Orioles a 3-0 lead. In the seventh, he threw out Marco Scutaro trying to steal second. He was trying to get into scoring position for Oriole tormentor Jacoby Ellsbury to drive him home and tie the game, 3-3. But Wieters' caught stealing left Ellsbury standing in the box. Johnson threw some nasty pitches in getting the top of the Boston order, 1-2-3 in the eighth, preserving what then was a 3-2 lead. He retired Ellsbury, who entered the game batting .487 against the Orioles followed by Dustin Pedroia (.333) and Adrian Gonzalez (.459 vs. Baltimore). He got behind Gonzalez 3-1, but still got him out. Johnson needed just 22 pitches to get a six-out save against the red hot, Red Sox. Guthrie was simply outstanding, allowing just two runs and giving the Orioles just their third, seven-inning outing from a starter over the last 32 games. He provided some rest for a bullpen that had been used for 55 2/3 innings over the previous 13 games. He beat the American League East leader, a team that had the majors' best road record and was 12-2 in July. He beat a Boston team that was 7-2 against the Orioles this year with a team average of .327 and OPS of .947 in those nine games. Boston was averaging 7.3 runs per game on the year against the O's and had scored 47 runs in its last five contests in this series. It was a big-time outing from the right-hander. Because of that outing, now the Orioles, who had lost 14 of 15 games through Friday, could win this series with a victory this afternoon. If they get it, they can say they began the second half splitting a series against the AL Central leaders and winning one from the top team currently in the East.